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Mirabai and the Spiritual Economy of Author(s): Kumkum Sangari Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 25, No. 27 (Jul. 7, 1990), pp. 1464-1475 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4396474 Accessed: 27-11-2017 06:21 UTC

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This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms SPECIAL ARTICLES and the Spiritual Economy of Bhakti

Kumkum Sangari

In an economy where the labour of women and the surplus production of the peasant and artisan are customarily and 'naturally' appropriated by the ruling groups, the high Hindu traditions sought to encompass and retain the management of spiritual 'surplus' and to circumscribe its availability along lines of caste and gender. In this spiritual economy, the liberalising and dissenting forms of bhakti emerge as a powerful force which selectively uses the metaphysic of high in an attempt to create an inappropriable excess or transcendent value grounded in the dailiness of a material life within the reach of all. This paper attempts to understand the specific character of Mirabai's bhakti as it finds shape within the overlap- ping yet contradictory configuration of the patriarchal assumptions of the medieval state, prescriptive brahminical texts, and the female devotional voice as it develops in earlier and contemporary compositions of male bhaktas. What emerges is, firstly, that though the prescriptions of the and do not survive as law, they are available as ideology which shapes the customary domain and self-description of Rajput ruling groups and constitute the historical moment in which Mira lives. Secondly, in the breaking and remaking of patriar- chal relations, Mira's bhakti marks as well as belongs to a longer historical moment in which the prescriptions of the smritis and puranas are selectively internalised, and the customary nexus of religious practice is translated into metaphors and emotional structures. Thirdly, though Mira's compositions are themselves ambivalently situated, there are significant differences in her personal practice and in her ideological location when compared to earlier and contemporary male bhaktas. And, finally, etched into Mira's enterprise is not only the difficulty of being 'original' in an oral tradition, but also the recalcitrance and the precariousness of personal rebellion. Rhe paper is published in two parts. The second part will appear next week.]

THE ideological diversity and contradictory separately from the social practices in which experiential base has altered but not locations of bhakti are startling. Already it is implicated. disappeared. embedded in vedic and puranic literature This essay attempts to understand the Within an e0onomy where the labour of bhakti is not restricted to what have been specific character of Mirabai's bhakii as it women and the surplus production of the specified as movements: it is a structure of finds shape within the overlapping yet con- peasant and artisan are customarily and personal devotion which enters into the for- tradictory configuration of the patriarchal 'naturally' appropriated by the ruling mation of new groups or classes, into the ass.umptions of the medieval Rajput state, groups, the high Hindu traditions sought to protests against elite hegemonic groups as prescriptive brahminical texts, and the encompass and retain the management of well as into the redefining of dominant female devotional voice as it develops in spiritual 'surplus'. and to circumscribe its classes,' and is also central to the produc- earlier and contemporary compositions of availability along lines of caste and gender. tion of a syncretic vocabulary in accessible male bhaktas. Each one of these is a site for In this spiritual economy, the liberalising and vernacular languages. Though often a mode the production of vation schemata, of dissenting forms of bhakti emerge as a of dissent which expresses dissatisfaction notions of sexuality and of different sorts powerful force which selectively uses the with certain orthodox, caste-based modes of of female agency. Unfortunately, from this metaphysic of high Hinduism (, kar- social ordering, brahminical Hinduism, 'ex- historical distance it is easier to ascertain ma and rebirth), in an attempt to create an clusive' religious institutions, and, at least their ascriptive funotions and ideological inappropriable excess or transcendent value apparently, patriarchy, the difficulties of matrix than to determine their precise relr- grounded in the dailiness of a material life measuring the bhakti movements' potential tion to social practices. within the reach of all. Even if bhakti does for change in i pre-industrial formation are What emerges firstly is that though the not substantively break the boundaries of enormous. This would involve ascertaining prescriptions of the smritis and puranas do high Hindu traditions it redefines these in which areas of meaning, social agency and not survive as law, they are ava,ilable as content, modality and address, i e, in what interaction, political participation, power, ideology which shapes the 'customary is said, how it is said (orally-in defiance and prescriptive Hindu orthodoxy are pris- domain and self description of Rajput ruling of the centralisation of knowledge in writ- ed open by/for the lower caste peasants, ar- groups, and in this sense are that part of ten texts), and who it is said to. tisans and women who were involved in each their 'past' which constitute the historical movement. It would entail an evaluative Bhakti makes a language for aspiration moment in which Mira lives. Secondly, in description of the nature of the social and desire, through a notion of personal the breaking and remaking of patriarchal transformations taking place, with the devotion and more direct communication relations, Mira's bhakti marks as well as gradual and differential establishment of with a compassionate god, which is embed- belongs to a longer historical moment in feudal structures as the field from which ded within an experiential base-particular which the prescriptions of the smritis and bhakti emerges and to which it responds. sorts of hierarchical, patriarchal and feudal puranas are selectively internalised, and the Finally, this would involve seeing bhakti as relations-a location which defines both the customary nexus of religious practice is a product and partaker of a changing socie- power ,nd the vulnerability of such a translated into metaphors and emotional ty, which emerges alongside feudal language. Once assimilated into mainstream structures. Even as her bhakti sets out to structures-whether assisting or resisting Hinduism, the critical edge of dilssenting escape, ignore or challenge certain social, them-for several centuries. Bhakti can forms of bhakti is blunted, yet the language religious and patriarchal institutions, its neither be understood solely in terms of itsremains evocative, long after the movements moral legitimacy is partially obtained from social content and ideology, nor evaluated have themselves waned, predsely because itsa transformation of some of these (enforce-

Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms able) prescriptions into an internal ethic. , and heir to the find is her sari enveloping the Thirdly, though Mira"s compositions are kingdom of Mewar. At the Rana idol.Sanga Some versions (which seek to extend themselves ambivalently situated, there are is the most powerful of Rajput kings and her has life beyond 1547 in order to make her significant differences in her personal prac- great political ambition. He has twenty-eighl meet , , Birbal and , tice and in her ideological location when queens and seven sons, and his son's mar- and so supply her with powerful patrons, compared to earlier and contemporary male riage to Mira is, like his own marriages, pupils a and gurus) suggest that this is a suc- bhaktas. Finally, etched into Mira's enter- political alliance. Legend has it that at cessful the ruse to escape the brahmins. In th se prise, insofar as it is possible to reconstruct time of her marriage ceremony she circles versions Akbar -conquers and plunders it, is not only the difficulty of being the idol of Girdharji (), to whom Mewar she as retribution for the ill-treatment of 'original' in an oral tradition, but also the is devoted from childhood, instead of Mirabai;her and Tulsidas, in answer to her let7 recalcitrance and the precariousness of per- husband, declares herself married to terHim. seeking advice about her persecution by sonal rebellion'. and refuses to consummate her earthly her mar- husband's family, advises her to leave her The different usages of the female devo- riage. She refuses to worship the family marital god- home.3 tional voice in comparison with male dess, . In some variations of the How do we evaluate Mira as a saint and bhaktas brings up'two general but crucial legend, Mira's husband resents her celibacy, as a symbol of legendary devotion and per- questions. The first is the problem of reading suspects adultery, persecutes her, and takes sonal rebellion, as a historical figure and an oral corpus which cannot be reduced to another wife. In one version, he is reconcil- woman who resisted the power of princely, a single author. The second is the relation- ed to her behaviour when he comes to believe feudal patriarchy, the social codes of family ships between figurative modes, patriarchal that she is mad. Her only supporter is Rana pride, honour, decorum, and became critic values and the engendering of religious Sanga's mother-Jhali Rani-a pupil of of certain forms of social oppression? What belief. The solidity of patriarchal assump- Raidas, who undertakes to placate her son. is the relation between the historical figure tions in metaphors and analogies, their Some versions claim, Raidas, a Chamaar andby the legendary saint? At one level the readily paraphraseable 'content' raises ques- birth, as Mira's own guru-the dates do not saint's life is a consensual and so socially tions about the role figurative modes play match. Widowed five years later in 1523 legitimate pattern which inherently con- in reflecting or forging a social consensus Mira continues to compose poetry and sing tradicts the normative requirements of in oral traditions. Patriarchal structures and under the protection of her father- wifehood. Mira's transgression of the norms religious belief are -not inert but subject to in-law. In another version she becomes a for a good Rajput wife and widow may have constant remaking-it appears that they may Krishna bhakta only upon the death of her necessitated seeking protection in the alter- even be interdependent and mutually husband, and is persecuted after his death native norms of sainthood. Or, conversely, generative. when she is a widow. In one account her her life may have been retrospectively 'fit- father-in-law asks her to kill herself. She ted' into the ideal-typical life of a saint thus I obediently plunges into a river but survives erasing all the signs of personal suffering, with divine aid. After her father-in-law's isolation, vulnerability and daring in the life The Life death by poisoning in 1528, her brother-in- of the woman. At another level both the It is difficult to disentangle legend lawfrom Raja Ratan Singh, and his successor historical figure and the legendary saint history to reconstruct and interpret Mirabai's Rana Bikramajit, persecute her for political belong to the realm of public transcription, life. In biographies (the earliest are the (rivalry with her natal family), religious and both inhabit a hierarchising, prescriptive Bhaktmala of Nabhadas (1667) and the probably personal reasons. In some versions social domain where the 'norms' of the one Bhakt-maltika of Priyadas (1732), based her father-in-law also persecutes her. She can be invoked to 'punish' the other: e , the partly on her own compositions, her life, like miraculously survives the cups of poison and ill-treatment of a saint can change the course the lives of all medieval saints, and more snakes they send her and flees for shelter to of political events and cause Akbar's con- specifically of women saints, is punctuated her uncle Viram Deo. Her father dies in quest of Mewar. Finally, the narrative of the with 'typical' conventions: the bitter persecu- 1530. Viram Deo, who is defeated in battle saint's life projects modes of behaviour tions and m,iraculous escapes, the displays and expelled from Merta in 1535, finds it dif- which arise in response to expectations or of wit and logic when questioned and tested ficult to accept such activity, especially from proscriptions as simple and pure expressions by a male authority figure, the association a widow. She serves , meets all kinds of spiritual being, and interprets 'character' with holy places, the breaking of norms and of men and has a disturbing appeal for as deriving from such a substantive self taboos, the renunciation of family and women and especially for men and women rather than from the exigencies of changing, domestic life, the rejection of worldly power of lower social classes. So Mira takes to the accrued experience. The Mira who may be and authority, and finally the miraculous road as ajogin or religious mendicant. She gleaned from historical facts is one who belongs death where she merges with god in a gives up social decorum (lok laaj) and family to a simple realm of 'political' events which temple.2 As a genre the saint's biography is honour (kul shrinkhla). She sings and occur in a sequential-causality. It is difficult complete: part of a series of idealised life- dances, loves Krishna like a , visits Vrin- to rescue the 'real' Mirabai, or to reconstruct types it presents an exterior self open to the davan, and refuses to return to the palace her life separately either as legend or as public gaze, and a finished or already made even upon the blandishments of a later history. It is, however, possible to read it ten- relation with the world. The personal and Rana. It appears that after she leaves Chit- tatively against both together-insofar as historical contingencies which informed tor, the fort is conquered by Bahadur Shah they interlock and contradict, and insofar Mira's choices either appear as generalised of Gujerat in 1535, followed by the jauhar as both suggest the pre-existing structures preconditions for sainthood or are invisible. (mass immolation) of the women led by which she may have appropriated, altered, The legend-history has it that Mira is born Rani Karmavati, a wife of Rana Sanga. The or resisted. In this sense, the negotiation of into a Rathor family in 1498 in Koorki legend goes that her brother-in-law (in some these pre-existing structures, ideological in village in the district of Marwar. versions her father-in-law) seeing these as character, comes to constitute Mirabai's 'ex- Both her grandfather Duda Merta and her consequdnces of his persecution of Mirabai perience' for us. father Rao Rattan Singh are Vaishnavites and sends brahmins to bring her back; perhaps If a straightforward reading of Mira's life worship Krishna. Her mother dies when she as a mascot to guard against future mishaps. is unavailable, eliciting certainties from her is five and she is brought up by her grand- Mira is in , the home of Krishna. songs is equally problematic. The written father. She is both literate and learned, skil- (She has re-built his temple in Dwarka.) In texts assembled from oral traditions are part led in 'male' arts qhunting, sports, battle) and her dile'mma she sings and dances before his of a collective oeuvre. Certain parts must in the 'female' arts (dance, m'usic, sewing, image in the temple while the brahmins fast have been re-accentuated, certain potentials etiquette). When about eighteen she is at the door. Krishna unable to resist her love in the images actualised, others allowed to married to , son of the 'Hindupat' incorporates her into himself. All the fade over time. Mirabai herself re-

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This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms accentuates what has preceded. In this sense begin to fabricate the origin and trace the tahpur of seems to be riven by divi- the songs are inscribed in an extended rather lineage of the ruling clans to remote anti- sions among women along lines of age, than a discrete moment of production. They quity. Not surprisingly, the management of seniority, political influence, status of natal represent intentionalities, beliefs, desires women and marriage are key elements in family, material benefits, size of income, and which stretch beyond the individual and may the process of cultural unification, and in mode of acquisition (i e, wife, concubine or be designated as a definable mode of social the imperial designs of the emergent feudal slave), and by the struggle for mobility perception inhabited by Mira and nameless Rajput state. through access to the ruler-husband which others. Further, Mira sang and danced-the The early medieval Rajput state is one inevitably, except for favourites, is limited.8 nuances, inflections and assertions of per- particular patrilineal clan or sub-clan Women have neither the right to divorce nor formed worship which set personal devotion politically organised into a single iuit within to property and the right of widows to squarely within the public gaze-can in which is inscribed the place of women s who .alintenance is easy to infringe.9 retrospect only be surmised. are tied to the needs of clan identity and T he obligatory and politically instrumen- status, and which also sets out to govern the tal character of marriage is rationalised and II hierarchical system of vassalage and the sacralised through the ideologies of service reciprocal duties of master and servant. T he Family, Marriage and State and of suhaag (the married state). In some notion of kul or clan acquires its emoti've, sense the service demanded of women What was the location of a princess mar- affective power from these. As the smallest overlaps with the compulsory service ried into the premier ruling family of unit of a clan, the family provides a system demanded of other subaltern groups. Both ? The late fifteenth and early six- of patriarchal protection tor women, arc placed within a chain of ideal connec- teenth century which mark the end of the operates as an oppressive site for the daily tions in which the reality of the social order sultanate were characterised by a con- reproduction of caste alnd gender iFnequality itself, indeed its very intelligibility, is perceiv- tinuous three-pronged conflict in Rajput in which womrren themselves play a signi- ed as irrevocably tied with the principle of states many of which were still at a formative ficant role. The fanily eniters intto a scries hicrarclhical layering in which husbands and stage. Territories were being wrested from of relations with thle state. It beconies an kings occupy the summit The character of tribes, from Muslim rulers and from othcr adjunct of the state in thalt cen as it milaill- Rajputs as an expansive and hegemonic Rajput states. The political history of Mewar tains its owi statuis (pai11 tlV tilhrOLghl its military aristocracy led to and demanded the is one of ceaseless competitive warfare, a womien) it also maintains thec order of social development of an instrumental and quasi- condition both of steady expansion and of hierarchyi. The patriarchy of the fanily autonomous ethic of male heroism with its insecurity, which reinforces the mutual becomes in some sense co-extensive with the corollaries of male bonding and corporate dependence between ruler and clan, ruler state. The state too can be effortlessly involv- identity. Manhood or maleness comes to be and vassals-in effect builds and reinforces ed in marriage norm.s becluse the state sy nonymous with veerta (courage, bravery) a feudal relation. On the one hand, the no- assumes a continuity between itself and its and kulgaurav (the honour of the clan)."t tion of kul acquires a certain urgency from subjects. And t he tamils can iii turni be a u n it The conflation of god-ruler-thakur (chief), the need for affirming lineage cohesion, of the state's 'decentralised' patriarchal the perception of military and other service genealogical status, and familial solidarity power-supplying women for nmarriage ex-as a torm of worship expressed through based on kinship-some of the co-ordinates actly as it supplies men for battle. Dis- unstinting devotion and self sacrifice which of military success. However, the conquest honour in either case amounts to saying that brings both material reward and salvation, of neighbouring territories provides the king the family's political reliability is at stake, embeds the warrior's service into the hierar- and state with an economic and political ad- since the family is inserted directly into the clhy of the feudal relation." Within the vantage over kinsmen, and makes relations political sphere within relations of depen- Rajput polity, as in the smritis, women are between them tense and unstable. So on the dence and solidarity. And yet the family is conceived primarily as subjects.'2 The wife other hand, there appears to be an internal neither stable nor secure. L-inked as it is with too takes on a relation of generalised stratification of lineages wherein kinship and clan, state and struggles for power, it is a subalternity to her lord-husband-master. She the rights of the subject vis-a-vis the fragile, competitive, feuding unit even within is subordinated via men to the state and sovereign are being remodelled in con- the kin group, which repeatedly displays a domestic service of the husband becomes sonance with emerging 'contractual' rela- potential for internal fission. In sum, the analogous to religious service. The desired tions, as yet embryonic, which would degree of integration and desired harmony roles of both servant and wife are predicated become sharply defined with Mughal rule.4 between family and state not only sets off on devoted service and fidelity to a feudal This is not only a period of expansion and the ruling Rajput groups from other castes, state within a hierarchy which expresses, the consolidation of vassal and tributary but also determines the patriarchal public legitimises and idealises an unequal social states, but also a period of cultural unifica- nature of the code of family honour, of the relation. tion. The fifteenth century sees the management of marriage, the regulation of Though the subordinate function of emergence of the word 'rajput' in its con- sexuality, and the restriction of women's Rajput women seems to put even women of temporary sense,5 signifying not merely a right to property. the ruling group into the humble category caste but a ruling military aristocracy The politicisation and depersonalisation of the ruled, their consent to patriarchal with its own ethos of martial valour, a of marriage is striking. Exogamous marriage domination (ideologically obtained) also claim to prestige and achieved status, is a structural mainstay of the clan as a becomes a consent to coercive social rela- and its own patriarchal practices groun- political unit, builds cohesive clan and inter- tions in wider sense. The sacralisation of ded in the clan system. Mewar was sur- clan relationships across territorial boun- marriage with its corollary system of rewards rounded by Muslim kingdoms on three daries, constructs relations of vassalage and and punishments occurs most fully among sides, and Rana Sanga's assertive Hindu clientelist allegiance wherein marriage upper castes, and becomwes a mode of dif- identity was related to his imperial am- becomes an expression of loyalty and feal- ferentiating them from the lower castes in bition.6 The resurgent 'Hinduism' of ty, and institut,onalises a system of gaining Rajasthan who have less formal marital '' ascendancy, which interlocks land, with influence, power, honour, status, and arrangements. an exaggerated lineage consciousness, rested alliances,7 within which the women though The world beyond death, once described, on propitiating brahmins (who could indispensable are construed as little more acquires a social existence, organises social legitimise higher status through thanselec- counters of exchange. There is a high relations and plays a determining role in tive use of the smritis and puranas) and on instance of polygamy, dowry, and female in- their reproduction. Representations of this investing heavily in a self-legitimising fanticide among Raljputs, especially in the 'invisible' world are shared by men and genealogical enterprise with the co.operation upper strata. Women have no independent women, and it is partly through these that of bhats anld chamnrs(court bards) who access now to political power. The zenana or an- women consent to their domination. Patriar-

Economic and Political Weekly Jijly 7, 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms chal domination depends on the symbolic III Real suhaagis with an immortal, "Him labour of women themselves in rituals to whom the snake of death will not devour" Interpreting Mira s Life preserve marriage and ward off widowhood, (DP: 119, 116): around which much of their'religious activi- Mira's rebellion, social critique and iconic Jhootha suhaag jagat ka ri sajni, hoi hoi ty is centred. The ideology of suhaag image have to be located within this set of mit jaasi legitimises the enforced dependence of relationships which constitute the field Main to ek avinaasi varoongi jaahe kaal women and redescribes it as the necessary within which her bhakti finds shape. To what nahi khaasi (BM: 79) submission to duty and veneration of the extent does Mira break the norms of the Surat dinanath su lagi tu to samajh husband. The organisation of the zenatia feudal relation regarding marriage and suhaagan naar... and the emotional structures of suhaag widowhood, in her choice of asceticism and A ise var ko kya karu jo janme aur mar jai together describe the wife as monogamous in the nature of her asceticism? Var varivo ek saavre ri mero chudlo amar in terms of her fidelity and devotion to a She breaks the code of marriage by ho jai... 'naturally' polygamous husband. Her service remaining sexually unavailable to her A binaasi ki pol par ji Mira karai chai acquires the illusory character of an ex- husband, and by her obsessive religiosity pukaar (P: 165-67) change or a reciprocal commitment in which from the moment she is wed. She claims to Like other women saints, when widowed the husband's well-being saves her from have already married Krishna in a dream Mira denies the reality of having been mar- widowhood and finds her a place in heaven. (Mai Mahane supne tne parani gqve Gopal ried in the first place.'8 At the same time the ideology of suhaag ac- BM: 70 ). In those versions of the legend in Kaai aur ko baru mnaavri, mahaon kejag quires its power, success, and continued which she is persecuted by her husband, janjaal justification for women from the experienc- there is an indication of the magnitude of Mira ke prabhu girdhar naagar, kari ed reality and perceived consequences of the her decision. 4 Her indifference to her hus- jagaai haal (BM: 70) loss of suhaag or widowhood. This reality band and passion for Krishna is 'read' as The rejection of earthly rnarriage, alongside naturalises suhaag-it does not appear to be adulterous by both husband and father-in- the honour of the family, of kul, and the an illusion. The ideology of suhaag thus law, she is even suspected of a liaison with bonds of kinship, is in effect a rejection not becomes a way of controlling marriage and Akbar who has come in disguise to see only of their educative and organising func- through it procreation, inheritance and her.'5 In other versions of the legend tions, where but ot the whole social order within property. she becomes bhakt only atter the death of which they are enmeshed. Further, the break Widowhood is read in the brahminical her husband, NMira's credenitials as good wife with doc msticity is a rejection of the tradition derived from the smnritis as the are being ensured prior to her transformation primarv domain where sexuality is predestined, k2rmic product of transgression into a saint. However, in the former version, customarily rcgulated. The Manusmriti ex- in past lives, which justifies the customary as a disobliging wife, a significant element plicitly offers ritual and donmestic labour as treatment of the widow and helps to create in the life of a saint-celibacy and its atten- a suitable meanis for restraining wives and a-hierarchy of dependence within the family. dant spiritual powers-is also being establish- controlling temale sexuality (MDS: 232). Widowhood is a punishable crime, widow- ed. Here the good wife and the saint cannot be NMira's claim is substantive when she says: hood is atonement through personal austeri- reconciled-she can only be one or the other. Sati na hosya. girdhar gaasya mahaara ty, piety, and domestic drudgery. '3 Unlike As an errant, disobliging wife, Mira acquires man mohe ghannami lower caste women she is forbidden re- not only an active freedom from an expected Jeth bahu ko naato na raanaji, hu sevak marriage. The genealogy of the Rajput role, but also the preconditions for access the swaami widow can be traced to the model of the to wisdom, authority, self-sufficiency, Girdhar kant Girdhar dhani mahaare, widow in the Manusmriti. The spiritual growth, and most of all, marriage maat pita boi bhai Brahmin widow in order to be good must to Krishna. Thai thaare main mahaare Ranaji, yun never even think of another man, avoid sen- He/i mahasu Hari bin rahiyo na jai kahe Mirabai (B: 162). sual pleasures, and in order to obtain heaven Saasu lade ri sajni, nanad khijairi pivji Why should I burn myself on a pyre with like the Brahmin ascetic, she must practise rahyori samai the body of the rana and be sati? those "incomparable rules of virtue which Chauki bhi melau sajni, pahra bhi malau, Is not Girdhar my eternal consort? have been followed by such women as were taalaa ghau na jadai I recognise no relationship of body, or by devoted to only one husband" (MDS: 135). Purab janam ki preet hamnaari sajni, so marriage to human beings In order to acquire renown in this world and kahan rahai ri lukai I know only Girdhar. He is my father, the same abode as her husband in the next Mira kahai prabhu girdhar ke bin, dujo mother, husband, kin, none besides. world, the widow too like the wife must sub- na aavai mnahaari dai I have nothing to do with the ruler of the ject mind, speech and body to her husband. (BM: 85) state Infringement, likewise, is punishable by So says Mirabai. (B: 106). In this sense each patriarchal persecution-a ostracism in both worlds (MDS: 135-37, Though Mirabai's mendicancy breaks the product of her real transgressions-is at the 234). Marriage is indissoluble even upon mandatory seclusion of the upper caste same time a test which proves her sainthood widowhood. The good widow then must Rajput widow (Ab kahe ki laajsajni, pargat within the pattern of a saint's life. both practically and emotionally be as ho naachi, P: 45), she does not challenge all Mira ignores the claims of suhaag. Like monogamous as the good wife; for both the the other accepted 'components' of a Mahadeviyakka who sang, "Take these wife and the widow, the husband is the inter- widow's life-piety, asceticism, austerity, husbands who die,/decay, and feed them/to mediary between this world and the next, celibacy.'9 Since Krishna is a god, their sej your kitchen fires"' 6 Mira designates jag and monogamous devotion to him is the (marital bed) can be an abstraction, ahd suhaag or marriage with a mortal as mithya unilateral path to salvation. Marriage occurs bhakti a path: or useless and illusory: in society but outside history. Tero koi nahi rokanhaar, magan hui Mi;a Within the ideologies of service and Mhm hi jhuthe ham hi jhuthe jhutha hai chali suhaag, the realms of domestic service, ser- sab sansaara Laaj saram kul ki marjaada, sir se door vice to the state, and service to god are Stri purush ke sambandh jhuthe, to kari already bonded. The smritis when desired phuthya haiya tumhaara Maan apmaan dou ghar patke, niksi hu offer timely and notable assistance. Kinship, Mhm hi kaho ardhangha hamaari, hamku gyan gali the state, the souls of the servant, wife, and lagaayo kaara Unchi atariya laal kivariya, nirgun sej widow, belong to an indivisible realm, have Koti brahmand me vyapya rahiyo hai so bicchi (BM: 56). a single future destiny. nij var hamaara'7 Female renunciation finds no place in the

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This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms smritis (travel for religious reasons and leaving home? Did she turn to mendicancy moral power in the name of god. Her bhakti are expressly forbidden to only because she was rejected by hei natal is at once a principle of consonance and of women20 except in two paradoxical ways, and marital family? Did she then have to 'fit' discord. Mira disengages herself from a First, the austerity of the last two renun- into a sanctioned model of sainthood simply social order she has understood, some of ciatory stages of a householder's life are no as a vulnerable woman seeking a form of whose oppressions she has grasped, without different in principle from a widow's life. security? Were her bhakti and the reputa- disarticulating its order of reality. At this However, these stages, unlike widowhood, tion of celibacy maintained as defensive level her metaphors retain an inner cpr- are a product of male volition. The shields in the absence of patriarchal protec- respondence with-the social order. The rela- grahasthaashram of a woman simply ends tion? Did the very fact of lacking the socio- tion of the female subject to the feudal poli- on her husband's death. Then a 'voluntary' political guarantee that a family provides ty, resisted in practice, is remade as obedience to cpstom is exhorted. The upper necessitate belonging to god? Once outside metaphor. Could she have disarticulated this caste widow should be an austere renouncer, the system of familial protections and order in its entirety and remained intelligible she must emaciate her body, and live volun- obligations what other choices existed ? or been allowed to exist? tarily on flowers, roots etc (MDS: 135). Se- Mira's songs oscillate between a recogni- What is the nature of her asceticism, of cond, because renunciation so utterly con- tion of her 'inevitable' destiny and a celebra- the claims she makes in the name of austerity tradicts wifehood and domestic surveillance, tiori of her choice: and in the name of maya? it is only permissible under duress (and that Maata chhori pita chhore, chhore sage soi The inequitable ground of ascetic too only in some dharmashastras), for an Sadha sang baith baith lok laaj khoi.. widowhood is generalised to extend to abandoned woman or a widow.21 In some Ab to baat phail gayi, jaanai sab koi everyone regardless of gender and marital sense then the absorption of the widow in- Daasi Mira lal girdhar honi so hoi (B: 139) status, and this along with the definition of to the renunciatorv mode is both acceptable Mai ri mein to liyo gobindo m-! poverty begins to compose the essence of the and threatening (it requires for some . . . liyori taraaju tol true bhakta or devotee. The devotee is biographers the sanction of a Tulsidas!). So ... liyori aankhi khol (BM: 71) privileged precisely because he/she has no the same 'components' which make Mira an In either case her vuluicrability never socially recognised privilege, and is already object of familial persecution (P: 171-73) ceases. Indeed orality may well be a domain accustomed to subjection. Mira describes the also ensure a wider social legitimacy for her where assertiveness accentuates personal this-worldly as illusory, maya: enterprise. Like many other renouncers she risk. The acquiescence of the listener has to Yo sansaar sakal jag jhutho (BM: 68) breaks with 'outer', 'ephemeral' social systems be sought and established: it cannot be All the wealth and ornaments of the world of kinship and political power only to guaranteed. Choices are explained and are ephemeral, rejoin the community in another capacity- dramatised, public opinion is taken into ac- truth lies only in devotion to god (B: 114) as critic and commentator. Moral authori- count. Mira repeatedly descrtbes herscef as Jhootha manik motiya ri jhothi jag mag ty in the high Hindu traditions is usually a mad, is acutely and defiantly conscious of joti product of control over sensuous gratifica- how she is perceived: Jhootha sab aabhushanaa ri saanchi piya tion (MDS: 153); Mira's moral authority also Piv karan bauri bhai, jyu kaathhi ghun ji re poli partly depends on her austerity. If celibacy khai (BM: 76) Jhootha paat patambara re jhootha betokens an inner spiritual state, then the re- Ranaji mujhe yeh badnaami lage meethi dikhni cheer nouncer must melt the divide between the Koi nindo koi vindo mein to chalungi Saanchi piyaji ri goodri ja me nirmal rahe inner and the outer, between essence and chaa; anuthi (P: 81) sareer (B: 167) behaviour. Koi kahe Mira bahi baavri, koi kahe kul Woo poverty. It is the great matchmaker naasi (P: 91 B: 164) between you and god (B: 124) The degree of 'real' choice available to Mira baat nahin jag chhani (P: 175) All "external finery" "rubies and pearls" Mira is unclear. Did she reject the court or Lok kutumbi baraji baraj hi, batiya kahat and "bondage to the world" are "false"; was she hounded out? The songs sometimes banai (BM: 58) "worldly comfort" is an "illusion" and "the present Mira's choice of Krishna as a pro Durjin log maari ninda kare chhe (B: 172) world is a deceit and a delusion,/ or simply duct of her own will. In one song she resists Log kahai Mira bhai. baavri, nyaat a dream" (DP: 44, 27, 77, 106, 116, 194, 87, the persuasion of her-brother-in-law to give (relatives) kahai kulnaasi re (BM: 60) 128). Mira conflates actual poverty with up wandering in the company of saints: it Mira may have chosen to break the feudal poverty as a renunciatory state of mind destroys the honour and repute of the family relation, she may have beenforcedto break (Karnafakeeri phir kya dilgiri, sadaa magan (Kul ko daag lagai chai bhabhi ninda ho rahi with it or she may even have felt herself me rahna ji, B: 174). As princess turned bhaari), a woman from such a family de- broken by it. Yet if the feudal relation ascetic, poverty for her is a willed state which means it by dancing in public (Bada ghar crumbles in her personal practice, in some by shearing away earthly desire is more the janam liyo chai naacho de de laarO), so. ways her songs recover it both figuratively receptive to the divine, indeed such poverty she must return to the palace, to her fine or- and as ideality and so recompose its ever- is a mode of access to the divine (Hasti ne naments and her husband. Mira refuses, the present 'necessity' as choice. This recom- ghora maal khazaana kaai na ave saath, sadhus and sants are now her family: position is not merely an ideological P: 117). Her gesture creates a productive Rana ne samajhavo javo mai to baat na manoeuvre-it genuinely effects a de- disturbance in a birthbound hierarchy, of- maani naturalisation of 'necessity, and enables fers her an element of control over cir- Mira ke prabhu Girdhar naagar santa rejection of the domestic. It does, however, cumstances, and eventually perhaps even a haath bikaani (P: 175-77) make Mira's iconic image problematic. The source of alternate, extra-institutional moral She reiterates her choice whatever the cost image returns to challenge and rework the authority.23 Further, in Mira's composi- sangati kari harfsukh layu, jag su character of her personal rebellion. It is tions, maya specifically designates a set of door rahu religious belief which empowers Mira; both familial and patriarchal ctaims-of hus- Tan man dhan jaavo bhali mero sees lahu her sense of selfhood and her violation of band, mother, father, brother, kin and clan (BM: 64) man-made custom emerge from her convic- (BM: 7f,68)-which are described as illusory At other her bhakti seems to be im- tion of her subjection to god and her dedica- (B:172), ephemeral (Maat pita sut kutumb pelled by helplessness, by persecution even tion to a 'higher' cause. The series of op- kabeela, toot gya jyu taaga BM: 51), by the women; she has no otber "true positions offered to hierarchy are both made materialistic and self-interested ( sab matlab relative or friend,/The whole world has turn- possible and undone by the fact that as a ke garji BM: 56). Both her natal and marital ed against me". (DP: 136)22 female subject Mira takes recourse to the family (Jaaun na pihar jaaun na saasar Did the refusal to.consummate her mar- highest point-god-within the same P: 139)-primarily constitute the falseness riage set up a whole logic which~ resulted in patriarchal structure. She can only claim of the world.

1468 Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms And yet it is necessary to see Mira's tion as no more than the conscience of ruling the way it regulates relationships between language as amenable to maintaining statius groups. Or it can turn the existing reality of men and women, and the way the 'private' quo. If the absence of economic in- the dominated into the desired reality of the is structured by and into the public domain. dependence is transformed into the renun- renouncern Her choice of Krishna as the object of ciation of material desire, then doesn't Mira's As a renouncer Mira establishes a distance worship and -devotion is both ironic and rebellion confirm the power of the famuily with daily integrative systems of inequalitv complex. Krishna is not simply a monarchic, and feudal state which can only be in order to open them to reflection or to patriarchal god like the maryadapurushot- abnegated but not changed? What does represent themn as petty. And yet in order tam to Ram. He has two distinct aspects asceticism imply for a widow who can claim do so 'she affirms at figuirative and (though one may be more prominent in cer- maintenance but has no inalienable right to metaphysical levels. some of the structured tain traditions), and there is an implicit property or direct access to political power? relatioils of collective power and some of the structural relation between the two. To put Is she not deciding to forego what she can- very principles of inequality which underlie it crudely, he is both pastoral cowherd- not easily have?-and that too under shelter these systems. Renunciation here has an in- peasant and prince-proprietor. of a fairly generalised metaphysic of renoun- escapable sociality: throuigh redescribing The first aspect of Krishna is structured cing maya. A metaphysic emerges fromii the poverty and geindei- (as I shall liseuss later) around his reciprocity and negligence of constriction and tyrannies of a social tfor- in ways which carry tirern well bevo(id their social propriety. As the 'sinful' cowherd mation, occupies relationships of ideality, ascriptive functions imlto t0e figurative- lover towards whom all longing is directed, alterity, and often structural similarity with metaphysical don -uin, it reworks existing in- he invokes and receives unabashed pleasure, it. Once it emerges a metaphysic -appears to equities into highter tevels governed by faith. with intermittent reciprocity, in his illicit assume an ideality arid to acquire an When this meraphvsic is al15o the ground of pastoral frolics with the in . autonomy: this in fact facilitates art il- the challente toeud I h a and patriar- He not only himself breaks the norms of strumentality of a differentQ order siftl. Ccly is tlhiei son im qic ku rernairi. D)oes niot mnarriage- is married ini some always intersected by other discturses and Mira continue t sn hare the donminant Vaisnav traditions-but Krishnabhakti inserted into a range of social practices. I hus representation.s of the isibic and inivisible becomes the occasion for women to trespass the metaphysical core of NIira's hhakA is w4,orld? Do faith and mnc;aphvsic ab,orb norms,and including those of conjugal fidelity. labile and abstract enough to pro tide a detlect critique or du-e :rintque retirone and His relation with the gopis can be non- medium for unarticulated lLuman possibility relocate meta physic? hierarchical, non-procreative, disinterested in (), for speculation on the niattire ot Tthere cart sarccivy h" an adecluate textuial maintaining social order, and unlike the con- being and the pressure of niortalitV, as wetli answer to tlnese questiotnls. Mira relinquishes jugal relation, can exist in and for itself- as a mediuim for the formation of an 'timen her oWnI ca

Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990 1469

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms from Vrindavan to Dwarka (Pat pat And every morning will rise early Roughly the same set of activities are for- Vrindavan dhoondyo... aap to jaye To have thy sight. bidden to them, ostensibly because these will Dwarka chhaye BM: 31) and "follows" his In the leafy lanes of Vrindavan cause their downfall (patan): reciting Vedic itinerary in her travels. Mostly he is the I will sing the deeds of Govind. , going on , performing cowherd lover, and she presents herself If I perform Thy service, austerities, renunciation, the fourth sometimes as a gopi or Radha. However I will have thy sight for reward. of sannyaas, etc.33 In this literature social- both aspects of Krishna enter into her con- Thy remembrance will be my wages, ly prescribed roles are conjoined not only figuration of god, husband and lover. The spirit of devotion my fief. with the essential nature of women and Though Rajasthan has a significant poetic For which I have longed during many a sudras, but also with the very order of crea- tradition centred on the heroic courtly birth (DP: 97). tion. The desire to create and/or maintain Ktishna (e g, Prithvi Rathaur's Veli Krisan Syam! mane chakar rakho ji, the subjection of women and sudras is ),.broadly speaking, the emotional Girdharilal! chakar rakho ji fundamentally a desire to secure control over contours of her bhakti are closer to Chakar reh su baag laga su, the means of reproduction and production Chaitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnava school in nit uth darsan paasu (i e, labour)-and extends to negotiating the Bengal-firmly established in Vrindavan by Vrindavan ki kunj galin me, ways in which they are to be represented. the 16th century under the Goswamis. The teri lila gaasu Subalternity seems to acquire a 3pecial Goswamis use the analogy between human Chakri me darsan paau, value in some strands of . The love and divine love comparing love for god sumiran paau kharchi Purana, the Bhagwad Gita, and the with a woman's yearning for her rover: the Bhav bhagati jagiri paau, Bhagwat Purana describe a Vaishnavism enjoyment of god's nature occurs through teenu baata sarsi (B: 153). which marks the inclusion of women and a bhakti expressed as rati (pleasure). Rup Tum mere /hakur main teri das: (13: 149). sudras as listeners to the stories and Goswami-draws on the secular definition of Nor can Mira's songs be isolated from other teachings of the epics and Puranas.34 Here, sringizra rasa, elevates bhakti into a rasa and semanitic histories of bondage. The word das simultaneous with descriptions of the sub- gives madhura bhakti supreme status.30 emerged from Dasyu or non-Aryan, and jection of women and sudras and of their Mira's bhajans derive their emotional and came by early feudal times to mean house essential 'fallen' nature, there occurs, inverse- cultural power from the metaphoric use of servant or bondsman, sudra or low caste, as ly, a metaphorical enrichment and idealisa-' the common analogies between god and well as retainer or serf.3' In medieval tion of subalternity. The Bhagwat Purana master, god and lover, between earthly Rajasthan the das or dasi was bought and (c 500-1000 AD) represents women as' the husband as lord, master, and lover, between sold (either by himself/herself or by others), distracting creations of maya, to be shun- soul and wife, between divine service and and bonded in perpetuity for generations ned by wise men and sages as impediments wifely or domestic service, between the bon- since his/her children were born as slaves. to devotion. The characteristic qualities of dage of the soul to the god, the bondage of The chakar could be a servant a the lowest castes are "absence of cleanliness, the wife to the husband and the servant to household or the client of a feudal patroni. falsehood, thieving, heterodoxy, want of the master, and between the spiritual 'desire' Analogies and metaphors of bondage are faith, quarrelsomeness without a proper of the soul and sensual desire. In her songs common, even generic, literary devices in cause, strong lust, violent anger and in- Krishna is the beloved (piv, pritam, piya, bhakti compositions. However, they cannot ordinate covetousness" (BhP: 5: 1948-49, sajana), the husband-lover (saiya), the be taken literally or 'accused' in the same 1993, 2013). And yet the ideal bhakt in the bridegroom (yar, dulha), the husband way as prescriptive statement and there is Bhagwat Purana is the poor or low caste (pati), the master (thakut), the protector, the much in Mira's songs which works against man because he does not devote his time and king (maharaj), and of course god (prabhu). them (as I shall discuss later). It might be energy to the acquisition, protection and Mira is the eternal virgin (janam janam ki helpful to look at the semantic history and consumption of wealth, because he owns kunwaari), the bride (dulhan), the wife- local context of her figurative modes. neither possessions nor property to tie him beloved separated from the husband-lover to the world, because he is by nature em- (virhan), the servant (chakar), the maid- V pathetic, free from arrogance, and conceit, servant or slave (das,), the devotee (pujarin). humble, guileless, pure, both born to and Mira glories in single minded devotion (mere Different Modes of Bondage accustomed to service.35 Women and sudras aasaa chitwani tqmri aur na dooj dor become the 'natural' constituency of BM: 55), immerses herself in servitude, suf- Subordination becomes the figurative Krishna, clubbed together by the Bhagwat's fering and in the vicissitudes of loving ground for transcendence in her bhakti thorough chastisement of the wealth, ig- Krishna. resulting in a play with a range of meanings norance, degeneracy, self-interest, and pride At one level these metaphors of desire in the ideas of service, servitude, bondage and domination, and raises its own set of of the uppercastes. Since the model bhakt approximate the language of social and is a renouncer, poverty and low caste can be patriarchal subjection; and in a far more disturbances. Her metaphors acquire a read as a 'natural' freedom from maya emphatic way as compared to the composi- special resonance in the context of medieval (BhP: 5: 1901, 1921-23, 2031, 2062-63). tions of earlier women bhakts like Rajasthan, the more so because they encap- Subalternity itself is endowed with inverse Mahadeviyakka and . The female sulate a long Vaishnav history of vesting subalternity with symbolic power. power by a personage no less than Krishna. body appears to be publicly structured by Krishna says that he is under the control of existing hierarchies. The pairing of women with sudras, which his devotees who have "enthralled him by It He sold me into slavery, I would occurs in the Satapathabrahmana-on the basis of both being embodiments of untruth, their devotion even as good wives do by their acquiesce DP: 41) devotion to virtuous husbands".36 Such Jaha baithavai tithi baithu, bechain to biksin and darkness32- becomes more detail- ed and frequent in the smritis (MDS: 43, 93, power is in turn seen to be an effect of jaun (B: 155). kaliyug. 133) and puranas, texts which mark and But Mira is sold into Hari's hands, probably negotiate the shift from a nomadic, The cyclic time scale of the four yugas His slave for birth upon birth. (DP: 53). pastoral to an agrarian economy, In the enters into a curious relation with subalter- She has. sold herself in slavery to Him Manusmriti, the essential wicked or servile nity. The Brahmanda Purana (c 300-1000 Without accepting a fee (DP: 58). nature of women and sudras is preordained, AD) describes the first utopian krtayug as 0 Girdhari Lal, keep me as thy servant their lowly birth is a result of sins in previous a nomadic world marked by the absence of Keep me as thy servant. births (MDS: 230-33, 168). This in turn inequality or any form of stratification, and' I will remain thy faithful servant, necessitates a low ritual status for both and by the perfect presence of knowledge and Will plant thy garden the construction of rules for their exclusion. ~ People are devoid of desire and pro-

1470 Economic and Political Weekly July 7,. 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms geny are born without copulation through The rule of patriarchy is at its most in- to god entwine the feudal state and its sub- mental conception. It appears to be utopian secure and women are completely fallen in jects into an indispensable spiritual precisely because of the absence of caste, kaliyug, worse than they have ever been. And economy. The common analogy between the property, sexuality and consequently any yet, paradoxically, by simply subjecting- attributes and rights of a king and of god43 form of patriarchy! The second tretayug sees themselves to patriarchy they can achieve is complemented in political thought by the the establishment of settled cultivation and salvation easier than ever before. Impedi- representation of monarchy on the patriar- agriculture, kingship, law and order, caste ment can become advantage through chal domestic model wherein "the subjects distinction and copulation. In the third obedience-a "woman has only to honour are wife to a king; they are like crop to be dwaparyug, the four stages of life, the her husband in act, thought, and speech"'.4 brought up for grain"." The family is classification of castes, and the clear-cut Social and patriarchal subjection constitute metaphorically interchangeable with the principles of dharma are all being the path to salvation-which amounts to state, the husband with the king. The state adulterated, thus laying the basis for kaliyug.staying in one's ordained place. Here a incorporates the (willing) subject, suggesting The absence of religious homogeneity and triadic relationship between god, the upper- the desired ideal relation of the (female) in- the contradictory interpretations of ancient caste male and the woman or sudra is dividual to family and state. Here the incor- texts are singled out as the cause of corrup- established in which the uppercaste male is poration of the subject into the body of the tion. Though kaliyug is projected as a future an intermediary. The dominance of upper- social plenum represented by the king dystopia, it is the description of a present caste men is presented ideologically-they becomes the deep structural form of all be- made dissatisfactory for some by the can be perceived almost as doing a kindness ing. Mira does not alter such a positioning religious and social dissent of others.37 to/for women and sudras by providing them of the subject; a certain ontology remains In the Vishnupurana (c 100-500 AD), the with easy avenues of (service) salvation. intact. The fact that her bhakti remains Bhagwat Purana and the Brahmanda, Whether or not kaliylug is accurately grounded in such ideality may in part be a Purana kaliyug is marked by mortality, describing the present, it expresses fear and reflection of her own class location. Though natural calamities, the inevitability of evil anxiety about preservinig desired social the analogy has a certain transparency at the and the reversal or degeneration of the hierarchies. The parallel idealisation of level of ruling class desire, and naturalises political, the social, the legal and the caste subalternity atid the new and 'easy' modes the continuum of woman-devotee-husband- order: the rule of wealth, the misuse of of salvation opened to the subaltern are an king-god, its relation to social practice is religious texts, the rise of heretics and of inversion of the fear of the empowerment bound to be diverse and complex. It may not enemies of the system of varnashram- of women and sudras-which in a contradic- coincide with the aspirations of the ruled dharma, the adoption of heretical (i e, non- tory way also makes a new space for them even when women and other subjects brahmanical) doctrine by sudras, a respect in salvation schema. Ironically, these schema themselves share these representations and for heresy, and the rule of the low-born. make ft possible for women and lower castes assent to characteristics ascribed to them. Kaliyug is most notable for the breakdown not oply to share these representations, but Thus the divine or 'higher' power to which of patriarchal norms: the failure of mar- to use the kaliyug time scale for self- N'Iira affirms her subjecthood, may be riages to conform to ritual, marriages for empowerment. It is in this contradictory analogous to the king but it can arso in turn the sake of mutual liking or mutual cousent space for subalternity-in which caste and incorporate both king and state. Invisible rather than family pedigree or social status, patriar-chal orders are being obsessively power may even be a handy recourse in the the disregard of laws regulating the conduct u:o2tde in the face of 'resisting' sudras and face of the hostile, visible power of the of husband and wife, the collapse of the woruC.O and which simultaneously offers rana----whether he is the husband or the king. extended family, the desertion by wives of thenT somel - '-e of control over their The rana is addressed with defiance: those husbands who have lost their property, salvation-that ,-ira's metaphors are Ranaji tmein to sanvre -e rang raati the general valorisation of sexual pleasure, constituted. (BM: 79) and the immhorality of women. The innate If the triad of servant/wife- Ab nahin maanu Rana thaari, faults of women are enhanced: they are master/husband-god accrues one set of mein bar payo Girdhari (B: 184/P: 125). selfish, fickle, dishonest, wanton, shameless, meanings from texts which belong to an He is placed in open combat with Krishna, dissolute, short, greedy, given to harsh earlier social formation evolving an order of the poison he sends is turned into nectar speech, theft, fraud and daredevilry, dis- caste and gender at a time when a state and with Krishna's benediction (BM: 75, p 157); obedient to husbands and parents, fond of classes are emerging (meanings which hjs disfavour is as nothing compared to pleasure. In general unchaste, they also begin Mirabai's songs duplicate and displace), it Krishna's disfavour (Raja ruthai nagri raakai to sell their bodies. The faithful wives do not acquires another specific set of meanings inhari roothya kahajaana BM: 75). It is finally survive. By the end of the yug women out- the medieval Rajput state. The symbolic the Rana who is dispensable: Thm jaavo number men.38 This dystopia virtually locatiofi of subalternity here hinges on the rana ghar apne meri teri nahin sari (BM: 56). makes kaliyug a projected embodiment of relation of the female subject to the state. VI strisvabhav or the essential fallen nature of The many husbands who mediate the disper- women. sion of the political power of the state The Female Subject Conversely, in this Vaishnav literature through intermediary zamindaries or chief- kaliyug is described as the best time to be taincies, and who mediate the women's rela- The ideological and semantic accretions born a human since Krishna makes himself tion with king and god, correspond with of these analogues and metaphors of bon- much more accessible to those human souls what in another context has been called the dage have gien them a 'determinate', readi- who practise devotion to him, and salvation "overall parcellisation of sovereignty based ly paraphrasable meaning. Though deeply is attainable with great speed simply through on the coincidence of political and economic implicated in them Mira's compositions,do singing his name and deeds.39 Indeed.the relations of subordination/appropria- not merely replicate these meanings. The redeeming properties of kaliyug consist in tion".42 The hierarchy obtaining within passionate intensity of the songs actively the singujar blessedness of the lowest and marriage not only represents other social works against and sometimes displaces them most subaltern-women and sudras-who hierarchies in miniature, but also belongs to because the female is centrally a desiring can now achieve religious merit with ease. a continuum of power relations in which subject. The literature acknowledges In contrast to the enormous ritual labour power is serially distributed; patriarchal sexual desire but presents it as something required of twice born men, women and practices can function ideologically not which must be regulated for both men and sudras can attain god simply through per- merely in their own name but in the name women within the primarily procreative con- forming their duties and through service o f of something else. jugal relation. The practices of Rajput their husbands and twice born men The series of mirroring analogical rela- polygamy regulate the sexual desire of respectively.40 tionships which extend from lowliest servant women but allow men an insatiable appetite

Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990 1471

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms .nd access to a potentially unlimited number irretrievable public exposure of her self and believer. Second, Mira's bhakti refixes a of women. Mira's desire for Krishna is by body to the point which makes readmission feudal hierarchy even as it carves out a space definition unregulated, unconnected to pro- into the respectability of the family for her personal deviation from the social creation. Though her songs bear the traces impossible-she is dancing in front of order. The space created by and for excep- of an Advaitic nirguna bhakti in the asser- 'other' men/sadhus. tional women is restricted space and can be tion of the identity of the individual soui Nit uth Hariji ke mandir jaasya, made to ratify the rule for ordinary women. with god, she yearns more often to realise naacchya de de chhutki (BM: 72) What is the precise nature of the gratifica- such identity through union: Ram lane rangraachi Rana tion available? In this space gender divisions Thou and I are one, like the sun and' its mein to sanvalia rang raachi re are generalised and dissolved even as they heat MDP: 80), Taal, pakhawaj, mirdang baaja are recreated. Firstly, the specificity of ser- Jot me jot mila jaa (BM: 55) saadha aage naachi re vitude is dissolved into servitude as the Let my light dissolve in your light Koi kahe Mira bhai baan-wri human condition, where even a ruler is no (DP: 53, 80) koi madmaati re (pp: 167-69) more than a ruled, a servant before god. Performance is both jeopardy and ecstasy. Such servanthood provides unspeakable relief, security and intimacy with a god- who Her Krishna is both present and absent.45 How does the personal devotion and sen- is addressed as tu. Secondly, the god created Taken up with the physical beauty of suous desire as embodied in the 'subaltern' in the same analogical continuum as Krishna she yearns for a sight or vision female voice correspond to and diverge from husband-king, is a god figured as involved (darshan) of Krishna, a spiritual consum- the feudlal relation, as it is expressed in the in production and reproduction, as control- mation which is described erotically as a sen- prescriptive, perceptual and customary ling both the female body and the social suous union and sometimes attained (Bisari norms of a class? Though Mira appears in body described as female. The undeniable gayi dukh, nirakhi piya ku sufal manorath some ways to choose and advocate an ascetic material reality of this femala-social body kaam BM: 55, and DP: 93-95). Her love is way of life, her bhajans are filled with sen- in turn confers a special reallty on this god an unquenchable thirst (taras, pyasi) which suous yearning. Indeed the renunciation of objectified as human. The metaphor holds her captive (mohi), crazes her (prem worldly desires seerm to give lie celibate Ra- substantiates god, glories in its own creative divani), drives her astray, absorbs her com- jput princess access to the language of sex- power, creates female desire as partially pletely like a madness (bhakti bhav me mast ual desire. Mira's personal practice and songs self-sublimating. doltl), makes her oblivious to all else (aakul disturb the model of the good wife and the vyakulphiru rain din). She dresses in bridal good widow but they also articulate the good Mor mugat pitaabar sohe, clothes, makes a bed of flowers and awaits wife and the good widow, or more accurately gal baijanti mala Krishna or is seated in her bridegroom's the 'wifely' voice, within another set of rela- Vrindavan me dhenu charaaye, house "arrayed in finery and quite without tionships. In a sense it is the femalkvoice- mohan murli wala shame' Or else she is a woman separated with its material basis in patriarchal Hare hare nit baag lagaau, from her lover sitting all night in her palace subjugation-which provides the emotional bich bich raakhu kyaari of pleasure threading tears-pearls into a force of self abasement and willed servitude. Sanvariya ke darsan paau, necklace (virhan baithi rang mahal me, The sensuous symbolism and performative pahar kusummi saari (BM: 153/DP: 97) motian ki lar pove), her bridal bed is empty mode transgress the austere conventions of Baso mere nainan me nandlal (sooni sej) or exists in another world (gagan upper caste widowhood, but what occurs at murat, sanvri surat, mandal par sej piya ki). She anticipates a the same time is that her songs re-evolve a naina bane bisaal midnight tryst on the bank of the river of new relation of bondage which is now replete Adhar sudha ras murli raajat, ur baijanti love (aadhi raatprabhu darsan dinhe, prem with desire. Through the infusion of such maal (B: 142) nadi ke teera). She has spent a whole night desire the feudal relation becomes at once Suni ho mein hari aavan ki avaaj (B: 148) waiting for her beloved (piya ke panth the political relation, the domestic relation, Thirdly, the generosity of willed servitude, niharat sigri rain vihani ho). Her chest the erotic relation, and the spiritual relation, in return for accepting both his arbitrariness heaves at the sound of his name (sabadsunat knotted into the same vocabulary, intricating and the unequal relation, endows the lord meri chatiya kampe), without him her body various modes of desire and dominance. with a complementary munificence, indeed is lean and anguished (ang cheen vyakul With fairly contradictory results. creates a notion of lordliness which must res- bhaye), she longs for physical union (ang se Indeed for Mira in her own life, the pond to the immeasurable and excessive pas- ang lagavo) and her whole life passes in such "offer" of herself as "sacrifice" (DP: 84) or sion of the das/i with an illimitable excess longing (DP: 96, 92, 36, 45, 46, 69, 61, 97, of willed servitude to Krishna is the (ironic) of reward (salvation). 114; B: 83, 144, 60, 141, 94, 153). grounid of agency, i e, an altered personal Jo pahiravai soi pahiru, jo de soi Significantly this desire is expressed and practice. A language which makes the khaau... accompanied by performance through which patriarchal substratum of customary subjec- Mira ke prabhu girdhar nagar baar baar she constitutes herself as a defiant self- tion simultaneously the matrix of agency bali jaau (B: 155) describing subject of Krishna (BM: 80), in and transcendence may achieve quite Precisely as only the unquestioning obe- some ways more a boldly attractive remarkable shifts of emphasis, dislocations dience of the wife can complete the patriar- courtesan than a dutiful wife, more immoral and create new, contradictory spaces, even chal power of the husband, so only unstin- than 'moral' as it remains amenable to maintaining status ting devotion can establish and complete the Mein girdhar aage naacchoongi quo. munificence of god. In effect, such servitude Naach naach piv rasik rijhaau, What is this new space? First, it is a whetherspace social or patriarchal demands and premi jan ko jaanchoongi which is artificially wrenched from the assumes reciprocity, claims its rights even as Prem preet ke baandh ghunghru material domain: in it the relations between it acknowledges evu.ty. surat ki kacchwi kaacchoongi wife-husband, servant-master, devotee-god Lok laaj kul ki marjaada, are read as affective and non-economic. The 7Tmre kaaran sab sukh chorrya, ya mein ek na raakhoongi poor, whether women or sudras, are rich in ab mohi kyu tarsaavau hau... Piy ke palanga jaa paudungi, affective worship;46 their affective power is Ab chhorat nahi bane prabhuji, Mira hari rang raachoongi (BM: 73). only strengthened by the fact that the path hans kar turat bulaavau hau (B: 150) This performance itself is a quasi- of bhakti is a choice. Because submission is It is obedient not to the mere letter of metaphorical sign of abandon (Tan karu voluntary, and not merely a duty, social feudalism but to its 'spirit', a spirit of such taal, man karu dhapli BM: 8; Pag ghunghru behaviours of enforced dependence are potential magnificence that all social prac- baandh Mira naachi re BM: 72), and of an displaced and become the qualities of the tice must cave in by comparison, all earthly

1472 Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms servitude including the domestic be rendered function of, nor the modality of an in- coded as stridharma, and of female desire paltry, all human love faced with a sense of dividual identity and the processes of its for- coded as strisvabhav, are selectively inadequacy, a lack of plenitude, and mation. The space which the body occupies combined, internalised and recast as a 'recognised' as mere bondage without pro- is the simultaneous space of this world (the femaleness-even as the actual physical/ mise of release. The material conditions of body as a site for social knowledge and its corporeal subjection of women within the ordinary existence are at once devalued and reproduction) and a world other than this. family is relegated. This new ennobling transfigured (but not necessarily changed). The female body is the site of passion, suf- femaleness is in striking contrast to the It is in this sense that Mirabai, by fering, the punitive operations of patriarchal 'negative' femaleness essentialised as in- replenishing the reciprocity structured into power, but it is also the site of mortality and satiable, immoral strisvabhav: strisvabhav an 'ideal' feudal relation, replenishes that diffuse unnameable desire. Desire too is may be incorporated as a generalised female relation, turns it into an unimagined excess. structured both in and across the world; it sexual desire and its 'excessiveness' garnered The transcendence effected is not a rising is both with and without purpose, rapture as intensity, but it is relegated as a charac- above the feudal relation or an 'escape' from with and without a secular teleology. The terisation of women or womanhood. it, rather a transcendence within the relation heterogeneous modes and operations of In some sense Mira's bhakti is transfor- itself which is both marked and enlarged, patriarchy are at once embodied and cast ming some of the structures of social con- which is both measured and made elastic aside in the plenitude and diffuseness of trol prescribed in Hindu orthodoxy into and which is enmeshed in the actual texture such desire. The body, always, inseparable intimate, internalised structures of feeling. of living. The 'self-transcending' feudal rela- from its social meanings, can scarcely be The domain of ethics, and of paap-punya tion so constructed aspires to humanise the separated from the 'soul' in Mira's bhakti. (part of the karmic ledger of maya) shifts actual feudal relation and makes it The spiritual economy of Mira's bhakti from obedience and transgression of law, inhabitable. may in many ways be homologous with the and becomes fundamentally a matter of how This new space created remains a con- domestic and political economy of the a person stands .with god- an 'internal' tradictory site because though. it may set Rajputout state but it is structured as 'uncon- matter. Similarly, the uitimate displacement to dissolve gender distinctions it remains pre- tainable', as excessive. of the husband by god shifts the domain of eminently a gendered terrain. Visible modes To what else may such excess be attri- female purity;48 However, this displacement of human desire and patriarchal dominance buted? Mira's bhakti belongs to a prolonged simultaneously assists in the refinement and coincide or overlap with but also contradict historical moment and marks an exhilarating internalisation of these very structures of, 'higher' modes of spiritual desire and divine shift in fhe rel'ation between law, subjection control. Service, discarded as a set of rules dominance. One contradiction occurs and sexual desire. In the Rigvedic and and strictures becomes a complex bhava, an because spiritual desire is open to individual myths desire is represented as emotional configuration. A bhava which shaping or remaking depending on the either a 'natural' part of creation or as comes to be defined in part through her devotee's will, and also open to excessive disruptive. By the time of the smritis, law refusal to serve either her husband or his investment without fear of human betrayal making is itself part of an obsessive con- memory can become a free floating emotion or the frauds of maya. There is a second struction of theoretical models for control, which can be rejoined to the institution of contradiction between a 'wifely' voice of social order and salvation. .It is now seen as marriage as devotion to the husband. This devotion and between actual wifely service. necessary to contain female sexual desire bhava can be used conservatively to assist Here the feminisation of devotion could wi'thin evolving orders of caste and either in 'spiritualising' marriage or in recon- potentially be used as a new spiritual patriarchy through prescribed methods ciling 'love' of with marital duty. sanction for patriarchy, in which the daily surveillance, and through rewards However, and though the female devotional language of a woman would assist in the punishments in- in this world and the next. It voice may be open to such simplification and corporation of domestic bondage into a is seen as sinful for women to have their own ideological use, it is far from simple in itself. celestial code. At this level Mira's bhajans desires and these are explicitly opposed to Its very historical existence is complex. The rebelliously distance and 'transcend' their dharma (MDS: 231, 234). At the same orthodox triadic relation between wife, oppressive institutions as mundane, illusory time woman is cast as the eternal temptress husband and god, is broken. The wife no maya even as they refine and -replicate -the obj6ct and very form of sexual desire longer gets her salvation through her unegalitarian feudal relations inside the who can ensnare the wisest and most ascetic 'godlike' husband as in the Manusmriti language of rebellion. Third, when a gender of men (MDS: 42). Methods of containment (MDS: 135). Rhakti offers direct salvation, ideology governing familial and political and of extracting obedience and virtue from the intermediary position now belongs not structures is inserted into sensuous and wives are coded as stridharma while the to the human husband or the Brahmin priest mystical experience, then these structures areessentially disruptive nature of female desire, but to the female devotional voice. This sacralised and converted into transcendent a part of their essential wickedness, is cod- voice, obsessed with the relationships modes of fulfilment; however, in a contradic- ed as strisvabhav.47 Both exist unreconciled between men and women, continues to tory way, these very structures are in the smritis and the epics. The subjection negotiate the triadic relationship-it simultaneously marked as the inevitable of women, and the control of sexual desire simultaneously transgresses and refor- ground of transcendence, so effecting a is to be effected externally through a com- mulates patriarchal ideologies. dispersal of desire across a whole range of bination of Vedic and customary laws. The Marriage, and more generally, licit and social relationships. Finally, the religious Manusmriti does, however, concede that illicit relations between men and women vocabulary itself effects a further dispersal some degree of internalisation or self-control come in handy as metaphorical and of desire which refuses patriarchal con- is necessary to keep a wife good: she'must analogical modes to develop, express and ap- solidation even as its language consents to be guarded not only by the family/husband prehend the relationship between bhakt ind it. The spiritual can hold the domestic to but also by her own "good inclinations" god. In the process the social relationships ransom. (MDS: 232). and moralities on which these are based Arc In these contradictory spaces, Mira's The female devotional voice of Mira's also opened up to reflection, to either criti- bhakti is able to establish an irregular rela- bhakti makes subjection the ground of a que or reaffirmation. The relationship of the tion between a woman's duty and a woman's female desire which now encompasses and female devotional voice to patriarchal in- desire-they may be either aligned or dis- extends beyond the sexual-it can now take stitutiqns such as marriage is at once a rela- junct, they may or may not be compatible. desire and subjection, femaleness and moral tionship to an actual institution and to an Sexuality and desire are both embedded and duty in its stride. These are no longer parallel ideologically fraught conceptual abstraction expressed within an ensemble of gender and and unreconciled. Desire and morality are made up of intimacy, subservience and class relations and in particular notions of remade together in a new series of relation- transcendence. self and time. But sexuality here is not. a ships. The* structures of social subjection Exactly as the prmnary concern now is the

&onomic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990 1473

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms xture of the relationship between god and of Bombay, 1985, p 181). Irfan Habib bhakt, so too one of the chief addressee's locates the emergence of monotheistic cults BALLARPUR INDUSTRIES is the heart or man of the bhakt, i e, his/her in.caste mobility, and in the expansion of affective powers. It is this man which is to artisan groups to service the ruling classes LIMITED in the 13th and 14th century, as well as to contest external social, juridical, religious in- the reformation of tending pastoral N O T I C E stitutions and their norms. The man is an Jats into a peasant group due to the expan- active worshipper at god's feet: once it is sion of settled agriculture between the 11th It is hereby notified for the information of the public freed from social constraint and opened to that Ballarpur Industries JLimited proposes to make an and 15th century ("The Historical Back- god, the path is cleared. There is inexpressi- application to the Central Government in the Depart- ground of Popular Monothr stic Move- ble joy for Mira when her heart, purified by ment of Company Affairs, New Delhi under sub- ments of the 15th-17th centuries", section (2) of Section 22 of the Monopolies and Krishna, becomes his home. mimeograph, 1965). Harbans Mukhia Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, for approval to Ghatke sab pat khol diye hai, isolates the conservatism of in the establishment of a new undertaking/unit/division. Brief particulars of the proposal are as lok laaj sab daar ke (BM: 63) his use of the analogy between the divinity under 1. Name & address of the applicant BALLAR- of the sovereign and the divinity of god Man re, parasi hari ke charan (BM: 68) PUR INDUSTRIES LIMITED (BILT), Regd. Office PO. ("The ideology of the : the Mero man laago hanisu, ab na rahungi Ballarpur, Distt. Chandrapur, State. Head case of Dadu Dayal" in History and atki (BM: 72) Office Thapar House, 124-Janpath, New Hari jan dhobiya re, mail mana di dhoy Society: Essays in Honour of professor Delhi-1. 2. Capital structure of the applicant Nihharranjan Ray, ed Debiprasad Chat- organisation Authorised Capital Rs. 25,00,00,000, (B: 166). topadhyay Calcutta: K P Bagchi, 1976). Issued Capital Rs. 22,44,33,850, Subscribed & Paid- Aere piya mere hrday basat hai Rani Vilas Sharma designates bhakti as a up Capital Rs. 22,44,13,381. 3. Management struc- yeh sukh kahkvo na jaati (BM: 79). ture of the applicant organisation indicating the progressive anti-feudal manifestation of Raarli hoi ke kin 're jaau, names of the directors, inciudlng managing whole- class conflict (Sahitya Sthayi Mulya aur time director(s) and manager, if any. Trie Company is tum hau hirdaaro saaj (BM: 86) Mulyankan, Delhi, 1968), while Rameswhar managed by the Managing Directoi subject to the Bin piya jot mandir andhiyaari (F. 205) Prasad Bahuguna shows bkakti to have had superintendence control and direction of the Board Mero man baasigo girdhar lal (P: 129). different trends and ideological pulls and of Directors of the Company consisting of the foliow- With Krishna ornamenting her heart-the to have been gradually assimilated ("Con- ing 1. Mr. L M Thapar-Chairman & Managing Direc- tor, 2. Mr. V M Thapar-Deputy Managing Director, flict and Assimilation in the Bhakti Move- man virtually becomes a mandir or temple 3 Mr. 0 P Malhotra, 4. Mr. K A Chaukar, Nominee of which can 'centre' all activity and desire. ment in Medieval ", M Phil thesis, ICICI, 5. Mr R Narayanan, Nominee of LIC, 6. Vice The new substantive definition and cen- Centre for Historical Studies, School for Admiral K K Nayyar (Retd), 7. Seth H P Poddar, trality of the man is of some significance. Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru Univer- 8. Mr. S M Rao, 9. Mr. M M Thapar, 10. Mr. Narottam Sahgal. 4. Indicate whether the In Mira's compositions as well as those of sity, 1986). These differing descriptions and proposal relates to the establishment of a new under- assessments of the material basis and many male bhaktas-Nanak, -the taking or a new unit/division The project will be im- revolutionary potentials of bhakti have ef- heart is both home and temple, the place plemented as a division of BILT. 5. Location of the fectively broken it as a universal, mystical where husband-god resides.49 This enlarged new undertaking/unit/division State of Andhra monolith, and cleared a space for specific Pradesh. 6. Capital structure of the proposed space of the man appears to be part of a studies of bhaktas and movements. undertaking Not applicable. 7. In case the proposal historical shift where even as god is inter- 2 See A K Ramanujam, 'On Women Saints' relates to the production, storage, supply, distribu- nalised it becomes possible to internalise tion, marketing or control of any goods/articles, in- a The Divine Consort: Radha and the God- dicate. i) Name of goods/articles 01 -Acetanilide, specific patriarchal relations-both can be desses of India ed John Stratton Hawley transformed into seemingly 'unmediated' 02-Sulphanilic Acid, 03-Metanilic Acid, 04-Meta and Donna Marie Wulff (Berkeley: Amino Phenol, 05-Alkyl Benzene Amines (Dimethyl, essences and experiences which appear te Graduate Theological Union, Religious diethyl, diphenyl), 06-Chloro benzenes (Captive con- bypass social institutions ';tudies Series, 1982), pp 321-23. sumption), 07-Nitrochloro benzenes (ortho/para/ 3 Ram Vallabh Somani, History of Mewar meta), 08-Nitrotoluenes ortho/para/meta, 09-Conc. Nitric Acid (Captive consumption), 10-Sulphuric (To be conchudeco, (Bhilwara: Mateswari Publications, 1976); Acid (Captive Consumption). ii) Proposed Licensed Har Bilas Sarda, Maharana Sanga, the C;,pacity 01-Acetanilide-2000 TPA, 02-Sulphanilic Notes Hindupat: The Last Great Leader of the Acid-2000 TPA, 03-Metanilic Acid-3000 TPA, Rajput Race (nd, rpt, Delhi! Kumar, 1970); 04-Meta Amino Phenol-1000 TPA, 05-Alkyl 1 Krishna Sharma, Bhakti and the Bhakti Rekha Misra, Women in Mughal India Benzene Amines-4500 TPA, 06-Chloro benzenes- Movement: A New Perspective (Delhi: (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1967), 10000 TPA (Captive consumption), 07-Nitrochloro Munshiram Manoharlal, 1987), and pp 22-23; G N Sharma, Social Life in benzenes (ortho, para, meta)-10000 TPA, 08-Nitrotoluenes (ortho, para, meta)-4000 TPA Susmita Pande Birth of Bhakti in Indian Medieval Rajasthan (: Narain 09-Conc. Nitric Acid-16000 TPA (Captive consump- Religion and Art (Delhi: Books and Books, Agarwal, 1968), pp 230-35, 278; Suman tion), 10-Sulphuric Acid 33000 TPA. iii) Estimated 1982) demonstrate that bhakti as a form of Sharma, Madhyakaleen Bhakti Andolan ka Annual Turnover Rs. 106.32 cr approx. (100% capacity personal devotion is not restricted to what Samajik Vivechan (: Vishwa- utilization). 8. In case the proposal relates to the have been specified as movements and its vidyalaya Prakashan, 1974), p 165; Max provision of any service, state the volume of activity elements are not only varied but to be found Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion: Its in terms of usual measures such as value, income turnover etc. Not applicable. 9. Cost of the project- in various places at different times. Romilla Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, 6 Vols Rs. 88.29 cr approx. 10. Scheme of finance, in- Thapar sees the Tamil devotional cults of (Oxford: Clarendon, 1909), Vol 6, pp 344, dicating the amounts to be raised from each source the 7th and 8th century as partly a resistance 350, 352, 355; A J Alston, The Devotional The project is proposed to be financed by Co's to the power of the brahmins under royal Poems of Mirabai (Delhi: Motilal Benar- internal resources and to be supplemented by bor- patronage and to Aryanisation-A History sidas, 1980), pp 7-8-this is henceforth cited rowings from banks, financial institutions, foreign of India (Harmondsworth: Penguin, in the text as DP; Premvani Mirabai ke ek exchange loans, debentures, etc. Any person in- terested in the matter may make a representation in 1966), Vol 1, pp 186-88)-and the rise of sau barah padon ka sankalan ed Sardar quadruplicate to the Secietary, Departmer.l f Com- heterodox, social protest movements as con- Jafri (Bombay: Hindustan Book Trust, pany Affairs, Govt. of In-J!a, Shastri Bhawan, New nected to expanding trade and social 1965), pp 21-25-this is henceforth cited in Delhi within 14 days from the date of publication of mobility-Ancient Indian Social History the text as P; G S Acharya, Bhakt Mira this notice, intimating his views on the proposal and (1978, rpt Delhi: Orient Longman, 1987, (: Vijay Prakashan, 1983), including the nature of his interest therein. p 148)-For D D Kosambi bhakti as a con- pp 16-18-this is henceforth cited in the text for BALLARPUR INDUSTRIES LIMITED stellation of- personal devotion, faith and as BM. loyalty is both a symptom and prop of the 4 For a suggestive discussion of the forma- Sd/- feudal economy which arises at the end of tion of Raiput lineages see Richard G Fox, (VIRENDER GANDA) the 6th century-D D Kosambi on History Kin, Clan, Raja and Rule (Bombay: Oxford SECRETARY' and Society: IProblems of Historical Inter- University Press, 1971). Date: 28th June, 1990. pretation ed A J Syed (Bombay: University 5 M S Ahluwalia, Muslim Expansion in

1474 Economic and Political Weekly July 7, 1990

This content downloaded from 184.171.112.49 on Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:21:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Rasthaw The Relations of the Delhi 21 Patrick Olivelle, 'Renouncer and Renuncia- vol 2, pp 304-07, 542; Bhagwat Purana, Sultanate with Rajasthan 120641526 (Delhi: tion in the Dharmashastras', in Studies in vol 5, pp 2130, 2140. Yupntat Prakashan, 1978), p 31. Dharmashastra, ed Richard Lariviere 39 , p 492; Brahmanda Purana, 6 The Siaxdia kingdom of Mewar which (Calcutta: Firma, 1984), pp 114-15; Leslie, vol 2, pp 308, 667-68; Bhagwat Purana enJrgd in mid 14th century was at the peak Perfect Wife, p 139. vol 5, pp 1925, 2142. of its power under Rana Sanga and ascen- 22 See also Alston, Devotional Poems, pp 49, 40 Vishnu Purana, pp 487-93. See also dant over most Rajput states. Sanga invited 51, 83, 88. P V Kane, History of Dharmashastras, to Delhi in order to take over the 23 Thapar, Ancient lndia, pp 49, 56. 5 vols, (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Insti- throne at Agra from Ibrahim Lodi, and 24 Hiren Gohain, 'The Labyrinth of Bhakti: tute, 1977), vol 5, part ii, pp 928-30. In the ended fighting Babur and being defeated. On Some Questions of Medieval Indian Vishnu Purana the model for the good wife, The boundaries of Mewar fluctuated con- History Economic and Political Weekly, as derived from the stories of Satadhenu stantly between 1527 and the 1550s. See vol 22, no 46 (November 14, 1987), p 1971. and Saivya, amounts to the continuous A C Bannerjce, Rqjput Studies (Calcutta: 25 Joseph T 0 'Connell, 'Gaudiya Vaisnava association of wife with husband in birth A Mukherjee, 1944), pp 56-97, and Symbolism of Deliveranoe' in 7Tdition and after birth (pp 273-75). Ahluwalia, Muslim Expansion, pp 167-68, Modernity in Bhakti Movements ed Jayant 41 Vishnu Purana, pp 487-93. 190. Lele (Leiden: E J Brill, 1981), pp 131- 32. 42 John Mellington, 'Town and Country in the 7 See Shashi Arora, Rajasthan me naari 26 See Ramanujam, 'On Women', in Divine Transition to Capitalism' in The Thansition jeevan ki stithi. 16041800 (Bikaner: arun Consort, ed Hawley; and S M Pandey and from Feudalism to Capitalism, ed Rodney Pakashan, 1981), pp 38-39, 63, 56; Norman Norman Zide, ' and his Krishan- Hilton (London: Verso, 1978), p 178. Ziegler, 'Some Notes on Rajput Loyalties bhakt', in Krishna Myths, Rites and At- 43 For example in Dadu Dayal. See Mukhia, during the Mughal Period' in J F Richards titudes, ed Milton Singer (Chicago: Univer- 'The Ideology' in History and Society, ed ed Kingship and Authority in Medieval sity of Chicago Press, 1966), p 190. Chattopadhyay, and Savitri Chandra South Asia (University of Chicago Press), 27 Edward C Dimock Jr, 'Doctrine and Prac- Shobha, Social Life and Concepts in pp 229-30; Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph, tice among the Vaisnavs of Bengal' in Medieval Bhakti Poetry (Delhi: Essays on Rqiputana Reflections on Krishna: Myths ed Singer, pp 47-48. Chandrayan Publications, 1983), pp 38-39. History, Culture and Administration (New 28 Bhagwat Purana, trans Ganesh Vasudeo 44 Rajniti, 317a, a Sikh text composed Delhi: Concept Publishing, 1984), p 46. Tagare, S vols (1976, rpt, Delhi: Motilal originally by the Rajput brothers Bhoj Rai Significantly the gift of dharti (land) or Benarsidas, 1979), Vol 5, p 2121. This is and.Lakhan in 1684, quoted by Surjit Hans, dulhan (bride) alone, not money, could be henceforth cited in the text as BhP. 'Politics before and after the Annexation of given among Rajputs as compensation for 29 David R Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute: Punjab', Journal of Arts and Ideas, bloodshed; see K R Quanungo, Studies in and Krishna (1975, Delhi: Vikas, 1976) nos 14-15 (July- December 1987), pp 123, Rajput History (New Delhi: Chand, 1969), p 76. 126. For the increasing emphasis on the p 69. 30 See description in Krishna Sharma, Bhakti divine origin of kingship see Thapar, 8 Arora, Raiasthan me naari, pp 21, 22, 57, pp 260, 273, 289, 292, 307. History of India, p 249. 62, 64, 78-80, 97. 31 D D Kosambi, ed Syed, pp 77, 82-84. 45 See Aiston, Devotional Poems, pp 30-31, 42. 9 Ibid, pp 71-72. 32 Satapathabrahmana, XIV 1 1 31, quoted in 46 In the Bhagwat Purana devotion is 10 Saubhagya Singh Shekawat, Rajasthani Leslic, Perfect Wife, p 251. described as uninhibited and intensely emo- Nibandh Songreh (: Hindi Sahitya 33 Manava Dharma, p 135, 133, 232, 233, 24; tional: faltering words, melting heart, Mandir, 1974), p 242. Leslie, The Perfect Wife, pp 76, 83, 139, 275. lament at separation, and joy at the mercy 11 Shekawat, ibid, p 234; Ziegler, 'Some Notes, 34 Thakur Harendra, Dayal, The Vishnu of the Lord (vol 5, p 1993). in Kinship and Authority ed Richards, Purana. Social, Economic and Religious 47 For a typical description of strisvabhav see p 234. Aspects (Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, 1983), Manava Dharma, pp 232-33; and for a sug- 12 Manava Dharma Sastra or the Institute of pp 201-03; R S Sharma, Material Culture gestive discussion of dharma vs strisvabhav Manu, trans G C Haughton, ed Rev P and Social Formations in Ancient India see Leslie, Perfect Wife, pp 262-66. Perival, preface by William Jones (1825, (Delhi: Macmillan, 1983), p 135. In the 48 For example it bypasses the disapproval 4th ed 1863, rpt Delhi: Asian Educational Bhagwad Gita Krisna offers release to of 'mental' adultery or unbecoming Services, 1982), p 134. Henceforth cited in 'those who take refuge in Me, be they even thoughts-which are seen as a precursor of the text as MDS of the sinful breeds such as women, infidelity on the part of a wife and even 13 Sharma, Social Life, p 118. and sudras' (quoted in D D require expiation in the Manusmriti (MDS: 14 The punishments for such refusal are com- Kosambi ed Syed, p 169). The Bhagawat 129, 233). parble to those for adultery in the Smritis. Purana offers to address women and sudras 49 In Kabir when the pritam/god comes home See Manava Dharma pp 224, 24041. who have hitherto been kept in ignorance after a long absence then the temple lights 15 Macauliffe, Sikh Gurus. Vol 6, pp 348, 351; of the greatness of Hari and claims Vaishnav up (mandir maahi bhaya ujiyaara) in Kabir Acharya. Bhakt Mira, pp 16-18. bhakti as the best course 'even' for themn Granthavali, ed Mataprasad Gupta 16 Speaking of Siva, trans and with (Yol 5, pp 1921, 2086). : Sahitya Bhavan, 1985, p 141 an introduction by A K Ramanujam 35 Bhagwat Purana, vol 3, p 966, vol 4, pp (cited henceforth in the text as KG, G ) and (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973), p 134. 1310, 1639, vol 5, pp 2012, 2062; Thomas Man mandir rahan nit chashai in 17 Bankey Bihari, Bhakt Mira (Bombay: fopkins, 'The Social Te'aching of the Hazariprasad Dwivedi, Kabir, (New Delhi: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1961), pp 122, 172. Bhagwat Purana' in Krishna: Myths, ed Raikamal, 1980), p 331 (cited henceforth in Subsequent references to this in the texi are Singex, pp 14:7. the text as K, HD) or as in Nanak Hamre cited as B, and wher English translations 36 Bhagwat Purana, part 3, p 1147. The ghari aayajagieevanu bhataaru quoted in are available they are indicated with an power of the pativrata is cexmplified in Ramcharan Sharma, Hindi Sant Sahitya me oblique. Drupadi's answer to how she has managed Madhuryabahva Pillani: Chinta Prakashan, 18 Ramanujam, 'On Women' in Divine Con- to sain control over her husbands: "My 1986, p 221. sort, ed Hawley, p 320. husbands have come under my control as a result of my attentiveness, my eternal 19 Her biographers go to some length to New Subscription Numbers establish her virtue in foiling' sual ad- readiness to serve, and my devoted service va sceo Macauliffe, Sikh R ion, Vol 6, to my elders' (, III 222.37, Subsribers are requested to note p 349. In Rajashani illustrations of the quoted in Leslie, Perfect Wife, pp 280-81). Bhaktmala. Mime is depicted in the yellow 37 Brahmanda Purana, 2 vols, trans Ganesh their new Subscripjtion Numbers dhoti of the renouncer worn in male Vasudeo Tbgare (Delhi: Motilal Benarsidas, mentioned on the wrappers and fashion; see Sharma Social Life. p 153. 1983), vol 2, pp 69-71, 293-96, 1302. quote these numbers when cor- 20 Mon. Dharma. p 232, and I Julia Leslie, 38 Vishnu Purana, trans H H Wilson (1840 rpt responding with the circulation The Fet Wife (Idebi: Oxford University Calcutta: Punthi Pulstak, 1961), intro R C department. Pres 1989), pp 132-33, 137. Hazra, pp 487-93; Brahmanda Purana,

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