Women and mythology

Ratnasree Borthakur *

Mythology, a collection of myths, includes certain traditional stories that reflect the culture and beliefs mostly of a particular religion. But its reasonableness and viability varies according to individuals.

Many questionable female characters fill the epics- the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Certainly the purpose of analysis is never to demean the male characters but to bring to light the myths associated with some of the female characters.

"Be like Sita"- they say. But is the self-sacrificial and obliging Sita a perfect role model ? Sita, the adopted daughter of King Janak was the most preferred child among the four siblings.- Sita, Urmila, Mandavi and Kirti. Married to Ram, an avatar of Vishnu, she had to leave behind the pleasure of the palace of Ayodhya and subsist in the Dandaka forest for fourteen long years. She chose the path herself, as Ram did not force her to accompany, but she undeniably did it out of the immeasurable love for her husband.

In all probability, barely from this single perspective, Sita is titled to be the embodiment of a perfect woman. Sliding towards the end of her life, we find her submerged and flooded with shame as her chastity was debriefed by her own beloved husband. Her abduction by Ravan made her unreasonably iniquitous. She was not at fault from any perspective but was blamed by a section of the society. As Chandrabati's Ramayana translated by Nabaneeta Dev Sen states:

"Hearing the words of his subjects Ram, Jewel of the Raghus,
Set fire to the pyre with his own hand.
Sita glanced at her two sons once
Sita glanced at her husband just once
Then Sita joined her palms in pranam to Agni
And entered the burning flames."

This is how the role of a scholarly abled and striking Sita came to a head in the epic.

Another imperative but abandoned character from the epic Ramayana will indisputably enlighten many of us. What percentage of our population know about Urmila? To introduce, she is the daughter of King Janak by birth. She is subjected to be the neglected child. As the renowned Indian writer Kavita Kane discloses regarding her prominent book Sita's Sister- "It is the story of Urmila, Sita's sister, and one of the most overlooked characters in the epic." She hardly has her name mentioned in the original versions of the epic, and is scarcely visible even in the celluloid representation of the Ramayana.

Urmila did not enjoy a memorable and joyful childhood even after being the biological daughter. After her marriage with Lakshman, the first two months was as smooth as a glider. But the events thereafter were highly improbable and implausible. Ram was instructed to depart for a fourteen year exile by King Dashrath as part of the boons offered to Queen Kaikeyi. Lakshman made up his mind to tag along his brother to the forest at once, utterly disregarding the presence of his wife Urmila.

And thus, she was separated both from her husband and her sister Sita (as she too opted to follow Ram to the forest) for fourteen long years. But the sheer tragedy lies in the fact that there is no mention, in any of the older versions, of how she administered the entire state of affairs. Instead, Urmila is alleged to have slept for all those fourteen years as Nidra Devi (the Goddess of sleep) suggested to her. It was believed that Lakshman could accomplish his duties of serving his brother and sister-in-law without dozing off merely because Urmila agreed to sleep on his behalf.

On the flip side of the story it is a dissimilar scenario. If Urmila would have been sleeping for all these years, there would have been no one to look after the kingdom of Ayodhya. King Dashrath died with the grief of separation from his son Ram and the queens were busy mourning. Bharat decided to rule from Nandigram at the outskirts of the city to do his penance. The kingdom was on the verge of tearing apart.

So the required mental and physical support was wholeheartedly provided by Urmila. But the acceptance of this side of the story categorically depends on the readers. The main issue to be taken up here or given importance to is the invisible and insignificant character play of Urmila. Should she actually have been ignored and deserted? Was her role so indistinct?

Draupadi or Panchali emerged out of the fire. She was the unwanted child of King Drupad who desired only for his son, Dristadyumna. But the initial rejection by her father did not shatter her. She faced injustice furthermore when she was asked to be shared as a wife among the five Pandavas, when she was in love only with Arjun. Her hardship was not over there. The most tragic incident of her life was her humiliation in the Kaurava court.

Commonly termed as "Vastraharan" episode, Draupadi was dragged to the court with extreme disgrace. The noted mythologist, Chitra Banerjee Divakurni, gives voice to Draupadi in her celebrated book The Palace of Illusions, "Gathering my disordered sari around me, I demanded help from my husbands. They sent me tortured glances but sat paralyzed." Draupadi stood firm folding her hands with her eyes closed while Dushashan endeavored to disrobe her. The Pandavas, men of all values, sat with their heads bowed down yet Draupadi still bore blistering looks.

Amreeta Syam wrote in her long poem named 'Kurukshetra'-
"The Pandavas have given Draupadi…
No joy, no sense of victory
No honour as wife
No respect as mother-
Only the status of a Queen…"

But none can deny that Draupadi, apart from being beautiful, was a heroic princess- fiery and brave. She is at times termed as the "dangerous woman" since the historical war of Mahabharata took place because of her determination to take revenge upon the Kauravas for all the mortification she had to face. Rather than being a sympathetic character, can she be viewed as the revengeful assertive lady?

Many mythical or traditional concepts hover regarding the role or position of women. Their representation is debatable. As is stated in Devdutt Pattanaik's Indian Mythology, in previous times it was believed that "for women there was only one dharma: obeying the father when unmarried, the husband when married, and the son when widowed" or in A.S.Altekar's The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization- "For a long time there was no question of the woman holding any property; she herself was an item in the moveable property of the husband or the patriarch."

Because of such pathetic and disgusting representation of women in the earlier ages, feminism turned out as a theory. It seeks for the societal structure where men and women can equally participate. As David Alejandro Fearnhead says, "Life is not a competition between man and woman. It is a collaboration."