Deciphering Taboo
By: Sandhya Ganesh
Tags: Culture, Taboo, Mythology, History

India is a home for multiple cultures, traditions, languages, and of course, taboos. Sex, sexuality, the concept of transgender, surrogacy, menstruation, everything is considered taboo, and these words are never uttered by people in a household without wincing. But was India always like this?

There are many shreds of evidence to prove that the answer is no.

Sculptures of Khajuraho Temple. Image Source: google.com

The Story of Ardhanaadhishvara:

The phenomenon of Ardhanaadhishvara is an interesting one. Ardhanaadhishvara is a hermaphroditic form of Hindu deities Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

In Hindu mythology, the love of Shiva and Parvati was profound. In order to prove their love for each other, they united to become a single, inseparable, and powerful being.

Transgenders had been extolled as incarnations of Ardhanaadhishvara by ancient Hindus. But in the recent past, they have been treated with contempt and ostracized. Why?

Instances from the Mahabharata:

The Mahabharata is one of the two most important epics of Hindu Mythology. It is resplendent in its innumerable side stories, impartment of moral values, and drama, lots of drama.

Written by Ved Vyasa, also one of the characters in the Mahabharata (son of Satyavati out of wedlock), it tells the story of cousins at war and the drastic outcome of the same. In the Mahabharata, Gandhari, the wife of Dhritarashtra, conceived but could not give birth.

It was said that she gave birth to a fertile lump, which was then ingrained in mud pots to incubate the unborn children(which were 101 by the way). This, though an unfathomable incident, indicates surrogacy.

There were also multiple instances of Niyog Dharma, where a woman could sire children through a proxy if her husband was dead or impotent, in order to continue the bloodline. There are exemplifications where adoptions are cited. Take the case of Panchali and Dhrishtadyumna, who might have been the adopted children of King Drupad.

But nowadays, surrogacy and adoptions are shunned and the people who seek these methods are either mocked for being unable to bear children or chastised by the families. Why?

Khajuraho, Madya Pradesh:

Khajuraho, a temple in Madya Pradesh is renowned for its graphic illustrations of sex in the form of sculptures. It encompasses different positions for copulations and has varied representations of sexualities.

The misunderstood book of Kamasutra too, though not entirely a book of fornication, contains an entire section relating to the positions in coitus. Ancient Hindus had embraced sex as a reality, as a pure way of procreating, instead of a sinful, dirty act.

Though intense lust and crimes attached to it were condemned, sex was never a taboo, as it is now. Even homosexuality was accepted and people were always welcomed for the way they were. Why are all these censured lately?

Apart from this, the color black was considered beautiful. Lord Krishna is a Hindu deity who is portrayed as being as black as the darkest, rain-bearing cloud and as benevolent. Panchali (better known as Draupadi), also known as Krishnaa, was famous for her dark-skinned allure, and kings in the Mahabharata era vied for her hand in marriage. But today, we are in a never-ending quest to attain fair complexion.

My aim in this piece of writing is not to promote illicit content or mar the opinion of a fraction of people. But I feel that certain aspects of ancient Hindu ideology could be cradled in order to accommodate and accept the diverse feelings of people in our society.

What I believe is that catering to the needs of disparate people will help countries reach new pinnacles.