Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

Ananda Coomaraswamy on the status of Indian woman

K. C. Kamaliah

Ananda Coomaraswamy
on the Status of Indian Women

K.C. KAMALIAH

Feminine Beauty

Feminine beauty has been a favourite theme with poets down the ages all the world over. Oriental bards have easily an edge over their counterparts of the occident with regard to this. India’s contribution is impressive enough reflected in the literatures of the country, both in the north and the south, not to talk of the magnificent and limpid descriptions from the pen of immortal Kalidasa in his works. The place of woman as life-partner of man enjoying the spice of life, he yearning for it and she recipro­cating, is mirrored in the Sangam poetry of Tamil, unique and unsurpassed by any in world literature. Does not the Bard of Universal Man give an exalted place to Love? Masculine majesty sings of feminine beauty.

            Farewell O Moon! If that thine orb could shine
            Bright as her face, thou shouldst be love of mine
(The Kural, 1118)

Not only in the realm of literature, but also in the domain of art too, feminine beauty gripped the attention of artistes. For workmanship and grace, where else would one turn but to the South Indian bronzes, combining aristocratic delicacy with the perennial ideal of feminine beauty? “Women are portrayed in divinities. Noses with a markedly thin ridge, long and set in oblong faces; thin long arms and legs, very slender thighs are the prominent anatomical traits. And the eyes slightly bulging in the form of oval bubbles resemble according to the local metaphor the eyes of the fish. “The Fish-eyed one”, Minakshi, is a favourite epithet of the goddess in South India. The contour of the hips of the female forms greatly varies in the art ofthe South sometimes following the traditional outline, emphasising breadth and weight, sometimes an extraordinarily slender grace, corresponding to the actual rather delicate and slim figures of the women of the region. An image of Parvati is striking for the vitality of its refined realism and its almost portrait-like vivacity”.1

Worshipper of beauty cannot harbour anything but love and appreciation for the worshipped, more so for one in flesh and blood. Women’s status in ancient times was high indeed in almost all parts of the globe. “Few people know that in the beginnings of human society, woman was the head of the family, and not man. Queens, who seem to us now something of an anomaly, repre­sent an institution older than that of kings. In certain nations, the memory of this ancient time of mother-rule is still deeply ingrained. Others like the Aryans have long ago passed out of it. ......The thought of goddesses is older than of gods, just as the idea of queens is prior to that of kings.” 2

Spirit of Indian Culture

“What is it that great men – poets and creators, not men of analysis – demand of women?” Answering the question, Ananda Coomaraswamy observes: “The one thing they have demanded of women is life.” Writing under the caption, Status of Indian Women, in his collection of essays, The Dance of Shiva, Coomaraswamy dispels the impression prevalent in the West about the seeming inferior status of Indian women. Not only does he cite instances and anecdotes pertaining to them, but also speaks in general of women as a whole including the West, not in any way inferior to their men in status down the centuries. He prefaces his essay with a reported conversation between Shiva and Parvati in the Mahabharata. The queen of heaven tells her Lord: “The duties of woman are created in the rites of wedding when in presence of the nuptial fire she becomes the associate of her Lord for the performance of an religious deeds. Devotion to her Lord is woman’s honour, it is her eternal heaven and O Mahesvara, I desire not paradise itself if thou are not satisfied with me.” Apart from her role as a true wife gladdening her husband, woman as a mother excels. “A master exceedeth ten tutors in claim to honour; the father a hundred masters; but the mother a thousand fathers in right to reverence and in the function of teacher” says Manu.

AnandaCoomaraswamy considers that it would be contrary       to the spirit of Indian culture to deny to individual women the opportunity of saintship or learning in the sense of closing to them the schools of divinity or science after the fashion of the Western academies in the nineteenth century. The social norm is found in marriage and parenthood of men and women specialised whether in divinity like Auvvai, Mirabai or the Buddhist nuns, in science like Lilavati, or in war like Chand Bibi or the Rani of Jhansi. The lives of canonised saints and poetesses as well, it may be said here, Karaikkal Ammaiyar and Andal and the queen of the Pandya realm Mangaiyarkkarasi of the Tamil country, in their own rights can very well be borne in mind.

Opportunities to the Oriental Woman

Discussing of opportunities to the oriental woman, Coomaraswamy pregnantly observes: “The answer is that life is so designed that she is given the opportunity to be a woman – in other words to realise rather than to express herself” The arts in India are professional and vocational, woman representing the continuity of the racial life. A woman can no more desire to be something other than herself than the Vaishya can wish to be known as a Kshatriya or the Kshatriya as Brahmin. Coomaraswamy was a firm believer of the Varnashram Dharma of the Aryan society. He believed in particular vocations for particular segments of society. An instance of how a segment of society has lost its moorings in fine arts may be cited here. A storm of protests and hue and cry were raised against the dedication of girls in teens in the beginning years of this century to deities in temples – Pottu-k-kattutal, which was rightly done away with by legislation. Instead of throwing away water in the tub, both the water and the baby were thrown out. Devadasis– women in the service of God – were repositories of music and dance, being inheritors. With the abolition of the dedication of dancing girls to temples set in the decay of the art as such and the votaries of reformation never bothered about preservation and retention of the art for the people who have been practising the same for centuries. Dance as practised today in the South has passed on to others and with that the philosophy of the continuity of the racial life has passed also into thin air.

Accusing Finger

The accusing finger of the West is pointed towards India as women were allowed to immolate themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Whatever the origin, not all women willingly ascended the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. Now that this pernicious, cruel and inhuman custom is no longer followed save in a stray one or two cases, Coomaraswamy pays his respectful homage to the memory of those women of chastity, choosing death to life after their husbands. During Akbar’s reign, a Hindu girl whose betrothed was killed on the day of marriage decided to mount the funeral pyre. Akbar called the girl before him and offered her wealth and protection, which she declined and persisted in ending her life. The emperor sent his son to persuade her till the last moment to give up her grim determination, but even amidst the flames, she replied to Prince Daniyal’s remonstrances. “Do not annoy, do not annoy, do not annoy.” Muhammad Riza Nau’i, the poet during Akbar’s reign, says in his poem:

            Let those whose hearts are ablaze with the Fire of Love learn
                        courage from this pure may!
            Teach me, O God, the Way of Love and enflame my heart with
                        this maiden’s fire.

Coomaraswamy mentions about a remarkable case of Suttee described by Sir Frederick Halliday. A widow could not be persuaded to give up her endeavour to mount the funeral pyre of her dead husband. She demonstrated her determination by asking for a lamp and holding her finger in the flame until it was burnt and twisted like a quil pen in the flame of a candle; all the while she gave no sign of fear or pain whatever. Sir F. Halliday was therefore forced to acquiesce in her bid to end life.

A passing reference is found in the essay of early Tamil poetry mentioning about two women longing to share the funeral pyres of their lords no longer alive. Coomaraswamy had in mind the two poems in Purananuru, culled and translated by the savant and scholar, Dr. G. U. Pope, who wrote: “There is no word in Tamil equivalent to the Sanskrit word Sati, nor is the custom at all consonant to the feelings of the Tamil people. It was purely a Brahmanical idea. Yet there are evidences in the old Tamil poetry that the widow felt herself a poor miserable outcast and often sought relief in suicide”. 1 A widow expresses her eagerness,

            O ye of wisdom full! O ye of wisdom full!
            Ye bid us not to go forth to death: Ye would restrain
            O ye of wisdom full! but evil is your counsel here!
            We’re not those content to live forlorn,          ­
            and feed on bitter herbs, here once they feasted royally.
            We lie not on rough stones, who slept erstwhile on sumptuous couch.

            The pyre’s black logs heaped up in burning ground
            to you indeed seem terrible; to us,
            since our mighty spouse is dead,
            the waters of the pleasant lake where spreads
            the lotus flower and the fierce fire are one. (Puranarnuru, 246) 4

The woman supposed to utter these words was a queen of the renowned Puta-p-pandian.

In the second verse, we find the widow making a fervent plea for burial with her lord.

            O Potter, shaper of the Urn!
            Like the little white lizard that sits
            In the garland on the axle of the chariot,
            Over many a desert plain I’ve come with him
            Make the funeral urn large enough for me, too,
            Maker of the urns for the old town’s burning ground, (Purananuru 256 ) 5
It may not be out of place here to recount what happened in the Marava country east of Madura up to Rameswaram at the turn of the 18th century, in addition to what Coomaraswamy has furnished. The account found in a Jesuit letter of wives jump­ing into the funeral pyre of a Marava ruler makes one ponder at the then prevailing social climate in royal household. It was in the year 1710 that the Prince of Marava, Raghunatha Thevar better known as Kilavan Setupati, died more than eighty years old. His wives, forty-seven in number, burnt themselves with his body. A large pit outside the town of Ramanathapurarn, his capital, and filled with firewood in the manner of funeral pyre on which the corpse richly decorated was placed. After religious rites, a troupe of women led by the queen, the first lady, presented them­selves all covered with precious stones and flowers. The queen spoke to the crown prince: “Behold the danger which the Raja used to overcome his enemies. Do not use it for any other purpose and beware never to dip it in the blood of your subjects. Govern them as a father, just as he did, and you shall, like him, live long and happy.” The prince received the dagger without showing any sign of sadness or compassion. The queen then proudly turned her head towards the funeral pyre and invoking the name of her gods she sprang into the flames The second one was the sister of the Raja Tondaman of Pudukottai, who while receiving from his sister’s hands the jewels with which she was bedecked, he could not keep his tears and throwing himself, on her neck embraced her tenderly. The sister was unmoved. Crying ‘Siva Siva’, she threw herself headlong into the flames as the first had done. The others followed in close succession. Some had a firm coun­tenance while some seemed put out and scared.6

Now to continue the tenor of Coomaraswamy’s views on Sati, the belief of Sati, being a man-made institution imposed on women and associated with feminine servility peculiar to India, is histori­cally unsound. One cannot but be glad that it was prohibited by law in 1829 on the initiative of Raja Ram Mohun Roy. After more than a century, it is possible to review dispassionately the history and significance of it. The cry of Indian Sati disputing the rights of others over her life is no cry for protection; it is individualistic and has been uttered by every woman in the world who has followed love beyond the grave. The Musalman poet of Akbar’s reign was simply amazed “that after the death of men, the woman shows forth her marvellous passion.” He does not wonder at the wickedness of men, but at the generosity of women. Coomaraswamy declares unequivocally: “We differ from our Western critics in thinking of our ‘suttees’ not with pity, but with understanding, respect and love. So, far from being ashamed of our ‘suttees’, we take a pride in them; that is even true of the most ‘progressive’ amongst us. We do not object to dying for an idea, as ‘suttees’ and patriots have died; but we see that there may be other and greater ideas we can better serve by living for them.”

Views on Marriage

Marriage as viewed in Asia and the West is discussed by Coomaraswamy. The Asiatic theory of marriage is not readily intelligible to the industrial democratic consciousness of Europe and America. The same would have been perfectly comprehensible before the European woman had become an economic parasite. In Western theory marriage is established on a basis of romantic love and free choice. Marriage hence depends on the accident of falling in love. In Hindu society, marriage is considered a social and ethical relationship and the begetting of children the payment of a debt. The social order takes precedence to happiness of the individual as the Hindu society is established based on group morality. A perfection of the Hindu social formula of yore cannot be the same today, as futile as that of the Gothic revival in architecture.

Concept on the status of women

The pan-Indian concept on the status of women is enlarged by Coomaraswamy bringing within its ambit the many notable examples of women from the pages of history in the family of man of all nations. He rates high the status of Indian women. Who can forget the Indian divine and human heroines having an universal fellowship, as everything feminine is of the Mother? It is difficult tofind anyone more wholly devoted than Alcestis, more patient than Griselda, more loving than Deirdre, more soldier than Joan of Are, more Amazon than Brynhild. Can we not inscribe in the roll call of honour hoisted by Coomaraswamy the paragon of chastity Kannaki, the Pandyan queen whose life became extinct the moment she found her lord dead and Manimekalai whose life’s mission was in feeding the hungry? Coomaraswamy goes on enumerating the many qualities of head and heart – the greatest common factor – of women in general. He quotes: Shacktafelska: “She who is courteous in her mind, with shyness shall her face be bright; of all the beauties of the body, none is more shining than shyness. “Shyness in a woman is an ornament brighter than any, gold or diamond. It is pertinent in this context to turn the leaves of Tamil classics. The lady love finds herself in a dilemma of what to choose – love or shame.

            Or bid thy love or bid thy shame depart:
            For me, I cannot bear them both, my worthy heart. (The Kural1247)

Another maiden bemoans, when what is called shame (modesty) stands between her and the lover.

            Maran, the hero of gruesome battle of exquisite majesty,
            When I do not see him, I prattle in a thousand ways.
            When I do see him, would I get hugged by asking him,
            ‘Give unto me your bejewelled chest?’
            Me, the poor thing born with shame.  (Muttollayiram)

Plea against industrialising the Oriental Woman

Coomaraswamy is a trenchant critic of the claim of women to share the loaves and fishes with industrial man. The profound intuition of the non-industrial consciousness is that the qualities of men and women are incommensurable. He, quotes Novalis: “The sexes are differently entertained; man demands the sensa­tional in intellectual form, woman the intellectual in sensational form. What is secondary to the man is paramount to the woman. Do they not resemble the Infinite, since it is impossible to square (qudriren)them, and they can only be approached through approximation?” Coomaraswamy poses a question; “Is not the Hindu point of view possibly right, that for the greatest abundance of life, there is requisite the greatest possible sexual differentiation?” He takes pains to explain that despite the crystallisation ere now of the formula of woman’s status in Oriental society, this formula nevertheless once represented and essentially represents a veritable expression of woman’s own nature. It is worthwhile to pause before hastening to emancipate, in other words reform and industrialise the Oriental woman. After all the industrial revolution in India is of external and of very recent origin. Women in India have not been judged by or have accepted purely male standards.

The West may teach the East the means of life; but it has everything yet to re-learn about life itself.

Shakespeare raises his voice

Women in the West have not been very different from their sisters of the East. While writing on the status of Indian women, Coomaraswamy highlights pari passu the notable inherent feelings of women both of the East and the West. Katherina’s peroration in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, may enable us to have a better understanding of Coomaraswamy’s views on women.

Dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound the lord, thy king, thy governor;
It blots thy beauty, as frosts to bite the meads:
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;
And in no sense meet or amiable.

The husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee
And for thy maintenance, commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience,
Too little payment for so great a debt.

I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.

God is half-feminine

“As pure male, the Great God is inert and his ‘power’ is always feminine,” observes Coomaraswamy. It may be fruitful in this context to say a few words about the power or energy­–Saktiof God. The Supreme has no name or form or mark. “He has no name or form, Him we call by a thousand sacred names and play and sing” – oru namam oruruvam onrumilarkku ayiram tirunamam kuri nam tellenam kottamo – sings Manikkavachakar. The formless Supreme assumes forms of its own power and is of three categories–Form, Form-cum-formless and Formless-rupa, ruparupa and arupa. Sivam (The Blissful) is the Supreme Being. When it works for the soul, it is Pati– The Lord. The Lord performs his five activities of creation – padaittal, proteclion – kattal, destruction – alittal, obscuration – maraittaland Bestowing Grace –­ arulal. Siva and Sakti – God and his Energy – are like the sun and its rays or the flower and fragrance. He is the efficient cause and his own Sakti or power is the instrumental cause. 7 Sakti is inseparable from God. The masculine and the feminine aspects of God cannot be better emphasised and God is not God unless his feminine part is taken into account. In the Tamil country God is Tayumanavar– He who became the Mother too, Ammaiyappan –­ Mother-Father. And some elegant Chola bronz.es and sculptures in stone depicting God as Half Female Lord – Ardhanarisvara, subscribe to the feminine aspect of God.

The Great Navigator and Dreamer

In India, parents consider it their duty to see their daughters married and settled in life. They arrange for it. Among the so-called middle and upper classes in Indian society, marrying a daughter to a suitable groom is a costly affair and many families get ruined in finding the finances. This contagion has now spread tomany castes in the Tamil country, who, a few decades , went to the girls’ parents seeking the hands of their daughters with jewels and presents and who, alas, now like leeches suck the blood of the parents with dowry demands beyond their capacity. How would Coomaraswamy feel the deterioration in social behaviour in the ’Eighties of the twentieth century, were he alive today? But it is not beyond repair. Ananda Coomaraswamy rates high the status of Indian women. When we read his writings, we perceive the inimitable navigator of the past and dreamr, not of one race or persuasion but many, the traditionalist ransacking the golden mines of the dim past, the surveyor and crusader of universal truths common to man. His ideas on the status of Indian women too can be no exception and the same have to be studied in juxtaposition with those seers of thought caged not in national frontiers.


1 Heinrich Zimmer; The Art in Indian Asia.
2 Sister Nivedita: Footfalls of Indian History.
3 to 5 Dr. G. U. Pope: Heroic Poems.
6 Father P Martin’s letter to Fr. D. Villette from Varugupatti dt. 10 Dec. 1713.
7 S. Satchitanandam Pillai; Saiva Siddhanta (Lectures delivered at the Benares Hindu University in November 1952). Annamalai University Publication, 1965.

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