female, the soul is simultaneously beyond it. This is not to imply that the real-
ization that the soul is beyond gender is in any way “higher” to the other; as in
many spaces in Hinduism, here too we have multiple engagements, multiple
visions of gender and the human being and gender and the soul.
The Gender of Vis.n.u
Many of the “love poems” we saw explicitly addressed the deity as a male “God.”
This is obviously true for many Hindus at many times, but as anyone with even
a cursory understanding of Hinduism can tell us, the supreme being is
worshiped in many ways and many forms. The gender of the deity varies in the
different traditions of Hinduism and in the philosophical texts. Let us simply
consider the gender of the God Vis.n.u, who is clearly held to be a man. Many
of the Vais.n.ava texts tell us quite explicitly that the supreme being is the “highest
of men” (purus.ottama). One of the most enduring hymns from the Vedas, recited
regularly still, has been the “Hymn to the Cosmic Man” (Purus.a Su ̄kta). “The
Thousand Names of Vis.n.u” (Vis.n.u Sahasrana ̄ma), a popular devotional piece con-
sidered generally to be a part of the Maha ̄bha ̄rata and which is recited regularly
in homes and temples, addresses Vis.n.u several times as the “highest of men”;
an epithet that is commented upon by theologians. But even in the S ́rı ̄Vais.n.ava
tradition, Namma ̄l
̄
va ̄r, whose feminine voice we just heard, speaks of the
supreme being as one who has bothgenders and as having nogender.
Being my father,
my friend, and the mother
who gave birth to me...
(Tiruva ̄ymoli 6.3.9)In several poems, he calls Vis.n.u “mother;” later S ́rı ̄vais.n.ava theologians, com-
menting on the “auspicious qualities” of Vis.n.u stress the notion ofvatsalya, that
is, the maternal love that a mother cow has for its calf. Vis.n.u (as well as Ra ̄ma,
Kr.s.n.a, et al.) is said to have this quality of maternal love towards his devotees
(asrita vatsalya). So, the male deity incorporates in himself the quality that
mother cows are said to have – the undiluted, “essential” maternal love which
seems almost biological in texture.
Vis.n.u is not just the “mother,” he is also the archetypal enchantress. One of
his lesser known incarnations, which does not figure in the traditional list of 10
but which is included in the longer, unedited list of 24 that comes in the
Bha ̄gavata Pura ̄n.a, is as a beautiful woman, Mohinı ̄ (“enchantress,” “the one
who ravishes.”) Although commentators and theologians emphasize the notion
that Vis.n.u is the supreme male, poetry, narrative, and ritual feature the sparkling
beauty of Mohinı ̄. On the day before the Tiruva ̄ymoli recitation and acting
begins in S ́rı ̄ran.gam, and in many south Indian Vis.n.u temples across India and
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