Women and the Puranic Tradition in India

Monika Saxena

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429826399
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book analyses the diverse ways in which women have been represented in the Pur??ic traditions in ancient India – the virtuous wife, mother, daughter, widow, and prostitute – against the socio-religious milieu around CE 300–1000.

Pur??as (lit. ancient narratives) are brahmanical texts that largely fall under the category of socio-religious literature which were more broad-based and inclusive, unlike the Sm?ti s, which were accessible mainly to the upper sections of society. In locating, identifying, and commenting on the multiplicity of the images and depictions of women's roles in Pur??ic traditions, the author highlights their lives and experiences over time, both within and outside the traditional confines of the domestic sphere.

With a focus on five Mah?pur??as that deal extensively with the social matrix Vi??u, M?rka??eya Matsya, Agni, and Bh?gavata Pur??as, the book explores the question of gender and agency in early India and shows how such identities were recast, invented, shaped, constructed, replicated, stereotyped, and sometimes reversed through narratives. Further, it traces social consequences and contemporary relevance of such representations in marriage, adultery, ritual, devotion, worship, fasts, and pilgrimage.

This volume will be of interest to researchers and scholars in women and gender studies, ancient Indian history, religion, sociology, literature, and South Asian studies, as also the informed general reader.

1
The shaping of the Purāṇic narrative and gender

tvaṃ vaiṣṇavī śaktir anantavīryā,

viśvasya bījaṃ paramāsi māyā

saṃmohitaṃ devi samastametat

tvaṃ vai prasannā bhuvi muktihetuḥ.

Mārk. Pur. 88.4.

O Devi, You are that power of Lord Viṣṇu, and have endless valour.

You are the primeval māyā, which is the source of the entire universe; by You all this universe has been thrown into an illusion, O Devi! If You become gracious, You become the cause of final emancipation in this world.

This chapter traces the process of accommodation and negotiation that resulted from major shifts in social forces, including gender, and led to the creation and shaping of the Purāṇic narrative. A better understanding of the gender question with regard to the Purāṇas can be gained through a discussion on the Purāṇic tradition itself. Apart from the obvious chronological pattern, we must also acknowledge it in terms of the evolution of cultural norms, philosophical ideas, and the readership of these texts. Together, these three postulates can point us towards the technique and intention of the authors and compilers, which in turn could only have come about as a reaction to the change in the ethos of gender from the Vedic period to the Purāṇic. This approach towards a literary analysis of the texts supplements the idea of a “top-down” approach that has been mentioned in the Introduction.

The structure of the Purāṇas is intricate and dialogical. This form has sufficient fluidity to accommodate multiple stories, themes, and sub-themes within itself. Thus it speaks at times of already popular characters like Savītrī and at others about the magnificence of geographical entities like the River Narmadā.¹ One can legitimately argue that the text itself shows that the authors and compilers had an audience in mind, an ideal though multi-faceted audience that was to be kept within the brahmanical fold.

In the Purāṇic representation, all categories of women, including queens, administrators, housewives, widows, prostitutes, etc., are addressed as women, a generalised blanket term. On the other hand we can consider and contrast the Mahābhārata, where the female characters are well defined in terms of their social significance like queens or women of royal presence like Draupadī and Gāndhārī and others like serving maids. A well-known example is a lady-in-waiting attached to Queen Sudeṣṇā, Sairandhrī, who was actually a character played by Draupadī with the aim of avoiding detection during the exile of the Pāṇḍavas.² Therefore, it can be claimed that all categories of women, from the royal to the servers, are addressed in the Purāṇas, which helps us conceive the idea of the targeted audience better.

The Indian subcontinent is a conglomeration of diverse cultural regions where each region has its own peculiarities and personality. There are no definite boundaries to each of these regions, and often it is difficult to identify a single clear cut criterion that defines them. “Region” as a term refers to an area marked by homogeneity in certain socio-economic or other features such as ethnic, linguistic, cultural, geographical, or political. It is distinguished from an “area” which as a broader concept designates a portion of the earth with its boundaries arbitrarily fixed.³ Regions are neither self-evident nor static. In the context of the Indian subcontinent, the process of the emergence of regional cultural configurations was especially marked during the period c. AD 600–1200.⁴ While the regions retained their traditions and specific cultural traits, they were nevertheless influenced by the larger range of socio-cultural changes that they were exposed to.

A true estimate of the interrelationship between region and area as geographical entities can be said to depend on their mutual dynamism, in the process of which each contributes to the making of the other. Apart from ideas that might propagate regions as an imagined entity, it is more appropriate to conceptualise region as an area that is made up by shared cultures, a sense of belonging and kinship, interpersonal relationships and collective memory, all of which are a function of time. In other words, a region has a tradition that is inherent in its evolution, and existence. Customs and practices in different regions are distinguishable from each other and have a clear set of markers in the form of language, script, art forms, architecture, food habits, etc.⁵

The creation of the Purāṇic traditions

The Purāṇas enjoyed immense popularity in the immediate context of their geographical spread, which in itself was a significant feat. This is the result of a two-way flow of ideas that characterised the texts ever since they were conceived and compiled. First was the careful and meticulous incorporation of the beliefs and customs of a place and its people, and second, “the continuous assimilation” and integration of different peoples within the ambit of the Purāṇic tradition over time.⁶

It is important to understand that the Purāṇas met the challenge of incorporating the local and regional in a pan-Indian brahmanical framework. The Purāṇas interfaced with regional cultural elements by incorporating some of the important ones into their pan-Indian discourse, to a large extent masking the historical processes of conflict and negotiation that underlay this incorporation. During the period of Purāṇic composition the diverse regions were undergoing social and cultural transformations which necessitated a reformulation and negotiation of socio-religious practices and observances. The Purāṇas in their entirety tell the story of a major intellectual initiative by the brāhmaṇas to come to terms with the changes around them. This required renegotiating with new groups through more inclusive strategies involving new concessions to women and the lower sections of society and thereby perpetuating brahmanical hegemony and ideology. Therefore, this chapter attempts to explore the trajectory and evolution of the Purāṇic tradition which shows variations in its processes of assimilations and incorporations, as it encountered various peoples in different regions and conversely, how the Purāṇic tradition itself was influenced by the respective regional customs and practices.⁷

The social outlook of the Purāṇas was less splintered and more accommodating than that of the Dharmaśāstras. Whereas the Dharmaśāstras tried to isolate the lower varṇas and women within the larger social order, the Purāṇas reduced this chasm by fostering a syncretistic outlook⁸ which was a fusion of brahmanical with local traditions.

The institutionalisation of the Purāṇic tradition was maintained through a combination of stories and legends culled from a variety of myths. Myths come alive in the context of history, rituals, philosophy, and social rules. They encompass the religious life of a community in its totality, giving meaning to ritual acts and sacred places which in themselves are mute. A myth is at one level a straightforward story, a narrative; at another it reflects the integrating values around which societies are woven. While history is a narrative of comparatively recent events situated in human time, a myth is a narrative set in primeval or prehistoric time, a time very remote from that of everyday reality. The unique features of myth are the result of the immense power of speech to go beyond the realm of the ordinary – the reality of the known world and the limits of common knowledge and perception – into the metaphorical realm of the spiritual potential of humans. A myth, therefore, recounts for its listeners a fabled past widely divergent from present existence.⁹ In this sense, the narratives of the Purāṇic tradition were myths. Looking at the ideological and the theological content of the Purāṇas, we can see that myths were woven to shape a social structure and familial traditions conducive to the world of brahmanism. In this assimilative synthesis, the brāhmaṇas assumed the dominant initiative in the negotiation of cultural norms. The Purāṇic process created a tradition which had the stamp of brahmanical approval.

The Ma...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Note on transliteration
• Note on primary texts
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The shaping of the Purāṇic narrative and gender
• 2 Women’s identity and Purāṇic patriarchy
• 3 Women outside the family circle: not bound, not free
• 4 Vratas, rituals, and the Purāṇic social hierarchy
• Some parting thoughts
• Appendix: a brief note on the Purāṇic scholarship
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Name index
• Subject index