The Hidden Violence of Faith: The Widows of Vrindaban

Author(s): Malini Bhattacharya

Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 29, No. 1/2, (Jan. - Feb., 2001), pp. 75-83
Published by: Social Scientist
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3518273
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NOTE/MALINIBHATTACHARYA*

The Hidden Violenceof Faith:

The Widows of Vrindaban

During the last two decadesin India, there has been a proliferation
of formsof communalviolence.Sometimestheyappearin conjunction
with one another,sometimesseparately.In this paper,I shall be only
talkingon one specificformof suchviolence,namelythat manifested
in the Varanasidemonstrationsagainst Deepa Mehta's shooting of
her film Water.One cannot go into the meritsand demeritsof a film
the making of which was forcibly stopped; anyway I feel that the
incident was merely a pretext for the show of strength that was
organisedagainstthe film unit, a show that perhapseven acquireda
larger-than-lifeimage throughthe interventionof media.
Unlike certain other forms of communal violence, this
demonstration did not consist in a direct attack upon another
community,but its statedpurposewas to upholdthe 'honour'of the
Hindu community,as usual conflatedwith the Indiannation, and to
mobilise opinion within the Hindu communityto close the rankson
behalfof what was describedas 'patriotism'.The argumentwas that
a foreign-baseddirector,with a westernisedapproach,was tryingto
spread calumny against Indian traditions, particularlyagainst the
status of Hindu widows. So all good Indiansmust come togetherto
prevent,it. The violent demonstrationwas a mobilisationto prevent
it both at the physical and the ideological level. Consent of those
who did not actuallyjoin the demonstrationswas important.
This demonstrationalso recalls the show of Rajput pride that
followed the protests against the Rup Kanwar incident. On that
occasion no Deepa Mehta was involved, but the target of the
community mobilisation around the so-called 'Satisthal' was the
protestingwomen activists,who were said to be steeped in western

* Teachesat the
JadavpurUniversity,Jadavpur.

Social Scientist, Vol. 30, Nos. 1 - 2, Jan.-Feb. 2001

76 SOCIALSCIENTIST

values;their devaluationof the incident of 'sati', the supremeglory

of Hindu womanhood, must be stopped. The appropriationof the
'Satisthal'by sword-carryingmale proponentsof caste-pridewas an
earlierexample of the same kind of phenomenonthat is manifested
in the takingoverof theVaranasi'ghats'by slogan-shoutingprotectors
of Indian(readHindu) pride.
The thesis,soughtto be establishedthroughsucha demonstration
is that thereis a strong,consolidatedHinducommunityin the country
threatenedby externalforcesthat operatethroughTrojanhorseslike
ShabanaAzmi or the 'westernizedfeminists'protestingagainst Rup
Kanwar'sconcremation.Theyspreadconfusionanddisruptionwithin
the ranks, and this is sought to be counteractedby upholdingcaste/
community/nationalpride. The violent demonstrationthus aims at
discipliningthe ranks, keeping in check any cropping up of doubts
among them and highlightingcertainmodels of behaviour.
While the consolidation at the place of Rup Kanwar'smurder
was largelymale, the laterincidentat Varanasibroughtthe women's
organisationsof the SanghParivarvery muchto the foreground.Not
only did women leaderscome out with statementscondemningthe
film's supposed 'denigration'of Hindu widows, but the ranks were
also brought on the streets to demonstrateagainst the film. Their
appropriationof publicspace, theirvisibilitywas very importantfor
the organisations.Scholarswho have been studying the rise of the
Hindu Right in recentyears have been pointing out this strategyof
mobilisationof women for sometime.We may perhapsdescribethis
feature as an aspect of the genderingof the Hindu Right'sagenda.
About the reversalof genderroles that we observe in the course of
the Ram Janmabhoomimovementitself, Khaki Shorts and Saffron
Flags has this to say:
thatsuthforegrounding of womendemonstrators 'equipsthecommunal
womanwitha newandempowering self-image.Shehassteppedout
of a purelyiconicstatusto takeupan activepositionas a militant."
But anotheraspectof this agendawhich cannot be overlookedis
the way in which this 'communalisedfemale selfhood' as Tanika
Sarkarcalls it in anotherarticle, is itself used to reinforcethe same
ethos of submissionto what is projectedas the culturalvalues of the
community.2A womanwho is a 'veerangana'protectingHinduculture
from subversivealien influence,is also, vis-a-visher own home and
community,the bearerand nurturerof the same culture.
Someprofessedly'anti-secularist'- criticsof communalismset up
 THE WIDOWSOF VRINDABAN 77

'religionas faith' and 'religionas ideology' as contestingbinariesin

orderto avertwhat they see as the failureof secularismto understand
the depth of culturalvalues. Ashish Nandy perceivesthe first 'as a
way of life, a tradition which is definitionallynon-monolithicand
operationallyplural'.3On the otherhand'religionas ideology'which
emergesas communalismis describedby Nandy as a 'sub-national,
national or cross-nationalidentifierof populationscontestingfor or
protectingnon-religious,usuallypoliticalor socio-economicinterests'.
R. Bharucha,while admittingthatideologiesof andfaithsin particular
religions'do impingeon each other and affect each other'sstabilities
and power affiliations', still prefers to uphold the categories in a
'predominantlyoppositionalcontext.'4
But in the situation we have been describing,'religion as faith'
appears to provide the social substratumout of which 'religion as
faith' appearsto providethe social substratumout of which 'religion
as ideology' emerges.Only when 'faith' or a devout commitmentto
what is projectedas the culture or the values of her community is
deeply imbibed, consent to the need for protectingthese militantly
against foreign/subversiveinfluencesmay be generated.Consent to
communal militancy cannot be attributedmerely to manipulative
designs of the state or of political forces controllingthe boundaries
of the state or of national/subnationalgroups. To describefaith as
'definitionallynon-monolithicand operationallyplural'is to present
it as an abstraction.In reality,the quietism of the woman of faith,
her perceptionof her devoutnessas a privatevirtueimbibedthrough
tradition often acts as the silent backdropfrom which communal
ideology reinforcesitself. In other words, faith is no more beyond
politicsthancommunalmilitancyis. Onlyherethe politicaldimension
may be less obvious.
The Hindu widow as the icon of submissivepiety is thus very
importantfor mobilisersalong communallines:to protecther good
name is seen as a 'patriotic' act. But a crucial aspect of this
phenomenonis the way in which the icon becomes a living one, the
way in which the iconic status is internalisedby women themselves.
Faith does not generallyact in an oppositionalmannerto 'ideology'
here;its supposedloose andtolerantvalueswhile allowingthe woman
some relief from the stifling boundariesof domestic duty, only help
to make her subservientto a different kind of stereotyping.This
process of socialisation also makes her a helpless object of
communalisingpolitics.
Recent studies on Bengaliwidows in Vrindabandhamrevealthe
78 SOCIALSCIENTIST

complexitiesof the processof socialisationthat faith embodies.Prior

to a complete enumerationsurvey of destitute Bengali women in
Vrindabancommissionedby the West BengalGovernment,some of
us went there last June, 2000 on a reconnoiteringtrip. When we
visited the 'Bhajanashrams'where such women come daily to sing
the names of Radhaand Krishnaand are given some rice, some 'dal'
and 1-2 rupees, in exchange what struck us first were the signs of
acute economic distress.Those who clung to this and mendicancyas
the only source of income were generallysenior women, broken in
health. The long queues in front of the 'bhajanashrams'and the
frequentaltercationsthat took placeamongthe waitingwomen made
it evidentthat the supplyof 'bhajan'-singersoutstrippedthe demand.
Some have merelytaken the 'kanthi',the sign of the Vaishnav,after
coming to Vrindabanin orderto get accessto 'bhajanashrams'.Yet it
would be very simplistic to think that it is only the economic
compulsion of destitute women - widows in the main - and the
exploitation of this compulsion by religious middlementhat keeps
the 'bhajanashrams'going. The widows' perception of themselves
and of their spiritualrole in Vrindabandhamis a crucialfactor here.
Just before our visit to Vrindaban,the then central ministerfor
woman andchilddevelopment,the redoubtableUmaBharti,hadgone
thereto inauguratea home for destitutewomen. While speakingto a
gatheringof widows, she had in her usual parochialstyle apparently
commentedon the propensityof Bengalisto throw out theirwidowed
mothers and sisters on the streets so that they were forced to seek
shelterin Vrindaban.It was reportedto us thatthis commentoffended
those present very deeply and they protested against the minister's
comment, saying that this was an insult to the devotional motive
which had actuallybroughtthem to Vrindaban.They said that their
stay in Vrindabanwas the outcome of a voluntarydecision to serve
Radha and that they would like to die in the holy place chanting
Radha'sname. Uma Bhartihad to retracther words in the face of
strong resentment.
I think what is describedas voluntary migration may itself be
subject to indirect economic pressures;this account of the widows
about themselves thus may not be an exact reflection of the real
situation, but may on the other hand be mediatedby what some may
describe as faith. Versions of the widows' self-reflectiveaccounts
would also vary in accordancewith who these accounts are coming
from. An account given by an illiterate,distressed,utterly destitute
old woman would often differ from that of a relativelywell-placed
 THE WIDOWSOF VRINDABAN 79

literate, middle-agedwoman who has as yet no need to depend on

anybodyelse. Class, caste, age, maritaland familialstatus are some
of the factors that may createvariationsin the accounts. But on the
whole, faith is no less potent a motive than the economic ones so far
as the widows are concerned. It is not just a veneer, but a deeply
internalisedattitude. Most of the women, when interviewed,give
faithratherthaneconomicconstraintas the reasonfor theirmigration
to Vrindaban.
The faith is Vaishnavin characterand it has been observedthat
about 2/5 ths of the total numberof Bengaliwomen (1211 exactly)
come from a Vaishnavbackground.Many come from those castes,
for instance, the Namasudracastes, which at one time came under
the strong influence of Vaishnavism.One reason for this was that
evenwhen not altogetherrepudiatingthe castehierarchy,Vaishnavism
in Bengalunder the inspirationof Shri Chaitanyaand Nityananda,
provided a special space in the framework of devoutness for the
humbleandthe lowly.Risley'sTribesand Castesof Bengalenumerates
41 castesand sub-castesinfluencedby Vaishnavism.Theyweremostly
artisanand agriculturalcastes. The prioritisationof 'Radha'and the
Gopis in Gaudiya Vaishnavism as the supreme embodiment of
devotion and divine love and the theory of 'Raganugabhakti' also
emphasizedwomanlysubmissivenessas a generalvirtue,an exemplum
of the higheststatusin the hierarchyof Bhakti.Butheresubmissiveness
was translatedto a differentlevel of connotation, which elevated it
beyond the purview of domestic virtue. For the Vaishnav- also for
the Vaishnav woman, renunciation of the domestic pattern of
relationshipscould emergeas the outcome of total submissionto the
cause of divine love.
RamakantoChakrabortyin BangeVaishnavdharma, sayson these
tensions within Vaishnavism:'Non-brahminscould acquirea degree
of autonomy by adoptingVaishnavism.So could Vaishnavwomen.
But even after this, in the Vaishnav community, as in Brahmin-
dominatedcommunity,casteism,splitsandschismscontinued.'5While
acceptingthis, we may at the same time point out that for women
Vaishnavism did offer an alternative space outside domestic
constraints,justas for so-calledlowercastesit providedan alternative
space where social hierarchiescould to some extent by ruptured.
While the 'Gosains' who settled in Vrindabanplaced Gaudiya
Vaishnavismwithin a highlyphilosophisedand basicallyconservative
framework,its relationshipwith its peripheralheterodoxieswas never
quite erased. The pilgrim route from Bengal to Vrindabanwas the
80 SOCIALSCIENTIST

conduit of such heterodoxiesas practicedby jat-Vaishnavs,Bairagi-

Vaishnavsand the practitionersof the Sahajivacult. Accordingto
some accounts mentioned by Chakravorti, even the Gosains
experimented with the Sahajiya mode of devotional practice.
Heterodox ideas about women'sstatus as devoteeswere to be found
among all these sects.
Our contacts with the women who had migratedto Vrindaban
andwerespendinga life of pietythroughthe 'bhajanashrams', revealed
that manyof them had renounceddomesticlife voluntarilyand felt a
strong apathy against it. Some of them go back every year to their
families, but are eagerto come back to Vrindabanwhere even while
they suffer from many privations,the superincumbentpressureof
domestic life is absent.To interviewsome of these women is to find
out the hollowness of the stereotyping of women as profoundly
attachedto home life by nature.Butit is not just the elementof relief
from domesticpressuresthat leads these women to a life of devotion
as an escape route. The processof becomingattunedto the rhythms
of such a life undertakenin the communityof other women within
the institutionalframeworkof a 'bhajanashram'also acts as an inner
compulsion.The dailyroutineacquiresa mysticsignificance.So much
so, that if they areaskedto abandonthis life to be rehabilitatedwithin
the family circle or in and old age home, they often feel that the
dignity of their vocation is being endangered.It is mostly women in
an extreme state of destitution who would agree to this. Many of
them also feel deprivedand demeanedif an alternativenon-religious
vocation is proposedto them.
The women of faith whom we encounteredin Vrindabanare in a
way extremelycourageouspersonswho aretryingto live on the dignity
of their devotional lives in the face of unimaginablephysical and
emotional difficulties.We would be mostly wrong if we try to locate
here any traces of that 'communalisedfemale selfhood' that Tanika
Sarkarcorrectlyfindsamongthe women'swings of the SanghParivar.
What we are discussinghere is a differentphenomenonaltogether.
The fact that a contradictionseemsto exist betweenthe widows and
a central BJP minister may lead us to think that these represent
oppositionalentities.The multifarioussocial milieufromwhich these
women came, the differentculturaltraditionsthey represented,also
make their communityin Vrindabanquite a loose and flexible one.
Thus of the categoriesmentionedearlier,it is that of 'faith'that seems
to be applicable to them, while Uma Bharati'shints towards an
'Operation Pushback'makes her a representativeof the politics of
 THE WIDOWSOF VRINDABAN 81

religion. But the equationsare not so simple.

It is my submission that the faith of the women devotees of
Vrindaban,while it may have no conscious associations with the
politics of religionthat we find in BJPleadersis still deeplyembedded
in it and an inextricablepart of it. One idea that incursthe wrath of
the Sanghbattalionsand is strenuouslydeniedby the women devotees
of Vrindabanis that the holy precinctsof Brajadhamare also the
hotbed of sexual exploitation of destitute women who come here
throughdirector indirectreligiousconnections.The motivesfor denial
may be differentin the case of the women of faith. Butthereis plenty
of evidencethat such exploitationindeedoccurs- has been occurring
for a long time. Texts like DurgacharanRoy's fantastic travelogue
Debganer Martye Agaman in the 1880s and DinabandhuMitra's
Jamai Barik (where one co-wife taunts anothersenior one with the
words: 'An old prostitute-turned-holy woman am I and I have come
to Vrindaban)in 1872 bear literaryproof that even then Vrindaban
was seen as sheltering'fallenwomen'who could be furtherexploited.
The 'Sevadasi'system, prevalentfor a long time among Vaishnavs
also made youngerwomen dependenton ashrams/akhrasquite open
to such exploitationevenwhile they themselvessaw sexual serviceto
rich pilgrims and religious guru'sas part of their devotional duty.
Thus liberation from domestic servitudefor a woman even today
may make her also extremelyvulnerableto other kind of servitude
includingsexualservitudeembeddedwithinreligiousinstitutions.The
largenumberof abortionclinics in Mathuracity bearwitness to this.
The convergenceof interestsin denyingsuch occurrencesthat seems
to take place between the meek and submissivewidows on the one
hand and the champions of muscularHinduism on the other is in
fact symptomatic.The widow'sworld of intensedevotionalardouris
bounded by the protective presenceof muscularHinduism for the
preservationof its dignity.It is woven into the sameideologicalfabric.
The two dependupon each other for mutualreinforcementalthough
there are many contradictionsbetweenthem.
I have no doubt that were one to make a political analysisof the
proprietors and the management of the 'bhajanashrams', the
ubiquitousand influential'pandas'who sometimesact as 'gurus'to
the women devotees - in fact of all those middlemenwho dominate
the religious establishmentin 'Brajadham',one would find them
overwhelminglyto have BJPaffiliations.With the increasein land
speculations, we also find a class of local mafia, who occupy old
mansionsbelongingto defuncttrusts,rent out rooms to the widows
82 SOCIALSCIENTIST

at high rates,while reservingthe rightto throw them out at any time.

I am sure that today most of them would be found participatingin
BJPpolitical shows. But even if the directaffiliationswere not there,
evenif they owed allegianceto some otherpoliticalparty,theirproject
of annexingthe widows and reservingthe rightof using and abusing
themwould coincidewith thepoliticalprogrammeof the HinduRight.
They are mainlyconcernedwith the managementof religion,but the
modeof managementandthe internalemotionalstructuresof religious
faith would have to be attunedto each other.The fault lines in their
close relationshipmust ever be kept undercheck. The widow must
not see herself as a mere victim. The constructionof consent, of a
certainsense of beingempoweredis very important.
These factors had always been there. The 'bhajanashrams'had
alwaysmixedprofitwith pietyveryskilfully.Forthis they had needed
the widows. Now for one thing, the vast reservearmy of labour in
the hinterland of the industrial belt stretching along the bank of
Jamuna from Delhi to Mathura, in the search for alternative
employment, puts pressure on the over-loadedpolitical-economic
frameworkof Brajadham.Wives of local labourersvie with Bengali
widows for patronageat 'bhajanashrams'. Also globalisationand the
emergenceof pilgrimtourism(in which ISKONhas a very big role to
play) is opening up new ways of profit. Many 'bhajanashrams'are
turninginto opulent 3-star/4-starguest houses. For these reasons, a
degreeof readjustmentis requiredin the relationshipof the religious
establishmentwith the widows. The contradictionsin the relationship
are more evidentin this transitionalsituation,puttingthe widows in
a position of not only economic but emotional and spiritual
disadvantage.
Whenwe talk of the genderquestionin the context of communal
violence, we often think of problemsof women caught in violence
betweencommunities.Formsof genderviolenceandgenderrepression
within minoritycommunitiesis also sometimeshighlighted.What I
have discussedin this articleis a form of genderviolence within the
majoritycommunity.It is violencemade largelyimperceptibleby the
velvet weft of consent generatedby faith into which this violence is
woven. The women devoteesare themselvescaughtin it. I do not see
the anti-secularistprivilegingof 'faith' as offeringany possibility of
resistanceagainstthis from within.
 THE WIDOWS OF VRINDABAN 83

NOTES

1. Khaki Shorts, Saffron Flags, Tapan Basu, Pradip Dutta, Sumit Sarkar,Tanika
Sarkar, Sambuddha Sen, Orient Longman, 1993, pp. 81-82.
2. 'Heroic Women, Mother Goddesses' in Secular Challenge to Communal
Politics: a Reader, Ed. P.R. Ram, 1998, p. 184.
3. 'The Politics of Secularismand the Recovery of Religious Tolerance' in Mirrors
of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia. Ed. Veena
Das, OUP, 1992, p. 70.
4. The Question of Faith, Rustom Bharucha, Orient Longman 1993, p. 12.
5. Benge Vaishnav Dharma, Ekti Oitihashik Ebgng Samajtativik Adhyan.
Ramakanto Chakraborty, Calcutta, 1996, p. 167. (translation mine), Malini
Bhattacharya.

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