The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

An Urge for Reunion: Spiritual Longing in Rumi’s Song of Reed

Afroz Jahan

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.60

The Tale of the Reed, the opening section of the Masnavi, narrates the separation of the lover, symbolized by the reed, from the reed-bed, its original home in the divine presence of God. Scholars often regard this prelude as a summary of the major themes that recur throughout the Masnavi, particularly separation, longing, and reunion with the beloved. Because of its central role in Nay Namih, the reed becomes an important symbol for understanding both the poem and Rumi’s mystical thought. The reed symbolizes the soul’s painful separation from its source and its desire to return to divine unity. At the same time, the image of the reed reflects Rumi’s personal spiritual experiences, especially his relationship with Shams of Tabriz. Through poetry, Rumi transforms this experience into a universal meditation on love, loss, and transcendence. In Nay Namih, the lament of the reed expresses both ecstatic longing and suffering.

Afroz Jahan. “An Urge for Reunion: Spiritual Longing in Rumi’s Song of Reed.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 946–962. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.60.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

“Toba Tek Singh” and “The Final Solution” A Retrospection of the 1947 Partition Through the Kaleidoscope of History from Below

Papri Mitra

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.28

The partition of 1947 was one of the most horrible and shameful events that has ever been written on the pages of human history. It predominantly remodelled Indian Literature by creating a new genre popularly known as Partition Literature. This genre authentically depicts the true circumstances and consequences of the partition. The illogical division of the nation and the making of imaginary borders in the partition caused the great shift of people from Pakistan to India and vice versa. The Partition Literature is the living testimony of the violence, torture, suffering, pain, and trauma experienced by the millions of innocent people who were forced to leave their motherland. Mainstream history never reveals the actual configuration of the partition to justify the decision. In this scenario, as a wave of revolution, Partition Literature exposes the fabrication and manipulation of the authorised history of the state power, portraying the real, bloody reality of the Partition. Rewriting history from the perspective of the victims of the partition, who are powerless and subaltern in society, this kind of literature challenges the documented history by replacing it with the people’s history.

Papri Mitra. ““Toba Tek Singh” and “The Final Solution” A Retrospection of the 1947 Partition Through the Kaleidoscope of History from Below.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 455–471. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.28.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

“Representation of Ophelia in Popular Culture: A Critical Study of Her Transformation from Shakespearean Tragedy to Contemporary Media.”

Richa Singh, Dr. Rashi Srivastava

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.16

In this dissertation Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet’s character Ophelia has been studied through different glasses, and how her character is still relevant in today’s time through music, film adaptations, paintings, etc. Ophelia in Hamlet is a character who is shaped by psychological hardships and is governed by masculine dominance as well as stripped of self-determination and suffers from the collapse of emotional intimacy with her lover and the killing of her father by her own lover; this precipitated her meltdown. Through this study we examined how she evolved to a much wider phase; critics have examined her symbolic drowning. The study closely talks about Ophelia’s relationship with her lover Hamlet, her brother Laertes and father Polonius and what all social constraints she faced being from a royal authority, this study explores her progression from being a minor figure to being a revolutionary sensation by different feminist ideas through Elaine Showalter’s Representing Ophelia.

Richa Singh, and Dr. Rashi Srivastava. ““Representation of Ophelia in Popular Culture: A Critical Study of Her Transformation from Shakespearean Tragedy to Contemporary Media.”.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 257–276. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.16.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

Dell Hymes’ ‘S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G’ and Various Other Models of Communicative Competence: A Comparative Study from a Communicative Perspective.

Dhanashri Sambhaji Kamble

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.2

The concept of Communicative Competence being more practical demands a contextual use of language. It is more experimental and talks about how language should work in action, that is while communicating something. The models of Communicative Competence fulfil this need of experimentation. This research paper aims to explain the models of Communicative Competence since the 1970s, their theoretical framework and practical significance in the light of language use in an Indian multilingual context. There are five models of Communicative Competence which this paper will elaborate on. The theoretical framework of these models focusses on the competence of an individual and its practical applications are significantly related to the communicative performance of an individual. All these models can be applied to various situations and at each academic level. But how the SPEAKING model is most appropriate to develop the Communicative competence will be focused in this paper through the comparative analysis.

Dhanashri Sambhaji Kamble. “Dell Hymes’ ‘S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G’ and Various Other Models of Communicative Competence: A Comparative Study from a Communicative Perspective..” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 16–29. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.2.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

Evolving approach of representation of disability in women from the 20th century to the 21st century in Indian Hindi cinema

Zahra Ahmad

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.52

Impairment arises from physical or psychological causes such as accidents or genetics, while disability is shaped by social prejudices and the exploitative attitudes of the able-bodied. It deprives the impaired of identity, creating layers of oppression through discrimination, patriarchal norms, and the male gaze. Families, too, may suffer stigma and exclusion. Medically, disability is seen as disease, but theology often interprets it as divine punishment. In contrast, the social model promotes inclusion, autonomy, and a shift in perceptions by reducing barriers. Cinema, as an audio-visual medium, plays a crucial role in raising awareness, shaping attitudes, and addressing stereotypes. The portrayals of disability in film evoke pity, empathy, admiration, or discrimination, reflecting challenges while also providing entertainment. This paper analyses cinematic representations to examine stereotyping, stigmatisation, and the intersection of gender and disability, while tracing the evolution of depictions of women with disabilities from the 20th to the 21st century.

Zahra Ahmad. “Evolving approach of representation of disability in women from the 20th century to the 21st century in Indian Hindi cinema.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 801–829. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.52.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

Erased, Not Divided: Sindhi Partition, Statelessness, and the Imagined Homeland in Nandita Bhavnani’s The Making of Exile

Dr Anshika Makhijani

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.44

This paper examines Nandita Bhavnani’s The Making of Exile: Sindhi Hindus and the Partition of India (2014) as a landmark work that repositions the Sindhi Partition experience within the broader discourse of Indian English Partition literature. Unlike the dominant Punjabi-centric narratives that construct 1947 as a story of territorial division, Bhavnani’s text reveals a qualitatively different trauma—one of total civilizational erasure. Sindhi Hindus did not lose half a homeland; they lost an entire world. Drawing on postcolonial theory, trauma studies, diaspora theory, and memory studies—specifically the frameworks of Avtar Brah, Cathy Caruth, Pierre Nora, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak—this paper argues that The Making of Exile constructs Sindhi displacement as a threefold loss: loss of territory, loss of language, and loss of cultural memory.

Dr Anshika Makhijani. “Erased, Not Divided: Sindhi Partition, Statelessness, and the Imagined Homeland in Nandita Bhavnani’s The Making of Exile.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 678–689. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.44.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

On the Tracks of Modern China: Nation-Building, Womanhood, and Resilience in Dorothea Hosie’s The Pool of Ch’ien Lung: A Tale of Modern Peking

Dr. Debabarnine Bhattacharya

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.15

Published at the height of the Second World War, Dorothea Hosie’s 1944 novel The Pool of Ch’ien Lung: A Tale of Modern Peking effectively encapsulates China’s socio-political upheavals before the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese war, drawing, as it were, on the author’s missionary diplomatic background and her 1936 experiences in Peking. In her discourse on modern China, Hosie foregrounds ‘The School of Accuracy and Good Manners’, a progressive girls’ school, as a hybrid space where conventional Confucian orthodoxy co-exists with Western science, disciplines and modernism, a trait in-keeping with the syncretism often perceivable in the country’s drive towards Westernization during the 20th century. In this context, the current paper aims to examine the manner in which Hosie’s engagement with the notion of "New China" becomes synonymous with her dialogue on modern Chinese womanhood, cultural continuity, resilience, Japanese militarism, hybridity and a synthesis of tradition and modernism within a highly symbolic and suggestive framework.

Dr. Debabarnine Bhattacharya. “On the Tracks of Modern China: Nation-Building, Womanhood, and Resilience in Dorothea Hosie’s The Pool of Ch’ien Lung: A Tale of Modern Peking.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 235–256. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.15.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

Trauma and Identity in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy Man in Partition Literature

Ishmeet Saluja, Prof. (Dr.) Kum Kum Ray

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.10

This study examines themes of trauma and identity in Partition Literature, with focus on Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy Man. It states that Partition was not just Political division but psychological breakage which reshaped identity and gendered experience. It analyses how violence left psychological and emotional wounds. The paper shows how common people, especially women and children, faced fear, confusion, and displacement. Through Lenny’s viewpoint, the novel shows how innocence transforms into a painful awareness of cruelty. Instead of seeing the novel only from political viewpoint, the study analyses trauma as lived experience and delayed realization. The study also focuses on gendered trauma. During Partition, women’s bodies became sites of honor and revenge. This is seen through the character of Ayah, who is later abducted and loses her identity. Examining through the lens of Trauma Theory and Feminist perspectives, the paper shows how identity is broken and becomes performative under disaster.

Ishmeet Saluja, and Prof. (Dr.) Kum Kum Ray. “Trauma and Identity in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy Man in Partition Literature.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 155–177. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.10.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

The Body as a Battleground: Corporeal Feminism, Domestic Violence, and Autonomy in Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You

Shalini Singh

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.1

The following extract draws a detailed feminist reading of Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You or A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, cantered on how the husband systematically strips the unnamed protagonist of her intellectual identity, reducing her to a body to be punished and controlled. Drawing on the concept of the body as a contested site from corporeal feminist theory, I argue that the novel maps abuse not only physically but psychologically, illustrating a battle over the woman’s agency. The research uses evidence from the novel’s narrative as summarized in Kandasamy’s autobiographical retelling and critical perspectives, including Judith Butler’s reflections on corporeality and vulnerability. We show how the husband’s tactics from controlling language and communication to physical and sexual violence attempt to erase the wife’s personhood, and how she reclaims autonomy through writing. My conclusion situates this struggle within feminist frameworks of bodily autonomy and resistance, underscoring the body-as-battleground motif.

Shalini Singh. “The Body as a Battleground: Corporeal Feminism, Domestic Violence, and Autonomy in Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 1–15. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.1.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Volume 17, Issue 2 · April 2026 · ISSN 0976-8165

The Banality of Mourning: Ritual, Community, and the Social Performance of Death in the Malayalam Film Ee.Ma.Yau.

Chitra Sebastian

Digital Object Identifier

10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.49

This paper examines the Malayalam film Ee.Ma.Yau. as a critical exploration of the banality of mourning, presenting death as a banal social process deeply embedded within the societal structures. It closely studies the spectacle of performance associated with death rites and reflects upon the human experience shaped by the mundane structures of the society. The study situates mourning within the philosophical frameworks of Hannah Arendt’s banality, Victor Turner’s liminality, Erving Goffman’s performativity, Henri Lefebvre’s everyday life, and Lars Svendsen’s theory on boredom. The funerary rituals in the film are disrupted by institutional authority, communal surveillance, and repetitive social practices. This paper seeks to account for the deeper philosophical engagement with banality, triviality and everydayness of death. It presents mourning as a site of failed communitas where meaning is continually deferred.

Chitra Sebastian. “The Banality of Mourning: Ritual, Community, and the Social Performance of Death in the Malayalam Film Ee.Ma.Yau..” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 752–766. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.49.

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