By: Khushi Rawat & Arushi Singh
“PATRIARCHY MEANS ‘DOMINATION’, EITHER OVER THE OTHER SEX OR ANY RACE, CLASS, CASTE, RELIGION.”
-Subair Kalathil, WSRC
Women have been the bearer of its fruit since ages. Women are considered as the weaker section and subordinate to the men. She is exploited, degraded, violated and discriminated both in the homes and outside world.
However, this wasn’t the case in ancient India; an Indian woman was synonymous to the words like “maata” (mother) or “devi” (goddess) in the Vedas and Upanishads.
Marriage was never forcibly imposed on women in Rig Vedic society. After puberty and the completion of their education, girls had permission to take up married life by selecting their life partners through swayamvara (choosing a husband). The Ṛig Veda has disclosed the existence of both polygamy and polyandry during the early Vedic period. Remarrying was also socially acceptable for widows; however, divorce was not permitted. Women even had the right to take part as debaters in public assemblies.
Special attention to the female’s priority and satisfaction during sex has been markedly observed in Vātsyāyana’s Kāmasūtra. In the Rig Vedic civilization, prostitutes, were never considered to be undignified or shameful, rather female sex workers were depicted as classy women, without societal restrictions. Arthaśāstra, emphasized over the legal position of prostitutes during the Rig Vedic period.
But, as the time passed the position of women underwent changes in all spheres of life. In the Vedic period, women lost their political rights of attending assemblies. Child marriages also came into existence. In the ‘Aitareya Brahmana’, a daughter is described as a source of misery. During the period of Smritis, women were bracketed with the Shudras and were denied the right to study the Vedas, to utter Vedic mantras and to perform Vedic rites. Marriage or domestic life became compulsory for women and unquestioning devotion to husband was their only duty.
The Brahmanical law did not allow any property rights to women; the provision for “stridhana” does not extend beyond the wife’s rights to jewels, ornaments and presents given to her at the time of her wedding.
Remarriage of widows was generally not favored. Their situations were very bad as they had to shave their heads, discard all their ornaments and eat only plain food and wear white clothes. They were generally not invited to witness any social functions.
After the World War II, one of the issues which had attracted the attention of the policy makers and social scientists was gender issue. And hence, various laws were made for the upliftment of women and other genders in India.
“INDIANS ARE MORE OPEN TO HOMOSEXUALITY THAN WE THINK”
-Subair Kalathil, WGRC
It is common to walk hand in hand in public with the same sex people than with the opposite sex. It is even easier to rent a room when there are two females rather than any heterosexual pair. Indians are falsely accused of discriminating homosexuals! (*sarcasm*)
This isn’t just the case with modern India, even in earlier times; India was very much acceptable of the homosexual behavior. In the temples of ‘Khajuraho’ (temple of love; in Madhya Pradesh), there are images of women erotically embracing other women and men displaying their genitals to each other, there are even positive depictions of same-sex activities in the 2000 year old ‘Kama Sutra’. Scholars have generally explained this as an acknowledgement that people engaged in homosexual acts.
India’s government, Hindu nationalist coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, has indicated it will support the Supreme Court in its ruling of decriminalizing Article 377 (1861- British era law), but will oppose any attempts by activists to push for further rights. Gay people in India are currently not allowed to marry, adopt children or inherit their partner’s wealth should they die. What they don’t know, is that their own scriptures accepted homosexuality:
In the Valmiki Ramayana, Lord Rama’s devotee and companion Hanuman is said to have seen Rakshasa women kissing and embracing other women.
The Mahabharata has an interesting story about Shikhandini, the feminine or transgender warrior of the time and responsible for the defeat and killing of Bhishma. Shikhandini was bestowed with manhood during night as she was married to a woman. Shikhandini henceforth became Shikhandi and lived like a hermaphrodite. According to Mastya Purana, Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini to trick the demons. Meanwhile, Lord Shiva saw Vishnu as Mohini and instantly fell for him. Their union led to the birth of a child — Lord Ayyappa.
India as a whole is a very culturally and traditionally inclined society. We believe in holding onto our roots. When our culture embraces homosexuality as something normal, then why can’t we?
Source Prompts:[https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/mgrsd/23/3/article-p180.xml?lang=en]
[Seminar by Subair Kalathil]
Indic Feminism 