[INDOLOGY] Sexual Harassment

Tue Oct 18 03:53:44 UTC 2016

Dear Prof. Artur Karp,

1. Since you raised the question of 'reception', which is very important
and crucial, let me tell you that why non-Shaivites? Shaivites

themselves do not receive Shivalinga as phallus or phallic symbol. One of
the extremely vibrant Shaivite tradition of South India is

Veerashaivism. Akka Mahadevi (12th Century AD), one of the
founding  key figures of this tradition, a woman-saint, who roamed nude,

sang vachanas composed by herself, says in one of her vachanas,

,"ಆಕಾರವಲ್ಲದ ನಿರಾಕಾರಲಿಂಗವ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಡಿದು (ākāravallada nirākāraliṁgava
kaiyalli hiḍidu)"

(= holding in hand the Shivalinga which is formless )

This is a documentation of the 12th century AD Shaivite reception of
Shivalinga.

Writings by non-Shaivites reflecting their reception of Shivalinga are not
in contradiction to this.

2. Historians of the shape of Shivalinga noted that the lingas with  (what
they considered as ) 'naturalistic detail of a phallus' are the

Gudimallam and the Agra ones only. All the later Shivalingams 'lost' such
details , they noted.

3. iśṭalinga of Veerashaivites is an oval shaped stone worshipped by
holding in hand. bANalingas are also similar. There are numerous varieties
of shapes of Shivalinga including Mukhalingas. There are
jalalingas, ākās'alingas and vāyulingas too. Unless one goes with a
preconceived notion, the present widespread Shivalingas do not evoke the
phallic idea. No 'uneducated' Indian even knows that there are phallic
interpretations of Shivalinga.

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 1:13 AM, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl> wrote:

> I hesitate ---
>
> Let me admit - yes, despite my Indological preparation - while in India (I
> used to live and work there for four years) I had the feeling that the
> omnipresence of the Śivaite phallic symbols - erect and often presented
> with naturalistic detail -- the feeling that these images themselves might
> be felt as - sort of - aggresive instruments of sexual harassment. And that
> feeling of mine was confirmed by my wife, a Christian by her upbringing,
> and ethnographer by profession, but not an ardent church goer, not at all.
>
> How these symbols are received by non-Śivaites? Any negative reactions in
> literature?
>
> I hesitate - I would not want my question to be taken as criticism
> directed at the religious tenets of Śivaism. Far from it.
>
> Artur K.
>
> 2016-10-17 20:31 GMT+02:00 Shyam Ranganathan <shyamr at yorku.ca>:
>
>> Hello all
>>
>> Well, it's often struck me that many of the stories of Vishnu where
>> Laksmi or some incarnation of her's is involved have elements of sexual
>> harassment (or threat of sexual assault) with Vishnu coming to intervene on
>> her side. The abduction of Sita is certainly one example, but so it seems
>> to me would be the Varaha avatara. Krishna marrying Rukmani (by having to
>> abduct her) is an example too. In the Venkateshwara story where Vishnu is
>> kicked in the chest, Sri takes it as an affront to her boundaries.
>>
>> The case of Narakasura seems different as in some presentations it is
>> Satyabhama who has to release the captured women (though she arrives in
>> battle with Krishna who faints I hear), but Krishna marries the freed women
>> as a way of securing their independence. On this point it seemed to me that
>> whenever Krishna married someone they were basically free to carry on their
>> life as they choose (in the absence of further threat). (Rama's marriage to
>> Sita seems almost the opposite.)
>>
>> It's also struck me that the backdrop story of Vishnu's demon killing
>> avataras that I grew up hearing--- of the four Kumaras who are barred from
>> entering Vaikunta and subsequently curse the guards (forcing Vishnu to
>> participate in their expiation)--- starts the ball rolling by calling out
>> agism, as (I was told) they were not allowed to enter because they seemed
>> to young. But what Vishnu has to endure with Sita as Rama is the absurdity
>> of patriarchy (listening to elders etc.,), which is sexist too. The Krishna
>> avatara seems to have gotten over that problem: he generally doesn't listen
>> to authorities as Krishna, or at least he picks and chooses what authority
>> to endorse, but he also liberally finds his partner everywhere in many
>> forms (in contrast to Rama).
>>
>> I'm no philologist, so I cannot cite chapter and verse (all of this
>> largely from my memory raised in a Sri Vaishnava household), and I'm sure
>> that the details of these stories will vary according to sources. But there
>> does seem to be a strong theme in the Vishnu Laksmi stories about sexual
>> freedom, and the threat posed by misogyny and patriarchy. Things go best
>> for Laksmi and Vishnu when patriarchy and misogyny have no pull in their
>> environment. Certainly, this generalizes for us all.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Shyam
>>
>> Shyam Ranganathan
>>
>> Department of Philosophy
>> York University, Toronto
>>
>> On 17/10/2016 1:23 PM, Artur Karp wrote:
>>
>> > harrasment
>>
>> orthography, yes - being harassed by domestic problems, one tends to
>> forget the spelling rules.
>>
>> Artur K.
>>
>> 2016-10-17 19:18 GMT+02:00 Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl>:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> Should I understand that there are no traces, no mentions of sexual
>>> harrasment in the entire - vast - corpus of ancient/medieval Indian
>>> literature?
>>>
>>> My thanks to Nagaraj Paturi - for his hint re.
>>>
>>> Artur Karp (ret)
>>>
>>> Uniwersytet Warszawski
>>> Polska
>>>
>>> 2016-10-07 20:16 GMT+02:00 Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>>> I guess studies focussed on Draupadi's disrobing or Draupadi's
>>>> harassment by Keechaka must have dealt with the issue of sexual harassment,
>>>> though I do not have a ready bibliography.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 7:51 PM, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dear All,
>>>>>
>>>>> has the topic of sexual harassment been ever addressed within South
>>>>> Asian Studies?
>>>>>
>>>>> If not - why?
>>>>>
>>>>> Artur Karp (ret.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Uniwersytet Warszawski
>>>>> Polska
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Nagaraj Paturi
>>>>
>>>> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>>>>
>>>> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
>>>>
>>>> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
>>>>
>>>> (Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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-- 
Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

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