Last week’s ‘Faithline’ on husbandly ethics got me a few scolds from Hindu men for seeing scripture through ‘feminist spectacles’. Dear Express readers, please don’t be angry if someone asks questions and airs doubts. That is the very essence of being a Hindu, is it not? The Rig Veda, the Upanishads and even the Puranas are full of questions and what is the Bhagvad Gita itself but sublime answers to existential queries? Don’t you feel that asking questions is more important than ever in this age of anger? Is it fair, therefore, to deny half of humanity a place of honour? Can one really think well of a system that decries women as ‘polluted’ and considers it a spiritual virtue to spurn their touch, their very presence, or else prey on them? This is the same mindset that maintains caste. Of course this has changed a bit. But not nearly enough, as no one can deny. Our feminism is not exactly like that of the West. We have it all in theory. However, praxis is seven seas away, is it not, for most Indian women? It is tied up to primary education, employment, and related issues. But if it is the ‘traditional’ mindset that holds back justice, surely it is our business to poke about — trying always for consensus, because it is better to convince than confront — but also sticking our necks out when needed? Margashirsha is the anniversary month of the Mahabharata war. Which means it is the anniversary month of the holiest Hindu scripture, the Bhagvad Gita. In BG 10:17, Arjuna asks, ‘How may I know Thee, O Yogin? In what aspects, Blessed Lord, should I think of You?’ In BG 10:19, the Lord says, ‘Yes, I will tell you some of my forms,’ having already told him in BG 10:8, ‘I am the origin of all; from Me, all creation proceeds. Knowing this, the wise worship me with conviction.’ The Lord enumerates many wonderful things in which he declares He is extra-manifest. Amongst months, He is Margashirsha. Of the seasons, He is Spring. He is the single syllable Om (a concept burnished anew in Guru Nanak’s great prayer ‘Ik Onkar Satnam’). Of trees, He is the pipal, of rivers, the Ganga. In BG 10:34, He reveals that ‘Of feminine beings, I am Fame, Prosperity, Speech, Memory, Intellect, Firmness and Forgiveness’ (Kirtih srir vaak cha naarinaam/smritir medha dhritih kshama). Saint Dnyaneshwar explains these seven feminine powers as ‘unfading fame (true fame for valid reasons), fortune that goes with generosity, speech that is discriminating and just, quick memory, intellect that works for well-being, firmness as in courage and forgiveness as in patience with our fellow-beings’. God is thus the first, most pre-eminent feminist — as many Hindu reformers realised.
