Sunday, April 24, 2005
Hinduism and feminism
Continuing the thought from my previous post on Draupadi : A very interesting article that approaches the Indian classics from the perspective of Women's Studies is "The Bad Seed : Senior Wives and Elder Sons" by Sally J. Sutherland Goldman at Berkeley, wherein she explores the themes of rivalry between senior and junior wives. She writes :
The popularity and durability of these stories demonstrate that they articulate for their audiences a crucial social configuration of the Indian family and, by extension, society. In doing so, we must remember that the epics were composed and, for the most part, transmitted by males who were expressing male concerns and fears. Their audiences, however, were both male and female, and the epic tradition has been used as a means of indoctrinating audiences of both sexes with its patriarchical attitudes. Finally, it is not until one can understand the underlying patriarchical concerns of a society, that we can begin to go beyond them.
The times, they are a-changing, and patriarchical attitudes are becoming a thing of the past. There is no question that the Indian classics were written in a partiarchical time. However, there are strong women characters in the Mahabharata and strong themes of feminism in the Indian classics. (Hinduism is, of course, one of the few major religions that has ideas of a female God and the Divine Feminine). Draupadi's question "As the master of whom?" is not only a feminist question, it is also the feminist question for its historical context.
Draupadi's character expresses feminism at least as strongly as women characters in the Bible. There are few major female characters in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and scholars have relied on characters such as Mary to explore feminist expression. David Van Biema wrote in Time magazine for their Christmas cover story Behind the First Noel, an wonderful, well-researched article on the story of the Nativity. I wonder if they have articles such as these exploring contemporary interpretations of Indic religions in mainstream Indian magazines - I do not recall many from when I was in India. From Time :
These days, however, some feminist readers like Vanderbilt University's Amy-Jill Levine, editor of the forthcoming "Feminist Companion to Mariology" are more interested in what might be called Mary's feistiness. After all, Levine points out, the handmaid line does not follow immediately upon the angel's tidings that "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and call his name Jesus ..." Rather, Mary poses the logical query, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Says Levine: "She asks, 'How's that going to happen?' And when his answer makes sense to her, she in effect gives permission." Was this what Luke had in mind when he put the schene down on papyrus? "
Religion is, of course, an evolving phenomenon, and exploring religion from the perspective of contemporary issues is what keeps it alive. As Indian magazines expand beyond India and start catering to a wider audience, perhaps we will see more such interpretations.
Previous posts : 1, 2, 3
The popularity and durability of these stories demonstrate that they articulate for their audiences a crucial social configuration of the Indian family and, by extension, society. In doing so, we must remember that the epics were composed and, for the most part, transmitted by males who were expressing male concerns and fears. Their audiences, however, were both male and female, and the epic tradition has been used as a means of indoctrinating audiences of both sexes with its patriarchical attitudes. Finally, it is not until one can understand the underlying patriarchical concerns of a society, that we can begin to go beyond them.
The times, they are a-changing, and patriarchical attitudes are becoming a thing of the past. There is no question that the Indian classics were written in a partiarchical time. However, there are strong women characters in the Mahabharata and strong themes of feminism in the Indian classics. (Hinduism is, of course, one of the few major religions that has ideas of a female God and the Divine Feminine). Draupadi's question "As the master of whom?" is not only a feminist question, it is also the feminist question for its historical context.
Draupadi's character expresses feminism at least as strongly as women characters in the Bible. There are few major female characters in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and scholars have relied on characters such as Mary to explore feminist expression. David Van Biema wrote in Time magazine for their Christmas cover story Behind the First Noel, an wonderful, well-researched article on the story of the Nativity. I wonder if they have articles such as these exploring contemporary interpretations of Indic religions in mainstream Indian magazines - I do not recall many from when I was in India. From Time :
These days, however, some feminist readers like Vanderbilt University's Amy-Jill Levine, editor of the forthcoming "Feminist Companion to Mariology" are more interested in what might be called Mary's feistiness. After all, Levine points out, the handmaid line does not follow immediately upon the angel's tidings that "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and call his name Jesus ..." Rather, Mary poses the logical query, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Says Levine: "She asks, 'How's that going to happen?' And when his answer makes sense to her, she in effect gives permission." Was this what Luke had in mind when he put the schene down on papyrus? "
Religion is, of course, an evolving phenomenon, and exploring religion from the perspective of contemporary issues is what keeps it alive. As Indian magazines expand beyond India and start catering to a wider audience, perhaps we will see more such interpretations.
Previous posts : 1, 2, 3
