The Veil Unveiled

The Veil Unveiled

A couple of months back an Australian Muslim cleric almost lost his job for advocating the use of veil in his own puritanical way of pointing out how women not properly clad invited potential rapists as would uncovered meat a cat. He had to run for cover in giving explanation for what he had really meant by his remark. If that would not satisfy the liberals among the Australian Muslims the cleric proceeded on indefinite leave. On the heels of the above incident the Imam of Delhi came calling Shabana Azmi by her professional name in some derogatory terms (that nachane gane wali aurat!) for her very innocent and considered observation that ‘the QurAn only says that a women should properly cover her body and that the holy book nowhere prescribes the veil in any form as a compulsory wear’. Shabana, an eminent and intellectual Muslim woman found over whelming support for her observations among all intellectual circles including Muslims. I believe in both the cases it was not so much the content of the remarks but perceived connotations that were behind the ruffled reactions in both the instances. In the first case one cleric was prescribing a crude remedy to a healthy person and in the second case another cleric felt threatened of some one trying to ‘poach’ his chickens from the yard he so zealously keeps guarding. The casualty was a serious debate on the veil, its origin, its use and relevance in a given context. The media, for obvious reasons, did stage some discussion under controlled conditions. Thus different sides of the veil remained unveiled. It is generally believed that the veil is specific to Muslim women only and that the purdah system prevalent among vast sections of non Muslim women, especially in north and northwest India has Muslim links, albeit in uncomplimentary terms. The fact that all unmarried Hindu girls did not observe purdah militates against the very argument of Hindu women resorting to purdah to escape the prancing eyes of the hakims under Muslim rule. It is therefore a compelling subject to comment upon in its historical and sociological aspects. Pronouncing sweeping judgments one way or the other is, of course, a tricky affair.
First let us take the case of the Arab world. The desert countries have their normal dress suited to the environmental conditions. The long cloak is the normal outer cover to take the onslaughts of the sandy winds. A suitable head cover is also in place. The outfit has become a national dress flaunted proudly at ceremonial occasions even in strange lands. The version meant for women is not much different. The mail version is in white alone whereas females don it in several colours including the white. So it is easy to understand that the veil has its origins in necessity. Necessity is best met when it takes the form of a custom and gets religious sanction. Therefore we have the Quranic reference regarding the need to cover the body properly. It can be argued that if environmental considerations don’t warrant the wearing of a veil why should one insist for the same. The answer is that if a Muslim woman wants to wear it then why not. Its advantages outweigh the perceived disadvantages. But beyond that the sociological aspect must also be taken into consideration. Let us admit that the Muslims for historical reasons are possessive about their women(who else is not any way?). Endogamous system of marriage among Muslims and religious sanction for polygamous marriages are important factors to be taken into account before evaluating their attitude towards their females in general. A superficial view of the Muslim attitude in general in such matters on the part of their non Muslim compatriots does not help in arriving at a correct understanding of the whole matter. Moreover, as a minority community the Muslims in India, or for that matter in any other non Muslim majority country, in order to maintain and assert their identity tend to huddle together clinging to their religious symbols and practices which their counterparts in Muslim countries hardly need or care to adhere to. We daily notice similar phenomena in many manners among caste groups of the Hindu society, of course with difference in emphasis.
Let us now try to explain the phenomena of purdah among the Hindu women of India, especially of North and North West India. It will not be entirely true to say that the custom of purdah among the Hindu women was a Muslim contribution. Though we do not have reference to purdah in the Rigveda we do have mention of the same in Indian literature much before the birth of Islam. The Aitreya Brahmana (12.11) mentions that the bride feels shy in the presence of her father-in-law and leaves hiding herself. Such behaviour, more than anything else is indicative of respect for the elders, especially in the new home of the father-in-law. Then we have Panini in his Ashtadhyayi (3.2.26) talking about asuryampashya women who remain confined indoors obviously for reasons of strict privacy. Such women perhaps belonged to the higher ruling classes and were not generally exposed to public gaze. In Ayodhya Kanda of Valmiki’s Ramayana (33.8) we find comments with lament on the turn of fate of Sita following Rama marching openly on the roads in contrast to her former status when even the celestial beings could not glance her. Such cases could hardly be taken to throw much light on the custom of veil. But Draupadi’s statement in the Mahabharata (Sabhaparva (69.9) that ‘the Kauravas have broken a time honoured tradition of not taking married women to public gatherings or meetings’ gives a clue to some dimensions of the custom of purdah. Kalidasa in his immortal drama Abhijnanashakuntalam (5.13) shows Shakuntala entering the court of her husband Dushyanta covering her face with a veil, which she removes only when compelled to talk face to face with him to establish her identity. In the Harshacharita of Banabhatta there is a reference to Harsha’s sister Rajyashri covering her face with a red cloth at the time her future husband Grahavarma came to see her for the first time. Elsewhere in the same book Bana Bhatta refers to veiled women of Sthaneshvara ( Thanesar in Haryana). In the Kadambari of the same author Patralekha is depicted wearing a veil (avagunthana) of red colour. Bhasa, a predecessor of Kalidasa in his play Svapnavasavadattam (Act VI) speaks of kalatradarshanarha jana, from whom a married woman should not hide herself, implying that there could be category of persons before whom married women did not appear. Here in we find a clue to the protocol of observing purdah among married women in North and North-West India. That the women of the nobility moved out of their homes with veil on can be inferred from a remark of Vachaspati Mishra (9th century A.D.) in his Sankhyatattvakaumudi. Following the custom for centuries all women over vast areas of north and east India irrespective of their age observe purdah/avoid appearing before male members except in the following cases:

(i) All unmarried girls living in their paternal homes or appearing elsewhere.
(ii) All married women irrespective of their status or age living in their paternal homes
or appearing before men of their father’s gotra or their mother’s father’s gotra and
other relations from the mother’s or father’s side.[ A married woman in this case
would not appear before visiting males from her in- laws’ place or gotra in whose
presence she would observe purdah. This disappearance act was resorted to
for the purpose of maintaining the exemption from the condition of observing purdah
at her father’s place.
(iii) All married women appearing before males younger in age and not higher in
relationship hierarchy on the side of the husband.
(iv) All married women irrespective of their marital status or age appearing before total
strangers far away from their marital homes in neutral areas not falling in the area of
father in-law’s gotra.

Women of many families under the influence of Arya Samaj, and by following the
example of the urban elite, and with the spread of education among women have given
up the practice of observing purdah (largely in urban areas). No social or caste
censure or sanction is entailed in such cases. But when these very women move to visit
the traditional homes of the in-laws in the remote rural areas the purdah norms come into
play in some measure.
Where ever purdah is observed it may take an appropriate form as follows:

(i) Ghungat is the lowering of the head scarf from the front so as to cover the face of the
woman completely. It is observed on formal occasions. To make the picture more
perfect the corner of one end of the head scarf passing across her front is tucked on
the opposite side of the string of the skirt.
(ii) Ohala is covering of the face on the side in an angle sufficient to cover the face so
that it is not visible from the side of the concerned male member.
(iii) Palla is a symbolical drawing of the head scarf over the face to show respect to the
concerned male member.
(iv) Dhattha is the covering of the face in the manner of a masque leaving the area over
the eyes uncovered for visibility. It is resorted to mostly during agricultural operations
to keep both the hands free and to protect the face from dust and other pollutants. In
the process the female members enable themselves to keep a veiled distance from
those whom they should avoid coming face to face.
It may be observed that the purdah is in some way related to the four gotra system
of endogamy of caste and exogamy of gotra among most communities in India,
especially the Jats. It has its use and necessity in the rural society where the joint family
still continues to be in practice and where communication among male and female
members is also governed in the manner of the purdah. A woman also trefrains from directly communicate with persons in whose presence she observes purdah. In cases of emergency if no third person as medium is available domestic animal and feigned presence of a child serves the purpose. It may however be pointed out that the above protocol is not so much of a restriction on the freedom of women as much as it is a medium of expression of condescence and regard for the seniors in age on the husband’ side sand hierarchy of relationships without the loss of female bashfulness.
Lastly we may claim to be surrounded by the use of purdah or veil in abundant
measure in our daily life and language cliché. Thus we daily hear of veiled threats
traded among men and women of all persuasions. There is no dearth of people who
would hasten to put purdah on all that was evil. The world of Hindi cinema does not
feel exhausted with an exhaustive use of the term purdah to embellish its lyrics.
Modern living can’t simply do without draping itself albeit on the gaping holes. You
call it by any name veil, purdah, naqab, sihab or chadar or curtain but you must draw
it if you wish to call it a day. There is no use of talking of its uses and abuses. So let us
live with it or live with those who observe it.

[ Dr. S.S.Rana