Atrocity Literature
and blaming Native Culture
Justification for Colonial Rule in India
Justification for Colonial Rule in India
Rajiv Malhotra ( ? ) founder of The Infinity Foundation, a non-profit organization in Princeton, New Jersey and author of the book, Breaking India: Western Inventions and Dalit Faultlines has observed:
"Atrocity literature played its part in downgrading
women’s right, too. Veena Oldenburg’s seminal
book, Dowry Murder, gives
details on how the British encouraged the Indians to dish out cases of
atrocities that could then be blamed on
the native cultures. They systematically compiled these anecdotes,
mostly unsubstantiated and often
exaggerated and one-sided. This became a justification to enact laws
that downgraded the rights of common citizens. The book shows how the dowry
extortions that have become so common in middle-class today, were actually
started when women’s traditional property rights were taken away by the British
through convoluted logic."
(source: Breaking India: Western Inventions
and Dalit Faultlines - By Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan p. 5). Refer to
chapter on European
Imperialism and British aristocracy ‘ate human flesh’
India. In this highly provocative book, Veena Oldenburg argues that these killings are
neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture or caste system that
encourages violence against women. Rather, such killings can be traced directly
to the influences of the British colonial era.
In the Pre-Colonial
period, dowry was an institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to
establish their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of the massive economic and societal
upheaval brought on by British rule, women's entitlements to the precious
resources obtained from land were erased and their control of the system
diminished, ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives.
Taking us on a journey into the colonial Punjab,
she skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to indict
them for interpreting these crimes against women as the inherent defects of
Hindu caste culture. The British,
publicized their "civilizing mission" and blamed the caste system in order
to cover up the devastation their own agrarian policies had wrought on the
Indian countryside.
An East India Company officer made the earliest causal
link between the dowry system and violence against girls in 1789, when he
discovered female infanticide. The finding added powerfully to the company’s
description of the exotic “cruel” and “barbaric” culture encountered in the
process of its conquest of this strange land. On the backs of such discoveries
rode the moral imperative of imperialism – its famous “civilizing mission.” This served as the most compelling
justification, both to the company itself and to a critical public in England, for
the conquest, pillage, and domination of Indian peoples and the destruction of
their local cultures. It was in this context too, that Hindu women’s
apparently degraded position in an allegedly rigid caste system became a
central preoccupation of colonial rulers and the subject of endless debates,
reform rhetoric, and legislation.
In 1813 the “civilizing mission” received an additional fillip when the British Parliament passed the India Act of 1813 to admit missionaries, who had hitherto been excluded from tinkering with the most exquisite brand of heathenism in the wild Indian empire because of their politically volatile denunciation of Hindu beliefs and practices. Christian missionaries added greatly to the self-righteousness bombast of this mission. James Peggs, a man of the cloth, made an exhaustive, lurid, and cliche-laden compendium on the entire gamut of "Hindoo social evils." His text was cobbled from pertinent Parliament Papers and it first appeared in 1826 as Suttee Cry to Britain, followed by a thicker version with female infanticide added on and tellingly called India's Cries to British Humanity. In 1832 this pamphlet was fattened from 110 pages to 518, and renamed Cries of Agony: An Historical Account of Suttee, Infanticide, Ghat Murders, and Slavery in India. The Coventry School for the Abolition of Human Sacrifice in India published an abridgement of the original pamphlet and distributed free copies. It remains in print to this day! It was a great victory for William Wilberforce and fellow Evangelicals in England to expand their operations to the Indian theatre. The prime target for reform was the generally hapless "Hindoo woman."
In 1813 the “civilizing mission” received an additional fillip when the British Parliament passed the India Act of 1813 to admit missionaries, who had hitherto been excluded from tinkering with the most exquisite brand of heathenism in the wild Indian empire because of their politically volatile denunciation of Hindu beliefs and practices. Christian missionaries added greatly to the self-righteousness bombast of this mission. James Peggs, a man of the cloth, made an exhaustive, lurid, and cliche-laden compendium on the entire gamut of "Hindoo social evils." His text was cobbled from pertinent Parliament Papers and it first appeared in 1826 as Suttee Cry to Britain, followed by a thicker version with female infanticide added on and tellingly called India's Cries to British Humanity. In 1832 this pamphlet was fattened from 110 pages to 518, and renamed Cries of Agony: An Historical Account of Suttee, Infanticide, Ghat Murders, and Slavery in India. The Coventry School for the Abolition of Human Sacrifice in India published an abridgement of the original pamphlet and distributed free copies. It remains in print to this day! It was a great victory for William Wilberforce and fellow Evangelicals in England to expand their operations to the Indian theatre. The prime target for reform was the generally hapless "Hindoo woman."
These masterly representation of a distant and dangerous
world plagued with "Hindoo barbarities, as they were increasingly called (despite the failure to find them sanctioned
in any "Hindoo" texts) rendered India the ideal site for continued
and expanding colonial control.
(source: Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime - By
Veena Talwar Oldenburg 42 -
46. For more refer to chapter on European
Imperialism).
(Note: During the British Raj, homosexuality was
considered a sin. The British passed the law of 1860 - Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which taken to
be an improvement for Great Britain, which had previously punished
homosexuality by execution and torture, but
for India it was a great step backward since Hindu culture had never previously
criminalized homosexuality. For more refer to chapter on thoughts).
Dowry And Dowry
Demands: What's And How's - By Beloo Mehra
For a while, we also goofed around with the
idea of doing what the African-American feminist author Bell Hooks refers to as an “oppositional
gaze" by coming up with suggestions for 'informative' documentaries that
Indian cable TV networks could produce on the various societal problems in the
west. One member wrote:“Why peep into other people's lives when your own is an unmitigated mess? Is it because you feel that you can get away with it because no one will be peeping into your own house? In my opinion, there is something indecent about 60 minutes poking their nose into someone else's business when they should have been more concerned about the 100 or more date rapes that would have happened just over the duration of this one single show.”
One member suggested that such “internationalization of
internal debates is highly uni-dimensional and is equal to pathologizing
India.”
As horrible as a dowry-related crime is, it is
no different from any other domestic violence against women, which is a
universal social problem. So, while I do not deny the existence of
dowry-related crime, I argue that a whole body of academic literature focusing
on studying this problem in isolation from the issue of the universal problem
of domestic violence has a very high potential of making it a problem closely
linked with Indian culture, which is not only bad scholarship but also very
dangerous. One possible rationale for
organizing such “international” conferences and producing such journalistic
reports like the one on CBS (For Love Of Money - By Christiane Amanpour) could be that, by focusing on issues such as
violence against "third world women", the western media outlets and
these academics help push the issue of violence against women in the west in
the background. This only makes the situation worse for victims of violence
in their own countries. In her book Dislocating Cultures, Uma Narayan writes:
"Most Americans that I have talked to about dowry-murder know that many US women are killed by their partners as a result of domestic violence. Given that many members of the US public know that domestic violence has fatal forms, why is it that they make no connection between the "foreign" phenomenon of dowry-murder and the "familiar" phenomenon of domestic violence?
A friend who participated in my search for the numbers of
US women annually killed by their partners commented that she was surprised at
the difference between the "disappearing dead women" in US accounts
of domestic violence and the "spectacular visibility" of women
murdered over dowry in India" (p. 89).
Gandhiji, Vivekananda
etc. reacted sharply against external criticism but both stood firmly for
internal change.”
(source: Dowry And Dowry
Demands: What's And How's - By Beloo Mehra -
sulekha.com). Refer to Deepa Mehta:
Godmother of Anti Hinduism - By Ron Banerjee -
indiacause.com.
Attacking Devadasi
Tradition in Colonial India
From the 17th century onwards, Christian missionaries made scathing attacks on the Indian classical
dance form seeing it as a heathen practice. This was often expressed by attacking the devadasi system on the
grounds of human rights.
(Note:
Atrocity literature is a technical term referring to literature generated by
Western interests with the explicit goal to show that the target non-Western
culture is committing atrocities on its own people, and hence in need of
Western intervention and justify colonialism and Imperialism).
The devadasis were temple dancers, dedicated in childhood
to a particular deity. The system was at its peak in the 10th and 11th
centuries, but a few hundred years later, the traditional system of temples
protected by powerful kings had faded away under Mughal rule especially since the
Mughals turned it into popular entertainment devoid of spirituality. The devadasi system degenerated in some cases
into temple dancers used for prostitution, although the extent of this was
exaggerated by the colonialists.
Many of the English
educated elites of India accepted the colonial condemnation of their heritage
and apologized for its "primitiveness." Some of them turned into Hindu reformers, and found the
devadasi system detestable for moral and even social-hygienic reasons. However
the devadasis saw their very existence threatened and sent handwritten pleas to
the colonial government explaining the spiritual foundation of Bharatha Natyam.
They quoted Siva from the Saiva Agamas
saying, “To please me during my puja, arrangements must be made daily for
shudda nritta (dance). This should be danced by females born of such families
and the five acharyas should form the accompaniments.” Since these Agamas are
revered by every Hindu, the devadasis asked, “What reason can there be for our
community not to thrive and exist as necessary adjuncts of temple service?”
They opposed the proposed draconian punishment for performing their tradition,
calling the legislation "unparalleled in the civilized world.”
Instead of abolition of their traditional profession, they
demanded better education to restore their historical status. They wanted the
religious, literary and artistic education as in the past, saying,
"Instill into us the Gita and the beauty of the Ramayana and explain to us
the Agamas and the rites of worship.” This would inspire devadasi girls to
model themselves after female saints like Maitreyi, Gargi and Manimekalai and
the women singers of the Vedas, such that,
“we might once again become the preachers of morality and
religion... You who boast of your tender love for small communities, we pray
that you may allow us to live and work out our salvation and manifest ourselves
in jnana and bhakti and keep alight the torch of India's religion amidst the
fogs and storms of increasing materialism and interpret the message of India to
the world."
Despite such attempts, the missionary influence continued
to dominate Bharata Natyam came to be seen as immoral and facing almost certain
extinction. For example, a Dravidianist supported by missionary scholarship
called the dance "the lifeline that encourages the growth of
prostitution."
However, Hindu savants
worked tirelessly to remove the Christian slurs cast on this art form.
Chief among them was Rukmini Devi Arundale (1904-1986) who protected and revived this
dance by founding the Kalakshetra
Academy of Dance and Music in 1936. She made it an acceptable norm for
girls (and even boys) from middle class households to learn Bharat Natyam.
Though operated like a modern institution, it functioned as a traditional gurukula
with prayers before the deity Ganapati, vegetarianism, and a guru-shishya
relationship. Throughout Tamil Nadu the guru-shishya form of decentralized
one-on-one learning spread in various ways as part of this revival. Thus, far
from being dead as intended by missionaries, colonialists and their Indian
cronies, Bharat Natyam again became well established as a spiritual art form in
South India, and started to achieve acclaim throughout India and abroad.
Kalakshetra grew into a university with a large campus in Chennai.
Strategic Shift:
Subtle Christian Appropriation of Hindu Dance
In recent years, missionaries are again targeting Bharat
Natyam. But this time as a takeover candidate for digestion into Christianity.
This reversal of strategy is in response to the growing enthusiasm for Bharat
Natyam, including among many Western feminists who see Indian dance as a
valorization of feminine sexuality. Westerners took up this dance initially
showing respect for Hindu practices and symbols, and studied under Hindu gurus
who naively welcomed the Christian disciples. Each of the individuals who are
at the forefront of Christianizing the
Bharata Natyam today was initially taught by Hindu gurus. In India there are many unsuspecting, or
perhaps opportunistic, Hindu gurus who take this genre of Christian students
under their wings. These Christian disciples worked very hard and many
became exemplars, dancing to Hindu themes and enthralling the media and
audiences.
However, they ran into conflicts between traditional Hindu
art and Christian aesthetics and dogma. Father Francis Barboza,
a prominent Roman Catholic priest and dancer of Hindu art forms, confesses that
"the main difficulty I faced in the area of technique" concerned what
is Indian classical dance's unique feature, namely, the hand gestures (hasta)
and postures. Dr. Barboza has Christianized the Bharatha Natyam by inventing
the following Christian Mudras: God the Father; Son of God; The Holy Spirit;
The Risen Christ; Mother Mary; The Cross; Madonna; The Church; and The
Word of God, as well as two postures, Crucifixion and The Risen Christ. This strategy is strikingly similar to the
development of “Christian Yoga” and “Jewish Yoga” by western practitioners who
take what they want from yoga but reject or replace any symbols or concepts
that are too explicitly Hindu.
Another example is the Kalai Kaveri College of Fine Arts, founded by a Catholic priest in
1977 as a cultural mission. He received patronage from various sources and sent
out priests and nuns to learn from unsuspecting Hindu gurus. The college claims
to be offering “the world’s first, off-campus degree program in
Bharathanatyam,” with another program in South Indian classical music (both
vocal and instrumental). Its website's home page shows Dr. Barboza’s “Christian
mudras” using the Christian "Father Deity" as the Bharata Natyam
mudra replacing thousands of years of Hindu mudras. Kalai Kaveri is backed and
funded as a major church campaign. The Tamil Nadu government is also actively
funding and promoting it. Kalai Kaveri website states respect for the Vedic
tradition:
“Music and dance when
viewed in Indian tradition are fundamentally one spiritual art, an integral
yoga and a science of harmony. According to the Vedas, the Divine Mother Vak
(Vag Devi) sang the whole creation into being. God's eternal life-force, Para
Sakthi, entered or rather assumed the perennial causal sound Nada through the
monosyllabic seed-sound Om (Pranava). Thereby the phenomenal world with its
multiple forms evolved. This process of physical, vital, mental and soul
contact or holy communion with God aims at complete harmony, perfect
integration, and absolute identification with God, in all His manifested as
well as unmanifested Lila (divine play and dance) at the individual, cosmic and
supra-cosmic levels of existence.”
Blatantly
Rejecting Hinduism while Christianizing the Bharat NatyamRani David, the founder of Kalairani Natya Saalai in Maryland, USA, (strategically located right next to a prominent Hindu temple) is even more blatant about Christianizing the Bharata Natyam. Her website does not hesitate to reveal her disdain of Hindu symbols that are a part of Bharatha Natyam, and her vow to remove them from the dance. She wants to make Bharat Natyam non-Hindu. Rani David is also proud of her collaborations with Father Barboza and other Indian Christians.
(source: Breaking India: Western Inventions
and Dalit Faultlines - By Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan p. 88 - 124).
The concept of a female priest is not a new one.
Nutan Vimal Motilal is also a practising priest and points out that women priests were written about in the sacred Vedic texts.
Hindu temples have also requisitioned women.
"They were more honest, sincere and the clarity with which they performed the ceremony was also refreshing," he says.
Both Sunitee Gadgil, who has been practising for 10 years,
and Nutan Vimal Motilal, who has been practising for two, say they have never
had a negative experience.
With an increasing number of men of religion
taking up other more lucrative vocations, women are now stepping into the gap
to actually outnumber male priests in Maharashtra.Dr. V L. Manjul, a research scholar and chief librarian at Pune's Bhandarkar Oriental Re. search Institute, says "between 1986 and '96, about 6,000 women have been trained as purohits (priests) and today, lady purohits outnumber male ones."
In the Vedic period, says Dr. Manjul, "we come across female scholars like Ghosha, Lopamudra, Romasha and Indrani. In the Upanishadic period, names of women philosophers like Sulabha, Maitreyi, Gargi are encountered."
This tradition is exemplified in a verse from
"Bhihadaranyakopanishad," which reads "atha ya icched duhita me
pandita jayeta," (a well-to-do Political instability and successive
foreign invasions further made it difficult for women to take up formal learning,
which made it impossible for her to undertake Vedic studies and conduct Vedic
rites.
(source: BBC - April 26 '2001 and The Hindu February 5 1997).Refer to Vatican- Excommunication for female priests - The Vatican insisted Friday that it is properly following Christian tradition by excluding females from the priesthood as it issued a new warning that women taking part in ordinations will be excommunicated.
Famous Women of Ancient and Modern India
1. Gargi
Gargi, the wise and learned daughter of Rishi (sage) Vachaknu, was known as Brahmavadini because of her having the knowledge of Brahma-vidya. She participated in a debate with the knower of Brahma, Yajnavalkya in the Yajnasala ( place for sacrifices ) of King Janaka. We get in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad a dialogue between Gargi and Yajnavalkya. Thus it is evident that in ancient India, women used to obtain knowledge of many sciences and disciplines. They also used to participate in public functions and take part in intellectual debates. There used to be no ban of any sort in the field of knowledge, this is established very clearly from the account of Gargi's life.
A wife of Yajnavalkya, plays a major role in a section of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, is the first Indian woman philosopher. One of the most interesting discussions of this absolute principle is given in the form of a dialogue between Gargi, and her husband Yajnavalkya, a great sage. Although in the preceding dialogues Gargi has been warned not to ask too many questions, lest her head fall off, she persisted, and was rewarded with answers to her questions.
Yajnavalkya said: "Ask, Gargi"
She said: "That, O Yajnakvalkya, which is above the sky, that which is beneath the earth, that which is between these two, sky and earth, that which people call the past and the present and the future - across what is that woven, warp and woof?"
2. Sita
Sita in the Valmiki Ramayana is not exactly representative for Vedic stridaharma.
To begin with, she chooses her own husband in a competitive svayamvara, only the strongest and the smartest prince will do.
Again, after Kaikeyi's intervention, when Rama goes into forest exile, she insists on accompanying him. Sita's strength and self-possession are apparent. She is dutiful, indeed, but she has to argue her case in order to do what she knows is right. She is not an obedient servant to a godlike husband; she has a will of her own and her relationship to Rama is governed by love for him, rather than obedience to his orders.
She shows her determination and independence throughout the years in the forest; her insistences that Rama get the gold-spotted deer and her command that Laksmana come to his rescue, eventually leads to her abduction by Ravana. She shows self-control and she doesn't give in to Ravanna's will. On being freed, she defends herself whole-heartedly against Rama's accusations. She is far from passive. It is in the context of this "dwelling in another man's house" that Vedic regulations for women are invoked and popular sentiment demands an ordeal to prove her purity.
This strength of character has not gone unnoticed by Indian women, who have found much in her to applaud. Despite being commonly held up as a paragon of the submissiveness, obedience, and loyalty that many men would like to see in their wives, women have often taken other lessons from her behavior. To many Hindu women, she is a great heroine, not just a goddess. Sita is a unique ideal of fidelity and chastity. She had to undergo unbearable trial and tribulations throughout her life but with the power of her unshakable fidelity and dedication to her husband she bore all the difficulties of life with fortitude and she, along with her husband, smilingly enjoyed the hardships of life in jungle. The rakshas king Ravana failed to lower her morale or weaken her moral strength.
It was through the ordeal of fire that Sita proved and established her virtue and stainlessness of her character. With the injury of the time of exile ( Vanavasa ) when Sri Rama as the king, in order to satisfy some of his subjects, banished Sita, she remained in the hermitage of Rishi Valmiki.
The very fact that Rama and Sita are always mentioned in one breath endows Sita with equality: whatever status Rama occupies, this will also be Sita's. If he is king, she will be queen, if he is god, she will become his goddess. However, she is queen and goddess on her own merit, not because of Rama's grace.
3. Savitri
She, who is mentioned among the great chaste and faithful godly women, took Satyavan as her husband knowing fully well that he would not live long. When only four days of his age were remaining she undertook a vow to defeat death.
On the fourth day Satyavan died with Yamaraja ( The god of death ) walking away with his vitality. Savitri walked pursuing Yamaraja. As they were walking one behind the other, on the way there occured a ' question-answer ' between them. Yamaraja was very much impressed by the gentle behaviour of Savitri, her wisdom, her one pointed devotion ( dedication ) to her husband. Getting pleased he asked Savitri to ask for boons. Savitri asked for such boons which helped not only to obtain for her the well-being of both her father's and her husband's families but Yamaraja had also to return the vitality of Satyavana. Savitri with the power of her chastity and fidelity protected her good fortune.
1.
Draupadi
Draupadi was a very impressive and brilliant and strong personality (character) in Mahabharata.
The daughter of Drupada, the king of Panchala
(Punjab), came to Hastinapur as a daughter-in-law of the Kuru-clan on being won
by Arjuna, at her Swayamvara, by piercing with arrow the eye of a moving fish
on a high pole, looking into the fish's image in a cauldron of oil below. She was never ready to compromise on either
her rights as a daughter-in-law or even on the rights of the Pandavas and
remained ever ready to fight back or avenge high-handedness and injustice meted
out to her and them. Draupadi had absolute faith in Sri Krishna. She was
also dear to Sri Krishna equal to his real sister. Draupadi was put through
much suffering and disgrace in life.Draupadi was a very impressive and brilliant and strong personality (character) in Mahabharata.
Dussasana tried to remove her clothes and as such made an attempt to violate her modesty in full view of the assembly.
During the days of the
banishment to jungle of the Pandavas, Jayadratha made an attempt to abduct her
and during the period of their dwelling secretly, Keechaka wanted to outrage
her modesty. After the duration of their stay in the jungle was over, Draupadi,
with a view to fulfill her vow ( promise to herself to tie her untied hair
after washing them with the blood of Dussasana ) and to punish all those
who had disgraced her and perpetrated offence against her, blazed the fire of
revenge burning in her heart into the hearts and minds of Pandayas. The
refulgence (glow) of Draupadi's lustrous prototype of womanhood shall always be
a source of inspiration for the women of India.
- Mira Bai (1498-c. 1546).
She used to be always absorbed (engrossed) in devotion to
God. In the midst of saints, in temples, she sang her own devotional
compositions ( songs ) and danced filled with emotion. After the untimely
death of Bhojaraja, his brother Vikramajit wanted Mira to turn her back to the
path of devotion and face towards the life of ordinary people. Her going to
temples, singing and dancing there, appeared to him to be against tradition and
discipline of his family. For not renouncing her obstinacy of love to Krishna
Mira was subjected to great deal of infliction of. pain and suffering. But Mira
on the contrary, laughingly submitted herself to these inflictions and bore
them with fortitude but there did not occur any change in the one pointed ness
of her divine love and devotion. The refrain of her life's song was : ' Mine is
the preserver of cows who upholds mountain and no one else '. Her songs in the
propensity of emotions are unmatched.
After the death of king Dalpatishah of Gadha Mandala there
came the hazard of a crisis over the state. The Mughal ruler Akbar sent a big
army to capture the state of Gadha ( fort ) Mandala. Mounting on an elephant,
Maharani Durgavati fought with utmost bravery along with providing a constant
encouragement and inspiration to her army. Unfortunately because of internal
disunity and her army being too small in comparison with the invaders,
self-defense did not succeed. Among the brave women who resisted, retaliated
and acted towards containing the Mughal thirst for empire-building Maharani
Durgavati occupies a high place.
Sir John Malcolm, in his memoirs of Central India described her as a
"female without vanity... excercising in the more active and able manner, despotic power with sweet humanity..."
Though Ahilyabai never stayed in Indore, it is in her reign that Indore grew up into a city. Indore was an island of prosperity in a sea of voilence. Her rule became proverbial for justice and wisdom. She was the rare Indian royalty to be deified in her life time. She contributed a lot to the heritage of India by establishing several religious edifices remarkable in architecture. The Kashi Vishweswar temple at Varanasi being notable among them. Her unique pan-indian look is reflected in the fact that she built Dharmashalas at Badrinath in the north and Rameshwaram in the south, established Anna Chhatras at Dwarka in the west, Jagannathpuri in the east, and at Omkareshwar and Ujjain in central India. She also establishes charitable institutions at Gaya, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar and Pandharpur. She was at heart a queen of whole India rather than that of the Holkar kingdom. She died at Maheshwar where a large mousoleum stands in her memory.
(source: http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~naik/holkar.html).
Chennamma received training in horse riding , sword fighting and archery in her young age. She was married to Raja Mullasarja of Kittur, a princely state of Belgaum in Karnataka. Her husband died in 1816. Her only son died in 1824. Chennamma adopted Shivalingappa as her son and made him heir to the throne. The British did not accept this and ordered the expulsion of Shivalingappa. The Rani defied the order. A great battle ensued. The Rani fought the British with great courage and skill. She could not, however, hold out for long. She was taken captive and lodged in Bailhongal Fort where she died on 21-02-1829.
(source: Great Women of India).
Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of a principality called Jhansi in
northern India, led an uprising against a takeover of her homeland by the
British. She became a heroine and a symbol of resistance to the British rule.
Gangadhar Rao was between forty and fifty years of age at the time of their wedding. This was his second marriage. His first wife died without producing an heir. The new Rani of Jhansi gave birth to a son, but he died when he was three months old. Subsequently, Damodar Rao, Gangadhar's relative, became their adopted son. In 1853, Gangadhar Rao died.
The Governor-General of India, the Marquess of Dalhousie, announced that since Gangadhar Rao left no heir, the state of Jhansi would be annexed by the British Government. The British rejected the claim that Damodar Rao was the legal heir. According to Hindu law, little Damodar Rao was Gangadhar's heir and successor. In the Hindu religion, a surviving son, either biological or adopted, had an obligation to perform certain sacrifices after his father's death to prevent his father from being condemned to punishment or hell. The refusal of the British to acknowledge the legitimacy of Rajah's adopted son caused a serious consternation in the local population. Rani appealed her case to London, but that appeal was turned down.
Not wishing to give up her kingdom, Lakshmi Bai assembled a volunteer army of 14,000 rebels and ordered that defenses of the city itself be strengthened. Jhansi was attacked by the British in March 1858. Shelling of Jhansi was fierce and the British were determined not to allow any rebels to escape while Rani was determined not to surrender. The British noted that the Indian soldiers fighting them showed more vigor than they ever had while following British orders. Women were also seen working the batteries and carrying ammunition, food and water to the soldiers. Rani, herself, was seen constantly active in the defense of the city. Jhansi, however, fell to the British forces after a two week siege. A priest from Bombay who witnessed the British victory, said that what followed were four days of fire, pillage, murder and looting without distinction. He said it was difficult to breathe due to strong smell of burning flesh. British historians, on the other hand, suggested that while four to five thousand people died in battle, the civilians were spared.
The Rani managed to escape on horseback under the cover of darkness and within twenty-four hours rode over one hundred miles to the fortress of Kalpi. Several other Indian rulers joined the rebel forces there. It is believed that the Rani was influential in convincing the others to go on the offensive and seize the fortress of Gwalior. This maneuver was successful and helped rally the rebel forces together.
It wasn't long, however, before the British forces determined to win Gwalior back. A fierce battle ensued. Rani was in charge of the eastern side of defense, however she lost her life on the second day of fighting. The British won back Gwalior. Rani's body was given a ceremonial cremation and burial by the faithful servants. Sir Hugh Rose, the commander of the British force, wrote later, "The Ranee was remarkable for her bravery, cleverness and perseverance; her generosity to her Subordinates was unbounded. These qualities, combined with her rank, rendered her the most dangerous of all the rebel leaders." A popular Indian ballad said:
How valiantly like a man fought she,
The Rani of Jhansi
On every parapet a gun she set
Raining fire of hell,
How well like a man fought the Rani of Jhansi
How valiantly and well!
"Bundeli har boli mein suni yehi kahani thi...
Khoob laDi mardaani woh toh Jhansi Wali Rani thi...."
(for more information refer to site on Jhansi Ki Rani).
J. Lang, who was the only Britisher who saw her face to face, left the following description of her: "She was a woman of about the middle size, rather stout but not too stout. Her face must have been very handsome when she was younger, and even now it had many charms... The expression also was very good and very intelligent. The eyes were particularly fine and the nose very delicately shaped... Her dress was a plain white muslin, so fine in texture and drawn about her in such a way and so tightly that the outline of her figure was plainly discernible, and a remarkably fine figure she had."
"Bundelay harbolon ke munh hamne suni kahani thi/khuh lari mardani woh to Jhansi wali Rain thi" sings the ballad narrating the valiant struggle of one of the most famous characters of India in recent history. When Rani Lakshmi Bai rose against the British in I857 AD she immortalized Jhansi. She has since become a heroine of the Indian independence movement, a sort of central Indian Joan of Arc.
Long before Bal Gangadhar Tilak said "Swaraj hamara janm huk hai," Jhansi Lakshmi Bai said "Azadshahi hamara huk hai."
References:
1. The Warrior Queens. The Legends and the Lives of the Women Who Have Led Their Nations in War - By Antonia Fraser, Vintage Books, 1994.
2. Herstory - Women Who Changed the World - edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn, Viking, 1995.
For more refer to chapter on GlilmpsesVIII).
The folklore of Bundelkhand (part of Jhansi State then ) are full of heroic exploits of Jalkari Bai. She was a village girl and hailed from a very poor family. It is said that she had an encounter with a tiger while she was collecting firewood in the jungle and she killed the tiger single handed with her axe. She had a striking resemblance to Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and because of this Rani took interest in her and inducted her into the women's wing of the army.
During 1957-58 there were several British raids on Jhansi Fort and the Rani repulsed every one of the attacks. Later when the fall of fort became imminent Jalkari bai and some generates convinced Laxmibai to escape quietly with the help of supporters. In a ploy to deceive the British, Jalkari bai dressed herself up like the Rani and took command of the army. The British found out the truth, but it was too late. The Rani had covered a considerable distance by then. Jalkaribai fought the British forces valiantly but was eventually forced to surrender. The British general, impressed by her loyalty, courage and fighting prowess treated her with respect and set her free.
(source: Great Women of India)
13. Shakuntala Devi
Shakuntala Devi, the human computer - holds an undisputed
place in the Guinness Book of Records for multiplying in 1980 two randomly
chosen 13-digit numbers and giving the correct answer in 28 seconds.
Her abilities, defying common theories of human intelligence, have been the subject of much research. In 1977 she won a standing ovation from an audience of mathematicians when she extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number. That means she found the number that when multiplied by itself 23 times equaled the 201-digit number she was given. She solved it in 50 seconds flat. The day's most sophisticated computer, a Univac 1108, also did the deed - in 62 seconds - but only after days of programming, 13 thousand instructions and 5,000 data locations. No one has a plausible theory as to how she could have arrived at the answer, for the feat far exceeds the supposed limits of human intelligence. Shakuntala Devi attributes her mathematical wizardry to her friendship with Lord Ganesha, developed in her early childhood.
Her abilities, defying common theories of human intelligence, have been the subject of much research. In 1977 she won a standing ovation from an audience of mathematicians when she extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number. That means she found the number that when multiplied by itself 23 times equaled the 201-digit number she was given. She solved it in 50 seconds flat. The day's most sophisticated computer, a Univac 1108, also did the deed - in 62 seconds - but only after days of programming, 13 thousand instructions and 5,000 data locations. No one has a plausible theory as to how she could have arrived at the answer, for the feat far exceeds the supposed limits of human intelligence. Shakuntala Devi attributes her mathematical wizardry to her friendship with Lord Ganesha, developed in her early childhood.
Sarojini Naidu, (1879-a freedom fighter and the first Indian woman as Governor of West Bengal after the partition. Sarojini Naidu was a poet, mother of four and the first President of the Indian National Congress. Widely known as the Nightingale of India, she was the younger sister of the renowned poet, actor and playwright, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. Sarojinidevi was a great patriot, politician, orator and administrator. She had an integrated personality and could mesmerize audiences with her pure honesty and patriotism. She was a life-long freedom fighter, social worker, ideal housewife and poet.
She was born on February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad. Her father, Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, was the founder of Nizam College of Hyderabad and a scientist. Her mother, Mrs. Varasundari, was a Bengali poetess. Sarojinidevi inherited qualities from both her father and mother.
Young Sarojini was a very bright and proud girl. Her father aspired for her to become a mathematician or scientist, but she loved poetry from a very early age. Once she was working on an algebra problem, and when she couldn't find the solution she decided to take a break, and in the same book she wrote her first inspired poetry. She got so enthused by this that she wrote "The Lady of the Lake", a poem 1300 lines long. When her father saw that she was more interested in poetry than mathematics or science, he decided to encourage her. With her father's support, she wrote the play "Maher Muneer" in the Persian language. Dr. Chattopadhyaya distributed some copies among his friends and sent one copy to the Nawab of Hyderabad. Reading a beautiful play written by a young girl, the Nizam was very impressed. The college gave her a scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16 she got admitted to King's College of England. There she met famous laureates of the time.
During her stay in England, Sarojini met Dr. Govind Naidu from southern India. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she got married to him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her father was a progressive thinking person, and he did not care what others said. Her marriage was a very happy one.
One day she met Shree Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He said to her to use her poetry and her beautiful words to rejuvenate the spirit of Independence in the hearts of villagers. He asked her to use her talent to free Mother India.
Then in 1916, she met Mahatma Gandhi, and she totally directed her energy to the fight for freedom. She would roam around the country like a general of the army and pour enthusiasm among the hearts of Indians. The independence of India became the heart and soul of her work.
She was responsible for awakening the women of India. She brought them out of the kitchen. She traveled from state to state, city after city and asked for the rights of the women. She re-established self-esteem within the women of India.
(source: http://swaraj.net/iffw/profiles/naidu_s.htm).
Sri Sarada Devi was born in Bengal in 1853 to devout Brahmin parents. Her early years were marked by simplicity, charity, prayer, meditation and visionary gifts. At the age of six, she was betrothed to Sri Ramakrishna, but they lived apart until Sarada Devi was 18. It was he who initiated her into many spiritual disciplines, notably into the worship of the Divine Mother. Living a celibate life, they saw God in themselves and in each other. Sri Ramakrishna taught her the great mantras and instructed her in the method of spiritual guidance for others who would seek her help.
Immediately after her husband's death in 1886, Sri Sarada Devi began a pilgrimage through North India. For a time she lived at Vrindavan, where she attained the highest contentless consciousness called nirvikalpa samadhi, and where she began her role as guru.
In 1909, Sri Sarada Devi moved into what is known as the Holy Mother's House in Calcutta, and lived there for the next 11 years with several other holy women. In 1919, she was stricken with black fever and, although in great pain, continued to strengthen her disciples and to give spiritual advice until her death on July 20, 1920.
The spiritual teachings of this great woman seer are a window on the beauty of her soul: "As clouds are blown away by the wind, the thirst for material pleasures will be driven away by the utterance of the Lord's name." "No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own."
(source: http://www.hssworld.org/all/great_people/sarada.html)
She great offering, giving her life for Mother India, was like a song of love, Love is blind for it sees no faults of the beloved, and Nivedita never found faults with India. Sister Niveditas childhood name was Margaret Elizabeth Noble.
She was born in Ireland on October 20, 1867 to parents Mary Isabel and Samuel Richmond Noble Her father was a preacher to whom religion meant service to the poor. This had an imprint on Nivedita. She was very intelligent and hard worker, loved music, art, and the natural sciences. After her education, she spent ten years in teaching, from 1884 to 1894. She had a gift of being able to impart knowledge and inspire her students She was a proud, generous, impulsive and ardent woman. By the age eight~eil she came to understand that religion did not mean belief in the doctrines; it meant search of Divine Light and Eternal Truth. She began to doubt the truth of the Christian doctrines. She started reading about Buddhism but only with partial success.
This was the time when she met a Hindu Monk, Swami Vivekanand visiting England in 1895. She attended all the lectures. In question-answer sessions, she was an active and enthusiastic participan!. The Swamiji's words that selfishness, ignorance, and greed were the evils which brought suffering to the world, pierced through her mind and heart and her life changed for ever. Swami Vivekanand was very much impressed and urged her to help the women of I,?dia in his plans. In response to the call of Swaini Vivekananda, Nivedita left England and arrived in Calcutta on January 28, 1898. Swamiji could envision her future role in the service of Mother India. He initiated her to be his disciple on March 25, 1898 and gave her name 'Nivedita', meaning one who is dedicated to God. She started to study Gita and practice meditation. This helped her to cast off her pride in English culture and became humble. Salvation for one self and the welfare of the world were two of the ideas she pledged herself to follow, For this, she lived a simpler pure, and holy life to realize God and humbly work for the welfare of the people.
By nature, she was optimist but there were times she felt disheartened in such situations. Swami Vivekananda's words 'Death for the cause is our goal, not success' inspired her She made India the object of love and worship When Swami Vivekananda passed away on July 4. 1902, she felt an added responsibility to India and its people. She realized that political independence of India is an essential first step towards equality, progress and justice
She inspired the people in all walks of life through her lectures and writings She always believed that India could not be great and powerful unless there was unity. She emphasized this in every possible way and was never tired of speaking about it. Her hard work and lack of rest was having an adverse effect on her health She passed away on October 13, 1911.
Outwardly, she was brought up as an atheist until she entered adulthood. In her early years, she had a good education in music (specially piano), painting, and higher mathematics. During this period she used to have spontaneous experiences including those of coming out of her body to discover inner realities, without understanding what they really meant. As she was growing up, she began to have such experiences more often. One day in the year 1912 the Mother had a first vision of the future: "the advent of universal harmony, the realization of human unity and the establishment of ideal society". Sri Aurobindo had already visualized these ideas in his writings. What a coincidence?
She met Sri Aurobindo on 20th March, 1914. He exactly resembled the man she used to see in her vision since 1904. She went back to Paris, Japan and other places and finally returned to Pondicherry in India where Sri Auribindo had established an Ashram, a celebrated spiritual centre. Now the question was as to the ways and means by which this great vision of whole-being, whole-knowledge and whole power could be attained for the whole society. Sri Aurobindo found, and this was Mother's discovery, that this could be done through the processes of Yoga, many of which were known, and many of which had to be rediscovered, created, built and perfected, so that they could meet the needs of modern man's upward evolution. This was the task Sri Aurobindo was engaged in since he came to Pondicherry.
The Mother also participated in this endeavor. The result was what is known as 'Integral Yoga' - developed jointly by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In integral yoga, the Divine Power in us uses all life as the means of our upward evolution and then every experience becomes a step on the path to perfection. In this whole process the Mother was Shakti in action. She accelerated this process with great vigor even after Sri Aurobindo left his mortal body on December 5, 1950. She continued to expand that vision through education and counseling of the seekers of inner peace. Under her direction, Pondicherry developed into a residential Ashram.
Her imprint can be seen in almost all aspects of Ashram routine. She worked relentlessly till she passed away on November 17, 1973.
(source: http://www.hinduwomen.org/biographies/mother.htm).
For more information please refer to Women In Hindu Dharma - A Tribute. A brief compilation done by Vishal Agarwal for the Hindu Students Society of the University of Minnesota.
The Hindus called her Lalleshwari and the Muslims Lalla
Arifa. But both endearingly called her Lal DED (Grandmother or Grandma).
"I lost you out
of ignorant attachment to my body. Then I wasted my time searching high and
low. Finally I found you within, O Shiva, then we united in Bliss. Only though
the grace and compassion of Siddhanath could this have happened."
Lalleshwari was born into a Brahmin family in
Kashmir in the medieval period. Independent by nature she married early to
young man of the same caste. Her husband was apparently was very much under the
influence of his mother and according to legend the mother hated her
daughter-in-law intensely. Not content with acting maliciously towards Lalli,
the mother poisened her son's mind against her and it has been suggested that
this may have been because Lalli never became pregnant. Finally her
mother-in-law turned her out of her house. Instead of returning to her family home, Lalli took up the life of a sadhvini or Yogini. Her philosophy and practices as recorded in her poems show a deep understanding of the central tenets of the Shaitive non-dual philosophy.
There is no doubt that Lallishwari commanded and commands great respect among the Shaiva sects but the great Sufi's of her time also revered her. Among the people she was given the title Ded (Grandmother), and this reflects the affection and respect with which the common people regarded her.
(source: Lal Diddiji - By Vishwanath and Lalleshwari - By P N Razdan ).
Affectionately called as 'Vandaniya Mausiji'
One of the crusaders for women's emancipation in India in the 1930s and who was responsible for starting a mighty organization for rehabilitation of women in India called 'Rastra Sevika Samiti' was Smt. Lakshmi Bai Kelkar (1905-1978), affectionately called as 'Vandaniya Mausiji'.
Vandaniya Mausiji's life story is an inspiring tale, a saga of a great warrior who battled against heavy odds all her life and finally emerged as a victor. She was a woman of great mental fortitude and moral courage. Fortitude was the marshal of her thought, the armour of her will and the fort of her reason. Her guiding motto throughout her life can be put in these words: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. This was the guiding philosophy of her life.
Mausiji was born on 6 July 1905 in Nagpur. She was named 'Kamal' i.e. lotus flower. As a child Kamal was adored by every one. She loved going to the temples with her auntie popularly known as 'Dai'. The bhajans, stories, and the Hindu rituals to which Kamal was exposed at the temples, left an indelible impression on her mind and heart. She was admitted to 'Mission School' which was the only girl's school situated near her residence. Kamal noticed that what she was being taught in school was contrary to what she was taught by her parents and 'Dai'. Yet she tried to get adjusted for the sake of learning even in that Missionary School.
Kamal's father had little to offer in the way of dowry. So she firmly decided to marry a person who would never ask for dowry. Kamal was married to Purushottam Rao. She was now called Lakshmi Bai Kelkar. Purushottam Rao already had two daughters from his first wife who was dead. Lakshmi treated and cared for these girls and was more than a mother to them. She herself had six sons.
Lakshmi Bai Kelkar then came to the conclusion that 'it is essential to create in the heart of every woman, the pride of ancient glorious Hindu culture'. With the guidance and support from Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, Sar Sanghachalak of RSS, Lakshmi Bai Kelkar started Rastra Sevika Samiti, the largest and the only Hindu women's organization in India. It was started on the auspicious Vijayadashami day on 25 October 1936. A large number of girls and ladies gathered under one roof to learn more about Hindutva and Sanatana Dharma. Every worker in the Samiti was called a Sevika. Lakshmi Bai who was an affectionate and warm person became a guide, confidant and role model for all the Sevikas of 'Rastra Sevika Samiti' throughout India. All the Sevikas began to call her 'Mausiji' who was like a mother to them. Within a period of four years, she became the most revered figure, due to her selfless service and devotion.
Thus Lakshmi Bai came to be popularly and respectfully addressed as 'Vandaniya Mausiji'.
(source: A tireless fighter for Hindu women liberation-I - By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com).
In 1521 Bhojraj died, soon followed by Rana Sanga. Mira refused to lead the secluded life of a royal widow and defied all conventions. She sang and danced with greater mystic frenzy. Her cymbals and her anklets were heard even in the temple on the outskirts of the city, a public place open to all devotees. Such insubordination had never been witnessed before. The young Rana Vikram and his mother could not treat Mira with either indifference or clemency. Her rising popularity and strong political connections made the Rana so jealous that he tried to kill her several times.. It is said that once a poisonous snake was sent to her in a flower basket, but when she opened it she found an image of Krishna; on another occasion she was given a cup of poison but drank it with Krishna's name on her lips and was miraculously saved.
This Rajput princess's lovely songs have inspired many generations of Hindus. She sang:
"My only Lord is Giridhar Gopal
None else, none else, in this false world;
I have forsaken my family and friends,
I sit among saintly souls,
I have lost regard for worldly fame and honor,
My heart swells at the sight of the godly,
It shrinks at the sight of the worldly.
I have watered the creeper of God’s love with my own tears.
Churning the curds of life, I have taken out the butter and thrown away the rest.
The King, my husband, sent me a cup of poison:
I drank it with pleasure.
The news is now public, everyone knows now
That Mirabai has fallen in love with God!
It does not matter now: what was fated to happen, has happened."
Many stories are told of how the devotion of Mirabai for Lord Krishna led her to abandon her husband, who was the ruler of the ancient Rajput state of Mewar, and to pass life in complete dedication to the praise of her God. Once for example, her husband, hearing her talking in a closed room to a man, rushed in with drawn sword to kill her for her unfaithfulness. But it was Krishna with her, and he transformed her into a multitude of forms so that the king could not tell which one was really his wife. In response to her continual pleading for a demonstration of his love for her, Lord Krishna finally revealed himself in his glory and absorbed her soul into his. Her hauntingly lovely songs are still popular in western India and Rajasthan. In this poem, Giridhar Gopal is a name of Krishna.
(source: exoticindiaart.com).
Dowry Didn't Evolve from India.
Where'd We Get This Zany Idea?
Hindus got it from the Europeans.
"In France, the dowry was almost a universal institution, even among servants, laborers and tenant farmers, until the interwar era (1918-1939). Only the poorest urban industrial workers had no dowries, and as a result many of them did not marry at all. "For the great majority of the bourgeoisie (middle class) marriage is the greatest financial operation of their lives." Wrote an observer of the French scene in 1927.
"What was the status of the daughter whose birth ' filled a father's heart with fear' (Dante, Renaissance poet, 1265-1321 C. E. because of the large dowry which her marriage would require?"
(source: The Marriage Bargain, Women and Dowries in European History. By Marion A. Kaplan. Harrington Park Press. 28 East 22 Street, New York, 100010. USA and Hinduism Today).
The concept of stri dhan in which gifts --usually jewelry, including often a quarter pound of gold--was given to the bride by her family, in order to secure some personal wealth for her when she married. This jewelry remained her personal property throughout the marriage, providing some security in case of her husband's death or other calamity. However, in approximately the 19th century, under the British rule, the loving practice of stri dhan was joined by the very much different concept of dowry. Dowry became first an expected, then a demanded, offering given by the bride's family to the groom's family at the time of marriage. Whereas stri dhan is considered the property only of the woman, passed matrilineally, dowry is not.
Please refer to a forthcoming book Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime - By Veena Talwar Oldenburg. The author argues that 'these killings are neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture or caste system that encourages violence against women. Rather, such killings can be traced directly to the influences of the British colonial era. In the pre-colonial period, dowry was an institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to establish their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of the massive economic and societal upheaval brought on by British rule, womens' entitlements to the precious resources obtained from land were erased and their control of the system diminished, ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives.' More good things thanks to the Christian State.
(source: Taming the predatory State of today - Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com).
The book takes us on a journey into the colonial Punjab, Veena Oldenburg skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to indict them for interpreting these crimes against women as the inherent defects of Hindu caste culture. The British, Oldenburg claims, publicized their "civilizing mission" and blamed the caste system in order to cover up the devastation their own agrarian policies had wrought on the Indian countryside.
(source: amazon.com).
Indian Temples and 19th century British woman in India
Indian temples were a popular destination for British tourist, but escorts usually steered female sightseers away from the erotic art featured on some temple facades. One 19th century guide book advised women to tip local guides for not pointing out suggestive temple carvings.
(source: What Life Was Like in the Jewel of the Crown: British India AD 1600-1905 - By The Editors of Time-Life Books. p.156).
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
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