Lilavati & Marya - Study in Contrasts

Lilavati was the daughter of the noted Indian mathematician Bhaskaracharya, who wrote a celebrated text in her name. Lilavati remained a spinster but a very bright woman as many of the concepts in his book are fondly addressed to her as "Oh, Lilavati, you intelligent girl" & evidently understood by her. The book contains 13 chapters dealing with arithmetic, geometry & a method of solving indeterminate equations.

In contrast, Princess Marya, a character in Tolstoy's "War & Peace", was also living with her father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, in his country estate. He himself took care of her education, & taught her algebra & geometry. But she had no aptitude & her father would fly into a rage. But later he would calm down & tell her to persevere as mathematics was a great pursuit.

Later Marya married Nikolai Rostov & had 4 children.

Sri Madhvacharya (1238-1317) & John Bunyan's (1628-1688) views on Salvation

In Shrimadhvavijaya Mahakavya, a canonical text of Dvaita philosophy, the Moksha (Salvation) of souls is described as follows.

"The liberated souls in Vaikunta wear golden yellow garments & wear superior ornaments & sport here with bliss. There are no births, deaths or aging here. There can be no sorrow or defects of character. They have great mutual love for each other & are very beautiful, eternally young & wear Harichandana (Sandal wood) paste with sweet scent on their bodies. They are fanned with attractive chamaras by servants."

In John Bunyan's classic allegorical novel "The Pilgrim's Progress", the protagonist Christian's arrival at the Celestial City ,is described as follows. 

"Before entering the Celestial City, Christian was told he will not see again sorrow, sickness, affliction & death present in the earth. He was also told that he shall enjoy his friends again that have gone before him & he shall receive with joy those that come after him.  And when he entered, he had raiment put on that shone like gold. He was given harps to praise withal & crowns in token of honour. The streets were paved with gold."

How similar are the visions of Sri Madhvacharya & John Bunyan, though they belong to Hindu & Christian faiths!

Early China & Modern West

The 1958 popular film, "The Inn of Sixth Happiness", starring Ingrid Bergman, deals with the practice of foot binding of young Chinese girls, as tiny feet were reckoned a part of female beauty. Though the government tried to stop this abhorrent practice & appointed "foot inspectors", popular opinion was against them & they were thrashed by the local populace. Then Ingrid Bergman, who wanted to be a missionary & was rejected, got the post of "foot inspector." Because of her gender & gentle ways, she succeeded.

Though it was eradicated in China, a modern form persists in the West in the form of high-heeled shoes for fashionable ladies. Though uncomfortable & even dangerous in the long run, women persist in wearing them for the sake of fashion. In fact it is believed that only a misogynistic, sadistic man could have invented them!

In this connection, the tight corsetting of women in the Victorian era also led to many health problems, including fractured ribcages. In the film "Gone With The Wind", a young lady is shown leaning against a tree, while she is being tightly corsetted!

Best tribute from one author to another's book

Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" (1868) is considered by many to be the first detective novel. A later practitioner in the genre, Michael Innes, wrote "The Moonstone stands alone in its kind...(there is) a sense of attending upon the birth of the detective story." Collins was also the contemporary & friend of Dickens.

However, here we can look into another curious aspect of this novel. Much of it is narrated by Gabriel Betteredge, House-steward in the service of Julia, Lady Verinder. This man has a strange habit of using Daniel Defoe's (also known as the father of the English novel) "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) as other people use holy books like the Bhagavadgita, the Bible or the Quran to find immediate solutions to their problems, i.e., open the book at random & apply the first sentence which catches their eye as the answer to their problem!

Though Betteredge claims to be a well-read person, Robinson Crusoe occupies the "Pole Position" among all the books he has read! At the beginning of the book itself, he says he has worn out six copies, no less, in his service, with constant thumbing. So on her Ladyship's birthday, she presents him with a new seventh copy!

It goes without saying that a writer of Collins' calibre, inserts appropriate quotations from Defoe's immortal book at suitable points in his own narrative, as representing Betteredge's references at climactic points of the story, to vindicate his belief in the infallibility of Defoe's book in providing solutions to his own dilemmas.

Feminist writers & mental illness

Patriarchal mindsets were so prevalent in society earlier that women had to fight tooth & nail to avoid being treated like chattel. In the process, incalculable harm was done to their psyche.

About Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the first book on feminism, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", Elizabeth Robins Pennel writes in her prefatory note that "Twice in her misery did she seek to kill herself; the world was too cruel. But both times she was saved, sorely against her will.  I know nothing so tragic in fiction as her second attempt. She had gone to Battersea Bridge, intending to leap into the Thames. As there were too many people, she hired a boat & rowed to Putney. It was a wet day & she walked on the bridge so that her clothes, drenched with rain, might make her sink more rapidly. She jumped but was rescued & forced to face her life & all its bitterness." She died at the age of 38, 11 days after giving birth to her second daughter, who became famous as Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein."

Virginia Woolf, author of "A Room of One's Own", a seminal feminist text, was troubled by mental illness (bipolar disorder). She was institutionalised several times & attempted suicide at least twice. When 59, she drowned herself in the river Ouse at Lewes.

Kate Millet, was the author of "Sexual Politics" which earned her a doctorate from Columbia University. She was also twice  involuntarily institutionalised for bipolar disorder. Her involvement with psychiatry caused her to attempt suicide several times. However, she died from cardiac arrest 8 days before her 83rd birthday.

Betty Friedan, author of "Feminine Mystique", though sane, had frequent physical altercations with her husband for which she had received black eyes.

Cultural/Spiritual Infanticide

Formerly in many societies, female infanticide was practiced. The underlying reason was economic, as it was feared that girls may prove a financial burden.

A variant of this abhorrent practice, has resurfaced in the 21st Century, denying cultural & spiritual education to children, especially girls, the underlying reason being the same economic one. Even as late as the early part of the 20th century, it was mandatory for children, especially girls, both in Western & Indian societies, to learn the rudiments of the arts, in addition to the three R's. The opening up of higher & professional education for girls, unfortunately sounded the death-knell of this practice. It has become synonymous for a professionally educated girl to evince absolutely no interest in the fine arts.

This mad rush for only economically productive education has played ducks & drakes with the mental well-being of the children also. Spiritual education being completely side-lined in favour of purely religious practices (which has regressed to praying for only health, wealth, power & progeny, all purely worldly goals) has also caused greater mental illness, divorces & much worse. The truth that attainment of all worldly goals may still not bring true happiness, in spite of it hitting us in the eye everyday, is ignored.

For a real holistic happiness of the human soul, literature, classical music, art & unconditional love of God (not for what we can get out of Him) should become a part of our daily life.