Wow! @BhumiBabe indeed a very interesting and thought-provoking topic I see this thread pregnant with possibilities. One end of the spectrum I find myself reading a book that's (probably) called Women who run with the Wolves - Indian version by BB and on the other end I see all of us collectively coming up with an entirely new Handbook for the Modern Day Indian Woman by IL's facilitated by BB. Excited to read and learn from all the sharing that will happen on this thread
Well you're in for an adventure! Indian mythology, history and folklore are rife with stories of interesting women. These stories span the spectrum from the idealistic and submissive depictions of womanhood on the one end, to the patriarchy defying rebels and demon hunting goddesses on the other; from virtuous wives to iron-willed warriors and brilliant philosophers and everything in between. If you are searching for a single cohesive narrative about the subcontinental woman through the ages then I'm afraid you will not find one. Depictions of Indian women, in concert with their real lives, were influenced by the culture of the time and region where these stories originated. Even the mythological depictions were tweaked and edited often to align with the prevailing morality of each era. Religious and historical upheavals, like the rise of Hinduism's offshoots and the near constant invasions caused major ebbs and flows in the status of women in Indian society and consequently in their literary depictions. Once you place each story in the context of its historical and religious period you will be able to develop an intuition for the ever changing fortunes of the Indian woman over the last 5000 years. The Bhagvad Gita is a spiritual treatise on doing your duty and leading a virtuous life that ideally culminates in moksha. It elucidates the concept of dharma, and the paths to moksha via the four yogic routes, gnyana, karma, bhakti and raja yoga. It has very little to say about women specifically. Yes some translations might come across as pandering to the patriarchy but the original Sanskrit text is remarkably gender agnostic. This is a difficult question to answer. Unlike the other major religions, Hinduism does not have a single overarching text. If you are looking for a prescriptive work then the closest would be the smritis of Manu and Yagnyavalkya which laid down the laws of Hindu society and defined the roles of men and women as they have been commonly understood for the past couple of thousand years. But these texts haven't escaped the plague of revisionist history either. Large sections have been removed, added or edited to conform to existing norms over the years. So much so that some historians contend that not a single original copy of the smritis exists anymore. In the absence of one source we are forced to look at all the available sources and pick and choose the nuggets of wisdom on which to anchor our values, which in my opinion is the ideal way to go about answering such a question. Isn't that the beauty of a religion that doesn't prescribe anything? The freedom to choose the nature of our value systems. Then everything from the Panchatantra/Jataka tales to the Epics/Vedas become a source of instruction and inspiration for living a 'full' life. I like this approach the best. A community effort at distilling the essence of ideal womanhood. I have a few stories that I have loved since I was a little girl. Will share them as and when I find time. Looking forward to reading what others have to share.
I went and read the blurb on the amazon link. The description of Ms. Estes as a cantadora (spanish: "one who hands down myths and stories by word of mouth" ) made me think of my grandma, who was quite good at it. She could tell Panchatantra stories on demand. These are the Indian equivalent of Aesoph stories. However, the Indian stories are focussed on creating a practical wisdom for the listener-student. In India this kind of savvy is often called "jugaad". These story collections available for readers in various ages. Large font, picture books for children, smaller font books for older children that have questions at the end of stories that ask the child to apply the story, synthesize solutions to problems. And then there is the translation of the original in English, with quite a clever preservation of the rhyming verses (Arthur Ryder translation, UofChicago press). This version is the best for grownups to read, perhaps a few stories a day. Buy Panchatantra Book Online at Low Prices in India | Panchatantra Reviews & Ratings - Amazon.in
I am sure someone may suggest that B.Gita could also be regarded as secular (non religious) by those who could set aside the multisyllabic names of characters, and venues, and focus on the underlying allegories. Good books in any language tend to grow up, and evolve with the readers. Prescriptions (guide to the ideal something) are often synthesized from what we experience, even out of the lists of "thou shalt not's", and from the various points of views from the old times. I do not know which country you are in. I'd assume you are in America, and go on... In India, old myths, legends and poems are abridged, pictures added, and taught to children in primary schools. For example, pre-christian era Tamil literature is taught to primary school children, in rhymes. And older girl-children learn dances to some of the poetry. [I have often noticed that diaspora-Tamils are more gung-ho about the language than the natives who live in the India's Tamil Nation. This is the same for any other linguistic group from India] Here is a blurb from Wikipedia: Avvaiyar Statue in Marina Beach (Chennai, India) The Avvaiyars (Tamil: ஔவையார்; 'Respectable Women') was the title of more than one poet who was active during different periods of Tamil literature. The Avvaiyar were some of the most famous and important female poets of the Tamil canon. Abithana Chintamani states that there were three female poets titled Avvaiyar. Among them, the first Avvaiyar lived during the Sangam period (c. 3rd century BCE) and is said to have had cordial relations with the Tamil chieftains Vēl Pāri and Athiyamān. She wrote 59 poems in the Puṟanāṉūṟu.[1] There are large university libraries in USA (e.g., U of Chicago, Madison campus of UofW) with these books bought under the PL-480 agreement between USA and India [in exchange for US-foreign aid, every book in print in India were purchased for several major libraries in USA, for x number of years] Any university campus library can get an interlibrary loan from one of the major libraries and get you the book. Many have been translated into English and a few other languages as well.
I always liked Draupadi than sita. Sita just jumped into the fire, just coz lord Ram asked her to. Draupadi was a strong woman who questioned her husband's on being used as a pawn in a game.
Dharmic life for a women, my opinions Live life according to her wishes. Be happy. Be smart. Dont cheat others, but dont get cheated yourself. take care of elders and parents If a woman does have kids, be the best mom for them.
"Long before the times of Draupadi and Sita Immortalised in the hymns of Rig Veda But forget to the memory of India The Warrior Queen with an iron leg, Vishpala..." Vishpala is one of the few women mentioned in the Rigveda, and a warrior herself. Legend is that she helped in a battle by the Ashvins and lost her leg. In turn as gratitude, the Ashvin twins gave her a "leg of iron" so that she could keep running - the earliest occurrence of a prosthesis, as well a reference to a female warrior! (Vishpala - Wikipedia). Here is a modern interpretation of Vishpala as Avishi. There isn't much information available about Vishpala, hence the author has taken the liberty of her imagination to reconstruct the original tale, with a strong female empowering messages obviously. "The story is not only about developing skills to defeat one’s enemy but also to develop one’s conscience and defeat the evil within ourselves." Available @ Avishi: Vishpala of Rig Veda Reimagined eBook: Saiswaroopa Iyer: Amazon.in.
Not for the first time Ram and Sita, both, have been portrayed as 'weak'. Far from the truth, they are both exceptionally strong and exceptionally loving (none more than the other), but unfortunately they do get maligned easily.
I am a Hindu by birth as well as by brought up. Let me make it very clear: Every religion evolved before thousands of years ago, for a specific purpose. The purpose was to serve the needs and issues in the context of the contemporary people in that period. For example, without naming, I will discuss about one particular religion and the gentleman who created that religion. This religion and the gentleman who created that religion has propagated 2000 years ago that a man should marry up to four wives. Two thousand years ago, war between tribes and two different countries was the rule of the day. Men died in large numbers in every community and the number of widowed women outnumbered the number of available single men in every community. These widows ( with their kids), without any source of livelihood, perished in that society. Their own families treated the widows as taboo subjects. Not only that, these widowed women were the object of Predatory activity of the other neighbourhood men too. In order to save these widows from poverty and starvation......and also from the Predatory activity of other men, that great man, who founded that 2000 years old religion, advised the existing resourceful men to marry up to four women, 2000 years ago. He insisted on men, to marry widows with children also. 2000 years back, these otherwise hapless Windows with children had managed to secure resources and Safety of an already married man and could lead some dignified life, which was much much better than living at the mercy of predatory activities of neighbourhood men. Can you extrapolate that context which existed 2000 years ago, to the context prevailing now? It will be really really insensible and stupid to advise the men now, to marry up to 4 women. What was very much relevant and the need of the day for those who lived 2000 years ago has become not only insensible and irrelevant but also dangerous to the gender equality of today's context. Similar to that, every religion and every mythology evolved for a particular need of the individuals who lived in that contemporary Period of the remote past. After 2 or 3 thousand years has passed ; sitting now and wasting our energy in an attempt to apply those principles, in to today's context will be an useless, non productive waste of time. I consider @BhumiBabe as a highly intelligent and wisdom filled member, capable of learning from her own mistakes as well as from others mistakes Seeing her getting into this futile exercise, surprises me !!
