Introduction
People, who travel to India, are aware of the fact that women’s socio-political status in this country ranges to a significant degree. On one hand, there are many women of high social standing, who were able to become politicians, on the other – the women who belong to the India’s lowest cast “Shudras”, are not even considered as being fully human, with the most essential civil rights being denied to them. Therefore, we cannot really be discussing women’s role in today’s Indian society within a cultural or religious context alone. Apparently, there are deep-seated notions, in regards to women in India, which prompt men to treat them so differently. In order for us to understand what defines gender dynamics in Indian society, we will have refer to the ancient epic of “The Mahabharata”, as such that provides us with the insight on the very essence of such dynamics. It is a commonly assumed fact that Indian society is one of the most conservative societies in the world, which is why the popular attitudes towards women, found in this epic, actually do correspond to today’s reality as well. This paper is aimed at exploring women’s roles in the classical world of “The Mahabharata” as such that correspond to ancient Indian’s understanding of the concept of eugenics.
Mahabharata
When we begin to read “The Mahabharata”, it cannot escape our attention that there are many parallels can be drawn between how women were being treated in India two thousands of years ago and today. There can be no doubt as to the fact that, at the time “The Mahabharata” was being composed, the majority of women in India were being oppressed, socially and domestically. For example, the epic suggests that woman’s willingness to subject herself fully to its husband constitutes her foremost virtue. There are numerous examples, throughout “The Mahabharata”, of various kings and princes giving women lectures as to how they are supposed to behave. Women are being expected to provide men with a healthy offspring as their primary duty, without regard to whether woman was in the marital relationship or not. In Book V of “The Mahabharata”, King Aswapati impregnates his female servant, because he is convinced that she will give a birth to beautiful and healthy children, whom he intends to adopt, without giving much of a thought about servant’s consequential fate:
“Ask thy boon, king Aswapati, from creation’s Ancient Sire,
True to virtue’s sacred mandate speak thy inmost heart’s desire.”
For an offspring brave and kingly, so the saintly king replied,
Holy rites and sacrifices and this penance I have tried,
If these rites and sacrifices move thy favor and thy grace,
Grant me offspring, worthy of my noble race” (The Mahabharata, Book V, Romesh C. Dutt)
This excerpt helps us to understand better why some women in this ancient epic are being looked down upon, while others are being elevated to the status of goddesses. Apparently, in Vedic period, as it is the case in modern India, the ultimate women’s worth corresponded to her ability to give birth to racially untainted children. Indian society has traditionally being divided on castes, with people unable to move from one caste to another. Indians who belong to higher castes, like Brahmans or Khatrees, have much lighter skin and their anthropological type reminds us of European one, while Indians that are being affected by racial mixing to a significantly further degree, belong to lower castes. This has to do with the fact that, after invading Indian subcontinent, about five thousand years ago,
Aryan tribes established laws of racial segregation, which are being observed by majority of Indians even today. Therefore, ancient Indians used to form their attitude towards women according to their understanding of the link between women’s biological role and the well-being of society, as whole. In “The Mahabharata”, there are also many examples can be found of women enjoying intellectual freedom, just as their male counterparts. For example, in her dialogue with King Janaka, his wife Sulabha, proves herself as being capable of matching wits with him, as she relies on her sense logic, while arguing with Janaka that women should not be oppressed by men: “The words I shall utter will be fraught with sense, free from ambiguity (in consequence of each of them not being symbols of many, logical, free from pleonasm or tautology, smooth, certain, free from bombast, agreeable or sweet, truthful, inconsistent with the aggregate of three, refined, not elliptical or imperfect, destitute of harshness or difficulty of comprehension, characterized by due order, not far fetched in respect of sense” (The Mahabharata, Part 6, Santi Parva, Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli). At the end, he agrees with her and accepts her point of view as his own. However, it is the fact that Sulabha belonged to one of the highest castes in Indian social hierarchy, which allowed her to refer to her husband as equal. If Sulabha happened to belong to the lower caste, Janaka would not be willing to discuss anything with her, not to say marrying her.
As we have mentioned earlier, in “The Mahabharata”, the passages that worship women, often mingle with the ones that promote male chauvinism. Apart from the fact that we can think of it, as the proof that analyzed epic is the product of collective authorship, it also shows that it is quite inappropriate discussing the roles of women in “The Mahabharata” in general. For example, after we read the following passage: “The teacher who teaches true knowledge is more important than ten instructors. The father is more important than ten such teachers of true knowledge and the mother is more important than ten such fathers. There is no greater guru than mother.” (The Mahabharata, Part 10, Shanti parva, Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli), it might seem to us that “The Mahabharata” actually promotes the concept of matriarchate. However, there are also many places in the epic where women are being referred to as having absolutely no value, outside of marital relationship: “Women serve no
purpose when their husbands are dead. She who liveth after her husband is dead, draggeth on a miserable existence that can hardly be called life. O bull of the Kshatriya order, death is a blessing to women without husbands” (The Mahabharata, Part 7, Sambhava Parva, Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli). At the same time, wife’s death is not being considered by husband as the end of the world. In “The Mahabharata”, there are many instances can be found of men marrying other women in the matter of weeks, after the death of their previous wives. In fact, this kind of behavior is being encouraged by Vedic tradition. However, we cannot refer to it as the proof that the reason why male existential superiority was being institutionalized in ancient India, is because men were simply physically stronger, which prompted them to derive pleasure of keeping women in submission for the sake of getting a sadistic pleasure, as it is the case, when we discuss Semitic mentality, for example. Apparently, ancient Aryans who came to India from the North were trying to prevent the racial marginalization of their society, by imposing certain rules of conduct upon women, which were meant to prevent them from having sex with natives. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to discuss male chauvinistic overtones, found in “The Mahabharata”, within a context of biology rather then psychology.
Nowadays, the fact that “The Mahabharata” is explicitly racist epic is being downplayed, because of the dogma of political correctness. For example, in her article “The Symbolism of Black and White Babies in the Myth of Parental Impression”, Wendy Doniger comes up with suggestion that “The Mahabharata” contains no evidence as to the fact that men’s attitude towards women in ancient India corresponded to these women’s color of skin: “Great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, as we have seen, regarded pallor as the problem, not dark skin, and it considered the dark heroine Draupadi, also called “Krishna” (the Dark Woman), all the more beautiful for her dark skin. But a preference for Hindu brides with light skin color – classist rather than racist, since the lower castes and tribal peoples of India generally had darker skins” (Doniger, 2003). This statement, of course, does not correspond to the objective reality, because, throughout the epic, women from lower castes are being continuously referred to as such that are only capable of giving birth to “snakes”. It appears that ancient Indians were aware of the fact that people affected by racial mixing, lack the spiritual qualities that allowed their ancestors to build and to maintain a civilization.
While reading “The Mahabharata”, it cannot escape our attention that ancient Indian social customs, in regards to women, closely remind our own. According to the epic, women’s social duties include: raising children, taking care of the household, attending religious rituals and advising men on the best course of action, when they face various challenges. Basically, “The Mahabharata” suggests that being a housewife, represents woman’s most natural calling. At the same time, women are not being referred in it to as such that have no soul (with exception of those who belong to the caste of Shudras). Thus, we can draw parallels between many Indian women attaining existential independence, as it is being shown in “The Mahabharata” on numerous occasions, and women in today’s Western world becoming a famous politicians, like Margaret Thatcher, who became British Prime Minister, despite the fact that she was not being preoccupied with anything else but acting as housewife, in her off-work time.
Conclusion
Thus, the portrayal of women in “The Mahabharata” can be best described as being utterly complex. In this epic, women appear as being three-dimensional creatures, who often act as men’s superiors. However, “The Mahabharata” also includes passages that refer to women in low regard. Thus, it will only be logical to suggest that it is not authors’ biasness that corresponds to the inconsistency in description of popular attitudes towards the women, found in epic, but women’s actual worth. It appears that men in ancient India were simply able to discuss women’s role in society, without the fear of being charged with “sexism”. The reason why women in “The Mahabharata” are being talked about as “beautiful” and “ugly”, is because someone women are beautiful, while other others are ugly, and one does not have to be an expert on Sanskrit literature to understand this simple fact. Therefore, the actual value of “The Mahabharata” is going to increase in the future, because it appears to be only the matter of time, before people will be referring to it as not simply a literary piece, but also a practical instruction of what the relation between genders should be all about.
Bibliography
Doniger, Wendy “The Symbolism of Black and White Babies in the Myth of Parental Impression”. Bnet Business Network. (2003). Web.
“The Mahabharata”. The Great Hindu Epic Translated by R C Dutt. About.Com. (2007). Web.
“The Mahabharata”. Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli. Full Books.Com. (2002). Web.