Thursday, January 19, 2012
Indian History- Thursday January 19, 2012
I tried so hard to remember India's history as I sat in my culture prep class yesterday. I was ashamed to admit that there was very little I knew about this amazing country that I am about to live in for three months. As Jay and Margaret told us a brief history about India, I couldn't believe how rich the history was. I learned that the original "Indians" originated from the Indus River Valley, which ironically does not pass through present day India. I had no idea that there would be so many different kings through out the different eras. I also found it very interesting that most of the earlier histories, did not include the south of India, more specifically the state of Tamil Nadu, where will we will be living. I was curious to know the history of Tamil Nadu, and even more specific, the history of Chavadi, where we will be staying. I will be looking into that more as the semester unfolds. I was also thinking about how the history of Tamil Nadu, would influence my individual research project. I am basing my research on women self-perception and I was wondering how the history of women in Tamil Nadu and even India, influence my research. I know that like most traditional societies, India is mostly male oriented. However, I do know that in the Hindu religion, there are goddesses. I know that India has had women presidents and leaders. I am looking forward to finding out more about these specific details in history, which will lead me to a better understanding of the women in the village where I will be conducting my research.
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Just a little direction, I don't know how directly this will relate into your research, but when looking into Hindu theology, the concept of goddess is huge. There is the concept of the "mother goddess" (sometimes, well, often referred to as Mahadevi who takes many different forms. Some names to hit on are Ganga (not the river, well, yes the river, the river is a female deity, a form of Mahadevi) Sarasvati, Lakshmi (sometimes Laxmi), Parvati, Durga, and Kali. Also, tantric Hindu traditions do some really interesting things with gender roles, although I don't know how deep you want to go. Understanding the role of the female divine would actually be a pretty good place to start getting a grasp for how females fit into Indian society.
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