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 while common belief is that the existence of one side negates the other, Indian thought has always celebrated opposites. “The Indian thought system believes that there is value inherent in both sides, depending on the context,” he said, adding, “There is a continuous coexistence of opposites.”
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