This is one of a kind and a must read for every one.
Culture is not always about doling out grants, holding mega-festivals, or just about sob stories around lack of preservation. If the economics of culture is understood, it can bring in prosperity and boost soft power. But, how exactly should India go about it?
Most nations, including Malaysia, Thailand, African countries and so on have a national cultural policy that sets a roadmap for the management of the country’s creative economy.
For the longest time it has been argued that India woefully lacked a national culture policy. Ironically, the formulation of such a policy has been opposed by several committees set up by the Ministry of Culture itself for the express intention of designing such a policy.
In June 2008, after several meetings held at taxpayers’ expense, yet another such committee of luminaries declared to the media that Indians were a disparate community, that there was hardly anything common between a Kashmiri and a Malayali or a Gujarati and a Mizo in terms of their culture and hence there was no need for a homogenised policy that served them all. The usual apprehensions of a unified or majoritarian imposition of cultural standards were expressed and the committee had a quiet, unsung burial.
For any meaningful discussion on cultural policy or cultural activity in a country as vast and diverse as India, it is no doubt essential to keep in mind the complex, multi-layered and multi-dimensional cultural fabric of this country, which despite its diversities is united by that single intangible thread of Indianness, which defies definitions and boundaries.
A culture policy for a diverse nation like India (or for that matter any country) is in no way an attempt to homogenise the country’s culture – an act, which is anyway impossible through mere legislations or executive decisions. After all, the more than 5,000-year-old civilisational history and culture of India has borne numerous challenges to be shaken by such a policy document. A policy of this kind is not even an attempt to define what the culture of India needs to be. A national culture policy needs to look broadly at effective ways of managing, promoting, preserving and showcasing this rich and vibrant culture and handle the economics of the culture ‘industry’ through a variety of innovative initiatives, new participation, governmental incentives, funding and public private partnership (PPP) models.
The culture policy can be seen as an area of intersection between activities and initiatives of various ministries of the government of India, such as Ministry of External Affairs, Human Resource and Development, Tourism, Commerce and Industry, Textiles, Small-scale and Agro Industries etc, and not necessarily just the Ministry of Culture (MoC).
1. Complete overhaul, rationalisation and effective management of existing cultural bodies coming under the government of India.
One of the biggest challenges facing the governmental intervention in the domain of culture is the lack of skilled administrators for the 45 odd organisations that fall under the MoC ranging from Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, National Gallery of Modern Art, National Museum, National School of Drama, the seven Zonal Cultural Centres, CCRT, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and so on.
While performing artists are masters in their disciplines, they need not always be skilled and unbiased administrators who understand the fine nuances of management. Bureaucrats many a times consider a Culture Ministry posting as a punishment one as they are not exposed to or are not sensitive to the arts. Unlike most countries of the world, India lacks a discipline of “arts management” or “arts administration” that helps produce young, administrative talent specifically for managing our arts institutions, museums, monuments, libraries, art galleries and centres for performing arts.
In addition to mediocrity and inefficiency, most of the bodies under MoC have a huge duplicity of their functions. Everyone seems to be intent on rediscovering the same wheel, and that too over and over again.
This is not something that the ministry is unaware of.
In 1964, the Bhabha Committee was set up to analyse the ills facing the ministry and its report was submitted in October 1964. Result: NO ACTION.
The Khosla Committee set up for the same task in 1970, submitted its report in 1972. Result: NO ACTION.
The Haksar Committee set up in 1988, submitted a report in 1990. Result: NO ACTION.
High Powered Committee (HPC) set up in January 2014 under the chairmanship of Abhijeet Sengupta and submitted to the parliament with more than 220 pointed action items and recommendations. Lo! And Behold – yet again, NO ACTION! The HPC rightly points out:
“First, if the Government wishes to experiment with change in administrative systems, a small Ministry like Culture could be a starting point. Second, many of the changes we propose are not entirely new, they revisit the conditions that existed fifty years ago; it is since then that rigidity has set in. And, third, this Ministry is one whose very mandate should require it to interact with the young, with creative, independent minds: it has to be a catalyst for new beginnings.”
Most of our culture bodies on which huge sums of money are spent are leaderless. The institutions work in silos and do not talk to one another. Issues of autonomy and transparency dog most of them. Creation of new jobs and skills with specialisation must be a prerequisite for management of cultural organisations and not mere ad-hoc postings. The ministry must ensure that there is a proper roadmap and periodic performance audits of these bodies, to see if they are achieving the objectives for which they were set up in the first place.
Regional centres are set up as further money-guzzling mechanisms, with no sense of mission, objectives, or Agenda.
A case in point is the IGNCA, which has been perennially in controversies for long. With a sprawling head office in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi and regional centres in Bengaluru, Varanasi and Guwahati struggling to make any headway, IGNCA has decided now to start many more regional centres in Ranchi, Srinagar, Goa, Vadodara, Puducherry and Kerala. Land would be acquired, buildings constructed, a battery of staff appointed, with no agenda on what is to be done. The maintenance of these inefficient white elephants gets paid by tax-payers.
2. Enhancement of funding for India’s cultural industry through new participation models, including PPP.
China spends roughly 18 per cent of its budget on culture, education and science. The UK saw the support of an additional £8.9 million for culture in 2015, 25 per cent tax relief on orchestras and other creative activities, support to roll out WiFi in all state libraries and museums and so on.
Most European countries spend about 1-1.5 per cent of their public expenditure on culture and the quantum of private expenditure in culture too is substantial in the relatively affluent countries. From 0.12 per cent spend in 2009-10 to 0.13 per cent in 2014-15 of the government of India’s budget it certainly paints a sad picture of the priority that is given to a country with such an ancient heritage and culture.
The UK has the concept of the ‘arts council’, which acts as the nodal agency for all matters related to funding the arts. The funding here comes as a mix of two sources – direct government funding and a large component through private investments in culture called the National Lottery. This funds a wide range of activities – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, crafts to collections; and helps them achieve their mission statement of “great art and culture for everyone”. Close to £1 billion of public money was invested in 664 arts organisations from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018. Of this £69.5 million per year comes from the National Lottery invested in touring and working with children and young people.
The budgetary pie for culture in India too needs to expand, and for this the government exchequer need not be the only source. Augmenting the funding for culture by combining government intervention with private initiatives, corporate grants and even foreign investment especially in tourism related projects is a way out. The National Culture Fund (NCF) of the MoC has been largely a non-starter. More tax exemptions and reliefs for donations to the culture industry and bringing it within the ambit of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) can drive more corporates and individuals to adopt culture projects. Important projects could be adopted by high net worth individuals and even go by their name if that is an incentive that someone is looking for.
3. Inclusion of the cultural element among young minds by broad-basing the education system to inculcate a sense of national identity, pride and self-worth.
Swami Vivekananda points out that the defect of present-day education is that it has no definite goal to pursue. A sculptor has a clear idea about what she wants to shape out of the marble rock; similarly a painter knows what she wants to paint. But a teacher has no goal in what she wishes to make of the children. The end of all education, Swamiji opined, was ‘man-making’, manifesting in our lives as perfection, which is the very nature of our inner self.
Studies have shown that there are various levels at which cultural education can be part of the syllabus right from kindergarten. The first level is knowledge-based which teaches our children the best of what has been created and is being currently created in the performing and visual arts and literature. The second level helps develop children’s critical faculties through the introduction of courses such as music, dance, drama, painting etc. and the positive impact that it has on the child’s cognitive development, IQ, and personality is scientifically documented. The third level is skill-based where the child learns how to participate and create new culture for themselves. Not everyone reaches here and a child exposed to say Indian classical music, need not necessarily become a performing musician. But the positive spin-offs of such exposure at a very early age are unimaginable. It would also create millions of jobs for so many artists, who are all not lucky to make a living out of their art, and can now be teachers in schools at various levels.
The arts fuel children’s curiosity and critical capacity. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ideals state them as every child’s birthright. It is vital that children engage with the arts early in their lives. The arts contribute to the development and wellbeing of children and young people. They inspire future audiences and the next generation of artists and leaders.
At the level of higher education, it is a real pity that we in India lack institutions on Indology/Indic Studies or civilisational and heritage studies. We have outsourced most of this to Western scholars and cry hoarse each time they come up with a biased and warped viewpoint of our country, its culture and faiths.
But is there a strong counter-narrative based on honest scholarship bereft of shallow jingoism or ideological biases? The answer is sadly, No!
The predominant agenda in education has made us feel perpetually inferior and ashamed of everything that is Indian. But then how long will we continue to quote Macaulay for creating the brown Englishmen or blame the Marxist intellectuals and wallow in self-pity, when the country has no agenda in mind to course-correct?
4. Looking at culture as a profit centre that provides jobs to people, enables skill development and vocational training and finds effective markets for the wares of artisans, weavers, artists, painters and craftsmen of the country in traditional and contemporary arts and crafts in both national and international platforms.
For long the Culture Ministry is seen as primarily a cost centre, which is also a grants body for various schemes and to which greedy artists flock to curry favours or lobby for awards. Sadly, the “soft power” of India’s culture and the manner in which this can be utilised for job creation, skill development and enhancing tourism in the country, which can transform it into a profit centre, has never been looked at.
Today with dwindling job opportunities many traditional artisan families are leaving their art to take up sundry factory jobs or enter low level tasks in the IT field and so on. The policy of the government must aim at providing economic stability to the craftsmen which would also give them a sense of pride in what they are doing for generations and also ensure enough returns so that they don’t abandon their hereditary task.
As part of the government’s Skill India Programme, a national institute for skill development in the traditional arts, crafts, textiles, handicrafts etc. should be set up or added to the NSDC. A curriculum and framework for certification must be created by the Institution in consultation with NSDC, NIOS, institutions of higher education and other stakeholders including private training providers. A sector skill council on traditional skills can be created by NSDC too to further give credibility to the certification. Indian arts, crafts, and textiles should find its way in every global market after being duly patented.
5. Clear roadmap to integrate culture to tourism initiatives and boost the country’s rich but latent, tourism potential.
As highlighted in the UN WTO 2013 report, tourism can account for 9 per cent of GDP (direct, indirect and induced), one in 11 jobs and 6 per cent of world exports.
Our heritage monuments, temples, palaces, mosques and forts count for among the best in the world and we have numerous world heritage monuments attested by UNESCO. But the infrastructure and upkeep around the monuments is abysmal. The Cultural Policy should dovetail with the tourism plan of the government in ensuring good infrastructure around monuments – clean, approachable and motorable roads, airport facilities, telephone lines that work, clean toilets and restaurants serving hygienic food.
This industry in itself can help employ millions of people in the area. The most exquisite monument cannot compensate for the ugliness of public defecation, garbage mounds and rivers of sewage – common in every Indian tourist spot.
Beggars found around the monuments and temples can be gainfully employed around the monument. Digital multi-media presentations/sound-light shows, multi-lingual audio guides, qualified tourist guides, sufficient information and pamphlets at the sites would draw innumerable tourists. Heritage walks enhance the whole tourism experience and can be conducted with private partnership. In all these important sites opportunities for historical and cultural immersion in the local culture – local dance and music forms, arts and crafts, cuisine etc. and a market for local artisans to sell their products to tourists can thus be made.
On the lines of the English Heritage, the government of India must seriously consider a national heritage trust. Gone are the days when people looked at history books for learning about their past and heritage. They, and increasingly tourists, are looking at experiences that bring history to life in an engaging way standing on the very spot where history happened. The trust needs to offer a hands-on experience that will be educational for children, national and international tourists who come to the country.
India must make a push for more of her monuments for UNESCO Listing. There is an economic case too for this.
In Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site in Lao, the number of direct jobs increased from by about 10.3 per cent between 2000 and 2005 and the number of commercial establishments doubled, after it was UNESCO listed. As a result, direct employment in the tourism sector there has grown at a compounded annual rate of 8.5 per cent.
Ankor Wat in Cambodia was listed as World Heritage in 1992 and since then tourists arrivals have grown at an impressive 21 per cent (CAGR) annually. In 1993, the tourist arrivals in Ankor Wat were about 1.2 lakh and in 2010 the recorded figures were over 25 lakh. Tourism receipts there too grew from $100 million in 1995 to $1,786 million in 2010.
6. Institutions for dissemination of cultural knowledge to the public at large through various media; Online being the biggest backbone for a “Digital India”.
A lot of the country’s tangible and intangible heritage needs to be preserved for posterity and also documented. We have lacked a sense of documentation and showcasing of our own very rich past.
Creation of institutions such as a national cultural audio-visual archive that can also be accessed online by everyone, and modernisation of our existing archives (National Archives of India, National Film Archives and State Archives etc.) and libraries, through technology and digitisation would create lasting legacy institutions for our country.
Museums are also one of the most significant revenue earners for developed nations, through tourist footfalls. The five most popular museums and galleries in both London and Paris receive more than 20 million visits between them while Shanghai’s and Istanbul’s ‘top five’ attract more than six million. ‘Newer’ cities too are keen to develop their museums and galleries. Singapore alone has more than 50 museums, and 40 per cent of its residents visit a museum or gallery each year. About 100 museums open annually in China, peaking at nearly 400 in 2011 alone.
Is it not a national shame that just one museum in Paris (the Louvre) gets more than 1.5 times the number of visitors that all of India gets in terms of foreign visitors according to a past statistic of the Indian Tourism Department (9.72 million versus 6.29 million)?
Just in terms of international scale and standards, if we see the three cities with the highest number of national museums: Shanghai (27); Paris (24); Berlin (18) or with three cities with highest number of other museums: London (162); Berlin (140); New York (126) and even with cities with very little history, it becomes amply clear that we in India fall woefully short.
It is sad that in independent India there have been very few new museums that have been developed. Government museums make up for 90 per cent of the roughly 1,000 museums in India. In 2011, UNESCO published a scathing report on the appalling condition of India’s top eight museums, citing sub-standard maintenance, lighting and signage among other issues.
But at the core are deep-rooted issues of archaic policies, lack of autonomy and skilled manpower and under-staffing. They are banned from all kinds of partnerships with private individuals or organisations and have to depend only on central funding for day-to-day operations. Professional salaries are not given to trained museum staff and hence modern curatorial, display and conservation methods are not followed in many cases.
While it might not be entirely feasible to develop museums in every city and town of India, major centres in the country could have the ‘museum district’ (like in London) or the ‘museum mile’ (in New York) set up with public private partnership to become a showcase of the culture and arts of the entire state and also for different facets of a state/city (For example – science, IT, sound, defence, cricket, etc. which have developed indigenously in Bengaluru).
In addition to national museums, regional and community museums need to be encouraged and provided for to showcase regional culture and heritage. For instance, a botanical museum for the Western Ghats would be a unique asset. Going to museums must be a joyful and a deeply enriching and educational experience both for tourists and for Indians. Can we mention even one such museum in India today?
In line with the Government’s Digital India Project, the online medium should be used to the maximum extent to conserve, create and disseminate cultural artifacts of India.
7. Showcase and educate the international community about the best of India’s culture, heritage, traditional knowledge, performing and visual arts.
In most international forums, India and her culture are not showcased to the extent that it can be to depict its richness in all its glory. Through the network of embassies of India and consulates, regular dissemination of cultural artifacts of India, the best of the performing and visual arts, films and documentaries, books and literature should be periodically organised.
The soft power of Indian culture can and must be used to create jobs, not necessarily always in India, but for Indians across the world. The demand for Indian cuisine across the world itself is a market that is dying to be explored. Instead, what we find is that in most countries, so-called Indian restaurants are run by other nationals.
International co‐operation should be sought for setting up India studies chairs in major universities abroad where Indian scholars are invited to research and teach about India, her history and culture rather than leave it to Western scholars to create a warped view of Indian history and religions. Cultural cooperation agreements with various countries to get the best of what is happening world-wide to administer and disseminate culture is the need of the hour.
Like the recent inclusion of World Yoga Day, more art forms – classical music, dance, classical languages and traditional knowledge etc. should receive international recognition considering they are thousands of years old. An element of Indian performing arts and literature must be a given in all the major festivals across the world. We, and our culture, need to be seen, understood and appreciated.
An important aspect of international cultural co‐operation is a sizeable programme of scholarships/fellowships in different disciplines given to foreign scholars and artists to come to India and to Indian scholars to visit foreign countries. Most of these scholarship programmes need to be on a reciprocal basis. Cross-cultural projects and interdisciplinary studies can herald new ideas and avenues in the field of culture and can act as a soft tool for international cooperation and diplomacy.
Rabindranath Tagore had said: “Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.” The time has come now to build this capacity in the culture industry of India and make it a robust and streamlined one that not only provides jobs and revenue to millions, but creates a sense of national identity, self-esteem, pride and lasting legacy for posterity.
While it is essential that we become an economic and military super-power, we would be a highly impoverished nation if, after a generation, our cultural heritage and identity is lost. As mentioned earlier, culture is not always about doling out grants, holding mega-festivals, or just about sob stories around lack of preservation. The economics of culture and the way it can enhance skills, augment jobs, and add to the country’s might by being both a profitable industry and also as soft-power diplomacy needs innovative and out of the box thinking.
Recent Posts
- India’s telecom market has seen monopoly as well as hyper-competition.
- Twenty-five years ago, the government alone could provide services.
- Ten years later, there were nearly a dozen competing operators.
- Most service areas now have four players.
- The erstwhile monopolies, BSNL and MTNL, are now bit players and often ignored.
- India is ranked second globally—after China—in the number of people connected to the internet. However, it is also first in the number of people unconnected.
- Over 50% of Indians are not connected to the internet, despite giant strides in network reach and capacity.
- India’s per capita or device data usage is low. It has an impressive 4G mobile network. However, its fixed network—wireline or optical fibre—is sparse and often poor.
- 5G deployment has yet to start and will be expensive.
Context
Sunil Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, said recently that it would be “tragic” if India’s telecom-access market was to be reduced to only two competing operators. He was probably referring to the possible exit of the financially-stressed Vodafone Idea and the increasing irrelevance of government-owned operators, BSNL and MTNL. This would essentially leave the market to Reliance Jio and Airtel. A looming duopoly, or the exit of a global telecommunications major, are both worrying. They deserve a careful and creative response.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Thus Far
The reduced competition is worrying. Competition has delivered relatively low prices, advanced technologies, and an acceptable quality of services. These gains are now at risk. There is a long way to go in expanding access as well as network capacity.
The Indian Telecom Irony
Vodafone Tragedy
Filling the gaps in infrastructure and access will require large investments and competition. The exit of Vodafone Idea will hurt both objectives. The company faces an existential crisis since it was hit hardest by the Supreme Court judgment on the AGR issue in 2019, with an estimated liability of Rs 58,000 crore.
The closure of Vodafone Idea is an arguably greater concern than the fading role of BSNL and MTNL. The government companies are yet to deploy 4G and have become progressively less competitive. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, still accounts for about a quarter of subscriptions and revenues and can boast of a quality network.
It has been adjudged the fastest, for three consecutive quarters, by Ookla, a web-service that monitors internet metrics. India can ill-afford to waste such network capacity. The company’s liabilities will deter any potential buyer.
Vodafone+MTNL+BSNL ?
A possible way out could be to combine the resources of the MTNL and BSNL and Vodafone Idea through a strategic partnership. Creative government action can save Vodafone Idea as well as improve the competitiveness of BSNL and MTNL.
It could help secure government dues, investment, and jobs. It is worth recalling here that, about 30 years ago, the Australian government’s conditions for the entry of its first private operator, Optus, required the latter to take over the loss-making government satellite company, Aussat. Similar out-of-the-box thinking may well be key to escape the looming collateral damage.
It is not trivial to expand competition in India’s telecom market. Especially since there are no major regulatory barriers to entry anymore. Any new private player will be driven largely by commercial considerations. Global experience suggests that well-entrenched incumbents have massive advantages. New players are daunted by the large investments—and much patience!—needed to set up networks, lure existing customers and sign new ones.
However, regulators and policymakers have other options to expand choice for telecom consumers. Their counterparts in mature regulatory regimes—e.g., in the European Union—have helped develop extensive markets for resale. Recognising the limited influence of smaller players, regulators mandate that the incumbent offer wholesale prices to resellers who then expand choice for end-users.
This has been virtually impossible in India. There is a near absence of noteworthy virtual network operators (VNOs) and other resellers. A key barrier to resale is India’s licence fee regime which requires licence-holders to share a proportion of their revenues with the government. Thus, resale could hurt exchequer revenues unless resellers are subject to identical levies. Understandably, the levies—and consequently additional reporting and compliance—is a disincentive for smaller players. The disincentive flows from levies based on revenues which comes with considerable costs of compliance. It would almost vanish if the levies were replaced by say, a flat fee computed objectively.
The ball is in the court of the regulator and the government. They have options. But will they take decisive action to exercise them? It will be ‘tragic’ if they can’t.
INTRODUCTION
Since most of the early scholars, researchers and historians were men, many aspects of society did not find a place in history books. For example, child-birth, menstruation, women’s work, transgenders, households etc. did not find much mention.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Rather than building a holistic picture of the past, some select aspects such as polity and the different roles of men became the central focus of history writing. Women were confined to one corner of the chapter where a paragraph or two was devoted to the ‘status and position of women’.
Even the details of these paragraphs were hardly different from each other. This made it look like as if history (and thereby society, polity, economy and all culture) belonged to men while women were only a small static unit to be mentioned separately. Of course, there were some exceptions, but these were however rare. This practice is being corrected now and the roles and presence of women are being read into all parts of historical questions.
SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING GENDER HISTORY
Sources are the bases of history writing. From simple pre-historic tools to abstruse texts, everything can be utilized to understand life and roles of women in history. The presence as well as the absence of women from sources needs to be duly noticed, deliberated and argued upon and only then to be theorised upon.
Certain objects being directly related to the lives of women or depicting the ideas of the female principle are of central importance. These include but are not limited to female figurines, art objects, texts attributed to or authored or compiled by women, monuments created by or for women, various objects relating to their lifestyle, objects associated with women on account of their cultural roles and so on.
It has been rightly pointed out by Uma Chakravarti that much of the gender history written in early phase was a ‘partial view from above’. This referred to the utilization of select textual sources and focused only on relational identity of women. There were, however, a few exceptions.
GENDER HISTORIOGRAPHY
Amongst the many narratives propagated to denigrate Indian civilization and culture by the British colonial rulers, the condition of Indian women became a point of central reference. Various social evils that made the life of women miserable were pointed out and efforts were also made to introduce ‘reforms.’ Sati, child-marriages, imposed widowhood, polygamy, dowry, educational and economic inequality, purdah (ghoonghat) and many other practices prevailed during the colonial period that made the life of women difficult and pitiable.
Some practices affected women of higher social and economic households while others led to misery for poorer women. Many social reform movements were started in the 19th century to address these issues and contributions were made by Indian reformers as well as British officials and other Europeans.
Women in India came to be treated as a homogeneous category and over generalisation became the norm. While many communities in India practised widow remarriage and did not practise (much less forced) sati and while some practised divorces or separation, the image of the Indian woman who had been subjugated as woman, wife and widow became a dominant theme in history writing.
Secondly, a western vision was placed over the non-western societies and hence interpretations were far removed from the context. For example, notion of stridhan was equated with dowry and little regard was paid to the provisions regarding its use and ownership by women.
The huge social stigma that came along with the selling of jewellery of the household (one of the main components of stridhan) was paid no attention to. Similarly, penal provisions listed by ancient texts for misappropriation of women’s property were not even looked into.
During the Paleolithic age, hunting and gathering was norm. However much importance was given to Hunting than gathering in all literature of history. Studies, however, show that hunted prey formed only 35% of the diet while gathering fruits and other edible material supplied the major portion. Gathering of food resources was ordinarily done by women. Since gathering was an important activity, more than hunting for game, it could point to significant role playing by women.
The gendered understanding of Harappan civilization is being built upon and various archaeological remains have been studied in this respect. The female figurines, idols of pregnant women, the statue of the ‘dancing girl’, various pieces of jewellery and personal belongings that have been discovered at various sites and offer useful insights on the public and private lives of women and men.
The statue of a girl obtained from Mohanjodaro has been called a ‘dancing girl’ on grounds of familiarity with the institution of devadasis in the later times. Such backward looking explanations are problematic.
There is a wide variety of terracotta female figurines that have been found at different sites right from the pre-Harappan times. Women figures are found suckling a baby, holding utensils, kneading dough, nursing infants, carrying objects like drums, seated figures for board games, with steatopygia (fat deposition on the hips and elsewhere), with floral head-dresses and in many other forms.
Even figurines of pregnant women are quite common. However, most of these have been uncritically associated with fertility, religiosity and reproductive ideas, and have been passed off as representations of the Mother Goddesses. While some of them were votive objects, others are held to be toys or other utilities. The focus on female form has been so stereotypical that women have been seen as associated only with home, hearth, fertility, sexuality and divinity. So much so that sometimes even male figurines in assumed womanly roles were classified as female figurines.
POSITION OF WOMEN IN EARLY INDIA
The first literary tradition in the Indian subcontinent (and the oldest in the world) is that of the Vedic corpus. From the four Samhitas to the Upanishads, we find many interesting references to women in various roles. Some of these women have left their mark on the cultural heritage to this day and are remembered in various ritual and social contexts. Their names, stories, some highly revered hymns, and other interesting facets are mentioned in the Vedic corpus.
The Vedic literature has been classified as Early Vedic and Later Vedic. The Rigvedic society and polity seems to be teeming with life and agro-pastoral economy was enmeshed in close kinship ties. Women as well as men participated in society, economy and polity. Some of the most revered hymns including the gayatri mantra are ascribed to women.
Various natural phenomena are depicted as Goddesses and they are offered prayers. While quantitative analysis highlights the predominance of Indra, Agni, Varuna and other male gods, the power and stature of the goddesses is equally well established.
Women participated in all three Vedic socio-political assemblies viz. Sabha, Samiti and Vidhata. They had access to education and were even engaged in knowledge creation. They could choose to be brahmavadinis with or without matrimony.
Hence, there is no reason to believe that they were only confined to home and hearth. T. S. Rukmani attempts to understand if women had agency in early India. Her work has highlighted many interesting details. The author acknowledges the fact that though the patriarchal set up put women at a loss, there were instances where women found space to exercise their agency.
She points out that though the texts like the Kalpasutras (Srautasutras, Dharmasutras and Grhasutras) revolved around the ideology of Dharma and there was not much space to express alternative ideas, still these works also find some leeway to express ideas reflecting changed conditions.
For example, there is a statement in the Apastamba Dharmasutra that one should follow what women say in the funeral samskaras. Stephanie Jamison believes that in hospitality and exchange relations, women played an important role. She says that the approval of the wife was important in the successful completion of the soma sacrifice. In another study it has been shown that women enjoyed agency in deciding what was given in a sacrifice, bhiksha to a sanyasin. The men had no authority in telling her what to do in these circumstances.
Vedic society was the one which valued marriage immensely. In such contexts, Gender Perspectives if a woman chose not to marry, then it would point to her exercising choice in her decision to go against the grain and remain unmarried.
Mention may be made of Gargi. She was a composer of hymns and has been called a brahmavadini. This term applies to a woman who was a composer of hymns and chose to remain unmarried, devoting herself to the pursuit of learning.
Similarly, in the case of Maitreyi, she consciously opts to be educated in the Upanishadic lore and Yajnavalkya does not dissuade her from exercising her choice.
The statement in the Rigveda that learned daughters should marry learned bridegrooms indicates that women had a say in marriage. Though male offspring is desired, there is a mantra in the Rigveda, recitation of which ensures the birth of a learned daughter.
Altekar refers to the yajnas like seethayagna, rudrayajna etc. that were to be performed exclusively by women. Some of the women were known for their exceptional calibre, for example, from the Rigveda Samhita we find mention of women like Apala, Ghosha, Lopamudra, Gargi, Maitreyi, Shachi, Vishwavara Atri, Sulabha and others.
Women have not only been praised as independent individuals but also with reference to their contributions towards their natal or marital families.
The Later Vedic literature shows the progression towards a State society with a change in the organization of the society and polity. The chief comes to be referred to as bhupati instead of gopati. However, within the twelve important positions (ratnis) mentioned, the chief queen retains a special position under the title mahisi.
The importance of the chief queen continued as gleaned from several references to them in the Epics, Arthashastra and even in coins and epigraphs from early historical times.
The other Samhitas also refer to women sages such as Rishikas. The wife is referred to as sahadharmini. Brahmanas or the texts dealing with the performance of the yajna (Vedic ritual), requires a man to be accompanied by his wife to be able to carry out rituals.
For example, Aitareya Brahmana looks upon the wife as essential to spiritual wholesomeness of the husband. However, there is a mention of some problematic institutions as well.
Uma Chakravarti has pointed towards the condition of Vedic Dasis (female servant/slave) who are referred to in numerous instances. They were the objects of dana (donation/gift) and dakshina (fee).
It is generally believed that from the post Vedic period the condition of the women steadily deteriorated. However, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and subsequent grammatical literature speak highly of women acharyas and Upadhyayas.
Thus, the memory and practice of a brahmavadini continued even after the Vedic period. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and even the Puranas keep the memory of brhamavadini alive.
Mention may be made of Anasuya, Kunti, Damyanti, Draupadi, Gandhari, Rukmini who continued to fire the imagination of the poets. Texts show that the daughter of Kuni-garga refused marriage because she did not find anyone worthy of her.
The Epics also mention women whose opinions were sought in major events. For example, after the thirteen years of exile, while debating upon the future course of action regarding the restoration of their share, the Pandavas along with Krshna asks Draupadi for her views. Similarly, when Krishna goes to the Kaurava’s court to plead the case of Pandavas, Gandhari is called upon to persuade her sons to listen to reason.
Since a woman taking sanyasa was an act of transgression, one can explore women’s agency through such instances. In the Ramayana, Sabari, who was the disciple of Sage Matanga, and whose hermitage was on the banks of river Pampa was one such sanyasin.
Such women find mention in Smriti literature and Arthashashtra. Kautilya’s prohibition against initiating women into Sanyasa can make sense only if women were being initiated into sanyasa. He advises the king to employ female parivrajakas as spies.
Megasthenes mentions women who accompanied their husbands to the forest, probably referring to the Vanaprastha stage. Another category of literature called Shastras that comprises of sutras (aphorisms) and the smriti texts (‘that which is remembered’) becomes important in the postVedic period.
These textual traditions cover many subjects relating to the four kinds of pursuits of life referred to as purusharthas (namely dharma, karma, kama and moksha). In all these texts we find very liberal values and freedom for both women and men.
The setting up of a household is seen as an ideal for men as well as women (though asceticism for learning is equally praised for both). For example, Apastambha Sutra opines that rituals carried out by an unmarried man do not please the devatas (divinities). Similarly, Manusmriti provides that ‘for three years shall a girl wait after the onset of her puberty; after that time, she may find for herself a husband of equal status. If a woman who has not been given in marriage finds a husband on her own, she does not incur any sin, and neither does the man she finds’
Thus, we see that women enjoyed choice in matters of matrimony. It is interesting to note that unmarried daughters were to be provided for by the father. In fact, daughter is stated to be the object of utmost affection. Should a girl lose her parents, her economic interests were well looked after. It was provided that from their shares, ‘the brothers shall give individually to the unmarried girls, one-quarter from the share of each. Those unwilling to give will become outcastes’
With regards to defining contemporary attitude towards women, Apastambha Sutra prescribed that ‘All must make a way for a woman when she is treading a path.’ Later Dharmashastra also makes similar statements.
Yagnavalkyasmriti mentions that ‘women are the embodiment of all divine virtues on earth.’ However, there are several provisions that look problematic.
On one hand, we have reverence assigned to the feminine (divine and worldly) and important roles being played by them, on the other hand we have questionable provisions and descriptions like right to chastise them through beating or discarding.
The post-Vedic phase from 6th century BCE onwards is also rich in literary traditions with ample depictions of women. Interestingly, we have an entire body of literature that is ascribed totally to women who became Buddhist nuns. These are referred to as Therigathas i.e. the Songs of the Elder Bhikkhunis (Buddhist Women who joined the Sangha).
The Arthashastra Gender Perspectives gives us information on women who were engaged in economic activities of various kinds. They formed a part of both the skilled and the unskilled workforce. They were into professional as well as non-professional employment.
Some of their vocations were related to their gender, while the others were not. There were female state employees as well as independent working women. Similarly, some of them were engaged in activities which though not dependent on their biological constitution are nonetheless categorized as women’s domain, e.g. domestic services etc. Some of them were actual state employees, while some others were in contractual relations with the State. For example, we have female bodyguards and spies in the State employment.
Jaiswal suggests that these women perhaps came from Bhila or Kirata tribe. Female spies were not only to gather information and relay it to proper source, but also to carry out assassinations. However, a closer look at the text shows that there were different classes of female spies engaged for different purposes. Amongst others ‘women skilled in arts were to be employed as spies living inside their houses’. Others were required to work as assassins. Some were to the play the roles of young and beautiful widows to tempt the lust of greedy enemy.
We also have various Buddhist and Jaina traditions giving us some glimpses of the ideas and institutions of the times. Apart from the orthodox (Vedic and Brahmanic) and heterodox normative tradition we have many popular texts like the Epics in Sanskrit and Jatakas in Pali.
Even Prakrit language has many interesting narratives and poetic texts. The Therigatha by the Buddhist nuns are an interesting literary source that provides us with a glimpse of various women who attained arhantship or similar other stages of Realisation.
The deliberation on the age and deterioration of the body by Ambapali, the non-importance of sensual or bodily pleasures by Nanda, Vimla and Shubha etc points towards the intellectual and spiritual engagements and attainments of women.
It is interesting to note that an absolutely contrary picture is presented by the Jatakas wherein more often than not, women are depicted as evil. It is important to note that women were given an evil aura mostly in their roles as wives or beloveds.
Both the texts and the archaeological remains have been studied by various scholars and opposing interpretations are not rare. For example, on one side Sita (from Ramayana) and Draupadi (from Mahabharata) have been seen as victims of the patriarchal order; on the other hand, they are also represented as selfwilled women.
Draupadi after the game of dice presents herself as a forceful and articulate woman. It’s her wit that saves her husbands from becoming slaves of the Kauravas. Her incensed outrage at the attack on her modesty, her bitter lamentations to Krishna, her furious tirade against Yudhishthira for his seeming inability to defend her honour and many more such instances show her to be an aggressive woman. This persona is juxtaposed to her representations as an ideal wife elsewhere. However, Draupadi is never idealised as a perfect wife who endures the most severe trials without complaint. This honour is reserved for Sita in the Ramayana. She is also presented as a victim like Draupadi and voices her concern at her fate openly. However, her aggression is directed inwards as indicated by her action against the self which culminate in her union with the mother Earth.
Are the limited number of hymns ascribed to the Vedic women a signifier of their general status? Are the goddesses merely representational with no connection to the ideas and behaviour towards women? Did only princesses choose their spouses? Are the warrior women an exception? Such searching questions need to be addressed with due diligence.
While women studies are a good development there is a need to expand the horizons to include other varieties of human existence. We have narratives of fluid sexuality in various texts. The one year of Arjuna’s life spent as Brihallana and rebirth of Amba as Shikhandi are some interesting instances. The artefacts found at the site of Sheri Khan Tarakai include visibly hermaphroditic figurines. There is a need to understand the notions of the feminine, masculine, neuter, and other forms of gender and sexual identities. These will have ramifications for understanding the ideas of conjugality, family, community, society and even polity and spirituality.
CONCLUSION
Human civilisations were built by men as well as women, however, history writing has a huge male-bias. Women were confined to questions of status and position that were largely evaluated in terms of their roles in the domestic sphere.
Their treatment as wives and widows became a central focus of most research alongside their place in ritual or religious context. This made them peripheral to mainstream history. This was questioned by various scholars from time to time and led to the development of gendered understanding of history. Focusing attention on women’s history helps to rectify the method which sees women as a monolithic homogeneous category. Writing gender history has helped in building an image of the past that is wholesome and nuanced.