Karaikkal Ammaiyar - The Mother from Karaikkal

Karaikkal Ammaiyar (The Mother from Karaikkal) lived in Tamil Nadu in 6th century. She was a poet-saint, one of the 63 Shaivite Nayanmars. This sculpture is a copper alloy, about 9 inches high, dated during the Chola period (880–1279). . It is now at the Metropolitan Museum.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar belonged to the Chettiar (Nagarathar) community. She was a devotee of Lord Shiva, and said to be very beautiful. On seeing her perform miracles, her husband recognized her divine nature, and worshipped her as a goddess. She left her home, and went to Mount Kailash, on pilgrimage to Lord Shiva's abode. She prayed to Shiva to transform her into a ghoul (gana), one of Shiva's many attendants. Shiva granted her wish, changing her into a wizened old woman.

Thus she became free of the burden of social norms, and spent her life as a free spirit, composing and singing hymns in praise of Shiva. In this sculpture, you can see her holding a pair of cymbals as she sings her own compositions. The sculptor has stayed within the stylistic tradition of Chola art, with fine nose, curved lips, large eyes, square shoulders and slim waist. Thus he maintains her divinity. He has chosen to represent her ghoul transformation by focusing purely on exaggeratedly deformed breasts. He has chosen to represent her mendicant status by giving her only a single garment. And, to show her great age, her ear lobes are sagging with the weight of her ear-ring (a feature of older women).

Beginning in the 6th century in Tamil Nadu, India witnessed a widespread Bhakti movement, where several women rejected the life of a householder, and embraced a life of devotion/renunciation, Examples include Andal from Tamil Vaishnavism of the ninth century, Mahadevi Akka of Karnataka (13th century), Muktabai of Maharashtra (13th century), Mirabai of Rajasthan (16th century), and many more.

Travels in rural Bengal - visiting a large household

I posted a photo previously; of a woman in a white saree milking cows. She was wearing the "inchi paar", the plain saree with a small one inch border in blue or green or brown. That type of saree is meant for widows. It never has red in the border. Red in Bengal is the colour of auspiciousness.

Contrast that with this other family I visited. They are landed gentry with several bighas of land.

The lady in white and red is the female head of this household and her husband is next to her. She is a tiny Jaya Bhaduri to her husband's tall Amitabh figure. The house where she is standing is an old one.

Her "laal paar" (saree with red border) is brand new and it is crackling stiff like tissue. The red of the saree along with her shakha pola (red and white bangles), and the sindoor on her forehead, announce her marital status as a shoubhagyaboti. Her husband is alive and kicking, she is blessed.

She has 10 sons! Her prestige is therefore doubly high. In one of the many inner courtyards of her house I met with two of her bahus. They were wearing the printed cotton that seems to be a big favourite in the villages. Batik is locally done in this district and is also very popular.

With me is Dr. Sarah Lamb an anthropologist who is studying aging in different communities in Bengal. Sarah lived for 2 years in a small Bengali village called Mangaldihi; she speaks fluent Bengali. We came on a nostalgia visit to meet an elderly aunt, whom Sarah had met a couple of decades ago.

The elderly aunt was relaxing in the sun when we saw her. She is more than 90 years old. You can see her in white blouse and petticoat with her back to the camera.

She was widowed at the age of 31 and had no children. She came back to her maternal home when she became old because she felt her in-laws house was not the place where she could get care. The tall gentleman in the dhoti is her brother.

She inherited land from her husband and in exchange for looking after her, she has willed the land to her brother. Within 5 minutes of meeting, she explained this to Sarah and me. She wanted us to know that she was not freeloading on her maternal home. A girl never belongs in her mother's house, you see...

I learnt a lot about rural society and structures for the survival of the elderly through this visit. She has come to her maternal home because this is where she still has more comfort. She wants to die here. Although she said clearly to us that she will hit a century before she dies!

Odhani dyeing, Jodhpur

Pink and orange are definitely the colours of Rajasthan. In Jodhpur I went to see this community of dyers. They were working with odhanis (scarves / dupattas) that day, laying them neatly in rows for drying.

The colours used to be natural once upon a time, of course. But these days the colours are synthetic, and sustained exposure can harm your skin. The women wear arm-gloves while handling the wet cloth, but their fingers are exposed to the dye. Some of them veil their faces, not from modesty, but to protect it from the harsh Rajasthani sun.