This paper presents a feminist comparative study of Tehmina Durrani?s Blasphemy and Bapsi Sidhwa?s Water, examining how patriarchal power structures, cultural traditions, and religious distortions perpetuate violence and ostracism against women in South Asian societies. It explores practices such as child marriage, dowry, polygamy, honour-based crimes, marital rape, prostitution, widowhood, and the misuse of religion to legitimise female subjugation. Through the characters of Heer, Chuyia, Kalyani, and Shakuntala, the article highlights women?s physical, psychological, and sexual exploitation and argues that both novels expose patriarchal hypocrisy while advocating feminist resistance, dignity, and female agency.
Research Scholar, Department of English, Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya
