|
REVIEW: Moment of truth
by Nighat Majid
The book
explores how gender morality has been shaped by power relations
historically.
WORLD
Trident, Taj
hotels re-open in Mumbai
Rita Banerji is an Indian journalist, ecologist and women’s rights
activist, and founder of 50 Million Missing, an online campaign to
raise awareness about the 50 million women and girls missing from
the Indian population as a result of female foeticide and
infanticide, general neglect of girls and dowry deaths.
Contrary to popular belief that poverty, dowry, and illiteracy is
responsible for the systematic elimination of women and the skewed
sex ratio, which is as low as 33 women for every 100 men in some
areas, Banerji points out that the some of the highest rates of
female foeticide are recorded in the wealthiest and highly educated
communities in India.
It is deeply ingrained misogyny that is responsible for this
egregious violence against women, independent of economic and
educational factors.
The missing women, the HIV/AIDS crisis (with 2.5 million
HIV-infected persons, India is poised to become the world’s largest
AIDS casualty) and population explosion (India’s population is
likely to exceed China’s by 2030) are three of the gravest social
challenges India faces, and all three are, according to the author,
‘sex-related’.
In the 21st century, India faces a tough moment of truth: the
prospect of Vedic patriarchy’s demise and a democratic dissolution
of social inequalities or a retrenchment of moral and religious
conservatism.
Most of the book is devoted to an exploration of how sexual morality
has been shaped by power relations historically and it has always
been the ruling class/caste that has dictated the prevalent moral
edicts, sexual practices, and religious beliefs.
The author uses Nietzsche’s concept of slave-master morality to
propose that it is always the master class that sets the prevailing
sexual and moral ethos.
The creators of new moral systems use religion to do whatever it is
that ‘strengthens [their] position or creates a good public image.’
The slave-master morality concept is reminiscent of Ziaul Haq’s
enforcement of Islamisation policies and repressive reforms that won
him political mileage, but amounted to a symbolic pogrom for
Pakistan’s women and marginalised communities.
Banerji delves into Indian mythology and history to unveil an
‘intriguing yo-yo effect’, where ‘the sexual philosophy in each
historical period is a direct rebuttal of the previous one.’
For instance, in the Vedic period, circa 1700 BCE, sex was seen as
sacred duty, a male obligation to continue the patriarchal lineage
through a long line of sons.
Following the decline of the Vedic civilisation, in the Buddhist
era, from 500 BCE to about 100 CE, sex came to be seen as a shackle
that prevented enlightenment, and celibacy was claimed as the path
to salvation.
In the Golden Age of Indian renaissance from about 500 to 1500 CE
sex was given a reinterpretation and came to seen as a sacred
activity, a manifestation of the divine.
This period saw a radical reversal in the concept of the sacred from
the earlier Buddhist period. Sensuality was celebrated and
consciously incorporated in the arts, architecture, music,
literature and theatre of the time.
The colonial period was the undoing of the achievements of the
Golden Age. Sex became sin in this period. The author blames Muslim
and English colonisers for their prudish attitude towards creative
expression of sensuality in the arts.
She indicts Muslims as the master class, citing many examples of
intolerance towards local culture. Surprisingly, even an
iconoclastic poet, musician and mystic like Amir Khusrau is blamed
for his ‘vengeance against Hinduism’.
But a few pages later, Banerji praises Mughal emperor Akbar as the
one ‘Muslim ruler who was an exception to the general apathy’ of
Muslim rule towards Hindus. She acknowledges Mughals as great
patrons of the arts and credits their patronage for advancement in
many art forms such as Kathak dance, poetry, miniature paintings,
murals, architecture and even cuisine.
She calls it a result of the ‘confluence of two antagonistic
civilisations and religions [that] emerged with an inspirational
harmony in unique and spectacular art forms.’
One wonders how this Ganga-Jamana tehzeeb could have prospered, of
which Amir Khusrau was one of the most accomplished practitioners,
if Muslims were apathetic towards the arts and culture.
I offer a tribute to Amir Khusrau — an early architect of the
syncretic Sufi and Bhakti traditions whose vision for human
salvation was universal love — in his own words:
‘I am a pagan and a worshipper of love: the creed (of Muslims) I do
not need. Every vein of mine has become taut like a wire, the
(Brahman’s) girdle I do not need. Leave from my bedside, you
ignorant physician! The only cure for the patient of love is the
sight of his beloved’ (Translated from Persian by Dr Hadi Hasan).
Apart from some clumsily researched references, Rita Banerji’s book
makes engaging reading, linking the role of the arts, religion and
culture in the social construction of contemporary and historical
world views, specifically with
respect to sexual philosophy and practices in the context of
Hinduism.
Nighat Majid is a mental health counsellor based in India.
Sex and Power: Defining
history, shaping societies
By Rita Banerji
Penguin Books, India
ISBN 9780143064718
432pp. Indian Rs450
DAWN:Sunay 24 May ,2009 |
