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Hinduism
Panchkanya
Women of
Substance – 21
 An illuminating contrast can
be seen in Shaivya, wife of Harishchandra.[[1]]
She does not utter a word when Vishvamitra drives her out of her kingdom,
be-labouring her with a stick because she is too exhausted to move swiftly
(VII. 29). She herself
suggests to Harishchandra that since she has fulfilled her function by
presenting him with a son, he should sell her to pay Vishvamitra what he
requires (VIII. 30-31).
When the Brahmana to whom she is sold drags her by the hair, she remains
silent (VIII. 56). This is
precisely the conduct of a sati who utterly wipes out her own self
and lives only in, through and for her husband. The kanya’s
personality, on the other hand, blazes forth quite independent of her
spouse and her offspring. She seeks to fulfil herself regardless of social
and family norms. Thus, Draupadi does not rest till the revenge for
which her father had invoked her manifestation is complete and the insult
she suffered has been wiped out in blood. Through the thirteen years of
exile, she never allows her husbands and her sakha to forget how
she was outraged and they were deceitfully deprived of their kingdom. When
she finds all her husbands, except Sahadeva, in favour of suing for peace,
she brings to bear all her feminine charm to turn the course of events
inexorably towards war. Pouring out a litany of her injuries, she takes up
her serpent-like thick glossy hair and with tearful eyes urges Krishna to
recall these tresses when he sues for peace. Sobbing, she declares that
her five sons led by Abhimanyu and her old father and brothers will avenge
her if her husbands will not. Krishna’s response is all that she has
been aiming at:
“Consider those you
disfavor
As already dead!…
The Himavant hills may move,
the
Earth shatter
In a hundred pieces, heaven
collapse;
My promise stands…
You will see your enemies
killed.” (Udyoga Parva, 82.45, 48)
The course of the epic is
determined by the dark five and Kunti, of whom three are kanyas:
Gandhakali, Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, Vasudeva Krishna, Yajnaseni, Arjuna,
Kunti. The first three are further linked by the black waters of the
Yamuna, while Satyavati, Kunti and Draupadi are prototypes of one another.
Draupadi is the only instance
we come across in epic mythology of a sati becoming a kanya.
The Southern recension of the epic states that in an earlier birth as
Nalayani (also named Indrasena) she was married to Maudgalya, an irascible
sage afflicted with leprosy. She was so utterly devoted to her abusive
husband that when a finger of his dropped into their meal, she took it out
and calmly ate the rice without revulsion. Pleased by this, Maudgalya
offered her a boon, and she asked him to make love to her in five lovely
forms. As she was insatiable, Maudgalya got fed up and reverted to ascesis.
When she remonstrated and insisted that he continue their love-life, he
cursed her to be reborn and have five husbands to satisfy her lust.
Thereupon she practised severe penance and pleased Shiva, obtaining the
boon of regaining virginity after being with each husband.[[1]]
Thus, by asserting her womanhood and refusing to accept a life of blind
subservience to her husband, Nalayani the sati was transformed into
Yajnaseni the kanya.
–
Continued
Panchkanya Pages : 1 |
2 | 3 | 4
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 |
22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27
Now also in Hindi at
http://www.hindinest.com/visheshank/01stri/panchkanya1.htm
Now also in French at http://www.neurom.ch/mbh/kanya.pdf
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