By Deepa Majumdar
In America, a young Hindu once came to see Swami Vivekananda. He said American doctors had told him that the virtue of chastity was unnatural. Swamiji asked him to return to India where his ancestors had practiced chastity for millennia. Swamiji then thundered at his American audience, saying such doctors had the morals of a tom cat. As Truth incarnate, Swamiji, I am sure, was not exaggerating. This chastity is a concrete motif that runs through the tapestry of Indian civilization. Despite her epidemic of rape and sexual violence, India remains, as Swamiji said, a monastic nation (the total converse of Hindutva). Moreover, the living fire of an unbroken lineage of mysticism characterizes the highest India – yielding, what Swamiji pointed to, as the highest trait of the Indian national character – a yearning for the Divine. To this day, I see this longing in Indians, which, even in its negative aspect (the credulity that makes us deify easily) – is endearing.
But a second troubling motif runs through the same India. When it comes to the practice of chastity, credible observers have pointed to a stark historical difference between Indian men and women. While men practice this sublime virtue, women do not. To the monastic eye, therefore, the Indian woman is a temptress – but also an object of temptation. Thus, the eminent historian and Indologist, A. L. Basham writes of the promiscuity of Indian women. Such verdicts are hard to accept in contemporary India, where women, girls, even female infants are raped and killed (by men) with impunity. But if true, this proves the abject failure of patriarchal ploys to coerce modesty and chastity in women. The power of eros cannot be policed. The Indian patriarchy (like others) – has failed – not just because of the enormous hypocrisy of forcibly veiling women, and policing their bodily desires, while oppressing them sexually and otherwise – but because eros, by nature, cannot be policed. When policed, it simply goes underground. True chastity comes through voluntary sublimation. It cannot and should not be coerced.
A third sordid motif pierces the very heart of the Indian civilization, shattering it. This is the motif of sadism – especially sexist forms that express themselves through hedonism and puritanism. If hedonism inspires the sadism of rape (especially gang-rape) – then puritanism inspires gruesome violence against women, including the barbarism of sati. The problem therefore lies with patriarchal masculinity, which swings from extreme to extreme – exposing and desecrating the female body, when hedonistic, and concealing it forcibly, when puritanical. But let us not forget that this sadism is perpetrated not just by men, but also women, who can be willing participants in masculinist sadism against other women.
Like I said, I believe Swamiji. But I also believe his solemn assessment of the India of his day – as a corpse – both inside and out. Given the awful violence (domestic and sexual) against women, girls, even baby girls, in contemporary India – how do we reconcile these conflicting motifs? By dividing the Indian civilization into its sublime and sordid aspects. When Swamiji spoke in America, he was speaking of the highest India. But when he inveighed against caste-class-patriarchal violence, he was speaking of the lower India, which he said is a corpse.
This lower India, I believe, has, for centuries, cultivated a sordid sadism that expresses itself in myriad ways – from rapes and gang-rapes to domestic violence, violence against children and the elderly, dowry deaths, acid attacks, communal riots, extrajudicial bulldozer justice, etc. Indeed, the acrid stench of sati still haunts the Indian landscape, where, this sadism is as old as is the virtue of chastity. It has not erupted suddenly, with the advent of modernity.
While women are the main the victims of sexual and domestic violence, it is not as if men do not suffer. For the logic of sadism is such that whoever is vulnerable and disempowered suffers in the hands of those who are empowered.
I am not a historian – but all three motifs, I suspect, have ripened over the centuries, to reach their current forms. Granted, such gruesome acts as gang-rape and their frequency are relatively new. But it is not as if rape, incest, and sexual assault did not occur in the puritanical India of prior generations. They did – but not with the brazen shamelessness we see today. Moreover, rape was probably far more underreported in prior generations, when the stigma against victims was worse, and sexual sadism was more marital and incestuous. To blame is the fate of modernity, which comes with a flight of the ascetic norms – especially the virtue of chastity. One cannot blame the west for everything. Modernity has come to us through western colonialism and neocolonialism. But the sexist sadism peculiar to Indian masculinity, is uniquely Indian. Not that it does not exist in the west. It does – but in a different way.
In September 2023, a young girl was raped by an autorickshaw driver. Bleeding, distraught, and incoherent, she walked around Ujjain city for two hours, rebuffed by one adult man who waved her off – before she was helped by a Hindu priest (now accused of sexually abusing a few minor boys in his ashram), who clothed her, called the police, and took her to hospital, where she underwent surgery. In the last few years, even infant girls have been raped and sexually assaulted, some dying from their injuries. The recent horrific rape, sexual sadism, and murder of a promising 31-year old medical trainee at R. G. Kar hospital in Kolkata, on Aug 9th, has unleashed nation-wide waves of righteous protest by medical personnel and others. Before this, a nurse in Uttarakhand was raped and killed, her face mutilated beyond recognition. After this, on August 12th, a teenaged girl in Muzaffarpur was gang-raped and murdered. On August 12-13th, another teenaged girl was gang-raped in Dehradun, by a bus driver and his four associates.
On June 25th a young woman was publicly flogged (Taliban style) in West Garo Hills – condemned by a kangaroo court for an alleged extra-marital affair. At least four men rained blows on her, pulling her hair, ignoring her pleas to stop. Many bystanders, including women, watched this spectacle of violence – without protesting or intervening. If such violence is justified in the name of preserving traditions, it is high time indigenous communities abandoned bad traditions in favor of modernity and social justice. Besides, why are women always the ones punished? After all, it takes two to have an affair. Finally, what kind of a male thrashes a young woman in public? We women expect good manners, respect, and nonviolence from men.
All these incidents exemplify the sexist sadism embedded in the masculine psyche of India. They make it hard for us to believe in the law of karma. Women have long argued that nobody deserves rape. Regardless of how we dress, no woman invites rape. Besides, the act of rape, while sexual, is not just lust, but the sadistic desire to control, conquer, and subjugate, as these words of Mukesh Singh (one of Nirbhaya’s rapists) suggest – “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy … When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape.” Some people argue that rape is not sexual at all – but violence. I am not sure lust and violence can be disentangled. For, hatred is a faithful shadow of lust. At best, rape and sexual sadism (a category of sexist sadism) are a combination of lust and violence. After all, what kind of a monster feels the urge to rape a baby girl?
Yet, humanity has progressed – slightly. Not that long ago women rape survivors were abandoned and shunned by their families for bringing shame and dishonor. When they showed classic signs of sexual trauma – symptoms that mimic promiscuity without being promiscuous – some have been flogged for being unchaste. This is no longer the case. Today we protest loud and clear. But protest alone is inadequate.
Almost twelve years have gone by since the horrific Nirbhaya rape case. Despite the nation-wide outpouring of outrage back then, nothing substantial has changed. What is the solution? Besides letting the law take its proper course, what else can be done? Feminist misandry that condemns all Indian men, does not help. This same civilization has angelic men, who worship the Divine in women. In between these extremes (the rapist and the monk), there are many decent Indian men – husbands, fathers, and brothers with excellent family values. Yet, the rapists are not just a few bad apples. They manifest systemic sexism.
The solution lies in proper parenting that no longer spoils boys, but raises them to respect girls and women. It lies in renewed and reinforced sexual ethics. It lies in monitoring social media outlets for children, and in teaching youth (especially young men) – the basics of chastity and self-control, through sublimation of lust and violence. It lies in teaching girls and women the basics of self-defense.