Feminism in India

This is with reference to a post in India Uncut. So I retrieved this old post of mine
==

This is from "Women Writing In India" Edited by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita.

Pg 69

Sumangalamata (Pali - 6th Century (600) B.C)
[A Woman well set free! How free I am]

A woman well set free! How free I am,
How wonderfully free, from kitchen drudgery.
Free from the harsh grip of hunger,
And from empty cooking pots,
Free to of that unscrupulous man,
The weaver of sunshades.
Calm now, and serene I am,
All lust and hatred purged.
To the shade of the spreading trees I go
And contemplate my happiness.

(Translated by Uma Chakravarti and Kumkum Roy)
-------

Pg 83
Janabai (1298-1350), Marathi

[Cast of All Shame]

Cast of all shame,
and sell yourself
in the marketplace;
then alone
can you hope
to reach the Lord.

Cymbals in hand,
a *veena* upon my shoulder,
I go about;
who dares to stop me?

The *pallav* of my sari
falls away (A Scandal!);
yet will I enter
the crowded marketplace
without a thought.

Jani says, My Lord,
I have become a slut
to reach Your home.

(Translated by Vilas Sarang)
------

Pg 116

Sanciya Honnamma (late 17th century) -Kannada
From Garathiya Haadu
(Song of a married woman)

[Wasn't it woman who bore them]

Wasn't it woman who bore them,
Wasn't it woman who raised them,
Then why do they always blame woman,
These boors, these blind ones.

In the womb they're the same
When they're growing they're the same
Later the girl will take, with love, what's giveb
The boy will take his share by force.

For money's sake, for trust
And friendship's sake
Don't give a girl to a walking corpse
Bereft of virtue, youth and looks.

Don't say, "We're poor people, where
Can we get jewels from?"
Instead on spending on yourself
Provide your daughters with clothes and ornaments.

(Translated by Tejaswani Niranjana)

------

I had shared this with friends on August 15th.

On India's independence day, a tribute to a naked gay Jewish Iranian mystic who has a dargah in Delhi. Let us celebrate the independence of thought.

In "The Jew in the Lotus', Rodger Kamenetz accompanies various hues of Jewish rabbis to India where they discuss deep religious concepts with many Buddhist teachers, including the Dalai Lama. This experience transforms him from being an agnostic to being an agnostic who is proud of his Jewish identity.

Kamenetz narrates a wonderful story of an Armenian Jewish naked sufi saint called Sarmad who collaborated with Dara Shikoh to write the Jewish chapter of his interfaith book. Sarmad was deeply in love with a Hindu (male) called Abhi Chand and when the authorities forced them to part, Sarmad shed all his clothes and lived naked from then on. Some believe that he converted to Islam while others believe that he did not [1]. After Aurangzeb murdered his brother, he began rounding up his associates and sure enough, Sarmad was one of them. He was called before Aurangzeb and asked to recite the shahadah (la ilaha illa-lahu - There is no God, but God) and Sarmad recited the first half (There is no God). When Aurangzeb asked him to continue, Sarmad said, "Forgive me, but I am so caught up in the negative, that I cant not yet come up to the positive.I cannot tell a lie." Of course, he was invoking the kabbalistic conception of God, Ain Sof. He was beheaded. Later, the Jama Masjid coopted him after Aurangzeb's contemporaries embellished the story with incredible stories about Sarmad's severed head narrating the remaining part of the shahadah.

Kamenetz visited Hazrat Sarmad's dargah in Delhi where he is still revered today. The irony is that he might have been a sufi mystic, neither fully Jewish, nor Hindu, nor a Muslim. Some, like the Italian visitor Manucci believed, perhaps mistakenly according to modern researchers that he was an atheist since he saw him praising 'Islam with Mohammedans, Hinduism with Hindus" and after Aurganzeb imprisoned him, "he had a wonderful relationship with Jesuit fathers". So, this 'hazrat', who might have been all or none of the above is worshipped as a saint today.

Kamenetz - remember, he was an agnostic - went to his tomb and said kaddish. He wrote, "It all felt quite right, a recognition of our predecessor in dialogue - or a martyr to intolerance, take your pick. That there was such a thing as a Jewish Muslim saint who opened yet another door"

[1]
The Identity of a Mystic: The Case of Sa'id Sarmad, a Jewish-Yogi-Sufi Courtier of the Mughals by Nathan Katz - Access this paper at http://www.jstor.org

[2] Maulana Azad was an admirer of Sarmad. You can read his essay 'Sarmad Shahid' and Sarmad's rubaiyat here

View comments

Bhrigu's question

कभी जो याद भी आता हूँ मैं तो कहते हैं के आज बज़्म में कुछ फ़ित्ना-ओ-फ़साद नहीं - मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब

View comments