Societal Norms, Mythology and Romance in Indian Literature

Chapter Critique 4 – INDIAN LITERATURE

By Harlem Jude P. Ferolino

The Societal Norms, Mythology, and Romance in Mahamaya, Selected Stories from Panchatantra and Selected poems from Gitanjali:

I.                    Mahamaya

A.   Societal Norms

Mahamaya presents the societal norms of marriage in India. Arranged marriages are preponderant. These are caused by the parents’ decision for their children. Because of the marriage customs in India, the parents could only arrange marriages with families of the same social status as theirs. Indian culture has this social stratification called the Caste System that distinguishes the higher and lower classes. This comprises the groups, Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaisyas, Shudras, and Dalit or Untouchables. A woman in a Brahman caste, for example, could not be married to a man in the Kshatriya or to any other caste outside their own, and vice versa. Marrying from a different caste is frowned upon especially in the higher caste. This norm somehow differentiates the concept of Love and Marriage. In Mahamaya by Tagore, Mahamaya, a woman from the Brahman caste, has a romantic connection with Rajeev, a man from the lower caste. Unfortunately, there is a difficulty in finding Mahamaya a groom from the same caste as hers for no particular reason. When Rajeev proposed for a wedding to Mahamaya, she could only refuse to him because of the difference in their social status. Later came her brother, Bhavanicharan, and Mahamaya just followed him without a word. He handed down a red wedding sari to Mahamaya. She put it on as instructed by her brother because later on, we learn that her brother arranged her to an old Brahmin biding for death, to prevent the future humiliation to their family in case Mahamaya and Rajeev will decide for an inter-caste marriage. Mahamaya and the old man got married that night, but the next day Mahamaya became a widow. This shows how marriages are arranged in India in the time of Tagore. To date, reports claim that inter-caste marriages are now rising up in urban India, “because of female literacy and education, women at work, urbanization, need for two-income families, and influences from the media” (Wikipedia).

Another societal norm presented in Mahamaya is the way widows are treated in India. As the wife of a deceased husband, a widow is decided to die with him. She will be committed to the cremation pyre and die alive with her hands and feet tied together so as to prevent an escape. However, in this story, during Mahamaya’s cremation, a violent storm and a torrential downpour began and the people ran to a nearby house for shelter. The fire blew out rapidly and Mahamaya had escaped because the rope that tied her hands had been burnt and set her free. At that point, her face had been burned painfully and she decided to put a veil on it to hide it. The widow’s pain not only roots from the attitudes of the society towards her but also because of, as presented in this story, the societal norms of subjugating women in India -- a widow, if decided to die with or immediately after her husband, should follow the decision because Indian culture is patriarchal. Being in a patriarchal society, Mahamaya conforms to his brother, Bhavanicharan, to wear a red wedding sari because she is to be married to an old man. She also followed his decision to put her in the cremation pyre to die with her deceased husband.

B.      Mythology

Tagore mentions the god of love, Kamadeva, in Mahamaya. Kamadeva is the Hindu version of Cupid. He is portrayed as young, handsome man with wings carrying a bow and arrows. His bow is made of sugarcane with a cord of honeybees, and arrows of sweet-smelling Ashoka tree flowers, white and blue lotus flowers, Jasmine and Mango tree flowers. In Mahamaya by Tagore, this god exerted his effort upon Rajeev so that Rajeev will have the courage to confess his secret romantic feelings for Mahamaya, however, Mahamaya, with her sombre and silent look upon Rajeev, gave no opportunity for him in a leisure moment of time until Rajeev succeeded in bringing her to a ruined temple for his marriage proposal.

Back to mythology, Kamadeva is believed to be the son of Brahma, who is previously known as Prajapati, the lord of creatures. Prajapati is a Vedic deity presiding over procreation, and the protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme god Vishvakarman above the other Vedic deities in Rig Veda 10 and in Brahmana literature. This god appeared in Mahamaya as Kamadeva remains vigilant of the earth while Prajapati is in a drowsy state.

Karna is another mythological figure presented in Mahamaya. Karna is perhaps the most skilled and magnificent warrior in the Kurukshetra war. He is the son of Surya, the god of the sun, and Kunti. Being the son of Surya, Karna is born with a natural armor attached to his skin, making him nearly invincible in battle. In Mahamaya, Rajeev thought that Mahamaya has a natural armor or veil, like Karna in mythology. Mahamaya always had that veil in her personality making her different like anyone else. The veil maybe her social status as a member of an aristocratic family and it protects her from getting married to Rajeev. Now, after Rajeev and Mahamaya have been secretly married and lived together in the same house, Mahamaya got another veil in her life. The new veil separated them more than death that was supposed to separate them the night when Mahamaya was to be cremated.

C.      Romance

Romance in Mahamaya is conveyed through Rajeev and Mahamaya’s love affair. This affair was deferred during the early part of the story because Mahamaya could not marry Rajeev yet because of the difference in their caste. Mahamaya, though, promised Rajeev that she will become his wife one day if he will wait for her. This became true when Mahamaya escaped from the cremation pyre to fulfill her promise to Rajeev that she will marry him. Although burned, she came to Rajeev’s door with a veil on her face hiding the marks of her supposed death. Mahamaya made Rajeev promise that he will not unveil her face so that she can live with him. When they were married, the veil served as a boundary that separates Rajeev to Mahamaya, unabling him to see her beautiful face. Aside from the physical manifestation of the veil, it also hides her emotional feelings for Rajeev. Mahamaya, caused by the veil, became silent as the days passed. This tortures Rajeev’s heart for the veil prevents them recover their romantic love for each other.

II.                  Selected Stories from Panchatantra

A.   Societal Norms

One societal norm shown in the stories in Panchatantra is the valuing of the native land. In The Tale of the Three Fish, some fishermen were passing down the lake where the three fish live. The first fish hears their plan of going back to the lake tomorrow to catch a lot of fish. The first fish quickly informs the other two fish about the fishermen’s plan and then came up with a plan to leave the place immediately. The first fish only left the place but the second fish stayed because she believes in her skills to escape. The third fish reasoned that she will not leave the place because this place belongs to her forefathers and that she has lived in the place all her life so she should not go. The third fish only shows the importance in valuing the native land because the land is where her life belongs.

In another story in the Panchatantra Tales, The Rescue of the Deer, the societal norm which teaches the value of good friendship is presented. Chitranga, the deer, was helped by Laghupatanaka (the crow) in escaping a hunter. Soon, Chitranga became friends with Laghupatanaka’s friends: Hiranyaka (the rat), and Mandharaka (the turtle). One day, when Chitranga had not come when the other three had gathered at the lakeside for their daily discourse, the friends worried for Chitranga. They thought of the possibility that a lion or a hunter has killed him or that he has fallen into a pit. When the crow found out that Chitranga is captured in a hunter’s net, the group went to rescue him. By Chitranga’s escape, Mandharaka, the turtle, is captured by the hunter because of his slow walking. The friends again devised a plan to rescue the turtle. When they finally rescued Mandharaka, they all rejoiced. The story shows how good it is to collect good friends because good friends help you in times of trouble.

In The Sparrow and the Elephant, the combined wit of the community of friends is also presented here as a societal norm. When the sparrow’s eggs were lost as the result of an elephant with a spring fever came to the tree where the eggs’ nest is residing and broke the branch caused by his rage. As a revenge, the woodpecker bird, the sparrow’s friend, in consolation to the sparrow’s sorrow, offered her help by thinking of a plan in killing the elephant. She went to her friend the black fly for help, who in turn went to the counsellor frog for advice. The frog then devised a plan in killing the elephant. He asked the fly to buzz in the ears of the elephant so that the elephant would be thrilled by the black fly’s music and close its eyes. Then he asked the woodpecker to pluck the elephant’s eyes. He himself would be on the edge of a pit and would croak misleading the elephant to think that it is a pond. The next day, the plan became a success and the elephant lay flat when he fell to the pit. The revenge was achieved through the combined wit of the community of friends. It presented the societal norm that a community can be a good help to anybody who is in distress through combined wit.

B.   Mythology

The belief of fate and free will is presented in The Tale of the Three Fish. In Hinduism, fate means the decision of God made for a man exclusively. Free will, on the other hand, is the individual’s own decision in shaping his future. In The Tale of the Three Fish, the third fish shows the belief in fate. She said that if it is her destiny to die tomorrow, aside from having been committed to the place because of her forefathers, he will not leave the place. The third fish dies the day when the fishermen caught her. The other two fish presented themselves believing in free will. The first fish decides to leave the place immediately for safety, while the second fish believes in his skills and decides to follow the first fish after.

III.                Selected Poems from Gitanjali

A.      Mythology

Last Curtain, one of the poems from Gitanjali, conveys the Indian belief of death as one of the destinations of man. The persona knows that the day of his death will come. As his final request to the god, the persona asks to let the things which he longed for in vain and the things that he got pass. After which, he asks for the things which he ever spurned and overlooked to be of his true possessions. The belief that a man will die and will be reincarnated to another’s body is the basis of the persona’s request. When a man lived his life with material possessions, further accumulation of karma will be the result. Karma is the Hindu belief of the result of one’s moral actions in life. The soul is constrained to a cycle of rebirth, trapped within the temporal world, until it finally achieves liberation. To achieve the soul’s liberation or Nirvana, one way is to live without the material possessions. This concept is also conveyed by the poem Strong Mercy. In the poem, the persona says that he is saved by the god’s simple great gifts, such as the sky and the light, his body and the life and the mind, from the perils of overmuch desire.

Another poem from the Gitanjali, Mind Without Fear, conveys another way of liberating the soul from the cycle of rebirth. The poem tries to say that a mind without fear and with a knowledge that is free, the soul will go to the heaven of freedom. One way of attaining Nirvana is s the way of knowledge, or jnana yoga.  “The basic premise of the way of knowledge is that the cause of our bondage to the cycle of rebirths in this world is ignorance.  According to the predominant view among those committed to this way, our ignorance consists of the mistaken belief that we are individual selves, and not one with the ultimate divine reality – Brahman.  It is this same ignorance that gives rise to our bad actions, which result in bad karma.  Salvation is achieved through attaining a state of consciousness in which we realize our identity with Brahman.  This is achieved through deep meditation, often as a part of the discipline of yoga.” (Contenderminisitries.org)

B.      Romance

In Free Love, the romantic theme is conveyed through the persona’s love for the God. He calls the god’s love as greater than any other love in the world and which that keeps him free. If he does not ever call the god in his prayers, or not keep him in his heart, still the god’s love for him waits for his love. God’s love could not be compared by any other romantic love given by any person in earth. No matter how stubborn our hearts is, god’s love will still be manifested upon us.