(and their social status determined) by
the group’s hereditary occupation, over
which each group held a monopoly.
Song of Manik Chandra
Traditional Bengalisong describing the
adventures of the mythical king Manik
Chandra, his wife Mayana, and their son
GopiChand; the latter figures are the
primary characters, since Manik
Chandra dies early in the story. The text
is a romance but also contains many of
the doctrines associated with the
Nathpanthi ascetics. In particular,
Queen Mayana has power over Yama
(death personified), which was one of
the primary aims of the Nathpanthi
ascetics. Furthermore, she acquired this
power through the spiritual instruction
given by her guru Gorakhnath, the
Nathpanthi founder.
Her power over death is shown in
various ways. When her husband dies,
Mayana descends to Yama’s realm and
physically abuses both Yama and his
minions. In his flight Yama changes into
various forms to escape Mayana’s wrath,
but she is never deceived and continues
to harass him. On other occasions, she
shows her power over death by her
inability to be killed. She mounts her
husband’s funeral pyre, and although
the fireburns for seven days and nine
nights, not even her clothing is
scorched. Many years later, Mayana sur-
vives seven fearsome ordeals, such
as boiling in oil. When asked how
she acquired these magical arts, she
replies that Gorakhnath himself taught
her. The appearance of such ideas in
an essentially popular tale shows how
deeply these ideas had sunk into the
popular mind.
Sons
It is difficult to overstate the importance
traditional Hindu culture has placed on
the need for sons, and the cultural bias
for sons over daughters. Religious
motives underlie one important reason
for this bias, since only sons are entitled
to perform the memorial offeringsfor
the dead known as shraddhas. The men
in each generation are responsible for
making these offerings to their ances-
tors. They are in turn obliged to have
sons of their own, so that the family lin-
eage and the chain of ancestral offerings
remains unbroken through the genera-
tions. Sonless couples are not completely
out of luck, since sons can be obtained
through adoption.
The other major reason behind the
preference for sons lies in far more prag-
matic motives. According to the tradi-
tional Indian marriage pattern, daugh-
ters move into their marital homes and
become members of their marital fami-
lies, whereas sons bring their brides into
the home and through their own fami-
lies continue the family line. Thus, par-
ents sometimes see their daughters as
“temporary” family members, while
their sons are “permanent.” The sons
will dwell in their natal house their
entire lives, support their parents in
old age, and produce the family’s
future generations. These traditional
practices and beliefs still hold very
strong, although the forces of modernity
have affected the joint family. It has
become more common for husbands
and wives to live separately from the
husband’s parents.
The religious, economic, and social
factors behind this preference for sons
have sometimes had terrible conse-
quences. Consciously or unconsciously,
sons may be favored over daughters in
many significant ways. Sons are often
given better access to education and
economic opportunities, because men
are traditionally required to support
their families. A similar presumption lies
behind the inequities in traditional
Hindu inheritancelaws, which give
the sons a much larger share of the
inheritance. In poorer families, sons
may even get preference for basic needs
such as food and access to medical care.
Despite these patterns, in contemporary
times many families treat all their
children with equal love and care. Given
the trend toward smaller families, theSons