Wen | Dezhijun (South China Normal University)
India is now a very insecure country for women, full of rape, martyrdom, abuse, discrimination against women... So, is this sexism only in the human world? In the mythological world of India, can the goddesses turn over?
The colorful Hindu mythology is one of the oldest and richest mythological systems in the world, and its popularity is comparable to that of ancient Greco-Roman mythology. Therefore, it is not easy to find a "good book" in the field of Indian mythology that is both easy to understand and academic. Dezhijun recently read the British mythologist Veronical Ions's Hindu Mythology. After thinking about the gender conflict in India today and the embarrassing position of Indian women, Dezhijun believes that there is a deep social meaning behind the image of the goddess in Indian mythology.
Veronica Irons, Myths of India, Economic Daily Press, 2001
Hindu goddess status: from the main god to the vassal
In the early days of primitive society, the ancestors faced a very harsh living environment, often plagued by beasts of prey and starvation, and procreation and life maintenance became their top priorities. Thus women with rich life experience and the ability to produce offspring became the leaders of primitive groups, and this social form was a matriarchal clan society. Thus, "there were many illustrious goddesses in the early days of mythology— something that is common to world myths and reflects the realities of early human society." Indian mythology is no exception.
The Hindu myth of prithivi is one such goddess. It is recorded that the mother earth, Pritivi, and the god Dyaus "gave birth to all other gods and human beings" and that "Prativi, as the mother of the earth, created all living things, people, and gods, and thus the mother of all things, with the help of the semen that descended from the Father in the form of rain, honey, and oil." From this point of view, the mother earth Pritivi should have a very high status. The cult of Mother Earth was so prevalent in the Indus civilization that a large number of statues and seals of Mother Earth have been unearthed at the site: "Most of them are clearly depicted on seals showing plants growing out of the goddess's womb, or on seals where human sacrifices are held in front of a naked goddess."
However, in later myths, the image of the mother earth suddenly became the weaker party, forced by the human king, disguised as a yak to escape, and forced to produce milk after being caught, so that the world was filled with all kinds of grains and vegetables. Here, Mother Earth is not the main god of the previous "Mother of All Things", but the image of a weak person who is chased and coerced by mortals.
▲ The dramatic change in the image of the mother earth
However, the changes in the identity and status of Mother Plitiva in the mythological story are only a microcosm of the increased subordination of the goddess in Indian mythology, and the myths that follow are more obvious, such as in a certain version of the myth of human origin, "Brahma created a female companion from his body, and he fell in love with her... Brahma combined with this girl, who was both his daughter and his wife, to give birth to humanity." The goddess is part of the body of the male god. This "Eve-like tragedy" vividly expresses the status of the goddess as a vassal. In addition, the goddess figures in the two epic poems " Mahabharata " and "Ramayana " , such as Siddhartha , the Black Princess and Savidri , in the face of their husbands' betrayal , such as Brahma's remarriage and Arjuna's big marriage , although they all made angry gestures or made a big fuss, but in the end they could only give up calmly.
From the revered mother Plitavi to the helplessness of goddesses such as Siddhartha, the Black Princess, and Sawidri rebelling against their husbands, in these stories, the independence of the goddess is getting worse and worse, and the dependence on the male god is getting stronger. Behind the change in the status of the goddess is the gradual marginalization and subordination of the social status of Indian women.
It can be seen that in the ancient period of India and even the Vedic period, the social status of Indian women was still relatively high. Women not only perform religious rituals, but also play an indispensable and important role: "Without the company of the wife, any sacrifices made by the husband cannot please the gods". At the same time, most women have access to education, "There are many poems in the Rig Vedas that may have been written by women. It is believed that 2,500 years ago, women teachers and scholars were not uncommon in India", and many women even owned private property and became heirs and administrators of property. It can be seen that Indian women at this time have an autonomous status and greater independence in religious life and family life.
Yama in the Rig Vedas
However, the social status of Indian women showed a significant downward trend in the late Vedic period. The tendency of male superiority over female inferiority was affirmed and sanctified by Brahmanism and gradually became the mainstream concept of Indian society. Thus, the two epics that arose at this time, and the vassal status of the goddess or woman proclaimed between the lines, are a clear manifestation of this social phenomenon, "this idea of vassalage is imposed on Indian women by Brahmanization, just as Chinese women are bound to the Three Principles and Five Constants." In addition, the inhumane widow martyrdom "sati" also originates from the mythological story after the Vedic era, "Sati is a young girl in ancient Indian mythology. She committed suicide by jumping into the flame because her family insulted her husband Shiva (i.e. Shiva)." There is a close connection between mythological stories and historical facts, and the changes in the image of the goddess and her status in Different Periods of India reflect the changes in the social status and social situation of Indian women.
Sadly, the social status of Indian women has not changed much to this day. In December 2012, the "black bus gang rape case" in New Delhi, India, which shocked the world, made India's "rape problem" attract widespread attention around the world. The high incidence of sex crimes can't help but make people wonder why ancient civilizations have become a hell for women around the world. "Many sociologists have studied it and come to a unified conclusion: it stems from the extremely low social status of Indian women." However, Dezhijun believes that it is not very comprehensive to explain this phenomenon simply by the low social status of women, and the emergence of this phenomenon is also related to another social implication of the goddess image in Indian mythology and her story.
Love and Asceticism: The Relationship Between the Sexes in the Eyes of Indians
In ancient and modern Indian society, abstinence and asceticism are one of the basic dogmas of Indian religion. Believers will use asceticism and abstinence as a necessary means of attaining the ultimate truth and freedom from samsara, so they have not only constructed a complete theory of asceticism at the doctrinal and dogmatic levels, such as the Manu Law, which has a chapter devoted to the provisions of asceticism, but also developed various practices of controlling bodily desires, such as various types of yoga and cultivation methods.
But as Marx said: "This religion is both a religion of indulgence and a religion of self-torture asceticism; a religion of worship of Linga and a religion of Zagnat." Indian religion emphasizes that love and abstinence go hand in hand. This idea of love and asceticism coexists is directly reflected in Hindu mythology, especially Hindu mythology.
For example, the story of Shiva and his second wife, Pārvatī. According to the record, Pavarti himself practiced asceticism in order to please Shiva, but Shiva immersed himself in self-asceticism and was not moved by it. Thus, "Pavarti resorted to a last resort – a hunger strike, lying in ice water torturing her flesh". Pavarti eventually gained Shiva's favor and married him. Here, asceticism is considered an act that Pavalti used to win love and marriage, illustrating that in the Indian conception that love desire and asceticism do not contradict, or even complement each other. In addition, "love desire" has long been regarded by Indians as one of the three major goals of life (Dharma, wealth, and love).
▲ "Family Portrait": Shiva, Pavarti and The Ganesha
While indians are pursuing liberation, they are not separated from this worldly life, especially the tolerance and recognition of sex and the lust of men and women, which is unique to this religious people in India. There are even sects that worship the combination of the sexes, the Sex Force School. The Sexual Force school worships the divine sexual force and emphasizes that the sexual union of the male god and the goddess produces energy, and "the pleasure of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman transcends the enjoyment of mere physical faculties and is the religious pleasure felt when the phenomenal man and the physical God are united." The school even believes that "female fertility is the fundamental force that creates the universe, and without female fertility, there would be no world." This is also reflected in the myth they subscribe to: "There is a religious hymn that says: 'When Shiva and 'Shakti' are one, he will be able to exercise his powers like a king, and if he does not unite, he will achieve nothing.".
In short, in the Indian tradition, sex is both natural and sacred. For the Indians, "abstinence and indulgence are the unity of opposites, escaping from desire is not really abstinence, abstinence should be out of the mud and not stained, in the satisfaction of carnal desire to maintain spiritual transcendence and spiritual purity and sublime, and finally to achieve unity with God." This is also reflected in myths, such as the Black Sky (i.e. Krishna, one of Vishnu's incarnations), in which he had sex with many shepherds, and whenever the black sky "blew his flute to summon the shepherds, they all slipped away from their husbands to meet him" . Thus, they confuse devout faith in God with sexual love between men and women, and try to embody the divine realm of the unity of man and God in the intercourse of men and women. This is why until now, Indian society has repeatedly experienced social chaos of gang sex and gang rape.
▲ The love between Juada and Krishna
Conclusion
Gender issues have always been a focal point in different cultural systems. Since the Western Enlightenment, most women have won political, economic, educational, and legal social rights for themselves through various means, but "if people go to investigate deeply, no one dares to say that gender equality has been fully realized on the earth", India is a classic example. The high incidence of sex crimes can't help but make people wonder why ancient civilizations have become a hell for women around the world. To be sure, there are many reasons for the high incidence of sexual offences, including nationalism. But Dezhijun felt that to trace the root cause of this problem, the goddesses and women in Indian mythology are an important key, which can open the door to women's issues in the mysterious country of India.
bibliography:
1. Veronica Irons, translated by Sun Shihai and Wang Yong: The Myth of India[m], Beijing: Economic Daily Press, 2001.
2. He Zhangyao, "Studies on Women and Gender in The Classics of Eastern and Western Cultures"[m], Shanghai: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 2013.
3. Zhang Peiyong, "The Thinking Form of Indian Mythology"[j], Social Scientist, No. 6, 1992.
4. Zhang Qicheng, "The Myth and Civilization of India"[j], Guizhou Literature and History Series, No. 2, 2005.
5. Marx, Engels: Selected Works of Marx and Engels (Vol. 1)[m], Beijing: People's Publishing House, 1995.