Margaret Bhatty
There was a time when we depended
on little green men from Mars for a world-view. After Mars probes debunked them,
we now have ETs - computerised caricatures of ourselves. If these voyagers
from outer space are as perceptive as Martians were, they too must marvel that
as a species we call ourselves Homo sapiens
- homo: men, and sapiens: wise. The truth is we are very close to primates and
a tiny shift in their genetic make-up would oblige us to offer chimps seats at
the UNO. Homo sapiens thinks that intelligence is the natural culmination of
the evolutionary process. Yet so manic is he in his passions and beliefs that
at the top of the ladder we all jostle for space with eminent monsters like
Caligula, Nero, Hitler and Mussolini.
A lunatic irrational streak runs
through entire cultures, shaping mores and moral values. Consider just two
aspects of humankind which ought to afford us most joy - sex and food. The apes
take both where they can find it without any drastic consequences. But humans,
with their super-intelligence, have devised complex systems of morality around
both systems which clearly indicate where we can end up in the afterworld if we
fail to measure up. It is possible, in some religions, for the pious to earn
“salvation” for their souls by never ingesting taboo foods, never indulging in
taboo sex, never committing strange crimes like “blasphemy” and “sacrilege”,
yet never doing a single deed of kindness to their fellowmen.
Since ETs traverse space we might
assume they know its layout and can locate that Never-Never land all good
people set their hearts on. Our icons and paintings, assuming the world is
flat, depict it as a place directly “above”
which can be reached by chariots drawn by fiery horses, ladders and stairways.
However, even astronauts know that in space there is no Up nor Down. There is
only outwards or Inwards. It is unlikely that ETs have ever happened upon
massed choirs of sexless winged creatures playing harps, or fabulous gardens and
orchards with streams, along with beautiful women waiting to serve the
deserving. Yet so strong a hold do these myths have on earthlings that all
their actions are influenced by other-worldly considerations.
How is it that Homo sapiens, who
so arrogantly squanders his environmental inheritance in the belief that he is
lord of creation, should in his turn think it necessary to grovel before the
gods? Desmond Morris, behavioural scientist, believes that the whole idea of an
afterlife is a defence mechanism against extinction. As self-conscious beings
we cannot visualise our own deaths. So we find it immensely comforting to
believe that a part of us - the soul - survives into another world, or returns
again to subsequent existences. From the impulse for self-preservation, humans
see God as a super-parent and his priests as super-leaders directing us in the
paths of righteousness. “A God that offers an afterlife in another world, that
protects his ‘children’ regardless of their age, and that offers them devotion to
a grand cause of a socially unifying purpose, triggers off powerful reactions
in the human animal” (Manwatching).
Apes might consider themselves
fortunate in not having evolved to such profundity. Sexually, they are beasts.
Human primates are self-aware and know what modesty is. Their sexuality is of
immense social significance to them. Regrettably, most religious cultures of
today lay greater emphasis on anti-sex elements in their morality. Pro-sex cultures
are denounced as decadent and sinful.
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| Adam and Eve |
No other religion has waged as
relentless a war against human sexuality as the Christian religion. Early
Christians believed
Eden was the
Garden of Innocence. Only after Adam and Eve ate
taboo food and were evicted did they indulge in sex. The early Christian
Fathers advocated complete sexual abstinence and chastity for anyone who wished
to go to heaven. Many believers emasculated themselves rather than forego the
promise of eternal life. They followed the Biblical message given by Christ in
St Mathew 19:12 – “For there are some - eunuchs which were born so from their
mother’s womb; and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs by men; and
there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the
kingdom of Heaven's
sake. He that is able to receive it let him receive it”.
Eunuch cults were widespread in
the Middle East and Asia long before
Christianity. The Mahabharata mentions the eunuch Sikhandi. Indian Hijras claim
that Arjun and Bhishma were also eunuchs. Pagan worshippers of Cybele held
rites in which novices were initiated. They went into frenzied dancing, slashed
off their genitals and hurled them at a statue of the goddess. They were easily
recognizable in the streets of Rome
dressed as women, wearing their perfumed hair long and dancing to the
accompaniment of flutes, cymbals, tambourines and castanets.
Eunuchs are mentioned in the Old
and New Testaments of the Bible. The Book of Daniel tells of the Jews exiled in
Babylonia where Daniel and his three friends
rose to eminence because of his ability to interpret correctly the dreams that
troubled Nebuchadnezzar the King (605 - 562 BC). The four captives were looked
after by Aspernaz “the prince of eunuchs”.
In
India eunuchs once held high office
as confidantes and spies for rulers. Today the Hindu and Muslim cults have
combined and members of both religions live together in families. Their patron
goddess goes by different names in various temples around the country. While
there are natural hermaphrodites among them, the majority have chosen emasculation
for other-worldly reasons. Impotent males sacrifice their sex to
Bahuchara Mata
to be assured of virility in the next seven existences. Others, though potent,
say the shadow of the goddess fell upon them. All look for reward in the
Hereafter.
The Skoptsi Christian sect in Russia,
following the verse in Mathew's gospel, emasculated themselves down to the
18th and 19th centuries. Young male singers in the Vatican
choir chose emasculation so that their voices remained a clear soprano in the
glory of God for the rest of their lives. The last castrato in the choir died
in 1903. From Church writings we know that eunuchs were ordained as bishops and
priests in the early church. Origen (185-254 AD), an eminent theologian,
emasculated himself. And Tertullian (160-220 AD) another Bible scholar wrote
that “the kingdom
of Heaven is thrown open
to all Eunuchs.” This worthy thinker also said of women: “Thou art the Devil's
gate!” With neutering so essential to a man's hope for Heaven it followed that
all women were a hindrance sent by Satan.
All religions claim their
scriptures were written or revealed by amorphous Super-beings given different
names and identities by each faith. Their preoccupation with human sexuality
and the need to curb women is evident in the personal laws practised by all
faiths today. It is therefore somewhat puzzling why the Creator located woman's
centre of virtue not in her mind but in that part of her anatomy where it is
most at risk - in a small triangular fold of tissue called the hymen. Its
presence or absence in young unmarried females of the human species decided on
whether they are upright, chaste and virtuous, or contemptible as “fallen
women.” Virginity is a perilous condition and must be guarded jealously by the
males in a family because their honour is bound into its presence, until such
time as it is legitimately yielded up in marriage. Christian nuns are described
as “brides of Christ” and they must be virgin to qualify for this status.
In 1985 a sensational news story
appeared in our papers about how upper-class girls from rich families in the
Middle East were being treated by Bombay
doctors before their forthcoming marriages to men of orthodox belief who placed
a high premium on virginity. Having lost their virginity through frivolous
misadventure, they were paying Rupees twenty thousand for hymenoplasty. Thus
have humans with their superior intelligence now been able to restore chastity
and good character in females through surgical means - though we cannot know if
this ensures them access to Heaven.
Christian theologians of medieval
times conceded that while woman is totally evil, man is a “creation of the
Devil only from the waist down.” The church therefore regulated all sexual activity
for those who couldn't resist getting married thereby spoiling somewhat their
chances of salvation. Abstention was mandatory on Thursdays (in memory of
Christ's arrest), on Fridays (in memory of his death), on Saturdays (in honour
of the Virgin Mary), on Sundays (because of the Resurrection), and on Mondays
(to commemorate the dead.). This left just Tuesdays and Wednesdays for sex -
unless the Church was observing the forty-day fast before Easter, or the feast
of Pentecost and Christmas, or seven, five or three days before communion. A
husband keen on achieving eternal life in the hereafter could consult this
theological calendar if he wished to have sex with his wife - not for fun but
for procreation.
Contraception was a sin, in case
it made a woman think that she might possibly enjoy sex safely. Coitus
interruptus and oral sex invited sentences from three to fifteen years. And
those men who committed these "abomination joyfully" could be publicly
whipped, put on fasts of bread and water for years, or have their bottoms exposed
to public ridicu1e in the market-place.
Since sex depends heavily on the
chemistry of sex appeal, those anxious for their souls rendered themselves as
unattractive as possible. Adornment and finery was of the Devil, bathing was a
sin.
Anchorites, fleeing temptation by women, lived in the wilderness unwashed
for the rest of their lives. St.Abraham, "a man of singular beauty”, fled
on his wedding night and never washed for the next fifty years. The dirt on his
person "reflected the purity of his soul." Body odour was called
"the odour of sanctity" and lice the "pearls of God." Those
celibates who couldn't live in the wilderness climbed to the top of tall
columns and were called stylites. Up there they were assured of being free from
contact with women which could put their souls at risk.
Women who yearned for Heaven had
to cancel out their sexual selves by being rigorously filthy. One famous
virgin, Sylvia, suffered extreme1y poor health by the age of sixty because she
washed only the tip of her fingers. An anchorite in the desert believed he was
having a vision of Satan himself when he saw a naked creature, black with
filth, and white hair floating behind. It was the once beautiful St Mary of Egypt who had
expiated for her sins for 47 years. Today pious women can achieve Heaven more
healthfully, but they must cover those parts of their anatomy which men have
decided are sinful by dressing in long garments and hiding their hair, going
clean-shaven or plucking it out one by one.
Western ascetism promoted celibacy
for reward in Heaven. Eastern asceticism uses tapasya, rigorous piety and sexual abstinence to enhance a person's
intellectual powers. It endows yogis with supernatural power over other humans
and Nature. This sublimation of the sexual impulse has given rise to bizarre
folklore in our country which would fill volumes. Hatha Yoga has the Vajroli
Mudra which enables a man to suck mil, water and mercury through the penis.
This mix taken in reverse makes a man immortal. Ancient texts say that those
whose sperm travels upwards are like gods. Semen ejaculated into a woman and
drawn back also ensures immortality. Women cannot perform these remarkable
feats because they are defectively designed.
Celibacy in all Indian religions
is seen as a pious necessity and many practitioners even screen themselves off
from the sight of women. Asceticism has a long tradition in India. Among the Jews the Essene
sect regarded sexualintercourse as impure and sinful. Some scholars believe
Christ was an Essene. Stoicism abhorred sex. St Paul preached celibacy (and possibly
emasculation) as the best way to Salvation. He found it regrettable that men
needed to marry at all. The neo-Platonists were as ascetic as the Christians,
and Manicheism, which saw good and evil as a conflict between darkness and
light, spread from Persia
to influence European thought. Manes (215-275 AD) preached strict asceticism,
including abstinence from all kinds of flesh. Even St Augustine was one of his followers.
The use and abuse of sex in religion
is found the world over - in "civilized" cultures as in
"primitive" tribal ones. From the cults of ancient fertility
goddesses, phallic worship and orgies surrounding procreative gods like
Priapus,
vestal virgins dedicated to deities, temple prostitution and our own devadasi system
in which credulous women believe they are serving Yellamma when sold into
Bombay brothels, down to weird
superstitions surrounding the magical properties of semen hymeneal blood and
menstruation. One need not be a traveller from outer space to note and marvel
at the manner in which Homo sapiens wallows in laughable mix of infantilism
regarding his sexuality and an astonishing arrogance. Cosmic significance is
attached to the act of copulation in tantrik cults of ecstasy, but a suitable
abhorrence of it is a sure way to salvation in religions which claim to be
highly moral.
Undoubtedly, the religious
emphasis on celibacy, and the male chauvinism of the anti-sex element in the
practice of piety, is largely responsible for the traditional denigration of
women, with odium attached to their bodies.
Primitive superstition still
survives in our personal laws which deny women sexual equality, control of
their own fertility, the right to contraception, the right to join the priesthood,
and all those laws binding marriage and divorce which victimize them.
If our simian cousins got a small
hint of what awaits them were they to cross the small genetic divide that sets
them apart from humans, they would not care to opt even for observer status at
the United Nations. Being human is far too perilous a proposition.
Courtesy:
Indian Skeptic, September 1995
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