General conditions for women were bad, and though the situation was sometimes different for Hindus and Muslims, it was marginal. Both suffered at the hands of society, custom and economic practices.
Hindu women had no inheritance rights, and in the rural areas where poverty was high, this was often not relevant. Muslim women had a slightly better status in this sector, but they neither had much to inherit nor did inheritance rights apply in the rural areas. In general, women had a very weak social status.
Some have commented that the Hindu caste system grew strong after the Turko-Afghan takeover, as, without any central judicial power of the native Hindus, it was left to society to enforce it, but it is difficult to see how villages, always outside state control, would be influenced by such issues. Nevertheless, a sense of loss of control over society under an alien Muslim rule would mean efforts would be made to strengthen a critical control tool like the caste code.
When Sri Chaitanya initiated both men and women as disciples, some has read it as an improvement in women’s status: “Women from respectable families took part in kirtan performances, some traveled long distances as pilgrims, and a few women initiated disciples” (Banglapedia, 2021)—because of popular goddess cults, “Shitala, Kamala, Manasa, Ganga, Sasthi” and other goddesses entered the public consciousness.
However, whether they signify a higher status for women is not definite, as most goddesses mainly benefited male devotees. “The Vaisnava cult was equally ambiguous in terms of empowering women. Vishnu cults-initiated women, recognising their spiritual equality, but Chaitanya strictly forbade his devotees from looking at or talking to women. The emphasis on women’s potential for religious piety seemed, in this case, to be linked to a deep-seated fear and distrust of their sexuality.” (Banglapedia, 2021)
Education
Education for women was almost unheard of in the rural areas. Although some girls from the Hindu community went to pathshalas –rural schools- most or nearly all were non-literate.
Essentially, women were not perceived as playing roles beyond the domestic space. Thus, education had little importance for rural societies. Male literacy was not necessarily higher because agriculture did not require education, so its economic value was less.
The issue could be a matter of choice when it came to the middle class, but that was an insignificant population group limited to urban zones, which was also not large and developed, requiring a skilled labour force. Hence, the objective conditions for promoting girls’ education were absent.
This was strengthened by the fact that women were as “housewives” /household caregivers. Given that this was accompanied by very early marriage and a consequent high chance of widowhood, followed by the miserable life of a widow, many beliefs existed, all focused on preventing widowhood.
It was widely believed that education could lead to early widowhood. The concern for virginity was high, but that was not a phenomenon of that era only. So, rather than external schools, some girls had home education. Still, domestic skills like cooking, washing and sewing, care-giving certainly were considered more practical skills which mothers passed on to their daughters, useful for their future role as wives. This scenario dominated.
In the rural areas where economic activities determined social behaviour much more, women also had less leisure. Cultural practices were therefore linked to survival. However, caste cultures also dominated Hindu society, and women living within the framework had no choice but to follow its structures.
The example of Lalon’s mother and wife forced by caste culture to abandon him for having shared food with Muslims shows how strong the bindings were for even Kayastha –rural middle caste families who dominated Bengal. Lalon’s wife was virtually made a “widow”, a woman without a husband who was still alive.
Colonialism and Women
Under colonialism, many of these practices were challenged and some changed, but it was not a universal phenomenon. Reforms applied far more to the urban educated middle and the upper class. The movements that are well known, including those focused on the situation of women, were not necessarily applicable to rural women.
For Muslim women in the villages, life was not significantly different in terms of exclusion, seclusion and denial of rights. While they did not have the extra burden of a caste structure, economic denial was the same for all.
The middle-class educated babu class, the early colonial collaborators, took to reforms, including education for women, much earlier, as the upper-class social leaders of the Muslim community were not only defensive but also partly left out. They looked upon the British as deniers of their status and responsible for their ouster as the ruling community. Many became more socially conservative than before, seeking to secure themselves as the Hindu community had done before under what was perceived as a hostile state.
Thus, social reforms were considered part of the colonial agenda, and they looked upon the issue independently much later. While it is true that social reforms, particularly those promoted by the Kolkata babu class, were firmly grounded in the colonial objective of replacing the older aristocracy and power, both Hindus and Muslims, women of both were left behind.
The British were also not interested in encouraging a socially reformed Muslim community, whom they did not fully trust as pro-Mughal and through various polices promoted the new collaborators as expected. However, the rise of rural intermediaries –jotedars under Pattani law- caused by a failing revenue collection system produced a new rural middle class, many of whom were Muslims.
They took to education and became pre-colonial and then competitors to the Babu class, and later formed social organisations such as the Anjumans in Kolkata. By the middle of the 19th century, particularly around the Sepoy mutiny period, they became visible. This led to greater participation of Muslims in the social reform agenda. However, it was dominated by the middle and upper classes, almost all urban-based, and did not take rural people, including women, into account.
Rural masses became important as the 20th century dawned, which led to greater urban and rural community-based political activism and ultimately voting systems. Thus, when we discuss the history and conditions of women under colonialism, we are not doing so about a single history. There are several factors in that framework; the vast majority suffered most from poverty and denial, as well as social practices that had gone on for ages and were oppressive to women.
The Rural Scenario and Colonialism
Before 1793, or the establishment of Permanent Settlement or the zamindari system, land owners from both communities resisted colonial policies, and we also see several revolts and resistance. However, after 1793, many of the zamindaris were bought by the Kolkata babu class of Hindu origin, who were obligated to the colonial power for their wealth making; hence, their interest in resisting colonialism was absent. It began to change after 1857, after the British took greater interest in the rebellious North India, the core of the Sepoy Mutiny, led by its aristocracy.
Colonial takeover policies went against the erstwhile upper-class English ruling community, dominantly Muslim, who reacted against colonialism often violently. Since the new revenue system affected the rural peasantry the most, the rise of a peasant-landlord alliance was inevitable, which was led by conservative Muslims – Wahabis- rejecting everything colonial and liberal.
The Faraizi-Wahabi movement was the most widespread, and it lasted even till the early 20th century. These were conservative theologically and donated the peasant social and cultural space significantly, though for the peasants, the issue was always economic. Hence, just as colonialism inevitably became “reformist”, its contest also became ‘anti-reform’. Meanwhile, in the absence of a stake-holding middle class in the rural areas, the Hindu peasantry suffered the most as there was none to uphold their cause as they suffered under colonial taxation policies.
In both cases, women suffered economically and socially. Reforms were primarily an urban phenomenon.
Baul, Lalon and Women
Lalon was born over two hundred and fifty years ago, so information about his personal life is scant. To this has been added the myth-making by subsequent generations, which, given the paucity of information, is inevitable. Thus, the ideas and actions of the person mean the need to access many sources, including the social and collective behaviour patterns.
As discussed above, the status of women was very weak in his era; This is not changed by the fact that female deities were worshipped or songs sung by mendicants and rural poets praising their role and accepting their socio-psychological debts. What matters is that socio-economic reality determines the conditions and status of people by class, gender and community. In the case of Lalon, this is no different.
The other aspect is that of the Baul cult itself, which drew people from various faith groups. In this, the Hindu community’s ideas, which had a far longer history in society than Sufism, had a more significant influence. Many of the Baul beliefs are part of the older movements, including that of female deity worship, Vaishnavism, etc.
The Baul cult was a syncretistic or mixed belief-based group and essentially informal with an unstructured theology. It was dominantly based on social perceptions and the theological structure that later grew, which is often referred to as “Totto”, also had mixed sources, including Sufism.
Most importantly, it was defined by a yearning to be free of the social strictures, pain, and discrimination from which many suffered, whether individually or collectively, under long-running rural societal values.
His songs did bring out that reality vividly. He acknowledged that women were given unequal status. It is evident in one of his most famous compositions, “’Everyone asks, to which caste does Lalon belong’: ‘A Muslim is marked by the sign of circumcision; but how should You mark a woman? If a Brahmin male is known by the thread he wears, how is a woman known?’” (Tasneem, 2016). This portrays the woman’s lack of identity in that era’s society, when it was the norm for women to be defined by their male counterparts or family members.
Lalon’s Vision of Women
As Saymon Zakaria of Bangla Academy says, Lalon has also written of specific women in his songs, including Bibi Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet, who played essential roles from within the religion itself, like other members of the family, but were seldom mentioned while discussing Islam. Lalon also emphasised how important it is to treat a mother with respect. “When he wrote of, she who is ‘nobir boro, khodar choto (above the Prophet and lesser than God)’, he was speaking of the Prophet’s mother” (Tasneem, 2016).
He truly envisioned a society that was liberal and devoid of gender discrimination as well as traditional gender roles. This notion was mentioned in his writing, ‘Kuler bou hoye mon ar koto din thakbi ghore’ (How long will you sit at home and be a wife?)” (Tasneem, 2016).
This captures why Lalon’s ideas were so fundamentally revolutionary. It is surprisingly impressive to consider this non-literate person who was born long before the contemporary concept of feminism, sang of a society without classes and with equal rights for men and women, while wandering the dirt roads of rural Bengal.
At the same time, the words were also drawn from older traditions of Tantra and other streams, which were part of the dominant Hindu tradition. This included ritualised sexual practices. It was considered part of, Sadhona” or meditation and ascetic practice to achieve divine unity.
This esoteric practice is not new in Bengal/Indian esoteric culture and has a long tradition. Some have argued that this was done on the platform of equality, but it was certainly not a mainstream religious or mystic behaviour.
Questions have been raised about the status of women as Goddess, as some scholars argue that the social benefits of such ideas primarily accrue to men. However, instead of passing judgment, one may say that these aspects of the Baul tradition, though maybe grounded on the notion of equality, would also make it a near extreme behaviour and could not spread as a practice beyond the practising Baul community.
Bengal’s socio-economy was based on households and sexually sharing the wife/mother would cause family-level chaos. Hence, it would mean rejection. While a section of the Hindu community may accept it, it would not be permissible in Islam, which means it would also contradict the principles of Sufism to which Lalon was an adherent and had many Muslim devotees. Hence, it was a contradiction with formal religious and social practices.
It would therefore be more appropriate to say that Baul culture was an informal mix of the contemporary social reality, but often based on behavioural patterns that suit a tight-knit sect rather than a universal appeal-based religious structure and group.
So, what appeals to the general people are the words, songs and thoughts on women and humanity that Lalon spoke of in his songs, reflecting an aspiration to unite all. Lalon respected women as equals, going by his literary output, while that expression came from a source that could be embraced selectively by the broader population but not practised. They had fewer problems with endorsing an idea without having to practice it, and accepted the entire lifestyle of an esoteric cult such as the Bauls as it was for the Bauls, not themselves.
Little evidence can be found that the Baul culture had widespread influence as a social change maker. Its words had many admirers, but no co-relationship has been drawn yet between such words and social change in the status of women in the rural areas, no matter how noble the idea of gender equality was to them.
The Baul Woman and Sexual Practices
In the Baul world, women are also regarded as a “chetan guru,” meaning one who enlightens the cult and offers spiritual direction. “The Bauls are not worshippers of Goddess Durga or Kali but have adapted this conceptualisation of the female Shakti (power) in another form. A Baul is almost required to have a female companion, and it is the woman who initiates him into esoteric sexual practices. She is the ‘knower’ who teaches him sensual knowledge” (Karim, 1980). Their teachings are kept within limits and can occasionally be confusing to those who are not familiar with them. In the end, women play an essential role in the Baul culture, some ennobling, others esoteric and not mainstream socially.
Author
Afsan Chowdhury