Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 14: Under the banner of thematic series on gender issues, the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Jammu, today organized the inaugural lecture by Prof R Mahalakshmi of Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Prof R Mahalakshmi spoke on “Women & Bhakti in Early India: Spirituality and the Quest for Liberation”. She began with an exposition of how Bhakti or devotion is seen as the lynchpin of Hinduism at least from the time of the Bhagavad Gita, reaching its culmination in the Bhagwat Puran. Having elaborated the nuanced understanding of the concept of Bhakti, she moved on to explain with wealth of visual representation as to how for women and lower castes, who were restricted by various social rules and obligations, Bhakti was the medium through which they could express their spirituality. She focused on the earliest historical evidence of Bhakti in the hymns of Tamil saints of the Vaisnava and Saiva sects. “In both these traditions, three were women Bhaktas who freely expressed their devotion, and their life stories indicate how they transcended their social positions, broke the fetters imposed by caste and patriarchal conventions, and conquered the spiritual path,” she said and pointed out that as historians and scholars, it was important for us to evaluate the impact of such radical women’s lives and actions. For this, she added, it is necessary to look at the male Bhaktas also, and assess how they pursued the path of liberation. “Like the women, did they transcend the social biases of their times?” These were some of the issues that she raised and also tried to offer answer.
Vice Chancellor, Prof R D Sharma, who presided over the lecture, spoke about how women are located in the culture and tradition of our country. He went on to make the argument of the need to develop a perspective on women which is rooted in the Indian context.
The lecture was attended by prominent members of civil society and the members of the academic fraternity of the university. Dr. Priyanka Katoch extended the vote of thanks while Saranjit Kaur conducted proceeding of the lecture.
Earlier, Prof Suman Jamwal, Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies, spoke about rationale aims and objective of launching the lecture series. She stated that each lecture would be converted into a standalone monograph.
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