In Search Of The Big 'O'

Sohaila Kapur talks to Anuradha Varma of her new production which explores the journey of two women saints

Conceived by Sohaila Kapur and performed by Gilles Chuyen and Shilpika Bordoloi, the dance-theatre production ‘O’ explores the spiritual journey of two extraordinary saint-poets — Rabia the Sufi from Iraq and Karaikkal Ammaiyar, the Shaivite from Tamil Nadu. Both women chose a life that incorporated struggle, bending rules in the bargain and were finally revered by the very men who subjugated them.

‘O’ as a symbol encapsulates multiple meanings — Shunya or the great Nothingness, the Primordial Egg from which all life emerges. It also represents the Feminine Principle, the circle of emotions, the water element and orgasm. It is also the Primordial Universe and the Divine Absolute. The playwright talks about the two women saints who inspired the production.
What inspired ‘O’? What is the thought behind it? That women have had to struggle against patriarchy even to lead spiritual lives.

What kind of research did you do for the play? What was the experience you all went through? I had to read books on Rabia, as there is no chronological account of her life, only anecdotes and third-person accounts of miracles. Karaikkal Ammaiyar’s biographies were in Tamil and, therefore, inaccessible. We had a scholar help us here.

I have experienced a sense of euphoria and inner strength; my actors have experienced physical and emotional purges during the preparation. One actor found herself drawn to cremation grounds and dargahs and even danced in one of them, which in itself is unprecedented. The other actor has deepened his meditative practice and has had visions that he has made part of the creative process. There are many small incidents, which have added up.

Is there a connection between the feminine and the Divine?
There is a connection between all life and the Divine. Interesting that you asked this question, because Sufis don’t distinguish between a man and a woman in the service of God.

What spiritual lessons does Rabia’s life hold for us?
That all human beings are equal and society creates the distinction. That ultimately, life itself is ephemeral and that it is love that gives us the strength to tide over difficulties.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar was part of the Bhakti movement, which denounced religious rituals. What are the lessons to be learnt from her life? That one can progress spiritually even as a householder. There need not be a distinction between a housewife and a bhakt. And that one’s life is what one makes of it. And that Kailasa is not on top of a mountain, but within this world and in our hearts. Both women saints denounced religious rituals.

How did the struggle shape the spiritual growth of these women?
Struggle burnishes the spirit and strengthens the resolve to succeed in one’s goals. If they had not struggled, they may not have been able to achieve an understanding of the world, and reach beyond it, into the world of the spirit.

Tell us about their poetry…. They are both beautiful and lyrical and share the same theme; that of love for the Divine. While Rabia’s is more in the form of a conversation with God, laced with her philosophy, Karaikkal Ammaiyar’s is more sensual...it is a loving description of Shiva. Here is a sample of verse by Rabia and Karaikkal Ammaiyar:

Rabia: O my Lord/ If I worship you/ From fear of hell, burn me in hell/ If I worship you/ From hope of Paradise/ Bar me from its gates/ But if I worship you/ For yourself alone/ Grant me then the beauty of your face!
Karaikkal Ammaiyar: In all our births we are /His slaves./Only Him do we adore on/ Whose dense matted hair/ Shines the unbroken chip of the moon/ Let Him rule us forever!

Were women saints discriminated against?
Yes, and that is what the play is all about...their struggle against male domination. Rabia was a slave, initially. Owned by a wealthy man, she went through many hardships. Karaikkal Ammaiyar’s husband was self-centred and he was the trigger for her eventual renunciation of the world and her subsequent sainthood.

What lessons do these two women saints hold for us today?
The lesson is that patience and forbearance are important in today’s highly materialistic and increasingly robotic world. So is inner strength, to fight exploitation of body and spirit.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/In-Search-Of-The-Big-O

Epic Recall

Today’s woman may believe she has come a long way, but she still has lessons to learn from her epic counterparts, discovers Anuradha Varma

We may love it or rail against it, but when it comes to Indian mythology, we can’t ignore it! It finds resonance in our personal lives. There are those odd moments when the fiery resolve of Draupadi and the inner strength of Sita offer inspiration.

The urban woman, juggling a career and kids, tied to her Blackberry, and used to having her say on all important issues, seems a far cry from the women in epics, whose destiny was inevitably tied to that of her husband’s.

Writer Manjula Padmanabhan says, “The female characters were generally presented as so meek, goody-goody and self-effacing, it was hard to identify with them; I aligned myself with the heroes and I liked Arjuna best; he seemed the most recognisably human.”

Dancer Mayuri Upadhyay relates to Parvati for her contemporariness. She says, “It goes beyond religion. She is a source of strength as Kali and doesn’t hesitate to let her husband Shiva know when she is upset. She is raw, nurturing and knows what she wants. She tells us to take control and not complain.”

Resilience, Not Revenge
Shivani Wazir Pasrich, who played the Pandava queen in her theatre production Draupadi — We Are So Different Now is a self-confessed fan of the leading women in mythologies. She says, “Their stories that cannot be forgotten, especially because these stories are being lived in different permutations and combinations even today.” In her play, Shivani’s Draupadi helps a contemporary woman, a victim of social abuse, choose resilience over revenge.

Shivani adds, “The woman who has a child out of wedlock — the angst she faces, the decision she makes and the consequences she has to live with — this Kunti lives even today! Parvati, Shivani, Bhavani and so many more fall in love, live and die for love. We do it all even today and we find strength in the brave actions of strong women from the past. I believe the past is a platform to learn from and live differently.”

While Draupadi may have acquiesced to her mother-in-law Kunti’s diktat of consorting with five brothers, the lady famously laid down a rule of her own — none of them could bring a wife into the same house. She also maintained an independent and abiding friendship with Krishna, her true soulmate.

 
And when we perceive Sita as the embodiment of Indian womanhood — self-sacrificing and chaste — we may not be getting the whole story. As Jalabala Vaidya, puts it: “Sita broke all norms to accompany her husband Rama into a 14-year exile. She walked thousands of dangerous miles, and successfully pitted her will against Ravana, the most powerful man of his time. Valmiki tells us she ordered her agni pariksha or trial by fire, in fury to punish Rama for suggesting that she could live anywhere but with him on their return to Ayodhya. That brought him to his senses.”

Brave And Liberated
Adds Vaidya, “Kunti ordered the Pandavas to share the woman they had won, Draupadi; I wonder if influenced by her own experience? Savitri confronted Yama, the God of Death, to get back Satyavan. Parvati did a long penance to gain the attention of Shiva: won him and kept him! How many of us are brave enough or ‘liberated’ enough to do what they did?”

And, while on the Ramayana, if Ravana, king of Lanka, had heeded wife Mandodari’s advice to leave Sita alone, things would’ve turned out quite differently. Amsterdam-based musician Patrick Jered, who is researching for a book on Ravana, reveals: “ In Sri Lanka there is a growing women’s movement which see Ravana’s sister Surpanaka as role model for a strong-minded assertive woman, the opposite of the ‘obedient wife’ figure of Sita.”

Strong And Assertive
However, Draupadi, with all her imperfections, remains a favourite with women. Says writer and chess player Shilpa Mehra, “For me, she’s the quintessential lover, the fiery princess, the merciful nurturer-mother, the survivor.”

Theatreperson Sohaila Kapur says, “I can relate to Draupadi. I admire her courage in living with five men and still being her own person, strong yet supple like a young branch. Sita and Savitri are unidimensional; their purity and sense of duty is hard to emulate or understand. Parvati is a goddess and therefore not human but Kunti’s dilemma is so contemporary — how does one relate to a child born out of wedlock? ”

The women continue to inspire… from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions that retells the Mahabharata war through the eyes of Draupadi or Amish Tripathi’s The Immortals of Meluha, where a diffident Shiva tries his best to attract the attentions of the independent, talented and extremely standoffish Sati. And, yes, turn on reality television, and it’s a woman readying to choose a husband through a nationwide swayamwar… time for an epic recall?

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Strong Women 

(by Amish Tripathi)

I have imagined a different interpretation of Lady Sati in my book, The Immortals of Meluha. An interpretation where I see her as a strong woman with a mind of her own. Her husband, Shiva, loves and honours her as an equal. While the hugely popular Tulsidasji’s Ramcharitmanas — a 16th century modernisation of the original tale of Rama shows Sita as submissive and docile, the original Ramayana, by Maharishi Valmiki, has a much stronger Sita, portrayed as a woman with a mind of her own. The Gond Ramayani shows Sita fighting battles.

There is a Deobandi fatwa which says that it is unlawful for Muslim women to work in areas where men also work. I don’t know how many non-Muslims know the story of the illustrious Khadija, who ran a hugely successful trading business in ancient Arabia and donated large sums to charity. She was to later marry one of the agents who worked for her, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, and her husband honoured and loved her.

We know her husband today as Prophet Muhammad. Perhaps liberal Muslims should quote the example of Lady Khadija to those amongst their coreligionists who think women should be kept suppressed.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/Epic-Recall