Shadow Sovereignty: Feminine Power and Moral Ambiguity in Kavita Kane’s Lanka’s Princess.

Author(s)	R.AKSHAYA SRI, DR. PREYA M N V
Country	India
Abstract	Kavita Kane’s Lanka’s Princess (2017) revisits the Ramayana through the marginalized figure of Surpanakha, traditionally represented as grotesque and immoral. This article advances a fresh critical concept by interpreting Surpanakha as a bearer of shadow sovereignty a form of feminine power that exists outside idealized virtue yet exposes the fragility of masculine dharma. Drawing upon feminist myth criticism, psychoanalytic theory, and Foucauldian power studies, the paper argues that Kane reconstructs Surpanakha as a morally complex subject whose desire, grief, and rage destabilize epic binaries of good and evil. By relocating agency to the figure of the villainized woman, the novel reconfigures ethical authority within mythic discourse. This reading shifts Surpanakha from caricature to conscience, revealing how female transgression becomes a critique of patriarchal heroism. Keywords: Kavita Kane, Surpanakha, shadow sovereignty, feminist myth, power, Ramayana
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 1, January-February 2026
Published On	2026-02-17

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