The Wicked Atheist's Perspective: Fasting and Feasting

“Today is vat savitri” he typed. Continuing ”I thought I wud let you know”( im talk is not always perfectly punctuated)

I replied with an expected “Why would I want to know that. “ And that was the end of the conversation. ( A chat-versation- conversation on chat- also has the ability of sudden truncating of the discussion depending on the appearance of the boss, internet links not working, and myriad other reasons)

But the topic stayed. Isn’t vat savitri another one of those ”Don’t eat all day so that your husband will live long” fasts? Yes. Though not as drastic. And good Hindu women who love their husbands very much keep it. Foregoing food and wearing new clothes and worshipping another one of the pantheon of 33million. And customary touching the feet of the man who made them stay without food all day. And they do it pretty willingly( with a little cajoling from in laws and parents).

Fasting has its uses. It rests an over-exercised gut. Accompanied by green tea and fruit, it helps regulate it- large amount of bifidus regularis would do that. And it helps you eat better, specially before a potluck dinner. And maybe through the gut-regulatory activities, it also helps in prolonging life. Which makes me wonder why the significant other is not made to fast. I mean with the amount of saturated unsaturated, LDLs and HDLs and HDPEs and PDAs and HiDefs we consume, with all those sugars, dextrose, sucrose, sucralose, amylase, corn syrup and the stuff we imbibe regularly- the gut could do with a bit of cleaning. And what better way to marry tradition with reason. Make the spouse forego food. Or exercise more. It is for his long life after all. I am talking an extra 30 min on the treadmill for ekadashi, pushups for purnima- orange juice only fasts for the long life days. Abs for absolution. Maybe even a total health checkup. “This Teej give your husband a gift of long life, an appointment with (doctor's name here).” That kind of thing. Children if any should be included in the program. And while we are at it, lets take a look at the vermillion that centuries of Indian women have applied to heir foreheads and the parting of their hair. Red Lead, bad- replace it with something organic. You know to give credence to the whole “Hindu culture is green”( I kid you not there are organizations that sell this stuff). And along with a cleansed body, you get the benefits of a long life. For the spouse and yourself. Yes, of course, good Hindu women need be a little selfish. They are the ardhanginis( the other halves). It is another thing that they are more dispensible, if they die the spouse does not even have to forsake colors or be shunned from religious gatherings.

Of course this festival commemorates the story of that Savitri who married Satyavan, then beating Yama in debate( women can talk you to death, this was probably the first case of a woman talking death off) manages to bring the husband to life again. And lives happily ever after with several sons( that family could have done with a few more spunky women like her, but never mind.) Anyhow, the story starts with her swayamvara( Side note: Even if India is now synonymous with arranged marriages, princesses in legend always selected their own husbands. Sita, Sati, Parvati… it is another thing that these unions were karmically ordained, they had to beget great sons or fulfill their spouses demon killing destinies, sometimes by being abducted, but remaining true…). It has a few foot notes prior attesting to her great beauty and accomplishments, the only daughter of wonderful parents.

And well she selected Satyavan. Also moral, upright good looking, the devoted son, of a poor blind ruler( fancy that. )And adamantly refused to consider anyone else when her father and the great celestial trouble maker sage Narad told her the man was doomed to die. Very commendable. She also gave up her life of luxury and spent her days looking after her husband and his aging parents. Like every good girl should. Toiling in the forest, etc etc( Strange how the forest motif repeats here and in all ancient Indian texts. Possibly it was the rite of passage for good wives. Now they just want you to cook and clean). And D-day drew nearer and nearer.

She knew about it, he did not. And unlike modern wives who would have gone about and got him to get their affairs in order, she kept quiet. Also he did not have much worldly possessions to get into order. Only liabilities- the story keeps quiet on the gold and wealth untold part. Just insisted on accompanying him deeper into the forest( I did mention they lived deep in the woods) while he went about his chopping wood expedition(I still do not understand why he needed to chop wood everyday). She did not eat- possibly because she was taking a day off from the kitchen and she was the only cook around there. Anyhow as the hour approached, he felt faint and lay down.

Now, to be very fair. It must have been a horrible time for the poor girl. His dying would only serve to make her life – no cakewalk even now -only hellish. What with the shorn head and the white clothes, the devoid-of-condiments-food and the complete persona-non-grata status( amply hinted at the various poojas which as a virtuous married woman she was probably made to perform, wherein her role was also supporting cast to his starring). And remarriage was of course not an option- the best way out of that life being a rather fiery death( ala Sati at the Daksh yagya). So when the great god of death approached with his mace( not the pepper spray) and water buffalo( they did not have SUVs back then) she joined her palms together and followed him , even as he flung his noose around Satyavan and dragged him away.

And proceeded to cleverly- she was a bright young un- get Death to grant her several wishes- restoring her father-in-law his eye sight and kingdom. For herself she asked for sons( which is grossly unfair, considering that she a daughter was doing all the hard work here). All of which Death duly granted. Then played her winning card “How can I have sons”, she asked ”You are taking my husband away”. And the flummoxed god of Death, unable to argue that, returned Satyavan to life. Invitrio and sperm banks and surrogacy were not an option those days. He also did not retort- "Not my problem sister, you should be careful what you ask for Personally speaking, he probably did not know much about the birds and the bees, having had to Major in the process of taking away life, not granting it. ( Or probably he was calculating the miles per gallon his water buffalo was giving him).

And so Savitri is an icon for Hindu womanhood. In fact she is pretty much an icon for all. And how is she celebrated? By other women trying to enact( minus the grisly pilgrimage to the nether world) her day of glory. No food( I don’t know if there is a no drink version). And a pooja for life of said spouse. However, what is forgotten , is what she really did, namely the great debate in logic. Which would imply the need for educating women. Also her great standing up to authority- her father and a celestial sage no less, to follow her heart to marry the man she loved. I mean it takes love to wrestle a chappie from the jaws of death( love and the fashion conscious fear of having to wear white all your life).

And the husband of the greatest women Hindu legend has produced. Well, all that we know, apart from the whole dying saga is that he was good looking and very accomplished( hey it is a story, he has to be). And he was possibly worth the trouble she took. These stories are rather unbalanced in providing male role models. More on that later.