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Thinking about Wifehood

M. Whitney Kelting

in Heroic Wives Rituals, Stories and the Virtues of Jain Wifehood

This chapter contextualizes the book by introducing the materials examined, the key terms, the relevant background in Jainism, and the frames of analysis. Research materials span medieval and ... More

This chapter contextualizes the book by introducing the materials examined, the key terms, the relevant background in Jainism, and the frames of analysis. Research materials span medieval and contemporary Jain literature, interviews with Jain women, observation of Jain rituals associated with wifehood, and the observation of and conversations about the sociopolitics of Jain family life. The chapter introduces the ideologies of wifehood—the dedicated wife (pativrata), the state of auspicious wifehood (saubhagya) and the true woman (sati). In particular, the Jain use of the term sati is set in the context of Hindu traditional, British colonial, and feminist discussions of this highly contested term. Gender studies discourse on agency is used as a frame for the larger claim in the volume about the importance of the perception of choice and the ways that Jain women's religious practices contribute to their selfhood.Less

Hieronymus' Ethnography: Indian Widows and Nabataean Nomads

A. B. Bosworth

in The Legacy of Alexander: Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under the Successors

The principal source which is examined for the period after the death of Alexander the Great is Hieronymus of Cardia. He is reputed for his supposedly dispassionate narrative of events, his factual ... More

The principal source which is examined for the period after the death of Alexander the Great is Hieronymus of Cardia. He is reputed for his supposedly dispassionate narrative of events, his factual accuracy, backed by verbatim citation of documents. However, Hieronymus had a penchant for digression, enlivening his narrative of men and events with picturesque descriptions of engineering and artistic monuments, the social mores of exotic peoples, and the origins of famous cities. Hieronymus' digressions, it may be argued, had a certain sophistication. They were not written solely to break the narrative and add exotic colour. There was on occasion an implied message, moral or political, which the reader might detect beneath the plain text of the excursus. We may see the method at work in two of the lengthiest ethnographic interludes in Diodorus. The first concerns a description of a deeply impressive event that occurred after the Battle of Paraetacene. The commander of the Indian contingent, a prince named Ceteus, had died heroically in battle, and was given a spectacular funeral. It gives the first recorded instance of the Indian institution of sati (widow burning).Less

Jains and Satīmātā Discourse

M. Whitney Kelting

in Heroic Wives Rituals, Stories and the Virtues of Jain Wifehood

In chapter 5, the focus is on the narrative and rituals associated with the sati Rajul, who is rejected on her wedding day when her fiancé Nemi (the twenty‐second Jina) renounces. Rajul decides to ... More

In chapter 5, the focus is on the narrative and rituals associated with the sati Rajul, who is rejected on her wedding day when her fiancé Nemi (the twenty‐second Jina) renounces. Rajul decides to follow her husband, Nemi into renunciation. Rajul's renunciation and Jain ordination of women are read through the lens of sati discourse, which illuminates parallels between these two ideals for women—nuns and satimatas—and challenges the received interpretation of Jain ordination being modeled on the wedding rites. Though Jains reject the rite of dying with one's husband, shifts particularly in the medieval literature in the portrayal of the Nemi and Rajul story and the veneration of Rajul trace the movement of this narrative from an uncomplicated Jain renunciation narrative to a narrative that shares many features with Hindu satimata stories. Likewise, Jain women venerate Rajul in veil songs and worship her in ways seemingly drawn from satimata worship.Less

Constructing Colonial Dharma in Calcutta

Brian K. Pennington

in Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion

This chapter examines a one year run of the Bengali paper Samācār Candrikā to sketch the contours of an elite Bengali Hindu response to missionaries and Orientalists. Among the very earliest Hindu ... More

This chapter examines a one year run of the Bengali paper Samācār Candrikā to sketch the contours of an elite Bengali Hindu response to missionaries and Orientalists. Among the very earliest Hindu newspapers to survive today, the Samācār Candrikā was published in Calcutta by Bhabānīcaran Bandyopādhyāya and associated with the orthodox Hindu organization the Dharma Sabhā. First formed to protest elements of colonialism, especially the government’s proposed ban on satī, the Dharma Sabhā produced a biweekly, vernacular newspaper in an effort to galvanize broad Hindu support among disparate castes and classes. In so doing, it proffered a version of a homogenous Hinduism with a centralized authority similar to that emerging among reforming organizations such as the Rammohan Roy’s Brahmo Samaj, but with an explicitly traditionalist, Brahmanical agenda. Exchanges with Christian missionaries conducted in the paper also make it an early surviving form of Hindu-Christian dialogue.Less

‘Domestic publicity’

Anne Stott

in Wilberforce: Family and Friends

This chapter, which is thematically rather than chronologically based, introduces the third part of the book and depicts Wilberforce in his domestic setting. One of the chief reasons for his hatred ... More

This chapter, which is thematically rather than chronologically based, introduces the third part of the book and depicts Wilberforce in his domestic setting. One of the chief reasons for his hatred of the slave system was the fact that the slaves were denied family life. He attached great importance to the Christian idea of the ‘good death’, and saw heaven in domestic terms as a site of family reunion. His intervention in the cases of Mary Anne Clarke and Queen Caroline show the importance of domestic ideology in his political campaigns. His parliamentary attack on Captain John Kimber and the Hindu practice of sati show his concern for non-European women. In 1822 he received the widow and daughters of Henri Christophe, the former King of Haiti. His meeting with Madame de Staël is described. The chapter ends with a discussion of his relationship with his wife, Barbara Spooner.Less

Gurus and Goddesses, Deities and Devotees

Vasudha Narayanan

in The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States

This chapter discusses the lives and messages of two popular female gurus, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and Karunamayi Ma, who is also known as Sri Sri Sri Vijayes Wari Devi. They are both portrayed as ... More

This chapter discusses the lives and messages of two popular female gurus, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and Karunamayi Ma, who is also known as Sri Sri Sri Vijayes Wari Devi. They are both portrayed as deriving their teaching from Hindu sources but being ecletic in their teaching. Kali is predominant in Ma Jaya's worship but she also worships other Hindu deities and it is important to note that her first vision was that of Christ. Karunamayi Ma speaks constantly about the equality of religions. She does not frequently evoke the names of Christ or Mary in her talks like Ma Jaya, but is forthright about her view of other religions.Less

Contesting Patriarchy: The Early Years

Chitra Sinha

in Debating Patriarchy: The Hindu Code Bill Controversy in India (1941–1956)

The chapter focuses on the role of discourse and communicative action in the advancement of gender rights over several centuries, the second chapter concentrates on social, political, and legal ... More

The chapter focuses on the role of discourse and communicative action in the advancement of gender rights over several centuries, the second chapter concentrates on social, political, and legal factors that led to substantive reform efforts in the Hindu law during the twentieth century. It explores the lack of debate on women’s rights in pre-colonial India dominated by religious discourse and the transformation during the colonial era brought about by the emergence of alternate discourses including orientalist perspective, the views of social reformers, and the rise of feminist consciousness. The chapter also dwells upon the crystallization of Brahmanic patriarchy and the challenge provided by the early debates beginning in the 18th century till the codification of Hindu law in the 1950s.Less

Beyond the Liberal Dilemma – Rights as Trumps, as Recognition and as Capability

Monica Mookherjee

in Women's Rights as Multicultural Claims: Reconfiguring Gender and Diversity in Political Philosophy

This chapter highlights the issues central to configuring women's rights as multicultural claims. It explains the need to respond to sati in terms of universal rights by focusing on Michael Walzer's ... More

This chapter highlights the issues central to configuring women's rights as multicultural claims. It explains the need to respond to sati in terms of universal rights by focusing on Michael Walzer's theory of thin minimalism and argues that despite its advantages over standard liberal accounts of rights, it ultimately reinstates the dilemma typically constructed within this tradition. It evaluates recent approaches in liberal philosophy, particularly theories of recognition and capabilities, and concludes that neither theory provides the basis for an interest theory that responds to the debate over sati.Less

Gertrude Bell and the Antiquities Law of Iraq

Magnus T. Bernhardsson

Paul Collins and Charles Tripp (eds)

in Gertrude Bell and Iraq: A life and legacy

As Director of Antiquities in the nascent Iraq, Gertrude Bell was instrumental in laying the groundwork for all archaeological work in the country, including formulating antiquities legislation. ... More

As Director of Antiquities in the nascent Iraq, Gertrude Bell was instrumental in laying the groundwork for all archaeological work in the country, including formulating antiquities legislation. After several years of work and some intense political negotiations, Bell’s law was finally passed in 1924. Bell’s legislation is a hybrid which demonstrates her multiple loyalties – protecting both Iraqi heritage and the interests of foreign archaeologists and institutions. This element is most obvious in controversial Articles relating to the division of finds, where the law does allow, under certain conditions, for archaeological artefacts to leave the country.Less

Burdens of Empire

Joan Mickelson Gaughan

in The 'Incumberances': British Women in India, 1615-1856

Britain’s mission of improving India targeted sati and the zenana, as well as Hindu religious practices, but there was an expectation that the behavior of all Anglo-Indians, including women, ought to ... More

Britain’s mission of improving India targeted sati and the zenana, as well as Hindu religious practices, but there was an expectation that the behavior of all Anglo-Indians, including women, ought to reflect some higher morality. Dancing especially was ‘bad for prestige’. The hookah and nautch received, as they always had, mixed reactions but some felt that if women were not horrified by such things, they ought to be.Less

Pilgrims in Petticoats: The Evangelicals

Joan Mickelson Gaughan

in The 'Incumberances': British Women in India, 1615-1856

Evangelicalism allowed women to share in Britain’s ‘civilizing’ mission and also opened another genre of writing for women, the ‘conversion’ story or novel in which Mary Sherwood excelled. Besides ... More

Evangelicalism allowed women to share in Britain’s ‘civilizing’ mission and also opened another genre of writing for women, the ‘conversion’ story or novel in which Mary Sherwood excelled. Besides the rift between Evangelicals and Orientalists, there seems also to have been one between ‘lay’ Evangelicals and missionary women and men. Lay women, more often than missionaries, saw Indians as irreparably depraved, while missionary women like Margaret Cooke Wilson were inclined to view Indians with more empathy. The zenana and sati which excited much discussion in official political and religious circles interested them less than educating girls especially in literacy, useful crafts, and hygiene. On the other hand, the interest in religion led several women to describe Indian creeds and ceremonies sympathetically, thus continuing the Orientalist thread in the response to India.Less

Is Mindfulness Religion?

Wakoh Shannon Hickey

in Mind Cure: How Meditation Became Medicine

This chapter considers whether Mindfulness can reasonably be considered a kind of religion, despite proponents’ claims to the contrary. If so, what kind? Is it Buddhist? If so, what kind of Buddhism? ... More

This chapter considers whether Mindfulness can reasonably be considered a kind of religion, despite proponents’ claims to the contrary. If so, what kind? Is it Buddhist? If so, what kind of Buddhism? The rhetoric of Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the modern Mindfulness movement, is tested against several different theories of religion, as well as critiques by specialists in both Theravāda and Māhāyana forms of Buddhism. While Mindfulness is positioned as a strictly secular therapeutic method, it has all the characteristics of American metaphysical religion, as well as of modernist Buddhism and neo-Vedanta. Kabat-Zinn claims his teachings are “universal,” yet they actually reflect his own eclectic blend of elements from various religious traditions with roots in Asia, the United States, and Europe. As Mindfulness is increasingly promoted in public schools, government agencies, and the military, this raises legitimate questions about the separation of church and state.Less

Looking in the Mirror of the East

Ashis Nandy

in Talking India: Ashis Nandy in Conversation with Ramin Jahanbegloo

This section begins with a discussion of Ashis Nandy's work on Indian fascism. Nandy also talks about the two forms of violence in India—mass violence and individualistic violence, and whether ... More

This section begins with a discussion of Ashis Nandy's work on Indian fascism. Nandy also talks about the two forms of violence in India—mass violence and individualistic violence, and whether religions promote violence. He also shares his views about Orientalism, Salman Rushdie, and Mahatma Gandhi and his legacy; and analyses whether there is a Gandhian approach to India. In the course of this interview, Nandy also talks about Indira Gandhi and the Emergency; Gandhi and the critique of male dominance; womanhood in India; and sati in modern India.Less

Introduction: Entering a Landscape of Mindfulness

J. L. Cassaniti

in Remembering the Present: Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia

This chapter introduces the landscape of mindfulness practices in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, where people overwhelmingly follow the kind of Theravāda Buddhism from which the modern ... More

This chapter introduces the landscape of mindfulness practices in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, where people overwhelmingly follow the kind of Theravāda Buddhism from which the modern mindfulness movement emerged. The chapter begins with a question: what kind of mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions are and could be used in a Thai psychiatric hospital, as part of a broader Buddhist cultural environment? It answers this question by introducing the methodological and theoretical project of Remembering the Present, including an overview of the interview and survey-based ethnographic research into sati with over 600 psychiatrists, monks, students, and villagers in Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. It also previews some of the central findings of the book, in relation to what the author calls the TAPES of mindfulness: the ways that people frame mindfulness culturally around issues of Temporality, Affect, Power, Ethics, and Selfhood.Less

Sri Lanka: Moral Focus and a Stalking Cat

J. L. Cassaniti

in Remembering the Present: Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia

This chapter moves the investigation into mindfulness to Sri Lanka, where the tradition of Theravāda Buddhism emerged over two thousand years ago. After a visit to the ancient site of Anuradhapura, ... More

This chapter moves the investigation into mindfulness to Sri Lanka, where the tradition of Theravāda Buddhism emerged over two thousand years ago. After a visit to the ancient site of Anuradhapura, the author turns to the mindfulness practices of people in and around the city of Kandy. The chapter examines the focus of mindfulness in monks’ experiences at the Sri Lankan International Buddhist Institute and other monasteries in the area; the academic and supernatural powers of mindfulness in the minds of students at the University of Peradeniya; and the promises and purposes of mindfulness at the psychiatric unit at the Kandy General Hospital. It ends with a discussion of how psychiatrists and others make sense of mindfulness in a religiously heterogeneous culture, and how the Buddhist renderings of sati is thought to be applicable in other religious contexts.Less

Remindfulness

James H. Austin

in Living Zen Remindfully: Retraining Subconscious Awareness

This chapter reviews the multiple aspects of human memory. It introduces a new term, remindfulness, as a reminder that the old Pali term, sati, also had implications of memory retrieval, not only ... More

This chapter reviews the multiple aspects of human memory. It introduces a new term, remindfulness, as a reminder that the old Pali term, sati, also had implications of memory retrieval, not only present moment mindfulness. It reviews the nature of intuition and insight in general, as well as the topics of implicit processing, implicit learning, and ways to measure them using the mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS) and functional MRI (fMRI).Less

Communal Undertones Within Recent Judicial Decisions

Flavia Agnes

in Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women's Rights in India

This chapter examines the implications of recent judicial decisions on women’s rights in India. It explains that the judicial fervour of the nineties to reform Muslim personal law was not supported ... More

This chapter examines the implications of recent judicial decisions on women’s rights in India. It explains that the judicial fervour of the nineties to reform Muslim personal law was not supported by individual Muslim women during the litigation process and highlights the parallels between the contemporary judicial zeal to modernize and civilize the Muslim community with the colonial zeal to reform the Hindu society through regulations on sati and child marriage in the last century. Though court judgements were portrayed by the media as serving the cause of women’s empowerment, their communal hue can be seen once these pronouncements are stripped of the veneer of gender justice. They also do not further the cause of women’s rights in actual terms.Less