Paper short abstract:

The present paper locates Mahteen Mai ka Mandir, a temple in rural Bihar as a case of reclaiming the past taking caste and gender as important factors. How do the people who are associated with it in the present times analyse and debunk 'other's history is the essence of this paper.

Paper long abstract:

The present times are times of understanding the history in a different way than has been the practice. It is so because the voices of the periphery have become too loud to be ignored. The physical symbols of dominance are being questioned once more and are being given a new meaning to it. Gender is an important tool to re-draw the maps of understanding. The way women are projected in any community becomes the bench mark of the latter. The present paper explores the multiple ways in which Mahteen Mai ka Mandir, a temple in rural Bihar is seen. The dominant section sees it as a place of worshiping woman who attained 'sainthood' resisting sexual assault whereas the subaltern see this temple as a manifestation of ritual sanction of dalit women's sexuality. In present times, it has become both as a symbol of assertion and tyranny. Both the groups use popular culture to forward and cement their respective arguments. Street plays, folk songs, pamphlets in local languages are potent tools for forwarding own version of history. As gender has been often seen as barometer of caste and community identities, such discourses are often marked by violence. Both the communities intend to present its womenfolk in pristine form. The paper argues that both the dominant and the subaltern use this 'contested site of history' as the successive generations of both groups have 'invented' and 'reinvented' the history many times. Thus, Mahteen Mai ka Mandir still oscillates between myth and history.