Panchakanya
concept- The five elemental women in Indian epics.
It is for every woman to study the life-graphs and personalities of the Panchkanyas and decide which element they empathise with.
However, in truth, every Indian woman has shades all the Panchkanyas within her soul!
In spite of this, the Panchkanya theme has inspired Indian women for ages.
They believe that even today, they have great affinity to each elemental woman by the way they look, feel or react to the world around them.
Most Indian women believe that they tolerate and accept the worst kind of injustice and remain steadfast in their duty and devotion to their husbands and families.
Yet, surprisingly, they also hide storms of anguish, anger and revenge in their hearts.
They believe that the curse of a virtuous, strong woman can ruin the most powerful of men.
They live a life of duality, with the turbulence of varied experiences on the surface and a deep, silent core in their souls, where wisdom originates.
They have an inherent gift of distinguishing between right and wrong.
In a crisis, they know how to insist on doing what they consider right.
They have a dormant power buried deep down in their psyches.
They have the strength to move like the wind and the compassion to forgive wrongs done to them. They seek a special lustre of their own.
They seek a sacred place - which is their right - in the vastness of space.
From this niche, they spread their compassion and tenderness.
We Indians believe that between the real and the divine worlds, there is a mid-level world of mythology.
Here, mythical heroes and heroines play out stories of love, valour, courage and righteousness as well as revenge, hatred and mindless cruelty.
Five women from the Indian epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata – have played such crucial roles in our tradition, that every Indian woman, even in this tech-savvy age, continues to be influenced by their life-graphs…
With the International Women’s Day on March 8 today, it is time to remember the Panchakanyas and see how Indian women relate to them even today!
As inheritors of the Panchkanya concept for centuries, Indian women are unique, to say the least. Like their icons, they have dual personalities.
They are bound by the strictest norms of society on the one hand; yet on the other hand, they are left free to prolifically use the chinks in the armour of social and traditional laws made by a staunchly male-oriented pecking order.
Within the scope of social boundaries, they can still express their personalities and design their own life-graphs.
The female icons set up by Indian tradition for women to follow therefore are admirable and confusing at the same time.
Among the feminine icons of Indian tradition, five epic characters stand out prominently.
Each of these women is described as extraordinarily beautiful and virtuous.
As a matter of fact, tradition says that their character was so strong, that no calamity could diminish their spiritual power or their worshipful places in the hearts of generations of people the world over.
In fact, the five women have such a powerful hold over the hearts of millions of Indians that they are called the Panchkanyas (five women) whose very names ensure salvation and freedom from all evil.
It is not uncommon for devout our Hindu brothers and sisters to recite their names each morning in a Sanskrit Shloka to remind them of the power they symbolised because of their purity of character and spiritual strength.
In an uncanny way, the life-graph of each of these women is somehow replicated in the lives of millions of Indian women even today.
Whatever suffering and traumas each of them went through during their lives, are repeated in the lives of millions of Indian women. It is clear that Indian society, at its deepest core, still thinks that man is born to rule and woman to be ruled!
Who are these Panchkanyas - The five elemental women.
Let's see one by one with the evidence of our great epics.
1. Her Holiness SITA DEVI
Janaka, the King of Mithila, as is well known, found Sita while his fields were being ploughed. She is the wonderful daughter of the earth, stable, forgiving, patient and pure. Most Indian women believe that they tolerate and accept the worst kind of injustice like Her Holiness Sita Devi and remain steadfast in their duty and devotion to their husbands and families.
Janaka, the King of Mithila, as is well known, found Sita while his fields were being ploughed. She is the wonderful daughter of the earth, stable, forgiving, patient and pure. Most Indian women believe that they tolerate and accept the worst kind of injustice like Her Holiness Sita Devi and remain steadfast in their duty and devotion to their husbands and families.
2. Her Holiness Draupadi
Draupadi was the copper-toned beauty born of fire. Fiery, gorgeous and strong-willed, Draupadi was born out of her father’s prayer for revenge against his enemies. She personified this quality throughout her life. Most Indian women surprisingly, like Draupadi, they also hide storms of anguish, anger and revenge in their hearts.
Draupadi was the copper-toned beauty born of fire. Fiery, gorgeous and strong-willed, Draupadi was born out of her father’s prayer for revenge against his enemies. She personified this quality throughout her life. Most Indian women surprisingly, like Draupadi, they also hide storms of anguish, anger and revenge in their hearts.
They believe that the curse of a virtuous, strong woman can ruin the most powerful of men
3. Her Holiness Mandodari
Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, is associated with the element of water, turbulent on the surface yet deep and silent in her spiritual quest. The beautiful Mandodari tolerated the misdeeds of Ravana till his death. Like Mandodari, our Indian women live a life of duality, with the turbulence of varied experiences on the surface and a deep, silent core in their souls, where wisdom originates.
Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, is associated with the element of water, turbulent on the surface yet deep and silent in her spiritual quest. The beautiful Mandodari tolerated the misdeeds of Ravana till his death. Like Mandodari, our Indian women live a life of duality, with the turbulence of varied experiences on the surface and a deep, silent core in their souls, where wisdom originates.
Like Mandodari, they have an inherent gift of distinguishing between right and wrong.
In a crisis, they know how to insist on doing what they consider right.
4. Her Holiness Ahilya
Ahilya is the beautiful wife of a Sage Gautama, whom Indra, the chief of the gods, coveted.
He cheated her by assuming the persona of her husband and seduced her.
Angry beyond reason, Gautama cursed her and turned her into a rock.
Upon hearing the truth, he pronounced the Rama, during his banishment in the forest, would touch her with his sacred feet and would bring her back to life.
Ahilya is the beautiful wife of a Sage Gautama, whom Indra, the chief of the gods, coveted.
He cheated her by assuming the persona of her husband and seduced her.
Angry beyond reason, Gautama cursed her and turned her into a rock.
Upon hearing the truth, he pronounced the Rama, during his banishment in the forest, would touch her with his sacred feet and would bring her back to life.
Ahilya, admired by women for her forbearance and ethereal nature is likened to the freshness and active nature of the wind. Like Ahliya, our Indian women have a dormant power buried deep down in their psyches.
They have the strength to move like the wind and the compassion to forgive wrongs done to them.
5. Her Holiness Tara
Tara, wife of the monkey king Bali, was also a woman of great virtue.
Bali was a tyrant who usurped his brother Sugriva’s kingdom and abducted his wife Ruma.
He died a valiant death at the hands of Rama and left Tara to live piously for the rest of her life.
Tara is associated with space and has the quality of intelligence, compassion and large-heartedness.
Tara, wife of the monkey king Bali, was also a woman of great virtue.
Bali was a tyrant who usurped his brother Sugriva’s kingdom and abducted his wife Ruma.
He died a valiant death at the hands of Rama and left Tara to live piously for the rest of her life.
Tara is associated with space and has the quality of intelligence, compassion and large-heartedness.
Like Tara, Indian women seek a special lustre of their own.
They seek a sacred place - which is their right - in the vastness of space.
From this niche, they spread their compassion and tenderness.
It is for every woman to study the life-graphs and personalities of the Panchkanyas and decide which element they empathise with.
However, in truth, every Indian woman has shades all the Panchkanyas within her soul!
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