Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India (54 page)

In Poddar’s view, the appropriate age of marriage for girls was just before they reached puberty. In
Stri Dharma Prashnottari
, Savitri prescribes marriage for girls at the age of twelve, unless a suitable groom is not found, in which case parents may wait a year or two. She does state that marrying a girl before she turns twelve could adversely affect her health and even result in early death; further, a woman should have some right in the selection of her life partner. ‘Savitri, Rukmini and Damayanti (considered ideal Hindu women of ancient times) chose their husbands. Had they been girls, this could not have happened.’
³⁰
This contrasts with Goyandka’s view that women should have no say in their choice of partner, but should accept the decision of their father or brother, and live with their husband loyally for the rest of their life.

Yet, Poddar vociferously opposed the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 (popularly known as the Sarda Act) that fixed the age of marriage for girls at fourteen and for boys at eighteen. He argued that the proposed law would ‘take away a major right of the Hindus and would cause a big blow to believers in the dharmashastras’. Besides, he questioned the wisdom of allowing a government that had done so much harm to the nation to attempt to carry out social and religious reform.
³¹

Presenting his skewed understanding of female sexuality, Poddar wrote that, during her menstrual period, a woman had an uncontrollable urge for sex, and ‘to channelize this vasana (sexual urge) there is the system of marrying girls by the time they attain puberty. In her husband’s shelter, a woman’s sexual desire does not reach others and she is saved from getting polluted. If she is not married, her sexual desire degenerates into debauchery, just the way it is happening in Europe.’
³²

The core job of a woman was to serve the world. How? Poddar used two terms—utpadan (literally translated it would mean manufacturing or production) and nirman (literally construction or creation). Thus a woman’s job was to procreate and nurture ‘quality men’.
³³

In
Stri Dharma Prashnottari
, Savitri’s very first statement is: ‘The most important dharma for a woman is loyalty to her husband . . . Her entire purpose should be to make her husband happy.’
³⁴
Saying that for a woman her husband is the God, Savitri cites passages from Manu to emphasize that, even if a husband is without any character, lacks skill or is libidinous, it is the duty of his wife to worship him, as pure devotion to the husband is the sure-shot and only ticket to swargalok (heaven).

Poddar believed that loyalty to her husband endowed a woman with such unprecedented power that even the gods would be afraid of her. And, a man who raped a woman devoted to her husband was sure to die, as pativrata (devotion to husband) was a fire that could engulf a rapist as if he were a mere straw.
³⁵

Poddar’s Sarala is not as naive as one might believe, as she asks whether husbands do not have any dharma (duty). Citing instances of wife abuse, Sarala innocently asks if the shastras sanction such acts. Savitri at first makes the right noises, and quotes Manu to say that God resides where women are respected. She even states that men who do not treat their wives properly, or do not give them enough food, are neglecting their dharma. But then she chides Sarala for deviating from the subject of their conversation which is ‘stri dharma’: ‘Men have a different dharma. To argue that since men do not follow their own dharma, women should also give theirs up, is neither justified nor a valid argument. For us (women) it is important to follow our own dharma. Whatever be the husband’s behaviour towards us, it is not the job of a pious and devout wife to assess him. I am of the firm belief that if a wife is devoted to her husband, her purity of heart can bring him back to the right path.’
³⁶

The image of the Muslim male as the lustful ‘other’
³⁷
and the threat he posed to the Hindu woman does not fail to come up either. Sarala asks if it is advisable for women to visit pirs and paigambars (holy men in Islam). Savitri’s reply is clear: ‘To believe in Muslim pirs and paigambars is a sin and sacrilege. Despite so many Hindu gods and goddesses, if someone worships Muslim pirs, believes in them, becomes a part of their tazia processions, offers money and flowers on their graves, this would be an act against the Hindu religion.’
³⁸

Poddar condemned any kind of interaction between Hindu women and Muslim men. Even the innocent bangles made of lac, popular among Hindu women in many provinces, were turned into a Muslim symbol as they were primarily made by Muslim artisans. Hindu nationalist organizations, including Gita Press, called on Hindu women not only to avoid lac bangles, but also not to ‘board ekkas (horse carts) driven by Muslims, not to keep Muslim servants, not to invite Muslim prostitutes or singers on joyous occasions, not to buy any household items from Muslim, etc.’.
³⁹
Though ostensibly this was to avoid contact with the ‘lustful Muslim other male’, there was also probably the motive of cutting off economic patronage to Muslims.

Poddar also gave his argument against lac bangles a ‘purity’ twist, arguing lac was an animal product and therefore the food cooked by women wearing lac bangles became impure. Further, he said, ‘The money paid for bangles goes to Muslims and is occasionally used against our religion. Also, one has to touch Muslim men. Therefore, women should wear swadeshi glass bangles.’
⁴⁰
The word swadeshi to signify Hindu was used deliberately to label the Muslim ‘other’ as an alien who would sully the purity of the Hindu woman.

Hindu women were advised not to go alone on pilgrimage; and if they did go, it should be only with their husband’s permission. In
Stri
Dharma Prashnottari
Savitri explains: ‘Through darshan of God and priests’ advice, temples were once a source of fulfilment for devotees. But this is no longer so. Pilgrim centres have turned into dens of vice populated by thieves, crooks, immoral and greedy people, and hardly a saint or a mahatma can be found there.’
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Rather than wasting time on excursions to temples and pilgrimage centres, Savitri reiterates that for a woman there is no God greater than her husband whose feet she should touch and wash every day—the water that washes her husband’s feet is as pure as any holy water.

With so much stress on the primacy of the domestic world for women, Sarala asks about their domestic duties. Savitri’s list has elements of ‘Victorian fetishes of discipline, routine and order’.
⁴²

Basing his arguments to a large extent on the
Manusmriti
, Goyandka more or less regurgitated what Poddar had already laid out as a woman’s duty in her in-laws’ home, but pushed the bar even higher. Goyandka’s advice was to avoid six things Manu had prohibited for women: tobacco, hemp leaves (bhang), leaving a place without her husband, roaming around freely, staying with others and sleeping at odd hours. Also, women should not sing obscene songs in groups during the Holi festival or in the presence of men, but it was all right to sing songs celebrating various manifestations of God. Similarly, they were asked to shun obscene literature and read only texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

A married woman was warned not to undertake a fast without her husband’s permission as this could have an adverse impact on his life. She was barred from giving charity or going on pilgrimage without her husband’s consent: ‘Husband is the pilgrim centre, husband is the fast, husband is God and husband is the respected guru.’
⁴⁴

Gita Press’s criticism of obscene songs had a lot to do with the publishing house’s Marwari origin. The practice of Marwari women singing bawdy songs ‘at marriages and other festive occasions’ had attracted widespread criticism, including in
Chand
’s infamous
Marwari
Ank
. Even before the advent of Gita Press, various efforts had been made to end this practice.
⁴⁵
As we saw, in the very first year of
Kalyan
there was disproportionate emphasis on how the festival of Holi should be observed without resorting to obscenity of any kind.

In Goyandka’s view, women became shameless and useless if they did not do the housework themselves.

A woman without culinary skills was warned of humiliation, while one who cooked well earned the respect and love of the family—especially the husband. Four necessary qualities every woman was expected to have before entering the kitchen were good health and no communicable disease, a fair knowledge of cooking simple food, a pure mind and a feeling of love towards everyone who would eat the food. Women of rich households were told not to outsource the job of cooking. Food should be cooked keeping the weather in mind, and a woman should not raise contentious domestic issues while cooking.
⁴⁶

Poddar’s Savitri also warns a woman to keep away from all kinds of women who would be a bad influence: prostitutes; immoral women; those who criticize their husbands; those with adversarial relationships with their husbands; those who are cunning; those who gamble and steal; those who believe in shamans; those who are always quarrelling; those without shame; those who are arrogant; those who speak bitterly and those who get sexually aroused.
⁴⁷

In addition to her earlier list, Savitri enumerates sixty-four more duties of a woman that range from behaviour towards in-laws and relatives to her role in shaping the character of her children.
⁴⁸
She is expected to teach her daughter to serve her in-laws, especially her husband, and not criticize them before anyone: ‘. . . do not listen to your daughter’s diatribe against her in-laws. Instead, convince her that her welfare lies in the service of in-laws. In case her grievance is genuine, try to resolve it amicably so that the relationship between the two families is not affected.’

The mother also has a major role in educating the male child, the balak. ‘With your efforts, the male child can inculcate good habits and become a scholar that would help him serve the nation.’ Interestingly, Savitri tells Sarala that in case a son is not born or he dies in childbirth it should be considered divine providence; a woman can seek treatment from a vaidya (traditional healer) but should not take the step of adopting a male child. Savitri assures Sarala that salvation is possible even without giving birth to a male child.

Nari Ank
celebrated ideal mothers and the mothers of ‘strong heroic sons’ throughout world history—from Mary the mother of Jesus, to the mothers of Napoleon, George Washington, Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, Chiang Kai-shek, and closer home Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Jawaharlal Nehru.

While both Poddar and Goyandka laid great stress on the wife’s duty to obey her husband, at one point Goyandka did caution the wife not to follow the orders of her husband in case of an act that would lead him to narak (hell). An order inspired by anger, sexual urge, greed or desire was to be disregarded, as also an order to serve poison to someone, to misbehave with anyone, to commit feticide or cow slaughter.
⁴⁹

Kalyan’s Nari Ank
listed women who had followed the nari dharma throughout their life and reaped the benefits. Ideal wives such as Ramabai Ranade, Kundan Devi Malaviya, Kasturba Gandhi, Maharani Lakshmi Ammani of the Mysore royal family and Sarada Devi, wife of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were showcased by
Kalyan
as those who had followed the path of religion and devotion to their husbands and never wavered from the path of God.
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Nari Ank
told the story of Arya Samaj leader Swami Shraddhanand as an example of how a wife’s devotion to a wayward husband helped in transforming him. Son of a kotwal (police officer), Munshiram, as Shraddhanand was known before he took sanyas, was addicted to alcohol, gambling and non-vegetarian food, and despite occasional remorse could not bring his life back on track, even after marriage to Shiv Devi. One night he returned home completely drunk and dishevelled after visiting a prostitute. Shiv Devi nursed him like a mother, waiting for him to get back to his senses and eat, before she herself ate anything. When Munshiram apologized and confessed his misdemeanours, Shiv Devi replied that as a wife it was her duty to serve him without fail. The incident changed Munshiram, and he became Swami Shraddhanand.
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Even eighty years after
Stri Dharma Prashnottari
, Gita Press, unmindful of the grand social and educational changes that had swept the nation, was still doling out recipes for good behaviour that women should follow to keep their husbands under their control.
⁵²
On offer this time was an extract from the Mahabharata, a conversation between Satyabhama and Draupadi. Visiting the Pandavas during their exile in the forest, Satyabhama was surprised to find the five brothers under the complete control of Draupadi. Draupadi explained that a wife could win over her husband and keep him under control by being dutiful to him and his family, forgetting herself. She reeled out the specific duties she performed for her five husbands, mother-in-law and others in the family, with total devotion and suppressing her own desires and needs.