13_chapter 7.pdf - Shodhganga

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Chapter VII
The Anatomy of Culture, Body and Glamour
Culture always refers to refine intellectual manners of human beings.
Indian culture is unique in its own way which is rich and diverse in comparison
with any culture all over the world. The manners and means of living in India
captivates even foreigners which remains unchanged as it is deep rooted in the
veins and minds of people.
Woman has been given enough space in Indian culture since ancient
times. The place of woman is defined in different dimensions through the
patriarchal society in ancient India that has consistently denied female voice.
Like man, woman is born free, but she is in shackles which subtly and
sometimes invisibly restrict her freedom. Throughout ancient history, women
were compelled to undergo the laws made by men. However, it is also true that
Vedic society gave ample place for woman who enjoyed social status equal to
men, as in the case of Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra, and Ahalya. In the case of
Draupadi, polygamy was not considered as ‘adharma’ and later stages of the
evolution of Indian history, created a half for them. According to Manusmriti,
the woman is so vital to man’s life by assisting him - an adviser in his work, a
slave in service to him, a partner in noble deeds, as earth in tolerance, a mother
in affection, an embodiment of pleasure and beauty in bed and a friend in
enjoyment. But critics say that Manusmriti restricted the freedom of women in
different stages of her life by father, brother, husband and son which make her
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lose identity and become dependent on masculine power. Co-education existed
in the earlier period and the girl had the freedom to select her husband under
certain circumstances. Divorce and remarriage of women were allowed under
special conditions. Vesyas (Dancing girls) were permitted to make a living in
the society, but were regulated by a code of conduct especially made for them.
In the mythological times, women were appeared willing to accept
polygamy in different ways. One of our much venerated mythological women,
Draupadi was married to five Pandava brothers. Another revered mythological
woman, Tara, married the monkey king, Vali, and married his brother, Sugriva
after his death. The Adharvanaveda mentions that a woman can marry after
having ten husbands. In the epic, ‘the Ramayana’, Sita was humiliated in the
hands of Ravana; in the ‘Mahabharatha’, Shakuntala showed much patience in
order to meet her husband, Dushyanta, and Draupadi was insulted by
Duhsasana, who attempted to undress her in the court of Kauravas. The epics
end with a message to respect women. N.R.Srinivasan in his article, “Status of
women in Hindu Society through the Ages” says: “The ancient traditions of
India have always identified the female of the species with all that is sacred in
nature” (1).
Medieval India was deemed to be the Dark Age for women. Medieval
India faced many invasions by foreign conquerors like Muslims, who brought
with them their own culture and customs. Indians either adopted some of their
customs like veiling a woman’s countenance, etc. or reacted against them for
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the protection of women. As polygamy was a norm for these invaders, they
seized any woman they wanted and kept her in their ‘harems’. In order to
protect themselves, Indian women began using ‘Purdah’, (a veil), which
affected their freedom covering their body. Some social evils such as Child
Marriage, Sati, Jauhar and restriction on girl education followed during this
period but they were confined to Hindu society. As compared to the Hindu
Society, women in other societies such as Buddhism, Jainism and Christians
enjoyed more freedom and were liberal in their approach. The Bhakti
movements tried to restore women’s status and challenged some of the forms
of oppression.
The status of women in modern India is a kind of paradox. On one hand,
she is at the apex of ladder of success; on the other hand she quietly suffers the
violence afflicted on her by her own family members. As compared with past,
women in modern times have achieved a lot, but in reality, they have to still
travel a long way. Women have left the secured domain of their home and are
known in the battle field of life, fully armored with their talent. According to
the census of 2001 in India, there are 933 females per thousand males which is
much below the world average of 990 females. Strongly, female foeticide is an
alarming trend in some communities known for their affluence. Owing to
prevalence of dowry custom, a male child is as an asset whereas a female child
is considered a liability. This sex ratio of India shows that Indian society is still
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prejudiced against the female. But Andreas Huyssen in his article, “Mass
Culture as women: Modernism’s other (1986)” Says:
Even though the French readings of modernism’s “feminine” side have
opened up fascinating questions about gender and sexuality which can
be turned critically against more dominant accounts of modernism, it
seems fairly obvious that the whole theorization of modernist writing as
feminine simply ignores the powerful masculinist openly states its
contempt for women and for the masses and which had Nietzsche as its
most eloquent and influential representative. (4)
Some critics say that women have no separate identity of their own in
the culture of a society because their existence and consciousness are rooted in
an environment created and dominated by man. The entire social ethos is more
masculine than feminine. On occasions, where women are given a lot of
exaggerated reverence, it is often due to man’s patronizing attitude to women.
Selden in “The Theory of Criticism: From Plato to the Present: A Reader”
quotes:
Man can think of himself without women. She cannot think of herself
without man. And she is simply what man decrees … She appears
essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex-absolute
sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and
not he with reference to her; she is incidental, the inessential as opposed
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to the essential. (Quoted from Feminist literature by Manmohan Krishna
Bhatnagar, 128)
Aristotle labels that the female is female by virtue, of certain lack of
qualities. The German Philosopher, Nietzsche asserts that woman is the source
of all folly and unreason and that she is God’s second mistake.
The tale of woman’s oppression during the colonial context is two
layered in which there is a clash in between the ideas of Modern Indian
Nationalism and Feminism, when the struggle for women’s rights began.
Sinead Caslin in an article, “Feminism and Post-Colonialism” emphasizes:
“The undeniable fact that colonial oppression affected men and women in
different ways should be recognized, as females were often subjected to what
has been called a ‘double colonization’, whereby they were discriminated
against not only for their position as colonized people but also as women” (2).
The social reformers of this period such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Eswar
Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Jyothirao Phule, Swami Dayananda Saraswathi,
Ambedkar, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, etc. helped women gain respectable
status in the society, But it was Mahatma Gandhi, who awakened women to
realize their power by calling them to join the freedom struggle, having an
awareness of the potential power of women in influencing society. The position
of woman was redefined giving enough space to revive her own identity. Anita
Singh in “Aesthetics of Indian Feminist Theatre” quotes:
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The National Council of women in 1921, and All India Women’s
Conference in 1927 and 1930 protested against the feudal forces, which
kept Indian women under subjugation. Sarojini Naidu was in the
forefront of Indian freedom struggle and struggled to redeem Indian
women from the clutches of slavery and superstition in 1920, the power
of vote was first given to women in Cochin and Travencore and in 1921
in Madras Presidency. Many laws were passed after 1947, like the
Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu succession Act of 1956, Dowry
Prohibition Act of 1961, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of
1971, which gave a wide spectrum of right to Indian women. (2)
The post-independence Indian woman started searching for new
avenues, where she could enjoy much liberty and freedom. After independence,
women benefited from modern education remarkably. Though the girl-child
from village background has not often benefited from elementary education of
a very primitive kind, girls from towns and cities made a mark in education up
to the higher secondary level. Middle-class girls quickly opted for jobs with
SSLC certificates and qualifications in type-writing and shorthand. Women
from middle-class families emerged as employees supporting their parents or
their families in general. Though they did not wield power, they were the
pioneers of women’s empowerment and economic emancipation. Urbanization
and globalization have opened new prospects of employment, which are
different from traditional ones. Even though the free India has had elected
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woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi for over a decade, the condition of urban
women has improved much rather than average woman.
A woman in modern India is caught into the inescapable cage of
being a woman, wife and mother. She cannot exist outside the boundaries of
married life in the patriarchal society and be considered a ‘Pure’ or ‘chaste’
(whole heartedly devoted to her husband). Sudhir Kakar in his book, Intimate
relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality emphasizes: “In the ideals of the
traditional culture, the “good” woman is a pativrata, subordinating her life to
the husbands’ welfare and needs in a way demanded of no other women in any
part of the world” (66). In case, a woman violates the rules and regulations of
her family, she is blamed to ruin the honour of the family. Female sexuality is
seen not as personal private matter, but a family concern and also sexual
constraints on married girls, control on their sexuality and the obsession with
virginity are still very common in India. Even today in the traditional Hindu
families, women are supposed to take their meals after their husbands, elders
and children have finished eating. It shows that the Indian woman is habituated
to bear the male hegemony for centuries.
The urban women in the post-independence era have been trying for
years to jump over cultural barriers existing in the society of essential reality.
Peter Barry in Beginning Theory asserts that in an earlier age: “faith was full
and authority intact” (83). The urban woman is creating new terrains to protect
her identify in her own right. In this context, she is expanding her personal
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image interacting with many personalities to uplift and to upgrade her position.
Angela McRobbie in the book, Post modernism And Popular Culture states:
“Friendship, equality and difference are all now part of the vocabulary of
relationship alongside love, sex and pleasure” (173). Hence, the urban woman
is ready to break the shackles of monogamy, seeking sexual freedom outside of
marriage having a faith in heterosexual love and romance. In Starry Nights, the
protagonist, Aasha Rani indulges in indiscriminate sex with many men outside
of marriage, when she wants to enjoy sexual freedom through which she
challenges men using ‘sex’ as a weapon. As some men look upon women as
dolls of their pleasures and pursue them with the pitiless determination of
hunters in complex games of exploitation, some urban women like Aasha Rani
is ready to utilize the situation in order to reach the summit of her successful
career. But in this situation, she forgets that she has become the victim to the
cultural shift in the society. Yet, Aasha gains the satisfaction of success with
vengeance at the expense of a certain personal sensitivity. Jyothi Puri in her
book, Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial India emphasizes: “Being in love,
trusting and feeling comfortable with the male partner, justifies sexual
intercourse prior to marriage. Gradual progression through culturally charged
forms of sexual activity helps these middle and upper-class women to negotiate
prevailing cultural inhibitions and the mandate of chastity” (115). She does not
care for the propaganda which, at times, interrogates the purity and existence of
her external self.
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The urban woman in the postmodern society does not hesitate to
maintain extramarital relations in what she feel comfort in satiating their inner
unfulfiled emotions by breaking the restrictions of marriage. Whenever her
illusions are broken that results in the sudden estrangement with her lover,
leads to misery. Michelle Langley in “Women’s Infidelity”, points out:
“women whose affairs are ending often experience extreme grief. They may
become deeply depressed and express tremendous anger towards their
husbands. They are typically unaware that they are experiencing chemical
withdrawal due to sudden changes in their brain chemistry” (6). Maya in
Second Thoughts is totally dejected when Nikhil’s mother announces her son’s
marriage with another girl and then she feels that the world will become a
vacuum for her. She also feels that she is missing an opportunity to share her
suppressed emotions with her lover boy, Nikhil, which are neglected by her
husband, Ranjan. Maya’s illusions about the new man in her life have
somehow filled up the vacuum prevailing in her mind. These illusions make
her blossom like a full moon. Denied the love and satisfaction, she needs and
deserves, Maya falls a prey to exploitation by her young neighbour, Nikhil,
who is quite an opportunist.
One cannot act beyond the deeper layers of cultural reach. But the urban
woman dares to overcome the restrictions imposed by male dominated society
under inevitable circumstances. When there is a discard in marital-relationship
due to the imbecility of husband, the urban woman always tries to create a
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platform for her. In Sultry Days, Nisha’s mother starts managing a boutique
with a new spirit, when her husband is fascinated towards a Sindhi divorcee
woman from his office. It leads to exhibit the individual talent of woman comes
out, when her identity is not recognized. The Indian woman always tries to bear
the pain with utmost patience so that her male partner exploits her situation,
neglecting her claims as futile demands. Sudhir Kakar in his book, Intimate
relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality asserts:
The imperatives of physical protection, economic support, and the
quieter need for male companionship lead her to establish more or less
permanent liaisons with other men. Such unions and consensual
marriages inevitably force cracks in her inner image of the good women,
faithful to one man not only through this life but in all subsequent ones.
(67)
Maya in Second Thoughts fails to reap the essence of marital bliss by her
husband, Ranjan, as and when, Nikhil exploits her situation having sexual
intercourse in her frail mood. It is the protest against the stereotyped ideal of
domesticity which keeps women as passive objects devoid of sexual
satisfaction. Maya’s hyper-sensitive situation makes her excel the domestic
boundaries, as she becomes a psychologically enervated being, passing through
the vicissitudes of her life. In this hapless moment, she fails to surpass her inner
conflict so that she has given a room to be exploited by another man. In this
way, she feels that she has got a triumph over her male counterpart.