"It takes a great deal of courage and independence to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along"
- says Germaine Greer in The Female Eunuch
But in reality it is not that much easier. Imagine that you are travelling through the city streets in your car or by a local train. A group of transgender appears before you. They are demanding money. What will you do? You will give them some bucks and just want to get rid of them. But have you ever thought what force them to 'beg'? The most prominent reason could be that they are deprived of a definite and respectable social status and it is reflected every now and then in our attitude towards this community.
The term LGBT covers four communities - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. Recent proposed article 377 and legalisation of same sex marriages in USA has put the 'LGB' in limelight while we are still skeptical about the Transgenders.
Now imagine what could be the reaction if this community decides to worship Maa Durga and that too in a transgender form. All prominent media (print, visual or online) covered the story. Social networks are flooded with opinions and criticisms. Everyone is discussing about the 'India's First Transgender Durga Idol'. But how many actually paid a visit? WANDERLUST did. On the evening of merged Navami-Dashami (9th and 10th day of Puja), along with my friend Ranadip and Abhijit, I explored the North Kolkata Puja and here is our take on it.
North Kolkata's Joy Mitra Street, near Sovabazar Sutanuti metro station is a not-so-wide zigzag lane, connecting C R Avenue and Rabindra Sarani. Common people have a taboo about the place and usually avoid this narrow pathway. Because the street surpasses through the heart of Sonagachi, Asia's largest red light district. When we walked into the lane from Rabindra Sarani (Chitpore), a large gateway with 'Ardhanariswar' written on top welcomed us. After taking the first left turn we spotted the Pandal.
The puja is organized by Udyami Yuvak Brinda, a local organization and currently in its 27 years of existence. But this year, for the first time, Pratyay Gender Trust, a local transgender person's collective has collaborated with Udyami and made it to the headlines. I learned from the newspaper reports that Bhanu Naskar, a local resident and a senior transgender community member, associated with this Puja for a long time, has first proposed such an association and Udyami accepted it gladly. The small budget puja, relied largely upon the donations from local households, is now being partially funded by the Gender trust also. One interesting point is we haven't seen any banners or advertisements with this puja !!
The pandal is decorated in a simple manner with palm leaf hand fans and cane handicrafts designed in 'Chandmala' style. There are paintings in the pandal depicting harassment faced by the women in the society, ancient 'Sati' customs which would surely intrigue you.
But the centre of attraction is the idol which deserves a brief description.
The idol is fashioned after 'Ardhanariswar' - the half man-half woman androgynous form of Shiva and Parvati. Right half of the idol has a moustache, a pectoral instead of a breast, smaller eyelashes and a dhoti (traditional male garment tied around the waist). The other half is the female Durga idol usually seen at puja pandals. The idol was visualised by 55 year old Bhanu Naskar and crafted by China Pal, the artisan who happens to be the only woman idol-maker of Kumortuli, Kolkata's principal potters area.
Though the social experiment is aimed at breaking the barrier between the transgender and the mainstream communities but the question that haunts - What is the connection between Ardhanariswar and Transgender ?
Let's first decode the concept of the 'Ardhanariswar'. The mythological impression is the androgynous form of Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati which represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe. This androgynous form is being worshipped in different parts of India for the last 2000 years. It symbolizes that the male and female principles are inseparable. Though, famous Indian author and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik choose to disagree. His interpretation states that it is only the half-woman form of Shiva, not the half-male form of Parvati!! He uncovers the symbolic meaning of God and Goddess as mind and nature where mind can not exist without nature but nature can exist without the mind. According to him, the Puranas thus resonate an idea shared by evolutionary biologists. While the visible form is gendered, the idea being communicated is genderless.
Whereas the transgender people experience a mismatch between their gender expression and their assigned sex. It is a matter of self-interpretation which could be similar to the idea of Devdutt Pattanaik. So, though 'Ardhanariswar' and Transgender are conceptually contradictory to some extent but 'Ardhanariswar' is the best possible image and a prominent legacy of Indian culture with which Transgenders can identify themselves.
India as well as West Bengal has made significant progress in granting respectable social status to the Transgender community. In its landmark order, Supreme Court stated in March, 2014 that the Transgender to be recognised as a third gender in the official documents. West Bengal set up the Transgender Development Board. We are in the process of eliminating the barrier.
Lastly to the orthodox critics - Akashvani's Mahisasuramardini narrates that the powers of all the Gods of Hindu Pantheon were merged together to form Devi Durga. The Oratorio is based on the scriptural verses of Markandeya Chandi. As the compilation is a summarised form of the original verses, formed to fit in a one and half hour frame, we can take a look at the actual mythology. The Puranas says that the Gods released their inner strength and each of them was converted into an individual female form, such as Vaishnavi from Vishnu and they all merged to form Devi Durga. Thus we can interpret that Durga is the combination of the masculine and feminine qualities of this universe. Then what is the harm in worshipping her in the 'Ardhanarisvara' form ???
Acknowledgements :
The term LGBT covers four communities - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. Recent proposed article 377 and legalisation of same sex marriages in USA has put the 'LGB' in limelight while we are still skeptical about the Transgenders.
Now imagine what could be the reaction if this community decides to worship Maa Durga and that too in a transgender form. All prominent media (print, visual or online) covered the story. Social networks are flooded with opinions and criticisms. Everyone is discussing about the 'India's First Transgender Durga Idol'. But how many actually paid a visit? WANDERLUST did. On the evening of merged Navami-Dashami (9th and 10th day of Puja), along with my friend Ranadip and Abhijit, I explored the North Kolkata Puja and here is our take on it.
North Kolkata's Joy Mitra Street, near Sovabazar Sutanuti metro station is a not-so-wide zigzag lane, connecting C R Avenue and Rabindra Sarani. Common people have a taboo about the place and usually avoid this narrow pathway. Because the street surpasses through the heart of Sonagachi, Asia's largest red light district. When we walked into the lane from Rabindra Sarani (Chitpore), a large gateway with 'Ardhanariswar' written on top welcomed us. After taking the first left turn we spotted the Pandal.
The puja is organized by Udyami Yuvak Brinda, a local organization and currently in its 27 years of existence. But this year, for the first time, Pratyay Gender Trust, a local transgender person's collective has collaborated with Udyami and made it to the headlines. I learned from the newspaper reports that Bhanu Naskar, a local resident and a senior transgender community member, associated with this Puja for a long time, has first proposed such an association and Udyami accepted it gladly. The small budget puja, relied largely upon the donations from local households, is now being partially funded by the Gender trust also. One interesting point is we haven't seen any banners or advertisements with this puja !!
The pandal is decorated in a simple manner with palm leaf hand fans and cane handicrafts designed in 'Chandmala' style. There are paintings in the pandal depicting harassment faced by the women in the society, ancient 'Sati' customs which would surely intrigue you.
But the centre of attraction is the idol which deserves a brief description.
The idol is fashioned after 'Ardhanariswar' - the half man-half woman androgynous form of Shiva and Parvati. Right half of the idol has a moustache, a pectoral instead of a breast, smaller eyelashes and a dhoti (traditional male garment tied around the waist). The other half is the female Durga idol usually seen at puja pandals. The idol was visualised by 55 year old Bhanu Naskar and crafted by China Pal, the artisan who happens to be the only woman idol-maker of Kumortuli, Kolkata's principal potters area.
Though the social experiment is aimed at breaking the barrier between the transgender and the mainstream communities but the question that haunts - What is the connection between Ardhanariswar and Transgender ?
Let's first decode the concept of the 'Ardhanariswar'. The mythological impression is the androgynous form of Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati which represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe. This androgynous form is being worshipped in different parts of India for the last 2000 years. It symbolizes that the male and female principles are inseparable. Though, famous Indian author and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik choose to disagree. His interpretation states that it is only the half-woman form of Shiva, not the half-male form of Parvati!! He uncovers the symbolic meaning of God and Goddess as mind and nature where mind can not exist without nature but nature can exist without the mind. According to him, the Puranas thus resonate an idea shared by evolutionary biologists. While the visible form is gendered, the idea being communicated is genderless.
Whereas the transgender people experience a mismatch between their gender expression and their assigned sex. It is a matter of self-interpretation which could be similar to the idea of Devdutt Pattanaik. So, though 'Ardhanariswar' and Transgender are conceptually contradictory to some extent but 'Ardhanariswar' is the best possible image and a prominent legacy of Indian culture with which Transgenders can identify themselves.
India as well as West Bengal has made significant progress in granting respectable social status to the Transgender community. In its landmark order, Supreme Court stated in March, 2014 that the Transgender to be recognised as a third gender in the official documents. West Bengal set up the Transgender Development Board. We are in the process of eliminating the barrier.
Lastly to the orthodox critics - Akashvani's Mahisasuramardini narrates that the powers of all the Gods of Hindu Pantheon were merged together to form Devi Durga. The Oratorio is based on the scriptural verses of Markandeya Chandi. As the compilation is a summarised form of the original verses, formed to fit in a one and half hour frame, we can take a look at the actual mythology. The Puranas says that the Gods released their inner strength and each of them was converted into an individual female form, such as Vaishnavi from Vishnu and they all merged to form Devi Durga. Thus we can interpret that Durga is the combination of the masculine and feminine qualities of this universe. Then what is the harm in worshipping her in the 'Ardhanarisvara' form ???
Acknowledgements :
- 7 Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik.
- Various newspaper reports of last one month on this Puja.
- My friend Ranadip Kundu and Abhijit Das for accompanying me on this trip. I am indebted to Ranadip, the passionate photographer for the photographs of this article.
- My student Sannidhya Datta for sharing the mythological anecdotes and providing me with the '7 Secrets of the Goddess'.
This is the quality of Blogpost I expect from you. Very well written with positive arguments. Keep it up bro !
ReplyDeleteThank you Amitabhada... I will try my best... Keep visiting...
DeleteYes this community has come very far in a very short time.
ReplyDeletecompare airport parking
meet and greet Luton
For an inclusion campaign, introducing a normal female Goddess as a transgender one screams hypocrisy. The "T" want to be recognized and by recognizing a deity?
ReplyDeleteBuy Discount Tickets
Buy Cheap Tickets