Where does one look for wisdom? Conventional modes of thinking have always kept women outside the domain of knowledge creation. In Aranyaka, a book about three Vedic rishikas — Katyayani the Large, Maitreyi the Fig and Gargi the Weaver — this is what Devdutt Pattanaik and Amruta Patil set out to challenge.
“The book has been written as a parable. It tells the story of sage Yajnavalkya, one of the earliest philosophers in recorded history, and his two wives – the earthly Katyayani and the philosophical Maitreyi … It humanises things, makes them relatable. These women are sympathetic and complex,” Patil said at a session on Female Rishis: The Untold Stories at the Times Litfest on Saturday. “It is the result of a thousand days of work,” said Pattanaik.
Narrating Katyayani’s journey, Pattanaik said there was every reason to see her as a guru. “We are trained to not look for wisdom everywhere ... Do you find it in the classroom or the kitchen? This story has been missing,” Pattanaik said.
In a similar challenge to predetermined binaries at a session on Yogi or Bhogi: What should a king be, Pattanaik said that Indian thought has always celebrated opposites. “Indian thought believes that there is value on both sides, depending on the context,” he said, adding, “There is a continuous coexistence of opposites.”
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