Published Paper Details:

"Foraging", by definition, means the search for wild resources for food. The human history of foraging dates back to the beginning of human civilisation-until 12,000 years ago, when the Neolithic Revolution came and systematic agriculture became general practice. But much after that, foraging has persisted with the human societies. For the early Nomadic tribe, hunting and gathering was the only way to acquire food. Later, even in the agrarian societies, foraging continued as a complementary method of subsistence. The most important point to be noted is that, the main task of foraging for food fell upon the females of the clan while men were assigned the heavier tasks of cultivation, hunting or cattle grazing. There exists a line of continuity from the early Nomadic women to the women in the pre-independence rural Bengal who depended upon foraging for food at various levels, as the supply of extra nutrition for the family members, as a measure for fighting poverty, as a means of livelihood, and during famines or other sorts of natural calamity, as the sole source of sustenance. With special reference to two Bengali novels Pather Panchali and Ashani Sanket by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, this paper attempts to show the socio-economic history of female foragers in some imaginary villages in the southern part of formerly undivided Bengal.