Women
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Hail the Fire Goddesses
While some have argued that these sati practices were a means by which women protected themselves from being violated by invaders, the fact remains that sati stones began to appear in almost every corner of India, at least five centuries…
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Flames of Fidelity
No one knows when the pan-Indian practice of warrior widows burning themselves with (sahagamana) or without (anugamana) the corpse of their husband came to be known as ‘sati’ — a word that means the chaste wife. The inhuman practice was…
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Who Did Draupadi Love?
The story of Draupadi fascinates many because she had five husbands. She did not choose to marry five men—she was instructed to do so. In mythology, no one demands explanations when men have multiple wives.
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Faithful Husbands, Faithful Wives of the Ramayana
Renuka is polluted in thought. Ahalya is polluted in body. Sita is polluted in reputation.
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Ravana’s Women
Women are shown as Durga, again a warrior, again alone. Bharat Mata is also alone, with a lion and weapons. God is male here and if not male, certainly violent.
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Not Blood Or Bones, But Sweets
Published on 14th May, 2023, in Mid-day. There is one temple of Sachi, wife of Indra. And it is a Jain-Hindu temple, located in Osian, Rajasthan, near Jodhpur, where she is revered as clan goddess of local Jains, Rajputs and…
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Are You a Harappan or Vedic Woman?
Published on 5th March, 2023, in Mid-day. Harappan cities thrived between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE. The Vedic culture thrived between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE. Almost 1,000 years apart, the two cultures reveal two different worlds for women. When…
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Donation of Courtesans
Published on 17th February, 2023, in Economic Times. Chanakya’s Arthashastra talks about appointing a superintendent for the ganika, variously translated as pleasure women, prostitutes or courtesans. This is done in a matter-of-fact way. No morality is attached. Ganikas were valuable…
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The Forgotten Women Who Helped Shape Jainism
Jainism follows the path revealed by 24 sages known as Tirthankara, who appear in every era of the human age. In the Shwetambar school of Jainism, popular in western India, Parsvanatha and Mahavira, the 23rd and 24th Tirthankaras were married…
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Bindi: A Homage to the Devadasi
Published on 20th November, 2022, in Mid-day. Devadasis, a crude catch-all word used to describe independent female dancers, musicians, and entertainers of India, have been wiped out of Indian history. She probably invented the bindi, and other female adornments, worn…
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A Brief History of the Lion-Kings of Andhra
Published on 3rd July, 2022, in Times of India. Everyone knows about the famous Venktateshwara Balaji temple of Tirupati located in Andhra Pradesh. What is less known are the Narasimha temples found in coastal Andhra, flanking the rice-rich deltas of…
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How Trade Blossomed an Exchange of Ideas Between India and Arabia.
Published on 26th February, 2022, in Times of India. Indians had been trading with Arabs for a long time. About 4000 years ago, trade happened with Harappans by ships that travelled along the sea-coast. Birds were used to identify the…
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Do Vedas Permit a Man to Marry a Man?
Published on 30th November, 2021, in Economic Times. The world’s oldest wedding hymn is found in the Rig Veda. A thousand year later, dharma-shastra speaks of eight ways in which a man can marry a woman. One of them, not…
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Festival Of Women, By Women, For Women
Published on 12th September, 2021, in Mid-day. The word ‘teej’ refers to the third day of the lunar cycle when women fast, stay awake in all night vigils, hoping to find good husbands if not married, and praying for the…
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‘Thali’, ‘handi’, ‘paniki’
‘Thali’, ‘handi’, ‘paniki’: Unique Inventions of the Indian Kitchen by Women Who Remain Nameless Published on 26th June, 2021, in Economic Times. An Indian kitchen is a sacred place. Many people do not take footwear into the kitchen. They insist…
