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Women in the Eyes of Mahavira — Sinner or Redeemer?
Deepak Shimkhada and LaChelle Schilling
Abstract This paper aims to address some of the concerns certain readers might have about Mahavira and his statements about women in Jain literature. By discussing historical context and alternative and feminist readings of his more controversial dictates, it is argued that Mahavira offers a liberating message that many women have responded to in excess of male mendicants. This reading leaves open the potential for Jain women, through the connection with their bodies and their particular suffering, to also be, alongside men in the Jain community, redeemers of the earth.
Keywords Role of women in Jainism, Mahavira, male chauvinism, alluring quality of women, Apsara, Rishi Viswamitra, Bihar as Jungle-Raj, monk Rathanemi, Sati Rajimati
Justification
We realize that S/HE is a journal dedicated primarily to the studies and promotion of goddesses across cultures. This particular piece is not necessarily about either a particular goddess or goddesses in general. Why, then, should the journal include a paper that deals with a man and his relationship with women? There are two reasons. First, the word “S/HE” itself implies a binary—a splitting of “he” from “she.” Secondly, the topic of our paper is rooted in India. Today’s popular notion of goddesses typically comes from the Greco-Roman tradition, where a goddess is a mythological being with superhuman powers that an ordinary human being would not possess. But in India, this is not necessarily so. Although Hindu mythology is also full of stories of goddesses performing superhuman feats, the concept of a goddess can also be chthonic in nature—rooted to the Earth itself. For example, all three….
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S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies Volume 2 Number 1 (2023)