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By K.V. Ramakrishna Rao, B.Sc., M.A., A.M.I.E., C.Eng.(I)., B.L.,
Introduction
Modern scholars have perceived,
conceived, debated and interpreted Bhakti
movement
differently – reactionary (implying diehard,
retrogressive, regressive), sectarian (conveying
partisan, cultist, non-conformist), counter-sectarian
(against other sects, groups. communal), ideological, feudal,
anti/non-Vedic, anti/non-Brahmanic, anti-women and so on1.
The saints who were previously considered as reformers are dubbed as
cult leaders, sectarian gangsters, sectarian leaders, sectarian heads,
political agents and so on2. Here, the anti-woman
aspect is taken up for study.
About the role of women in the Bhakti movement, certain
interpretation has been given that the movement –
1. Curtailed progress and freedom of
women.
2. Took away their rights
considerably.
3. Women were considered ignoble,
contemptible and inferior.
4. Thus, they were treated badly.
5. Males dominated relegating women
to background.
6. Even Bhakti literature was
operated to achieve such ends.
7. Religious scriptures were employed
to sanctify such move and so on.
In short, it was a movement directed to suppress and oppress Indian
/ Hindu women. Reliance is placed upon the very words of the saints,
religious leaders and others. Kabirdas, Tulsidas, Surdas, Kesavdas,
Gurunanak, Dadu dayal, Shankaradeva, Chaitanya and others were
depicted as such oppressors and suppressors, who are hitherto
considered as reformers, revolutionaries and torch bearers of
equality, egalitarianism and ultimate utopian society3.
This contradicting, conflicting and negating interpretations are not
only intriguing but also interesting to a researcher to analyze the
issue critically and investigate the facts of myth and reality leading
to such interpretations.
To tackle the issue directly, the famous sati is taken first, as it
has projected as the most heinous crime committed against womanhood.
Incidentally, it is an accepted fact that sati became prominent with
the invasion and the rule of Muslims. History books too faithfully
record Purdah system, sati, child-marriage, restriction on the liberty
of women etc are the effects of Delhi Sultanate rule and the
interaction of Islam with Hindu religion. Therefore, one can note that
the cited effects had direct bearing on women of India, which are now
interpreted as social evils.
What is revealed in the incidences of Sati and Jauhar?
It is evident that most of the modern writers, journalists and
researchers have confused the issue of Rupkanwar without knowing the
meaning of and difference between the words and concepts of sati and
jauhar.
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Sl.No.
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Sati
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Jauhar
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1
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The act is individual.
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The act is collective.
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2
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Self-immolation of wife.
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Mass self-immolation of women.
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3
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Only married women commit to it.
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Even unmarried women commit to it.
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4
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Death or killing of husband is a pre-requisite.
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Saving honour is the pre-requisite, irrespective of marital
status.
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5
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Though voluntary, the invading / sieged armies compel the
widow to perform the act immediately.
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Always voluntary involving the determination of the women.
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6
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She herself or relatives prepare the pyre.
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Available men prepare the pyre accommodating hundreds or
thousands of women.
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7
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May be performed in front of others openly.
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It is a closed act performed inside fort, palace or
building under sieged conditions.
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8
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The word sati is derived from the name of sati, the
daughter of Dakhsa, who burnt herself in the yagnakunda, as he
refused to honour her husband.
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Johar or Jauhar is derived from Jatu-graha,’a house built
of lac or other combustibles’, in allusion to the attempted
destruction of the Pandavas4.
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We find so many such incidences of which some famous ones are noted
here as follows:
Samyogita, the daughter of Jayachandra married to Prithwiraj,
sacrificed her life when Prithwiraj was killed by Mu’izuddin
Muhammad of Ghur5.
When Chitor was besieged by Alauddin Khilji, Padmini and other
women preferred heroic death to a disgraced existence by plunging into
jauhar (self-immolation)6. Col. James Tod narrates:
“But another awful sacrifice was to precede this act of
self-devotion in that horrible rite, jhar, where the females are
immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The funeral
pyre was lighted within the ‘great subterranean retreat’ in
chambers impervious to the light of day, and the defenders of Chitor
beheld in procession of the queens, their own wives and daughters, to
the number of several thousands. The fair Padmini closed the throng,
which was augmented by whatever of female beauty, or youth could be
tainted by Tartar lust. They were conveyed to the cavern, and the
opening closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour
in the devouring element ”
When Sultan Bahadur shah of Gujarat (1534-35) sieged and
sacked Chitor, hundreds of Rajput women under the leadership of
Karnavati, burnt themselves in jauhar7. The
incidence is described by Tod as follows:
“The infant Udai Singh, was placed in safety with Surthan,
prince of Bundi, the garrison put on theor saffron robes, while
materials for johar were preparing. There was little time for the
pyre. The bravest had fallen in defending the breach, nor completely
exposed. Combustibles were quickly heaped up in reservoirs and
magazines excavated in the rock, under which gunpowder was strewen.
Karnavati, mother of the prince, and sister to the gallant Arjun Hara,
led the procession of willing victims to their doom, and thirteen
thousand females were thus swept at once from the record of life. The
gates were thrown open, and the Deolia Chief, at the head of the
survivors, with a blind and impotent despair, rushed on his fate.
Bahadur must have been appalled at the horrid sight on viewing his
conquest (1533/1534) ”
When Akbar directed Asaf Khan I to invade Rani Durgavati, she
fought courageously against the Muslim army. But, when her army was
defeated and she herself was injured in the battle, she preferred to
die than to be caught by the alien forces. She stabbed herself to
death to save her honour.
Here, some important questions arise:
1. Why women should fight with Muslim
armies?
2. Why they should self-immolate
themselves or jump into fire etc., after getting defeated or they were
surrounded by the Muslim army?
3. Why such incidences should have
been recorded by the Muslim chroniclers and European travellers and
administrators?
4. Why historians and history book
writers prominently record the incidences of sati and jauhar, but keep
silence about the cause, reason and circumstances leading to such
incidences?
5. What was the mod psychology behind
the self-immolation of more than one woman even up to thousands as has
been faithfully recorded, even though they were not married?
It is evident that interpreters of Bhakti movement have not gone
into these details before accusing the saints as oppressors and
suppressors of women. But without mincing the words, the questions are
to be answered. An attempt is made as follows:
1. History proves that most of the
north Indian women had to face and experience the scourge and violence
of the Muslim invasion in one way or the other. The Rajaput women
virtually fought with them in the battles to save their kingdoms,
royal rights and honour.
2. The habit and obsession of the
Muslim army had been to capture, kidnap and abduct Hindu women after
their victory. Their target had been on the civilian women also,
irrespective of their martial status. After their sexual exploitation,
they used to enslave them in their houses to do domestic work, sell as
slaves and dump in harems. Therefore, when Muslims treated Hindu women
in such a disgraceful and dishonourable manner, they had no other way
but to die with honour and also teach a lesson to the abductors,
kidnappers and womanisers sending warning to other women to follow the
suit. The temples constructed in their memory become immediate
attraction sending shock waves in the minds of the Muslim rulers and
administrators, particularly who had indulged in such sexual abuses.
3. These incidences had been unique
in the history of the history of women affecting the offenders
considerably. As they were treating women as inferior to men, they
could not imagine and digest the valour, courage and preparedness of
Hindu women to fight and die. Therefore, the chroniclers recorded them
faithfully.
4. The European writers were
enthralled to find the incidences and initially, they thought that
only witches were hunt and burnt at stakes as in inquisition. In
Christian society, women were not given equal status with men. In
fact, women’s becoming saints or ordained to become so was
unthinkable. When they tried or attempted to project so, they were
hunted, declared witches and burnt at stakes (think of Joan of Arc
etc.,). But, when the European scholars could notice that Indian women
could fight the invaders, equally educated, compose poems, become
saints, preach religion and so on, they could not digest. Because, in
the medieval period or even up to 19th century, women
becoming saints was unimaginable in the western society. Therefore,
they decided to misinterpret the facts and that is what happened in
the historiography. The Muslim chroniclers too could not assimilate
the facts. That is why the period was dubbed as medieval period.
5. As the Mohammedan invaders had
been particular in defiling the honour of the Indian womanhood, the
Indian women were given importance in the society, because, it becomes
the duty of their counterparts to protect them at any cost. Thus, they
were elevated to Godhead so that others followed their actions, deeds
and exemplary character. Moreover, the johar incidences sent shock
waves in the minds of lecherous Muslim invaders, rulers and officials
at one side and throwing challenge to their religion at the other side
with cropping up of more and more sati temples. It was a psychological
attack on the Muslims by the Indian womanhood.
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