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Eve, in the Middle Eastern Garden of Eden, was made out of Adam?s rib.
She was, as a result, subservient to man. But in Indian mythology, one
of the creators of mankind and their life?s philosophy was Ila, a
woman. In ancient Sanskrit scriptures GOD is referred to as tat
(Sanskrit for IT, not He)...meaning God?s gender is undefined for our
ancients, ( so it could be a woman we are talking about). The concept
of Ardhnareeshwar as that of the Creator (half man, half woman) is
supposed to be unique to Indian mythology. Nowhere in the world has so
much emphasis been given to the equal partnership of the male and
female energies as the real power of the Universe. The earliest books
and scriptures of the Indian subcontinent have seen an inedible stamp
of woman power. Mythology and history cuts womankind out as the power
of the Universe. Women have also been the most fearsome, most valiant,
and most battle worthy warriors in the fight between good and evil.
In Hindu religion, of the infinite numbers of Gods and Goddesses,
the presiding deity of wealth is a woman, the God of power and strength
is a woman and the God of Learning is a woman. Their consorts are Gods
too...Creator, the Keeper and the Destroyer?but then, what use is life
without wealth, learning and power? So the real backing comes from
female power. Even during the early Vedic times that extended between
six thousand and three thousand years ago, flourishing in the northern
India plains, women in Indian society had a status equal to that of
men, in almost all matters. In ancient Hindu society, women were
polyandrous, could get divorced if they did not find their husband?s
worthy in any way, widows could remarry and royal women even had the
right to arrange for competitions to determine who they would chose to
marry. The most liberal of all socially accepted norms was Niyog, that
a woman has the right to choose another man to have children by, if her
husband is incapable of procreation. The heroes of the Mahabharata, the
Pandavas, are all born out of this norm?to speak in modern terms, they
are none begotten from their mothers? husband. After five thousand
years of being at par with men, the Indian woman suddenly lost her
importance in the society.
Every mother, till today, sings the stories and glories of these
powers, the Geeta (the book of Hindu philosophy), the tales of valor to
her child in the cradle. Then why is it that the lesson that ever
Indian child learns from his cradle is forgotten by adulthood? I say
HIS for a reason ? that it is this very child that grows up to
un-mindfully rape, plunder, kill and exploit the same woman, whether it
is his unborn daughter in her mother?s womb, or any other woman on the
road. The irony lies in the fact that a culture that sets aside the
most important festivals and religious beliefs for worshiping female
power, cannot learn to respect its won womenfolk? Why?
The answer to this question has very often been identified as
`foreign invasions ? military as well as cultural. For many years
scholars have insisted that invasions from the West (specially from the
West) of India, time and again looted and plundered, carried away and
dishonored women, so over centuries, they were removed from the fore
line of the society and kept in isolated backyards, draped in veils,
lest any marauder think it his right to dishonor them. But does this
sound right? For a society that is suffering invasions, wouldnt it
have bee better to empower the entire population to fight invaders?
After all, women did take part in many wars later in history.
Culturally exploiting a woman does not seem to owe its roots to foreign
invasions. There is evidence that this exploitation started about two
thousand five hundred years ago, when a number of social problems
started to crop up, landholdings, structure of inheritance and property
ownership, and social importance to male offspring and they
contributed to the gradual down-slide of the status of women in Indian
society. It was much later, almost fifteen hundred years later that the
foreign invasions began. These gave rise to ideas that the Muslim
cultures that ruled India for about 700 years, followed by colonization
by the British powers for three centuries completely killed all
initiative on the part of the Indian woman.
That is again not true. How can an outside cultural invasion drive
a man to kill his own daughter for no fault except her sex? How can a
husband learn to disrespect, beat and exploit his wife just because his
king happens to be of a foreign culture. Was the Hindu philosophy of
four thousand years so thin, it came off with a swab doused in
colonialism? It cannot be. Why did not The Muslim colonizers, who
themselves settled in India for these centuries learn to educate their
women and worship their life giving abilities like the country they had
captured? Why did they not give up their culture? All this talk of
cultural influence being the beginning of exploitation seems to be
fuzzy logic, and belongs exactly where fuzzy logic belongs?in history
books.
While it is true that the position of women in India has been
rising and falling with the ruling power, he common?s man?s mind cannot
be so volatile.
Modern day India has an entirely different story to tell. Even
during the days long celebrations of women power, the festival of
goddess Durga, female fury unleashed in its most powerful form, there
are reports of women being burnt for dowry. The concept of dowry as it
exists in India, most probably does not exist in any other culture. The
fact that if the dowry of the woman is inadequate in the eyes of her
married family, she can be conveniently done to death, certainly
doesn?t exist in any other culture.
While India is the culture that has the world?s most explicit
treatise on sex and sexual mores, The Kamasutra, it is today a society
where an educated working woman is not safe in the streets of its
metros. It has, after centuries of intellectual awareness, today
degenerated into a society that?s morally corrupt and humanely degraded
to the lowest levels of base behavior.
The governance has created many organizations to fight these
situations, a number of human rights organizations have been set up, a
large number of voluntary organizations extend a helping hand to raped
youngsters, battered wives and half burnt brides. But that can happen
only when the woman takes the initiative to seek help. Or else, the
organization is just another farce, of no valid use. The Human Rights
Commission for Women that handles human rights violations against
women, the National Council for Women handles the policies for women,
the umpteen organizations that help her fight back erring husbands and
in laws? can only sometimes help get her dignity back.
Who will help restore the dignity of the Indian woman? The
government? The polity, the judiciary or the police? I think it has to
be she herself. The family, the social structure, the upbringing she
gives to her son...she alone can teach her son to respect women. She
alone can make the Divine powered Goddess come to life for her child,
in the guise of the real life blood women around him. She alone can
teach him that to respect a woman is to respect the janani, your
creator. She alone can bring about the revolution in the society. Portrait of Umabai Kundapur
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 "Click to enlarge")
