A Psychoanalytic Rereading of Women's Voice in the Vedic Knowledge Tradition (A Study in the Light of Indian Knowledge Systems and Modern Feminist Discourse)

Dr. Anjali Shah

Assistant Professor, Department of Gujarati, S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Mumbai.

Email: anjali79vshah@gmail.com

Abstract :In modern feminist psychoanalytic discourse, the question of a woman's voice, her expression, and her self-consciousness has gained special significance. In the psychoanalytic tradition, it is argued that language and symbolic structures play a central role in constructing human existence; however, because these structures are often built from a male-dominated cultural consciousness, they limit the expression of female experience.

In contrast, the Vedic knowledge tradition accepts "Vani" (voice/speech) not just as linguistic communication but as a medium for the manifestation of intuition, consciousness, and truth. This research paper presents a psychoanalytic rereading of the concept of women's voice in the context of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) and establishes it in dialogue with modern feminist psychoanalysis. In the light of thinkers like Luce Irigaray, Stephanie W. Jamison, and other modern scholars, this study clarifies that in the Vedic tradition, a woman's voice is neither the silence of oppression nor merely a political tone of resistance; rather, it is a participatory expression of inner intuition, self-expression, and the experience of knowledge. Thus, this study attempts to understand women's empowerment beyond social freedom—as a process of psychological acceptance, self-realization, and the manifestation of knowledge.

Keywords: Women's Voice, Psychoanalysis, Vedic Knowledge Tradition, Indian Knowledge System (IKS), Feminist Discourse, Self-expression, Empowerment.