History of sex in India
Encyclopedia
Human sexual behaviour in India
has been influenced by different attitudes and opinions over time.
as a science, to in modern times being the origin of the philosophical focus of new-age
groups' attitudes on sex. It may be argued that India pioneered the use of sexual education through art and literature. As in all societies, there was a difference in sexual practices in India between common people and powerful rulers, with people in power often indulging in hedonistic lifestyles that were not representative of common moral attitudes.
being contemporary to ancient Egypt
and Sumer
, spreading across modern India
and Pakistan
at its peak, 4000 years ago. During this period, not much is known about social attitudes toward sex. One thing that has been observed about sexuality in the Indus Valley civilization is the practice of fertility rituals.
The first evidence of attitudes towards sex comes from the ancient texts of Hinduism
, Buddhism
and Jainism
, the first of which are perhaps the oldest surviving literature in the world. These most ancient texts, the Vedas, reveal moral perspectives on sexuality, marriage and fertility prayers. The epics of ancient India, the Ramayana
and Mahabharata
, which may have been first composed as early as 400 BCE, had a huge effect on the culture of Asia
, influencing later Chinese
, Japan
ese, Tibet
an and South East Asian culture. These texts support the view that in ancient India, sex was considered a mutual duty between a married couple, where husband and wife pleasured each other equally, but where sex was considered a private affair, at least by followers of the aforementioned Indian religions. It seems that polygamy
was allowed during ancient times. In practice, this seems to have only been practiced by rulers, with common people maintaining a monogamous marriage. It is common in many cultures for a ruling class to practice both polyandry
and polygny as a way of preserving dynastic succession.
Nudity
in art, was considered acceptable in southern India, as shown by the paintings at Ajanta
and the sculptures of the time. It is likely that as in most countries with tropical climates, Indians from some regions did not need to wear clothes, and other than for fashion
, there was no practical need to cover the upper half of the body. This is supported by historical evidence, which shows that men in many parts of ancient India mostly dressed only the lower half of their bodies with clothes and upper part of body was covered by gold and precious stones, jewelery.While women used to wear trditional sarees made of silk and expensive clothes as a symbol of their wealth.
As Indian civilization further developed over the 1500 years after the births of Mahavira
, and the writing of the Upanishads around 500 BCE,It was somewhere between the 1st and 6th centuries that the Kama Sutra
, originally known as Vatsyayana Kamasutram ('Vatsyayana's Aphorisms on Love'), was written. This philosophical work on kama shastra, or 'science of love', was intended as both an exploration of human desire, including infidelity, and a technical guide to pleasing a sexual partner within a marriage. This is not the only example of such a work in ancient India, but is the most widely known in modern times. It is probably during this period that the text spread to ancient China
, along with Buddhist scriptures, where Chinese versions were written.
It is also during 10th century to 12th century that some of India's most famous ancient works of art were produced, often freely depicting romantic themes and situations. Examples of this include the depiction of Apsarases, roughly equivalent to nymph
s or siren
s in Europe
an and Arabic mythology, on some ancient temples, .The best and most famous example of this can be seen at the Khajuraho
complex in central India built around 9th to 12th century.
and Europe
, colonial powers such as the Portuguese
, British
and French
were seeking ways of circumventing the Muslim controlled lands of western Asia, and re-opening ancient Greek
and Roman
trade routes with the fabled rich lands of India, resulting in the first attempts to sail around Africa, and circumnavigate the globe. Various European powers eventually found ways of reaching India, where they allied with various post-Mughal Indian kings, and later managed to annex India.
Although the Portuguese and French had managed to set up some small enclaves in India, such as Goa, where the Catholic
inquisition
forcibly converted some of the population of the small region to Catholicism, it was the arrival of the British
, who managed to annex the entire Indian subcontinent through alliances with various monarchs, that had the largest effect on the culture of India and its attitudes to sex. Rule was indirect at first through the East India Company
whose administrators did not necessarily interfere extensively and even took advantage of the tattered remnants of Hindu liberalism in sexual matters, for example through liaisons and by maintaining de facto wives. At the same time there were significant number of orientalists
who saw India as a great civilization, invented the field of Indology
, and advocated a more accepting point of view.
However the East India Company was progressively brought under the control of the British Parliament
and Crown
by Acts of Parliament in 1773, 1784, 1786, 1813, 1833 and 1853. The Indian Rebellion of 1857
caused widespread condemnation of the East India Company's alleged shortcomings and the Government of India Act 1858
completely did away with the Company's intermediary role, ushering in the British Raj
era of direct rule. This put India much more at the mercy of Britain's official guardians of morality. Victorian values stigmatized Indian sexual liberalism. The pluralism of Hinduism
, and its liberal attitudes were condemned as 'barbaric' and proof of inferiority of the East. The effects of British education, administration, scholarship of Indian history and biased literature all led to the effective 'colonization' of the Indian mind with European values. This led some Indians wanting to conform their religious practices and moral values to Victorian
ideas of "high" civilization.
A number of movements were set up by prominent citizens, such as the Brahmo Samaj
in Bengal
and the Prarthana Samaj
in Bombay Presidency
, to work for the 'reform' of Indian private and public life. Paradoxically while this new consciousness led to the promotion of education for women and (eventually) a raise in the age of consent
and reluctant acceptance of remarriage
for widows, it also produced a puritanical attitude to sex even within marriage
and the home. The liberality of precolonial India had also respected the home and relationships. But after coming British hidden sexual abuses such as intimidating relatives into incest
and spousal rape
from public view increased , and it destroyed the holy and scientific thoughts about sex and relationships. With the influence of colonial era, women lost their virginity and purity of mental ideas for sex. There were old and scientific ideas of 'temperance
' and good conduct overlay and reinforced ancient ideas of asceticism and yogic self-containment, the 'brahmacharya
' of ancient tradition. Countries such as India became more conservative after being influenced by European ideas. At the same time, translations of the Kama Sutra
and other 'exotic' texts became available in Europe, where they gained notorious status, and ironically may have triggered early foundations of the sexual revolution
in the west.
While during the 1960s and 1970s in the west, many people discovered the ancient culture of sexual liberalism in India as a source for western free love movements, and neo-Tantric philosophy, India itself is currently the more prudish culture, embodying Victorian sensibilities that were abandoned decades ago in their country of origin. However, with increased exposure to world culture due to globalization, and the proliferation of progressive ideas due to greater education and wealth, India is beginning to go through a western-style sexual revolution of its own, especially in cosmopolitan cities.
In Punjab due to the acute shortage of females due to sex selection and to keep farm holdings from shrinking through division under male heirs polygny is reviving as male heirs share a wife so that they do have to split farm holdings further due to questions of succession and can keep holdings within the family.
is an important part of modern India, and is expressive of Indian society in general. Historically, Indian television and film has lacked the frank depiction of sex; until recently, even kissing scenes were considered taboo
. On the other hand, rape scenes or scenes showing sexual assault were shown. Currently, some Indian states show soft-core sexual scenes and nudity in films, whilst other areas don't. Mainstream films are still largely catered for the masses of India, however art films and foreign films containing sexuality are watched by middle-class Indians. Because of the same process of glamorization of film entertainment that occurred in Hollywood, Indian cinema, mainly the Hindi
speaking Bollywood
industry, is also beginning to add sexual overtones.
, fantasy, chastity, royal magazine, dafa 302 exist in India.
was frowned upon in ancient India, it was tolerated and regulated so as to reduce the damage that it could do. However, stigmatisation in modern times has left the many poor sex workers with problems of exploitation and rampant infection, including AIDS
, and has allowed a huge people-trafficking industry like that of Eastern Europe
to take hold. Many poor young women are kidnapped from villages—particularly in Nepal—and sold into sexual slavery. There have been some recent efforts to regulate the Indian sex industry.
did a survey of children and young adults. http://wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf 53.22% of children reported having faced sexual abuse. 5.69% had been sexually assaulted (oral sex or penetration of vagina or anus). 21.90% of child respondents faced severe forms of sexual abuse including assault, exposure or being photographed in the nude. 50.76% reported other forms of sexual abuse including sexual advances in travel or marriage situations, exhibitionism and being forced to view pornographic material. 50% of abusers were known to the children or in a position of trust and responsibility. Most children had not reported the matter.
The authors concluded:
In recent years, movies based in India have addressed the issue of sexual abuse. The 2001 film Monsoon Wedding
written by Sabrina Dhawan
and directed by Mira Nair
had a subplot with a longtime abuser finally confronted. And in the Oscar-winning 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire
, part of the plot involves the protagonist's attempt to rescue his childhood friend and love interest from a gangster who has captured her and intends to sell her virginity. It should be noted, however, that both of these films were produced outside of India.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
has been influenced by different attitudes and opinions over time.
History
The seeming contradictions of Indian attitudes towards sex can be best explained through the context of history. India played a significant role in the history of sex, from writing the first literature that treated sexual intercourseSexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
as a science, to in modern times being the origin of the philosophical focus of new-age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
groups' attitudes on sex. It may be argued that India pioneered the use of sexual education through art and literature. As in all societies, there was a difference in sexual practices in India between common people and powerful rulers, with people in power often indulging in hedonistic lifestyles that were not representative of common moral attitudes.
Ancient times
Indian culture can be considered amongst the most ancient, with the ancient Indus Valley civilizationIndus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
being contemporary to ancient Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
, spreading across modern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
at its peak, 4000 years ago. During this period, not much is known about social attitudes toward sex. One thing that has been observed about sexuality in the Indus Valley civilization is the practice of fertility rituals.
The first evidence of attitudes towards sex comes from the ancient texts of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
, the first of which are perhaps the oldest surviving literature in the world. These most ancient texts, the Vedas, reveal moral perspectives on sexuality, marriage and fertility prayers. The epics of ancient India, the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
and Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, which may have been first composed as early as 400 BCE, had a huge effect on the culture of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, influencing later Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an and South East Asian culture. These texts support the view that in ancient India, sex was considered a mutual duty between a married couple, where husband and wife pleasured each other equally, but where sex was considered a private affair, at least by followers of the aforementioned Indian religions. It seems that polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
was allowed during ancient times. In practice, this seems to have only been practiced by rulers, with common people maintaining a monogamous marriage. It is common in many cultures for a ruling class to practice both polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
and polygny as a way of preserving dynastic succession.
Nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
in art, was considered acceptable in southern India, as shown by the paintings at Ajanta
Ajanta
The Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are 29 rock-cut cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE. The caves include paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art as well as frescos which are reminiscent of the Sigiriya...
and the sculptures of the time. It is likely that as in most countries with tropical climates, Indians from some regions did not need to wear clothes, and other than for fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, there was no practical need to cover the upper half of the body. This is supported by historical evidence, which shows that men in many parts of ancient India mostly dressed only the lower half of their bodies with clothes and upper part of body was covered by gold and precious stones, jewelery.While women used to wear trditional sarees made of silk and expensive clothes as a symbol of their wealth.
As Indian civilization further developed over the 1500 years after the births of Mahavira
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
, and the writing of the Upanishads around 500 BCE,It was somewhere between the 1st and 6th centuries that the Kama Sutra
Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses...
, originally known as Vatsyayana Kamasutram ('Vatsyayana's Aphorisms on Love'), was written. This philosophical work on kama shastra, or 'science of love', was intended as both an exploration of human desire, including infidelity, and a technical guide to pleasing a sexual partner within a marriage. This is not the only example of such a work in ancient India, but is the most widely known in modern times. It is probably during this period that the text spread to ancient China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, along with Buddhist scriptures, where Chinese versions were written.
It is also during 10th century to 12th century that some of India's most famous ancient works of art were produced, often freely depicting romantic themes and situations. Examples of this include the depiction of Apsarases, roughly equivalent to nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
s or siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
s in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and Arabic mythology, on some ancient temples, .The best and most famous example of this can be seen at the Khajuraho
Khajuraho
The Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Khajuraho , a town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about southeast of New Delhi, are one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for...
complex in central India built around 9th to 12th century.
Delhi Sultanate and Muslim Rule Era
After the foundation of the Delhi Sultanates and the set up of several Muslim states in the 14th-15th centuries in India, Islamic customs of the complete covering up of women changed the approach that once existed in India. It is not to say that the "Purdah" system became prevalent or was enforced in this period, because there were several Hindu customs which had the same principles - such as the 'ghunghat' of the marwaris of Rajputana. However, it came to be followed more like a staunch rule than a tradition, and of course it must be remembered that this was not an indigenous custom, being in fact imported from areas in the Persian sphere of influence in South Asia such as Rajasthan or under Turkic-Mongol Muslim conquerors.Colonial era
At the end of the medieval period in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, colonial powers such as the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
were seeking ways of circumventing the Muslim controlled lands of western Asia, and re-opening ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
trade routes with the fabled rich lands of India, resulting in the first attempts to sail around Africa, and circumnavigate the globe. Various European powers eventually found ways of reaching India, where they allied with various post-Mughal Indian kings, and later managed to annex India.
Although the Portuguese and French had managed to set up some small enclaves in India, such as Goa, where the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
forcibly converted some of the population of the small region to Catholicism, it was the arrival of the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
, who managed to annex the entire Indian subcontinent through alliances with various monarchs, that had the largest effect on the culture of India and its attitudes to sex. Rule was indirect at first through the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
whose administrators did not necessarily interfere extensively and even took advantage of the tattered remnants of Hindu liberalism in sexual matters, for example through liaisons and by maintaining de facto wives. At the same time there were significant number of orientalists
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
who saw India as a great civilization, invented the field of Indology
Indology
Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent , and as such is a subset of Asian studies....
, and advocated a more accepting point of view.
However the East India Company was progressively brought under the control of the British Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
and Crown
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
by Acts of Parliament in 1773, 1784, 1786, 1813, 1833 and 1853. The Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
caused widespread condemnation of the East India Company's alleged shortcomings and the Government of India Act 1858
Government of India Act 1858
The Government of India Act 1858 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on August 2, 1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company and the transference of its functions to the British Crown...
completely did away with the Company's intermediary role, ushering in the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
era of direct rule. This put India much more at the mercy of Britain's official guardians of morality. Victorian values stigmatized Indian sexual liberalism. The pluralism of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, and its liberal attitudes were condemned as 'barbaric' and proof of inferiority of the East. The effects of British education, administration, scholarship of Indian history and biased literature all led to the effective 'colonization' of the Indian mind with European values. This led some Indians wanting to conform their religious practices and moral values to Victorian
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period...
ideas of "high" civilization.
A number of movements were set up by prominent citizens, such as the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and the Prarthana Samaj
Prarthana Samaj
Prarthana Samaj, or "Prayer Society" in Sanskrit, was a movement for religious and social reform in Maharashtra based on earlier reform movements and traditions of Maharashtra formed in 1849 by Ram Balkrishna Jaykar and others in Mumbai. It was secret in order to avoid the wrath of the powerful...
in Bombay Presidency
Bombay Presidency
The Bombay Presidency was a province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.At its greatest...
, to work for the 'reform' of Indian private and public life. Paradoxically while this new consciousness led to the promotion of education for women and (eventually) a raise in the age of consent
Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
and reluctant acceptance of remarriage
Remarriage
Remarriage is a marriage that takes place after a previous marital union has ended, as through divorce or widowhood.Some individuals are more likely to remarry than others; the likelihood can differ based on previous relationship status , level of interest in establishing a new romantic...
for widows, it also produced a puritanical attitude to sex even within marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
and the home. The liberality of precolonial India had also respected the home and relationships. But after coming British hidden sexual abuses such as intimidating relatives into incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
and spousal rape
Spousal rape
Marital rape, also known as spousal rape, is non-consensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim's spouse. As such, it as a form of partner rape, of domestic violence, and of sexual abuse. Once widely condoned or ignored by law, spousal rape is now repudiated by international conventions and...
from public view increased , and it destroyed the holy and scientific thoughts about sex and relationships. With the influence of colonial era, women lost their virginity and purity of mental ideas for sex. There were old and scientific ideas of 'temperance
Temperance (virtue)
Temperance has been studied by religious thinkers, philosophers, and more recently, psychologists, particularly in the positive psychology movement. It is considered a virtue, a core value that can be seen consistently across time and cultures...
' and good conduct overlay and reinforced ancient ideas of asceticism and yogic self-containment, the 'brahmacharya
Brahmacharya
Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of life in an age-based social system as laid out in the Manu Smrti and later Classical Sanskrit texts in Hinduism. It refers to an educational period of 14–20 years which starts before the age of puberty. During this time the traditional vedic sciences are...
' of ancient tradition. Countries such as India became more conservative after being influenced by European ideas. At the same time, translations of the Kama Sutra
Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses...
and other 'exotic' texts became available in Europe, where they gained notorious status, and ironically may have triggered early foundations of the sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
in the west.
Modern India
Conservative views of sexuality are now the norm in the modern republic of India, and South Asia in general. It is often argued that this is partly related to the effect of colonial influence, as well as to the puritanical elements of Islam (e.g. the new Islamic fundamentalist Wahabi movement, which has influenced many Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and also many Muslim organizations within India). However, such views were also prevalent in the precolonial era, especially since the advent of Islam in India which brought purdah as ideal for women. Before the gradual spread of Islam largely through the influence of Sufis, there seems to be evidence of liberal attitudes towards sexuality and nudity in art. However, scholars debate the degree to which Islam, as a mass and varied phenomenon was responsible for this shift.While during the 1960s and 1970s in the west, many people discovered the ancient culture of sexual liberalism in India as a source for western free love movements, and neo-Tantric philosophy, India itself is currently the more prudish culture, embodying Victorian sensibilities that were abandoned decades ago in their country of origin. However, with increased exposure to world culture due to globalization, and the proliferation of progressive ideas due to greater education and wealth, India is beginning to go through a western-style sexual revolution of its own, especially in cosmopolitan cities.
In Punjab due to the acute shortage of females due to sex selection and to keep farm holdings from shrinking through division under male heirs polygny is reviving as male heirs share a wife so that they do have to split farm holdings further due to questions of succession and can keep holdings within the family.
Current issues
Modern issues that affect India, as part of the sexual revolution, have become points of argument between conservative and liberal forces, such as political parties and religious pressure groups. Many sexual issues are used as ways of political parties garnering votes amongst conservative Indians. These issues are also matters of ethical importance in a nation where freedom and equality are guaranteed in the constitution.Sexuality in popular entertainment
The entertainment industrySex in Indian Entertainment
In Indian film and television, there is currently a decrease in the taboo related to the depiction of sexuality. However, many Bollywood films, with an emphasis on the rich, urban class, rarely depict the true values that most Indians have about sex...
is an important part of modern India, and is expressive of Indian society in general. Historically, Indian television and film has lacked the frank depiction of sex; until recently, even kissing scenes were considered taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
. On the other hand, rape scenes or scenes showing sexual assault were shown. Currently, some Indian states show soft-core sexual scenes and nudity in films, whilst other areas don't. Mainstream films are still largely catered for the masses of India, however art films and foreign films containing sexuality are watched by middle-class Indians. Because of the same process of glamorization of film entertainment that occurred in Hollywood, Indian cinema, mainly the Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
speaking Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
industry, is also beginning to add sexual overtones.
Pornography
The distribution and production of pornography are illegal in India. Accessing pornography in private is, however, not illegal. But softcore films have been common since the late 1970s, produced by many directors. Magazine publications like Debonair (magazine)Debonair (magazine)
Debonair is an Indian men's magazine, originally modeled after Playboy.The magazine, best known for its topless female centerfolds, was launched by Ashok Row Kavi and Anthony Van Braband. Under editor Derek Bose, Debonair was reformatted to remove nudity and target a younger demographic in 2005....
, fantasy, chastity, royal magazine, dafa 302 exist in India.
- Savita BhabhiSavita BhabhiSavita Bhabhi is an Indian pornographic cartoon character and has earned a recognition as India's first porn star. The character named Savita is depicted as an attractive promiscuous housewife who is ignored by her husband and engages in sexual adventures. The suffix bhabhi is commonly attached...
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_savita-bhabhi-s-creator-comes-clean-reveals-identity_1272906 is a mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
-like erotic cartoon strip about the adventures of a bored and husband-neglected housewife. *A Desi Fantasy website solicited and gave access to user-written pornographic narratives but as of 2010 seemed to have disappeared into the ether, leaving behind a compendium in a blog hosted outside India. http://desi-fantasy.blogspot.com/2006/09/stories-collection.html These narratives are in a mixture of English and romanized Hindi/Urdu. They are notable for situations inside traditional extended families that might be considered incestuous as well as for situations outside traditional families, perhaps documenting the sex lives of Indian yuppies whose lifestyles seem to resemble their western counterparts'. *The Information Technology ActInformation Technology ActThe Information Technology Act 2000 is an Act of the Indian Parliament notified on October 17, 2000.-History of the Act:...
, Chapter XI Paragraph 67, the Government of IndiaGovernment of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
clearly considers online pornography as a punishable offense. The CEO of the Indian subsidiary of eBay was charged with various criminal offenses for allowing the trading of a CD containing these clips on the website.
Sex industry
While trade in sexProstitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
was frowned upon in ancient India, it was tolerated and regulated so as to reduce the damage that it could do. However, stigmatisation in modern times has left the many poor sex workers with problems of exploitation and rampant infection, including AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, and has allowed a huge people-trafficking industry like that of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
to take hold. Many poor young women are kidnapped from villages—particularly in Nepal—and sold into sexual slavery. There have been some recent efforts to regulate the Indian sex industry.
Sexual abuse of children
In 2007 the Ministry of Women and Child DevelopmentMinistry of Women and Child Development (India)
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to women and child development in India...
did a survey of children and young adults. http://wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf 53.22% of children reported having faced sexual abuse. 5.69% had been sexually assaulted (oral sex or penetration of vagina or anus). 21.90% of child respondents faced severe forms of sexual abuse including assault, exposure or being photographed in the nude. 50.76% reported other forms of sexual abuse including sexual advances in travel or marriage situations, exhibitionism and being forced to view pornographic material. 50% of abusers were known to the children or in a position of trust and responsibility. Most children had not reported the matter.
The authors concluded:
The subject of child sexual abuse is still a taboo in India. There is a conspiracy of silence around the subject
and a very large percentage of people feel that this is a largely western problem and that child sexual abuse
does not happen in India. Part of the reason of course lies in a traditional conservative family and community
structure that does not talk about sex and sexuality at all. Parents do not speak to children about sexuality
as well as physical and emotional changes that take place during their growing years. As a result of this, all
forms of sexual abuse that a child faces do not get reported to anyone. The girl, whose mother has not
spoken to her even about a basic issue like menstruation, is unable to tell her mother about the uncle or
neighbour who has made sexual advances towards her. This silence encourages the abuser so that he is
emboldened to continue the abuse and to press his advantage to subject the child to more severe forms of
sexual abuse. Very often children do not even realize that they are being abused. In a study on Women's
Experiences of Incest and Childhood Sexual Abuse conducted by RAHI, some of the respondents have
stated that till the questionnaire was administered to them they did not realize that they had been abused as
children. They had buried the incident as a painful and shameful one not to be ever told to anyone.
Some deep seated fear has always moved Indian families to keep their girls and their 'virginity' safe and
many kinds of social and cultural practices have been built around ensuring this. This shows that there is
knowledge of the fact that a girl child is unsafe though nobody talks about it. However this fear is only
around girls and the safety net is generally not extended to boys. There is evidence from this as well as
other studies that boys are equally at risk.
In recent years, movies based in India have addressed the issue of sexual abuse. The 2001 film Monsoon Wedding
Monsoon Wedding
* Originally featured in the Hindi film Loafer * Originally featured in the Hindi film Biwi No.1 -Awards:The movie won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival...
written by Sabrina Dhawan
Sabrina Dhawan
Sabrina Dhawan is an England-born Indian screenwriter. She was born in England and was raised in New Delhi, India.Dhawan is most well known for Monsoon Wedding, a 2001 film directed by Mira Nair; and for Cosmopolitan, a 2003 American cross-cultural romance film directed by Nisha Ganatra and...
and directed by Mira Nair
Mira Nair
Mira Nair is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films.She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! , won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination...
had a subplot with a longtime abuser finally confronted. And in the Oscar-winning 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
, part of the plot involves the protagonist's attempt to rescue his childhood friend and love interest from a gangster who has captured her and intends to sell her virginity. It should be noted, however, that both of these films were produced outside of India.
See also
- History of human sexualityHistory of human sexualityThe social construction of sexual behavior—its taboos, regulation and social and political impact—has had a profound effect on the various cultures of the world since prehistoric times.- Sources :...
- Homosexuality in IndiaHomosexuality in IndiaHomosexuality is generally considered a taboo subject by both Indian civil society and the government. Public discussion of homosexuality in India has been inhibited by the fact that sexuality in any form is rarely discussed openly. In recent years, however, attitudes towards homosexuality have...
- Homosexuality and HinduismHomosexuality and HinduismHindu views of homosexuality and, in general, LGBT issues, are diverse. Homosexuality is regarded as one of the possible expressions of human desire and Hindu mythic stories have portrayed homosexual experience as natural and joyful. There are several Hindu temples which have carvings that depict...
- Homosexuality and SikhismHomosexuality and SikhismSikhism has no specific teachings about homosexuality. The Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, does not explicitly mention homosexuality.-Conflicting Views In Modern Sikhism:...
- KamashastraKamashastraIn Indian literature, Kāmashastra refers to the tradition of works on Kāma: love, erotics, or sensual pleasures. It therefore has a practical orientation, similar to that of Arthashastra, the tradition of texts on politics and government...
- Non-westernized concepts of male sexuality
Further reading
- Alain DaniélouAlain DaniélouAlain Daniélou was a French historian, intellectual, musicologist, Indologist, and a noted Western convert to and expert on Shaivite Hinduism.-Life:...
. The Complete Kama Sutra: The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text. Inner Traditions,1993 ISBN 0-89281-525-6 - The Continent of CirceThe Continent of CirceThe Continent of Circe was a 1965 book of essays written by Indian author Nirad C. Chaudhuri. It won the Duff Cooper Prize. In this book, Chaudhuri discusses Indian society from a socio-psychological perspective...
by Nirad C. ChaudhuriNirad C. ChaudhuriItalic textNirad C. Chaudhuri was a Bengali−English writer and cultural commentator...
– this has a chapter devoted to the topic.
External links
- * BBC Article on AIDS Awareness in India
- History of Sex: Ancient India
- History of Sex in India - Amrita, the Nectar of the Goddess
- IASSTD & AIDS - Indian Association for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases & AIDS
- India In World Sex Survey - Frequency of sex in India & other data
- Indian Sex Life Survey
- The Pink Panties Campaign: The Indian Women's Sexual Revolution. Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific Issue 23, January 2010