Published Paper Details:

This study examines the development of militant femininity within Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA) during the 1940s. It explores how Bose's concept of total mobilization transformed women's roles in India's anti-colonial movement by incorporating them as disciplined fighters through the formation of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment in 1943. Drawing on archival intelligence reports, INA propaganda, Azad Hind Radio broadcasts, and memoirs such as Captain Lakshmi Sahgal's, the research demonstrates how militarization functioned as both a tactical and symbolic strategy, challenging colonial perceptions of women as passive and the limitations imposed by prevailing patriarchal norms. By analyzing Bose's speeches and INA training manuals, the study details women's recruitment, training, and command structures, situating them within broader transnational networks across Southeast Asia. The findings reveal that the regiment intertwined the ideals of Shakti with modern militarism, turning the female body into a symbol of ideological resistance and reshaping nationalism, gender, and political agency in late-colonial India.