Anshika Sharma

Centuries of male dominance have led to alterations and misinterpretations of religious texts, leading to ambiguity regarding the women in these narratives. This research engages with key texts of Hinduism and Christianity using literary analysis of the construction, presentation, and reception of the primary female characters: Mary of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene in the Christian New Testament; Sītā from the Rāmāyaṇa, and Draupadī from the Mahābhārata.This study examines the passages where these women are mentioned, and goes on to attempt a character reconstruction and challenge their popular stereotypical reception. The research is divided into four chapters beginning with Mary of Nazareth where her presence in the New Testament is traced through the Gospels. Passages emphasizing Mary’s unwavering faith in God, her bravery, and her attempts to understand the divine events around her, are highlighted in order to demonstrate that she was more than a passive, obedient mother. Next, the four Gospels are examined to reconstruct Mary Magdalene’s loyalty towards Jesus and his cause. Further, the passages that have been wrongly attributed to her are highlighted to get to the roots of the misconception that Mary was a woman engaged in prostitution. The study then moves to the Puranic Hindu texts and first examines Sītā by exploring her divinity, rage, intelligence, and bravery, a portrayal that contrasts to the modern reception of her character. Finally, popular myths about Draupadī are challenged as the study outlines her divine origins, her multiple public humiliations, her justified anger, and her spirited debates with the men around her. The study concludes with a contribution to feminist exploration and comparative theology of sacred texts through a comparative theological analysis of the four women in these texts.

A study was carried out from October, 2020 to September, 2021to investigate the diversity of fishes and the conservation status of Chittaura Jheel (Bahraich), Uttar Pradesh. During the study period, 38 fish species belonging to 28 genera, 14 families and 7 orders have been identified. The order Cypriniformes was found the dominated order with 15 species(39.47%) followed by Siluriformes 10 species (26.31%), Perciformes 4 species (10.52%), Ophiocephaliformes 4 species (10.52%), Synbranchiformes2 species (5.26%), Osteoglossiformes 2 species (5.26%) and Clupiformes 1 species (2.63 %), The present investigation showed that the wetland, Chittaura Jheel possesses rich fish biodiversity but proper conservation measures are required to maintain sustainability and richness of the fish species diversity of that wetland of U.P. According to IUCN, 30 were enlisted as Least Concern (LC), 2 species as near endangered (NE), 3 species as near threatened (NT), 2 listed as Endangered (EN) and 1 species was listed as Vulnerable (VU). There is a need of conservation of fish diversity of this natural wetland. The pressure is increasing day by day due to increasing population, leading to loss of fish diversity hence identifying the problem and making a better management plan is the way for conservation of the fish diversity of the Chittaura Jheel, a wetland of Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.