The Hindu seers did not care much for gender. What mattered to them was
the formless beyond the form, the thought behind the thing, the mind
behind matter. The biology of the flesh was but a vehicle of what really
mattered.
Unfortunately, what is true in ideology does not always find expression in reality. We find in the epics a genuine discomfort with female ascetics and even female leaders such as Gargi, Maitreyi, Arundhati, Anasuya and Sulabha. As humans, we struggle to realize our full potential, of seeing humans as humans, beyond their gendered selves, but we do not always succeed.
A man cannot conduct a yagna unless a woman accompanies him. A temple is not complete unless images of men and women together occupy both the inner shrine and the outer wall. A god without a goddess or a goddess without a god are visualized as ‘hot’ and ‘fiery’ lacking the grace and generosity of those who are engaged with the opposite gender. Implicit in these ideas is to include gender diversity.
Unfortunately, what is true in ideology does not always find expression in reality. We find in the epics a genuine discomfort with female ascetics and even female leaders such as Gargi, Maitreyi, Arundhati, Anasuya and Sulabha. As humans, we struggle to realize our full potential, of seeing humans as humans, beyond their gendered selves, but we do not always succeed.
A man cannot conduct a yagna unless a woman accompanies him. A temple is not complete unless images of men and women together occupy both the inner shrine and the outer wall. A god without a goddess or a goddess without a god are visualized as ‘hot’ and ‘fiery’ lacking the grace and generosity of those who are engaged with the opposite gender. Implicit in these ideas is to include gender diversity.
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