Soyarabai: Where Is There a Body Without It?

Here is what she wrote, and it is worth going slowly, because it is a formal argument and not a devotional sentiment.

The lines

देहासी विटाळ म्हणती सकळ । आत्मा तो निर्मळ शुद्ध बुद्ध ॥

Everyone calls the body polluted. The atman is spotless, pure, awake.

देहीचा विटाळ देहीच जन्मला । सोवळा तो झाला कवण धर्म ॥

The pollution of the body was born in the body itself. By what dharma did anything ever become pure?

विटाळावाचून उत्पत्तीचे स्थान । कोण देह निर्माण नाही जगी ॥

Without the polluting thing, where is the place of origin? What body was ever made in this world without it?

म्हणे चोख्याची महारी

Says Chokha's Mahar woman.

What she has just done

She has taken the category of ritual pollution and shown that it cannot do the work it is used for.

Step one. The thing declared polluting is menstrual blood, and the fluids of birth.

Step two. Every human being who has ever existed came out of exactly that. There is no other route. There is no body in the world that was made another way.

Step three. Therefore, if that substance pollutes, then every person is polluted, from origin, permanently, including the priest, including the person enforcing the rule, including everybody who has ever been called pure.

Step four. A category that applies to everyone without exception distinguishes nobody from anybody. So either the rule is universal, in which case it is useless as a basis for excluding one person and admitting another, or it is empty.

Step five. And she then says where purity actually is. Not in the body at all, which is made of the thing in question, but in the atman, which was not born and is not made of it.

That is a complete argument. Premise, universal instance, contradiction, conclusion.

And it was written in Marathi, in the fourteenth century, by a Mahar woman who was not permitted inside the temple she was writing about.

Why it is stronger than it looks

Because she does not argue that menstruation is not polluting.

That would be a claim she could be argued with about, on scriptural authority she did not have access to and would not have been granted.

Instead she concedes the premise entirely and destroys it from inside.

Very well, she says. It is polluting. Now show me one person it did not produce.

This is the same manoeuvre the strongest sant poetry uses everywhere. Kabir does not deny that the Ganga is holy; he asks what happens to the fish. Ravidas does not deny that purity matters; he asks where you think the leather in your drum came from.

You do not argue with the priest's premise. You take it and follow it to where he does not want to go.

What she is not saying

She is not saying the body does not matter, and she is not preaching a contempt for embodied life.

The Varkari tradition is one of the most embodied in India. It walks. Its central act is a physical journey and a physical sight of an image. Its poets are potters and gardeners and barbers who write about their hands.

She is making a narrower and sharper point: that a rule about bodily substances cannot be used to rank people, because the substances are universal and the ranking is not.

And who she was writing for

Herself, primarily.

A woman who was excluded from the temple on two grounds at once, caste and sex, and who was being told the exclusion followed from her body.

She wrote the counter argument down and signed it with both disqualifications.

Because it did not go away, and a devotional site that quotes her and then says nothing about it is quoting her decoratively.

What the tradition actually contains

Not one position. Several, and they contradict each other, and a reader should know that before anybody tells them the tradition is clear.

There are texts that impose restrictions during menstruation. That is true and this entry is not going to pretend otherwise.

And there is Soyarabai, in the canon, arguing that the category is incoherent.

And there is Kamakhya.

Which is the part almost nobody raises.

At the Kamakhya temple at Guwahati, one of the most important Shakta sites in India, the central annual festival is the Ambubachi Mela, which observes the goddess's menstruation. The temple closes for three days, and reopens, and the cloth associated with the observance is distributed as prasad, and hundreds of thousands of people come.

At Chengannur in Kerala, the goddess is likewise held to menstruate, and the temple observes it.

So the same religion that excludes menstruating women from some shrines has a major temple whose central sacred event is menstruation.

That is not an inconsistency to be embarrassed about. It is evidence that the exclusion is a local social rule that acquired religious language, rather than a doctrine the tradition holds uniformly.

Which is what Soyarabai said.

Where the law is

In September 2018 the Supreme Court held that the exclusion of women of menstruating age from the Sabarimala temple was unconstitutional, by a majority.

Review petitions were filed, and in November 2019 the matter was referred to a larger bench of nine judges to settle the broader questions about religious practice and constitutional rights, and that reference remains pending.

So the position is genuinely unsettled and anybody who tells you it is finally decided in either direction is overstating it.

What this entry will say, which does not depend on that case

Nobody should be prevented from getting medical care, going to school, going to work, eating with their family or sleeping indoors because they are menstruating.

That is not a contested religious question. It is a description of harm.

The health part, which is the part that gets skipped

One. Anaemia.

More than half of Indian women of reproductive age are anaemic, and heavy menstrual bleeding is one of the drivers. It is treatable, it is cheap to treat, and untreated it causes exhaustion, breathlessness, poor pregnancy outcomes and lifelong reduced capacity.

Iron and folic acid supplementation is available free through anganwadis, schools and health centres. Ask for it.

Two. Heavy or painful bleeding is not something to endure.

Bleeding that soaks through protection hourly, lasts more than seven days, involves large clots, or pain that stops you functioning is a medical matter, not a moral one. Fibroids, endometriosis, thyroid disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome and bleeding disorders all present this way and all are treatable.

Three. Products and cost.

Sanitary pads were exempted from GST in 2018. Subsidised pads are supplied to adolescent girls in rural areas under the national menstrual hygiene programme, through ASHA workers and schools. Ask the ASHA worker.

Four. School.

Girls miss school and drop out over this, and the two causes are cost and the absence of a working toilet. A school without a functioning girls' toilet is in breach of its obligations, and it is complainable to the block education officer and the school management committee.

Five. And the thing nobody says.

Menstrual restriction inside a household is not always mild. Being made to sleep outside, in an outhouse or a shed, in the cold, is practised in some regions, and people have died of it.

If a girl or woman in your knowledge is being put outside the house, that is not custom to be respected. Women's helpline 181. Childline 1098 if she is a child. Police 112.

What to say at home

Do not start with rights.

Start with Soyarabai, because she is inside the tradition and cannot be dismissed as modern.

Ask the question she asked, which is the only question that matters here: what body was ever made in this world without it.

And add Kamakhya, which most people have heard of and few have thought about in this connection.

You will not win the argument the first time. That is not the point. The point is that the tradition contains the counter argument, in Marathi, in the fourteenth century, from a woman who was excluded on two grounds and wrote it down anyway.

Where to go

• Mangalvedha, which is Soyarabai's town, and Chokhamela's, and Damaji Pant's
• Pandharpur, and Chokhamela's samadhi at the step, which is where the family is remembered
• Kamakhya, Guwahati, and the Ambubachi Mela

A daily practice from this entry

• Vitthal Vitthal, and the Haripath
• Soyarabai's abhangas, which are in print in Marathi and in translation
• And her question, kept somewhere you will see it: कोण देह निर्माण नाही जगी, what body was ever made in this world without it

Who: Soyarabai, fourteenth century, of Mangalvedha near Pandharpur, a Mahar woman, a Varkari poet and the wife of Chokhamela, which is how she is filed. That household held not one poet but four or five: Chokhamela, whose abhangas are the most famous body of Dalit devotional poetry in Marathi; Soyarabai, of whom roughly sixty two abhangas survive; Nirmala, his sister; Karmamela, their son, whose verses are the angriest in the entire Varkari corpus, asking Vitthal directly why he was born into this, why the family that sings to him is kept outside his door, and what the god was doing, without resolving it; and Banka, Nirmala's husband. The tradition preserved all of them, which is remarkable, kept Karmamela's verses without softening them, and then indexed all of them under one man. She signs herself Chokhyachi Mahari, Chokha's Mahar woman, naming herself by husband and caste and nothing else, which reads either as self abasement, a standard devotional posture, or as defiance, since a woman who signs a philosophical argument about ritual purity that way is putting the disqualification in the byline and telling you who is speaking before you read an argument you cannot answer.

The argument: everyone calls the body polluted, and the atman is spotless, pure and awake; the pollution of the body was born in the body itself, so by what dharma did anything ever become pure; and without the polluting thing, where is the place of origin, what body was ever made in this world without it. Step by step: the thing declared polluting is menstrual blood and the fluids of birth; every human being who has ever existed came out of exactly that and there is no other route; therefore if that substance pollutes, every person is polluted from origin, permanently, including the priest and everybody ever called pure; a category that applies to everyone without exception distinguishes nobody from anybody, so either the rule is universal and useless as a basis for excluding one person and admitting another, or it is empty; and purity is therefore not in the body at all but in the atman, which was not born and is not made of it. Premise, universal instance, contradiction, conclusion.

Why it is stronger than it looks: she does not argue that menstruation is not polluting, which would be a claim contestable on scriptural authority she had no access to. She concedes the premise entirely and destroys it from inside: very well, it is polluting, now show me one person it did not produce. It is the manoeuvre the strongest sant poetry uses everywhere, as Kabir does not deny the Ganga is holy but asks what happens to the fish, and Ravidas does not deny purity matters but asks where the leather in your drum came from. She is not preaching contempt for embodied life, since the Varkari tradition is one of the most embodied in India, walks, and has potters and gardeners and barbers writing about their hands. The point is narrower and sharper: a rule about bodily substances cannot rank people, because the substances are universal and the ranking is not.

The rule now: the tradition contains not one position but several that contradict each other. There are texts imposing restrictions during menstruation, which is true. There is Soyarabai, in the canon, arguing the category is incoherent. And there is Kamakhya at Guwahati, one of the most important Shakta sites in India, whose central annual festival is the Ambubachi Mela observing the goddess's menstruation, where the temple closes for three days, reopens, distributes the associated cloth as prasad, and draws hundreds of thousands; and Chengannur in Kerala, where the goddess is likewise held to menstruate. So the same religion that excludes menstruating women from some shrines has a major temple whose central sacred event is menstruation, which is evidence that the exclusion is a local social rule that acquired religious language rather than a uniform doctrine. On the law: in September 2018 the Supreme Court held by a majority that the exclusion of women of menstruating age from Sabarimala was unconstitutional, review petitions were filed, and in November 2019 the matter was referred to a nine judge bench to settle the broader questions, and that reference remains pending, so the position is genuinely unsettled.

What does not depend on that: nobody should be prevented from getting medical care, going to school, going to work, eating with their family or sleeping indoors because they are menstruating. On health: more than half of Indian women of reproductive age are anaemic and heavy bleeding is one driver, it is cheap to treat, and iron and folic acid supplementation is free through anganwadis, schools and health centres. Bleeding that soaks through protection hourly, lasts more than seven days, involves large clots, or pain that stops you functioning is a medical matter, and fibroids, endometriosis, thyroid disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome and bleeding disorders all present this way and are all treatable. Sanitary pads were exempted from GST in 2018 and subsidised pads reach adolescent girls in rural areas through ASHA workers and schools. A school without a functioning girls' toilet is in breach and complainable to the block education officer and the school management committee. And menstrual restriction inside a household is not always mild, since being made to sleep outside in an outhouse or shed is practised in some regions and people have died of it, so if a girl or woman you know is being put outside the house, that is not custom to be respected: women's helpline 181, Childline 1098 if she is a child, police 112.

What to say at home: not rights first. Start with Soyarabai, who is inside the tradition and cannot be dismissed as modern, ask the question she asked, which is what body was ever made in this world without it, and add Kamakhya, which most people have heard of and few have thought about in this connection. You will not win the first time, and that is not the point. The point is that the tradition contains the counter argument, in Marathi, in the fourteenth century, from a woman excluded on two grounds who wrote it down anyway.