The Representation of Women, Marriage, and Social Inequality in Khmer and Indian Literature: A Comparative Study of Phka Srapoun and Nirmala

This article compares the representation of women, marriage, and social inequality in the Khmer novel Phka Srapoun by Nou Hach and the Hindi novel Nirmala by Munshi Premchand. It asks how narrative conflicts around marital choice expose the interaction of family authority, economic vulnerability, and gendered expectations in distinct literary settings. The study adopts a qualitative comparative-literary approach, using thematic categories of agency, economic pressure, family reputation, and narrative consequence. In Phka Srapoun, the displacement of an intended marriage under financial pressure foregrounds the conflict between personal attachment and familial control. In Nirmala, economic arrangements such as dowry-related instability and unequal marriage generate suspicion and unhappiness in family life. Taken together, the texts suggest that marriage is not simply a private tie but a social institution where resources, prestige, and gendered obligations are negotiated. But these similarities should not mislead us to the differences in language, historic context and tale structure. The present study argues that comparative reading shows shared patterns of limited female agency, and also particular ways in which inequality occurs. Its contribution is interpretive rather than empirical: fictional portrayals illuminate social criticism but cannot establish the prevalence of particular practices in Cambodia or India.