Acknowledgements

At the very onset, I surrender myself before the Almighty for blessing me with the best of what I could have had. I express my deepest gratitude to my guide Prof. Debarchana Sarkar for her prompt inspiration, thought-provoking suggestions, and allowing me enough freedom in this whole journey with her profound knowledge, intellectual erudition, and motherly affection. She always paid attention and was ready to help and read whatever I wrote even after huge intervals. Her searching questions, closest and extremely watchful eye for all looseness of expression have taught me to be more sensitive to style and structure. Thank you, Madam; I could not have completed my work without your support and meticulous supervision.

I would like to thank all my departmental teachers whose blessings and inspiration have helped me in this endeavor. I would like to express my gratitude to our Departmental Library, Central Library and Asiatic Society Library for providing me various books on time. I would like to thank Prof. Amit Bhattacharya for sharing his valuable information with me during the pre-submission of the thesis.

I am highly indebted to the Scholars whose valuable works and interpretations supplied me light in the shape of materials for the construction of the thesis.

In the process of completing the thesis, there had been people who inspired, encouraged, shared the agony, and also there were those who discouraged me. I am indebted to everyone for supporting me in this long process of writing my thesis.

My wife Kalpita Acharya shouldered all the domestic responsibilities during the busy days for the preparation of the thesis. Her encouragement enabled me to complete this dissertation and in materializing my effort into reality under the most difficult circumstances. I don't have words to express my gratitude to my family who believed in me and waited patiently till I finished the work. It will be too little to say thanks to my parents who were always there for me with constant motivation, immense love, and sacrifices. My beloved two-year-old daughter Krittika Acharya (Titli), you have made me better, stronger, and more fulfilled as an optimistic person. I would like to express my thanks for being such a good girl always cheering me up.

I am grateful to all my teachers from childhood until today, whose relentless efforts and inspiration have taken me much further in expanding my mental horizon for the preparation of the thesis. They have left profound impact on my mind.

I am grateful to my friends and my departmental juniors for their continuous support and co-operation in many ways. You are all very dear to me. I would like to thank Arup Ghosh for helping me in correcting bibliographical methodology. Some of my seniors specially Kiriti Sengupta have been my inspiration during this journey, and I would not even dare to say thanks to them. Finally, I would like to thank all the unsung heroes who have directly or indirectly contributed to this work.