By: Ashraya G, final year UG physiotherapy student from Manipal Academy of Higher Education
Indian culture derives its deep roots from ancient times and the Indian epics and Puranas. We Indians derive deep roots from ancient times. Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharath as well as Puranas have been used to teach us moral values, ethical values, duty, and responsibilities. Karma or deeds have been the centre of teaching from the ancient epics and Puranas. It is believed one can find answers to all their questions about life. The Mahabharat and Ramayana have discussed life, war, intellect, philosophy, treachery, passion, love, brotherhood and many more aspects of life.
In this article we indulge in discussion regarding portrayal of disability in these ancient scriptures. We then further analyse the situation from a philosophical perspective. During the course of this writing, you will find reference to research and literature in the field of disability studies and mythologies. We implore professionals in the field of disability studies to understand these deep rooted psychological and behavioural understandings of disability. Our intention is to help use this knowledge and understanding in planning about strategies to integrate persons with disabilities in the mainstream. But something that seems to have missed the limelight over the centuries is ‘disability’.
The Mahabharata is cherished by Indians and Indian culture, the Kurukshetra war is believed to have taken place around 3000 BC and among the people involved in the war, Dhritrashtra and Shakuni Mama were differently abled. Dhritrashtra was the king of the Kuru kingdom, and he was born blind. Despite his loss of vision, he was trained in military arts along with his half-brother Pandu by Bhishma and Kripacharya. His disability made it difficult to employ weapons, but he had the strength of one hundred thousand elephants due to the boon given by Vyasa and it’s believed that he had enough strength to crush iron with his bare hands. While talking about the Mahabharata one cannot miss the most famous villain of all times, Shakuni Mama. He was Dhritrashtra’s brother-in-law. He loved his sister Gandhari very dearly, many tales and scriptures have various versions of a story talking about Shakuni’s resentful behaviour towards the Kuru dynasty and so it’s believed that he influenced his nephews against their own cousins the Pandavas which led to the Kurukshetra war. Shakuni was also an intelligent man who was crafty and deceitful. He also had a locomotor disability which caused him to walk with a limp, some say that he also had a malformed or twitching eye.
If we look at Ramayana, the character Manthara is also demonised and blamed largely for sending lord Rama to a 14-year exile. Manthara was the maid of queen Kaikeyi who had accompanied Kaikeyi from mother’s house to Ayodhya when she married King Dasharatha. Scriptures say that King Dasharatha had granted two wishes to his queen Kaikeyi after she had helped him win a battle. Manthara convinced Kaikeyi to make use of those two wishes to send Rama to exile and make her son Bharat the king of Ayodhya. Some scriptures say that Manthara had no benefit by sending Rama to exile and instead faced heavy public scrutiny. This incident was linked to her having a hunched back which prevented her from standing erect. But this tale also shows how a person with an orthopaedic disability was included among society, Manthara was the head maid of queen Kaikeyi and a part of the royal staff.
Although Dhritrashtra, Shakuni and Manthara are negative characters of the epic of Mahabharat and Ramayana respectively, there are many people described in the Indian mythology who are a positive influence. The people of India have a deep impact of the ancient mythology even in the present - the oldest to the newest members of any Indian family are made aware of these stories which make a deep impact in an individual’s mind. The depiction of disabled people in the tales is limited and to a large extent spoken negatively but the rich mythology also has tales of some disabled people who were extraordinarily talented although it is unfortunate that very few Indians actually know their stories.
Ashtavakra was a deeply appreciated and admired sage whose name literally translates to ‘eight bends’. The text says that Ashtavakra had learned all the correct pronunciation of the Vedic mantras in his mother’s womb itself when his father used to recite them daily and one day his father made eight mistakes and he had corrected them from his mother’s womb and his father was offended by this and cursed the unborn child with eight deformities. Hence, Ashtavakra was born with eight physical deformities, despite which he went on to become a great sage who was given the title ‘Brahmrishi’ which is the highest position for a sage because of his intelligence and knowledge although he also had to face societal rejection because of his physical incapabilities and appearance. He was also the official guru for King Janaka, father of goddess Sita. He also has written the ‘Ashtavakra Samhita’ to pass on his acquired
knowledge to the coming generations.
Kalidasa according to some folklore was originally a shepherd and less educated. Some folklore believed that the princess in his town proposed that she would marry a man who was the most intelligent and when no one passed the test, the angry citizens sought out to find an uneducated person out of resent for the princess and brought Kalidasa to her and some tales say that the minister of the kingdom introduced the princess to Kalidasa after his proposal for the princess to marry his son was rejected. Despite how he met the princess, they got married under unfavourable circumstances after which the princess insulted Kalidasa and threw him out of the house. After which he went to Kali temple where he sat and learnt Sanskrit and all the puranas and went on to become a great poet, playwright and dramatist of ancient India. It is believed that he had an intellectual disability.
Shukracharya or Asuracharya is the son of sage Bhrigu. He is one of the greatest sages of all times and he considered himself to be qualified enough to get elected as the Guru of Devas, the gods - but sage Vrihaspati was elected over him which he perceived as an insult and turned to help the Asuras, the demons. He was not born with a disability, but it is believed that when Lord Vishnu took Vamana avatar he recognised lord Vishnu and made himself tiny enough to block the water flow from Vamana’s pitcher and protect his disciple King Bali. So, to clear the blockage Vamana took a twig to clean the pitcher which left the sage impaired of his vision thus leaving the sage with an acquired disability. Despite this Shukarcharya is worshipped by Hindus as a part of the ‘navagrahas [nine planets]’.
Trivakra is also known as Kubja in many texts. Our ancient scriptures have limited information about her, but she was an important part of Lord Krishna’s story. She was a maid in the palace of Mathura, and she had three deformities hence she was named Trivakra. It was believed that she had a hunchback, and some scriptures mention that she was bent in three places. Some texts say that one day she was carrying ubtan for the king and upon lord Krishna’s request she gave him the ubtan even though she knew she could be in trouble with the king for that, but lord Krishna returned the favour by curing her disability. This tale is another example of how a person with physical disability was included in society even in the ancient times.
Surdas is a well-known and renowned poet and was Lord Krishna’s devotee. He was believed to be blind by birth. He was neglected by his family due to his disability which forced him to leave home at the age of six, he went ahead to live on the banks of the Yamuna River where he met his guru Vallabha Acharya and became his disciple. He was a poet and singer and most of his work was in praise of Lord Krishna. His poems are assumed to describe lord Krishna's appearance better than anyone who had the gift of vision.
These tales have an impact even on present day thinking and perception of a person with disability. The differently abled face immense societal oppression, rejection and judgement about their appearance, inability, and abilities too. Even though Dhritarashtra was the eldest son and according to rules the heir of the throne, the throne was given to his half-brother Pandu first. After a while Pandu refused to continue as the king, and the throne was given to Dhritarashtra. He felt like he was the second choice for the throne and hence he wanted his eldest son Duryodhana to ascend the throne after him and he supported his son in any situation, good or bad. Even Manthara who had served Kaikeyi for a huge part of her life, had never gotten married due to her hunchback deformity, and connected to Bharat as her son but channelised her feelings in a negative way. Even Surdas had faced societal oppression and rejection at a young age by his own family members also but instead of channelising his feelings negatively he went ahead to train under his Guru’s guidance and become a renowned poet.
If one goes through the treasured and rich literature of Indian mythology, we can come across many more such examples about how people with disabilities have coexisted within society since ancient times. We as people should understand that they are not only part of the society, but they have always been a part of this very society and have played significant roles in their lives and can do so much more than we can imagine. We as fellow humans need to learn to be supportive of their dreams and aspirations. We must learn to encourage them, make a conscious effort to get to know them or the human in them and not just know them because of their disability.
Indian mythology is more than just ancient scripture and stories, it is a system of beliefs which provides a reasoning for the cultural and religious practices and its reflection in our daily life. Mythology is a spoken story of how civilization came up, and that influences how our beliefs, education and societal functions of the present day. Hinduism is one the oldest religions and its mythology and stories are told as they were centuries ago. Indian culture is so rich that even its medical practices are spoken about all around the world and ancient scripture has been studied extensively to understand these practices. Ancient Indian culture also came up with a group of mental, physical, and spiritual practices with an aim to control the mind in the form of yoga which can also help improve flexibility, balance, strength, movement quality, and function. Modern research studies have found a good correlation between the practice of yoga in rehabilitation. Yoga is believed to help the physically disabled to help restore some level of functional ability after practising yoga - such as improved mental coordination, mental ability, social skills, and general well-being, decreased anxiety, and improved overall health. Yoga is one such example of an intervention to gain recognition worldwide which was not only used to treat the physical challenges but as a good health practice. Indian scripture holds more such treasure to physical therapy and medicine and its full potential needs to be harvested to be able to provide a holistic approach to treatment of those who are physically and mentally challenged.
DISCLAIMER: This article was written to get a deeper understanding of Indian mythology in context to disability and had no intention to offend anyone’s feelings or beliefs.
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