Tuesday 8 October 2019

Patriarchy and Women’s Body in the popular text; Mādhavī in the Mahābhārata


Patriarchy and Women’s Body in the popular text; Mādhavī in the Mahābhārata
-Dr. Ravi Khangai
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India- 440033.

Adjunct Faculty
Hindu University of America, USA.


Abstract-
Scriptures are often used to make patriarchal control sacrosanct over women’s body. Principal women characters of the Mahābhārata like Draupadī, Kuntī and Satyavatī having more than one man in their life, suggest that the values that governed gender relations were not as rigid as it became later. Along with the expansion of the epic, the lives of the women characters in the epic underwent transformations to suit the patriarchal perception. Women characters that had more than one man in their lives had their virginity restored before she is given to another man. The boon of restoration avoided the situation of moral discomfort.  Restorations of virginity of these women restore the honor of men who are supposed to be protector and owner of woman’s sexuality and procreative power. These women characters are portrayed as passive who allow their bodies to be manipulated according to men’s convenience and sense of honor.
Key words- Body, Honor, Patriarchy, Possess, Silence.
Objective- This paper is an attempt of understanding the changing attitude towards sexuality and gender power equations in ancient India as reflected in the Mahābhārata in the context of Mādhavī’s story.
Introduction-
“Whether we realize it or not, it remains a fact that we in India still stand under the spell of the Mahābhārata” (Sukthankar 1998: 32)
This statement made by Sukthankar, the distinguished scholar of the Mahābhārata way back in 1942 still stands true. The fascination for the centuries old epic refuses to die down. The prediction of Ugraśravas, one of the narrator of the epic seems to be proving true.
“Poets have told it before, poets are telling it now, other poets shall tell this history on earth in the future” (Bhutenin 1973: 21)  
The epic is believed to have been acquired written from 400 B.C. to 400 A.D. (Buitenen 1973: xxv)  Though the language used in the narration corresponds to this period, but the episodes like Draupadī’s polyandry seems to be the residuals of the remote past. (Dhand 2008: 243)    The behavioral patterns that were accepted in one period became socially unacceptable with the passage of time, but their memories had survived through the text. Having incorporated the stories from the different traditions the epic had become a kind of literary mosaic. Sukhantakar says,
“The result is naturally a confused assemblage of heterogenous matter originating from different hands and belonging to different strata” (Sukthankar 1998:10)
Not being written by an individual and having developed over centuries makes it more valuable as a source of history. In spite this variegated nature; the patriarchal influence over the epic is obvious.  A woman being treated as man’s property is obvious when Ambā is told by her former lover Śālva that she is ‘Bhīshma’s chattel’ as Bhīshma won her in a dual. (Buitenen 1978: 499)     In general, the lives of the women characters in the epic are shaped according to men’s convenience, justifying Foucault’s postulation that power is essentially what dictates laws related to sex and what is permitted and forbidden. (Foucault 1990: 83)
Why Obsession with Virginity?
In line with the patriarchal desire of controlling female body and sexuality, also came the expectations that a woman should be a virgin at the time of her marriage as it is through her that the linage continues.  In the Varṇa divided society, the purity of the Varṇa status depended upon the sexual purity of women.  
“Women are recognized as the repositories of class and family identity. It is only they, through faithful sexual conduct, who can preserve the integrity of the Varṇa system.” (Dhand 2008 : 1696-1697)

Though the responsibility of preserving the purity of bloodline is mainly shifted on women, men are not let off altogether. Promiscuous behaviors for both the sexes are censored and celibacy and being faithful to one’s partner are upheld as great virtues. (Shah 2012: 75)  But the empirical data from the Mahābhārata on sexuality is highly diffused, giving a tantalizing glimpse of widely differential societies and cultures. (Shah 2012: 69)The residual of the past promiscuity exist in the epic as Pāṇḍu tells Kuntī,    
“…in the olden days, so we hear, the women went uncloistered, …….they were their own mistresses who took their pleasure where it pleased them. From childhood on they were faithless to their husbands, but yet not lawless, for such was the Law in the olden days…….this is the eternal law that favors women.” (Buitenen 1973: 253)
This behavior was later curtailed and restrictions were imposed upon the chaotic man-woman relationship. (Buitenen 1973: 254)  As the norms governing the sexual relations changed over the time, the residuals of promiscuous  behaviors in the epic created a situation of moral discomfort. One way to resolve this dilemma is to alter the text in such a manner that the façade of the male prestige is maintained. It is probably for this purpose, that many women characters in the epic like Satyavatī, Kuntī and Draupadī, who have more than one man in their lives, have their virginity restored before they are given to another man.  The women do not become virgin again for their own sake. It is only if she is to be given to another man that her virginity is restored. It is also postulated that virginity is a state of mind. (Chaturvedi 2010: 161)This implies that a woman shall erase the memory of her earlier relation before she is given to another man. A woman who has given her heart to some other man is considered dangerous.  Bhīṣhma refuses to give Ambā to his brother, 
“What a man who knows the perilous flaws of women would ever allow a woman in love with another man to lodge in his house like a snake?”  (Buitenen 1978: 506)
By restoring virginity, the epic creates a narrative that husband is the owner of woman’s unspoiled, intact body and mind and she should carry only his bloodline in her womb. This also restores the honor of father/guardian, who was supposed to protect the virginity of his daughter before he gave her in marriage to a suitable groom. The epic obviously struggles to justify Draupadī’s polyandry by interpolating different myths. (Buitenen 1973:319-320, 369, 371-374) Thus gives a message that virginity is a prime virtue for a woman. She is doomed if she lost it and needs to be rescued; if necessary by a boon.
The expectation of carrying the bloodline of husband can be compromised in certain cases as obvious from the different episodes of Nīyoga in the epic. (Khangai 2015:14-24)
Mādhavī-
Mādhavī’s story is narrated in the Udyogaparvan of the epic and she is also subjected to the textual manipulation of her body. (Buitenen 1978: 398- 414)   Sage Viśvāmitra had a disciple named Gālava.  As per the usages of the time, the disciple wanted to offer gurudakṣiṇā; the departing fees given by the pupil to his teacher at the time of completion his studies. As Galva was poor, the sage refused to take anything but Gālava insisted. This enraged the sage and he gave a very difficult task to Galva,
“Give me eight hundred horses, each having a black ear, and having the luster of the moon” (Buitenen 1978: 398)
Gālava worried over this difficult demand of his guru, goes to different places. Finally he goes to king Yayāti and requests for the help. Yayāti says that he does not have adequate wealth to give him for purchasing eight hundred such horses, but he does not want to disappoint the Brahmin sage and is willing to give his daughter to him. He adds that his daughter is capable of giving birth to sons and is so beautiful that even the Gods want to possess her and any king will give away his kingdom as a prize for his daughter, so what to say about eight hundred horses. Throughout this conversation Mādhavī does not say anything; neither she protest against her father’s decision of giving her away to stranger.
Gālava walks away with Mādhavī and takes her to king Haryaśwa of Ayodhyā and request for the horses in return of Mādhavī. The king says that he does not have eight hundred horses but only two hundred. But the king becomes afflicted by desire after seeing Mādhavī and request Gālava to let him produce one son on her. His obsession is obvious by the way he describes Mādhavī’s beauty. (Buitenen 1978: 407)  Now Gālava is in a dilemma, he had planned to give Mādhavī to the king who can give him the desired eight hundred horses. Here Mādhavī rescues him by reveling that she had a boon of becoming virgin again after giving birth to a child and Gālava can give her to four different kings and have eight hundred horses.  This is the only time she speaks in the story. The king produces one son on her and after that she is taken to two more kings i.e. king Divodāsa of Kāśis and king Uśínara of Bhoja. They both produce one son each on her and Gālava takes two hundred horses of the same descriptions from each of them. Thus he collects six hundred horses by exchanging the procreative power and sexuality of Mādhavī to the three different kings for specific periods. The relations between Mādhavī and the three kings do not remain confined to the reproduction only, but their romance is vividly described in the epic. There is no stigma attached to her relations with the next two kings even though she already had a son with the first king.
Gālava does not find remaining two hundred horses and finally goes to Sage Viśvāmitra and requests him to take six hundred horses and also take Mādhavī. He also tells the sage that three kings have already produced three sons on her and the sage can also produce one more. The sage looks at Mādhavī and says,
“Gālava, why did you not give this woman to me to begin with? I would have had four sons to prosper my line” (Buitenen 1978: 410)
After this the sage accepts Mādhavī and produces one son on her and also accepts six hundred horses. Gālava now takes Mādhavī back to her father Yāyati, who now organizes a svyaṃvara, a bridegroom choice for her. Many people, including kings come to this svyaṃvara as suitors. Mādhavī however selects forest as her consort. The text further describes that Mādhavī entered the forest, practiced austerity and was decked with chastity. (Buitenen 1978: 411)
Changing value system-
 The patriarchal anxiety to produce son is obvious in the story. All the four sons remain with their respective fathers. The king after king and even sage Viśvāmitra accepts Mādhavī, even though she had already given birth to a child from someone else. Even after giving birth to four children from four different men, her Svyaṃvara attracts many suitors. This indicates that in the particular poetic tradition from where this story has entered in the epic, premarital relation and pregnancy of unmarried girl was accepted without blemish. The sun God tells the same thing to Kuntī,
 “..a free girl is on earth called kanyā …….because she desires them all….All women are untrammeled, as are men”  (Buitenen 1975 : 789)
Mādhavī is not given in marriage, but treated as disposable property by men in her life who alienate her or her reproductive capacity and sexuality at will. (Shah 2012: 46) The story seems to have gone through lot of alteration and she is repeatedly made virgin to bring her in line with the changed patriarchal perceptions. A boon is a handy tool that is used as a façade to white wash the uncomfortable textual legacy of the past.
Meaningful silence-
 Mādhavī’s silent but resolute rejection of all the suitors at the time of svyaṃvara and selecting forest as her consort challenges the patriarchy who wants to harness woman’s sexuality and procreative power. But there is no whimpering about it in the text! Does the sensitive mind of the poet gives space to her to express her anguish/disgust with the world of men by rejecting them?  Men had made use of her for sensual pleasure and for begetting sons and she finally thought the life of celibacy will be better than a life of a domestic bliss? Throughout the episode Mādhavī speaks only once and that to support her own repeated mortgage. Patriarchy managed to silence her at will and also managed to use her as an agency in her own exploitation.  Her sacrifices are not complete here. The merit that she earned while leading the life of ascetic is also sacrificed later for her father’s sake. (Buitenen 1978: 412.) Woman’s sexuality and austerity both are put to use to serve the purpose of men.
Men’s Dharma, women’s sacrifice-
It was a Dharma of Yayāti to honor the wishes of the Brahmin ascetic and it was the Dharma of Gālava to give gurudakṣiṇā. Both are saved by sacrificing Mādhavī. Women’s sexuality is put to use to uphold the Dharma of men is also narrated in a rather strange case of Oghavatī, who provides sexual favor to the guest for honoring the Grihasthāshramādharma i.e. householder’s duty of her husband. (Debroy 2014:503) As a reward for this, Oghavatī’s husband goes to the abode of divine in physical body. Oghavatī also does not incur any sin out of the act. So when the Dharma of men is at stake a sexual transgression of women does not remain a transgression but she becomes co-partner in upholding the Dharma. It is lauded in the epic that a householder should not refuse anything to a Brahmin guest and he should be treated like a God. Oghavatī’s episode raises a question if a wife had an independent personality or she is reckoned as one of the household item? (Dange 2001:xx)
Yayāti’s inability to provide adequate wealth to Gālava to purchase required eight hundred horses is like a violation of the code of conduct for a Kṣatriya king and not honoring the wishes of the Brahmin guest is supposed to bring great calamity. (Buitenen 1978: 406). Yayāti’s redeems his inability by sacrificing the sexuality and procreative power of his daughter at the hands of the strangers. The text legitimizes Gālava’s repeated act of pimping a maiden because his obligation towards his preceptor is more important.
Staking of woman without her consent to settle the matter between men occurs repeatedly in the epic. It is not only Yudhiṣṭhira who staked Draupadī during the dice game with the hope to win back the kingdom, Kṛṣṇa whom Draupadī trusted also tries to lure away Karṇa just before the Mahābhārata war with the offer of becoming the sixth husband of Draupadī.
“And at the sixth turn you shall lie with Draupadī” (Buitenen 1978: 444)
There is no mention of Draupadī’s consent to this.
Stockholm syndrome?-
Mādhavī and Oghavatī’s willing compliance with the respective wishes of their father and husband are examples of ‘hegemony with consent’.  Women due to the psychological conditioning that they receive since childhood become agencies through which patriarchal perception is reinforced. They take pride in their subjugation to male hegemony. Commenting on this Hirsi Ali writes,
“Because they have internalized their subordination, they no longer experience it as oppression by an external force but as a strong internal shield. Women who have mastered the survival strategies derive a certain pride from living this way. They are like prisoners suffering from Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages fall in love with the hostage takers and establish a deep, intimate contact with them. But it is an unhealthy intimacy, comparable to slaves who are subordinate not only in body, but also psychologically, and who preferred the certainty of their existence in slavery to a freedom that they perceive as treacherous.” (Ali 2008: 646-651)
Conclusion-
The excessive importance given to virginity not only put women at disadvantage, it creates a fear in the mind of those who are supposed to be responsible for her.  
“The daughter was misfortunate also because safeguarding her virginity was an exacting task.  Unlike celibacy in males which symbolizes their own self-control, the virginity of girls implies control over their behavior by their kinsmen. Its loss, therefore is a loss of prestige for them” (Shah 2012: 82)
This notion of sexual purity puts women to great disadvantage. During the communal riots and rapes following the partition of India in 1947, many Hindus refused to accept their women when they were brought back from Pakistan. (Karve 2008:190)
However the epic does put limits to the tyranny of men and also put them under obligation towards women. Bhīṣma has to pay prize for his wrongdoing to Ambā and she became the cause of his death. Draupadī’s humiliation angers Kṛṣṇa so much that he says that the men who have angered her will lie on the face of the earth and their women will weep. (Buitenen 1975: 251) Bhīma is always eager to please her and avenges her insult by killing all her tormentors. Women as a mother also receive high respect. The Pāṇḍavā as are depicted as always being obedient to Kuntī.
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References-   
·         Ali H. (2008) The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman's Cry for Reason, Simon & Schuster, UK. (Kindle Edition) 
·         Buitenen J.A.B. (1973) The Mahābhārata, Volume 1. The Book of the Beginning, The University of Chicago Press.
·         Buitenen J.A.B. (1975) The Mahābhārata, Volume 2,  2. The Book of the Assembly Hall, 3. The Book of the Forest, The University of Chicago Press.
·         Buitenen J.A.B. (1978) The Mahābhārata, Volume 3,  4. The Book of Virāṭa, 5. The Book of the Effort, The University of Chicago Press.
·         Chaturvedi B. (2010) The Women of The Mahābhārata, Orient BlackSwan, Hydrabad.
·         Dange S.A. (2001) Myths from the Mahābhārata, Vol.2, Study in Patterns and Symbols, Aryan Books International, New Delhi,
·         Debroy B. (2014) The Mahābhārata, Volume 9, Penguin Books, New Delhi.
·         Dhand A. (2008) Woman As Fire, Woman As Sage: Sexual Ideology in the Mahābhārata, S U N Y Series in Religious Studies (Kindle Edition.)
·         Foucault M. (1990) The History of Sexuality, an introduction, Volume I, Vintage Books, New York.
·         Karve I. (2008) Yuganta, the end of an epoch, Orient Blackswan, Hydrabad, India.
·         Khangai R. (2015) Niyoga (Levirate ) and sexual Politics in Ancient India; Reflection on the Indian Epic Mahabharata. in ‘American Research Journal of History and Culture’, Vol. I, Issue 1. (https://www.arjonline.org/full-text/american-research-journal-of-history-and-culture/niyogalevirate-and-sexual-politics-in-ancient-india-reflection-on-the-indian-epic-mahabharata 30/01/2019)
·         McGrath K. (2011)  Strī Feminine Power in the Mahābhārata, Orient BlackSwan, Hydrabad.
·         Shah S. (2012) The Making of Womanhood, Gendered Relations in the Mahābhārata, Manohar, New Delhi.
·         Sukthankar V.S. (1998) On the Meaning of the Mahābhārata, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi.

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