According to French anthropologist Alain Testart, women have been almost universally excluded from martial practices involving bloodshed due to an unconscious law consisting of an avoidance of blood accumulation, which he formulates as: "women have been excluded from tasks that evoked too much the secret and disturbing wound they carry within themselves" (2014: 133). This study will be an opportunity to test Testart's hypotheses using a literary example from ancient India reflecting the ideology of Brahmanical society: that of Ambā, reincarnated as a woman under the name of Śikhaṇḍinī, then cross-dressed and finally transformed into a man under the name of Śikhaṇḍin.
Abducted with her two younger sisters by Bhīṣma during a marriage of mutual consent to be given to his half-brother, Ambā is eventually freed by Bhīṣma so she can return to the man to whom she was secretly engaged. The latter rejects her, claiming her impurity. This is where Ambā's martial journey begins, of which we will describe and analyze the different stages in this paper.
Initially, Ambā expresses her desire for murderous revenge against Bhīṣma, whom she holds responsible for her distress. She is full of a warrior-like anger quite different from that of the heroines of Sanskrit poetry, which is usually directed toward their lover and caused by jealousy. At first, it does not seem possible for her to accomplish this act of revenge by herself, which is why her wish can only be realized by involving a second agent: "If I could have Bhīṣma killed in battle" (5.176.13cd).
Later, she asks Rāma Jāmadagnya to defeat Bhīṣma. As the long battle proves futile, Ambā changes her discourse: she will fight herself (5.187.9 and 32) and begins superhuman asceticism to obtain the fruit of her desire. Realizing that she cannot accomplish her revenge because of her female state and her pacified mind (5.188.4), she immolates herself in fire while pronouncing these last words: "For the death of Bhīṣma!". We therefore note that there is incompatibility between martiality and femininity due to the "pacified" character associated with it, even if Ambā is paradoxically described as an angry woman. It should also be noted that she immolates herself by fire, which constitutes a mode of suicide that does not involve blood flow, rather reserved for men as Testart noted (2014: 48-52).
After her immolation, Ambā is reborn as Śikhaṇḍinī, daughter of King Drupada, who had also performed asceticism while worshipping the god Śiva to obtain a son capable of causing Bhīṣma's death (189.5). Drupada obtains a daughter, not a son, but Śiva reassures him: she will become a man. From birth, Śikhaṇḍinī is considered a "cross-dressed" boy (189.14), receives the birth rites proper to boys (189.17), and is called Śikhaṇḍin. Under this name and appearing as a man, she is initiated into archery by the illustrious weapons master Droṇa (190.1). We note therefore that Śikhaṇḍinī-Śikhaṇḍin has access to martial knowledge and practice, disguised as a man but actually as a woman.
Then, she is married to the daughter of King Hiraṇyavarman, who quickly discovers the deception, thus threatening conflict between the two families. Śikhaṇḍinī, understanding that she is the cause of this tragedy, shamefully, leaves again for the forest to perform asceticism and end her life. She enters the dwelling of the yakṣa Sthūṇakarṇa and begs him to transform her into a man to save her family. Śikhaṇḍinī and the yakṣa exchange their sexes, first temporarily, then permanently. Now a man, Śikhaṇḍin returns to Drupada and continues his weapons training under Droṇa's direction (5.193.56-57). It should be noted that he maintains an ambiguous status; he is an excellent warrior described as “man-woman” (5.193.59).
In Book 6, we find Śikhaṇḍin in Arjuna's company during the great battle. Facing Bhīṣma, who refuses to fight or kill a woman or someone who was a woman before (5.169.16-19), it is repeatedly specified that Śikhaṇḍin is placed in front, like a protective shield. Arjuna, sheltered by Śikhaṇḍin, shoots quantities of arrows at Bhīṣma. These shoots are painful, but Śikhaṇḍin's arrows are not. Bhīṣma eventually falls in battle.
This last stage is essential; it both confirms Testart's hypotheses and goes further. Indeed, as he noted in a completely different context, a hunter's arrows that have had contact with a woman become inactive, just as Śikhaṇḍin's arrows, having retained a part of femininity, are ineffective against Bhīṣma. Śikhaṇḍin is moreover used as a shield and thus constitutes a strategic asset: he does not exactly have the status of a warrior who wounds the adversary by causing blood to flow. Finally, Bhīṣma had previously explained the reason for the restrictive clause he imposes on himself in combat (5.169.16-19): it is because he is "Devavrata" and his vrata (observance) is that of chastity. What Testart does not note and what we understand here is that the warrior act toward a woman is likened to an act of sexual nature; these two acts indeed share several common traits: physical proximity, impetuosity accompanied by a loss of mastery of the senses, but also causing blood to flow (in combat in one case and during the defloration of a young woman in the other).
SUKTHANKAR, V.S, BELVALKAR, S.K, VAIDYA, P.L. and al., The Mahābhārata, for the first time critically edited. (22 vol.), Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1933-1972.
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TESTART, Alain, L’Amazone et la cuisinière, anthropologie de la division sexuelle du travail. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2014.
This paper attempts to test hypotheses of the French anthropologist Alain Testart, for whom women have been almost universally excluded from martial practices involving bloodshed due to an unconscious law consisting of an avoidance of blood accumulation (blood from a wound and menstrual blood), on the basis of Ambā’s episode in the Mahābhārata. The study of this literary example reveals that Ambā reincarnated as a woman under the name of Śikhaṇḍinī, then cross-dressed and transformed into a man under the name of Śikhaṇḍin, can express her desire of death and her warrior-like anger, can receive a martial initiation, can become an excellent warrior described as “man-woman” but will act merely as a protective shield during the final battle. Moreover, the analysis of Bhīsma’s discourse shows a new line of research not noted by Testart: the warrior act toward a woman is likened to an act of sexual nature.