Women’s Dharma-Ancient and Modern: Three Points
1. Karaagre Vasti Lakshmi, Kar madhye Saraswati
Kar moole sithate Brahma, Prabhaate kar darshanam.
At dawn I perform darshan of palm of my hand
Far end I see resident Lakshmi, in the middle Saraswati
And the Base by Brahma.
Here is a shloka to remind us of the Goddess as giver of wealth and knowledge. It also indicates that our deeds (Karma) done as selfless service to Lakshmi and Saraswati Makes us the architects of our own destiny.
2. Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari tatha
Pancha kanya smarennityam mahapataka nashakam
This famous Sanskrit verse remembers five women who appear in the two epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. They are Ahalya, Draupadi Kunti Tara and Mandodari. The chanting of this shloka is supposed to stop people from sinful transgressions by just thinking about these names. These women are immortalized in myth and legend, and are held up as ideals.
The five are described as kanyas (virgins). This sounds ironic since they all had more than one man in their life-inside marriage and outside of it. This fact in the ancient patriarchical society did not prevent common folk from recognizing and idealizing the secular heights attained by them. Thus the current feminist ideas seem no longer modern. The era represents our culture when self determination of women was paramount. The women participated actively in decision making not only for inside the home but also outside the home, and did not hesitate to question the authority of friend and foe alike.
The story of the beautiful Ahalya in Ramayana is interesting for transgressions of her own choosing, and not of her choosing. She was married to Gautama who had raised her as a step child. She gave in to advances made by Indra the powerful because of her youthful urges. The story is reminiscent of the scandals of Woody Allen and the recent politicos rolled into one. However, what is starkly different is the capacity of Ahalya in suffering the imposed punishment, and the long wait for redemption. As a brave woman she withdrew into herself and stood as a rock in the ground waiting for the day of redemption that came with Rama which transformed Ahalya into a mature woman.
Draupadi, the shared wife of the five Pandus in the Mahabharata, suffered greatly because of the folly of her Pandus. But her valor and demand for rightful revenge did not go unnoticed, and unmet. She demonstrated leadership and courage in the face of cowardice by all the male Pandus. She rescued them from the clutches of Kurus after their debacle in the chess game before the war. By her sheer wit, intelligence and valor she demonstrated ‘who wore pants’ in the Pandu household. Her demand for revenge was one of the factors that engineered the war and victory.
Kunti, another woman in Mahabharata, was the real powerhouse behind the war. Her leadership of the Pandus made them fight for their birthright. She chose her own husband, and chose to have only three sons while married to the King Pandu, by begetting Niyogi children as laid down by the scriptures, and with the partner she chose. Her other son, Karna, was born before marriage (with Sun god as the partner), and abandoned in swaddling and left afloat in a basket reminiscent of Moses in Egypt. Kunti was brave, cunning and a politician. She did not divulge the secret birth of Karna, and also knowingly refused to recognize and acknowledge him in public. This fact by itself had immeasurable consequences for the war since Karna was an ally of Kurus and hence the enemy of the Pandus. However, after the war she joined hands with the mother of the defeated and lived together with her.
Tara and Mandodari come to us from Ramayana. Tara, the shared wife of the brothers Bali and Sugreeva, was a beautiful woman. But for Bali’s jealousy and refusal to share, we would not have heard of this character. Tara comes off as a brave woman with foresight and wisdom of good counsel for Bali who refused to listen. As the widow she did not hesitate to chide and harass Rama over his cunning and deceit in killing Bali while he was in a battle with Sugreeva.
Mandodari was the wife of Ravana, a great scholar of his time whose knowledge went to his head and abducted Sita the wife of Rama. Mandodari was beautiful, devoted wife, and only gave birth to one son apparently by choice. The legend has it that if she had produced more children Rama would never have been able to vanquish Ravana. Mandodari is depicted as a woman of foresight, determination, and wisdom. Ravana refused to listen to her counsel and was defeated, and killed.
Thus remembering the five feminists of the ancient is by itself liberating.They were larger than life, brave, not infallible, and when faced with situations that needed action did what needed to be done. They showed greatness and grit in facing the vicissitudes of life and met it head-on, and made choices without being pushed around.
3. Then we have relatively modern kashmiri women to remember for their bravery, skill and wisdom.
We had queen Didda who ruled Kashmir after 958 A.D. until about 1003 A.D. She was a politician, ruled wisely and had the audacity and cunning of intrigue in her. No wonder even now all women want to emulate this woman. And Kashmiris call any wise and respectable woman a ‘Ded’.
Kuta Rani ruled Kashmir in 13 43 A.D. as wife of the king and for a short time by herself. However, when the Muslim king defeated her and took over, she killed herself rather than marry him; demonstrating ultimate bravery, wisdom and fortitude unsurpassed to emulate.