Women and Sabarimala - Sinu Joseph

Women and Sabarimala by Sinu Joseph is my latest adventure in the trend of reading random books off of my mom's bookshelf. I went into this book not knowing what it was about, but expecting it to be biased against women's rights based on the title. If you read the book (don't), I recommend you also read this Feminism in India review, which summarizes key criticisms.

The book is concerned with the Sabarimala temple in the Indian state of Kerala. Sabarimala has traditionally prevented entry by people who menstruate (usually stated as "women ages 10 -- 50"). A local court upheld the temple's ability to ban people in 1991, but the Supreme Court of India overturned that decision in 2018. This has led to massive, violent protests against attempts by women to enter the temple.

Before reading this book, I had no clue this temple or conflict existed. So, I'll focus on how I interpreted the book without knowledge of the surrounding context, before I had read any others' opinions of it.

The main conundrum I faced with this book was its use of the word "science." In common usage, I expect science to mean a collection of models built from objective observations. Honestly, it's possible that Joseph intended her usage of the word this way. But, with a bit of thinking, I realized this book technically presents a science, meaning a "systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject" (per the Oxford English Dictionary). That is to say, this book has nothing based on objective data, but rather explains some of the organized models present in Hinduism (chakras, doshas, temple layouts, etc.). The book focuses a particular organizational aspect of Hinduism in Kerala: one does not simply walk into Sabarimala. Instead, the science prescribes visiting only after a 41-day period of strict holy behavior (celibacy, prayer, etc.), and a pilgrimage through five other temples in the region, ideally by foot.

The author's goal, then, is to present two ideas. First, Joseph describes one way that Hinduism models a person's subjective experience, establishing a vocabulary with which to describe the intent and utility of the rituals described above. Second, the author explains the process of visiting the temples in order, and what subjective experience each temple could have on the body of a person who is mentally primed by the aforementioned rituals. The first idea is conveyed by rote citation of Hindu texts. The second idea is conveyed by Joseph's description of her own journey (as a Catholic) visiting many of the temples, and her subjective experience in each one. Therefore, the utility of this book, independent from any judgments about its issues, is providing a brief overview of Hinduism and in showing that priming one's psyche can lead to spiritual experiences.

This book can definitely be touted by religious fundamentalists to stand in the way of people visiting Sabarimala. However, on my read-through, I interpreted it in a more neutral way as follows. If you menstruate and you are on the spiritual path outlined by Hinduism in Kerala, then the organized knowledge describing that path explains that you are primed for the possibility of a tremendously negative experience at Sabarimala. But, if you don't follow that particular faith, then the temple will probably not affect you in the same way. So, the book answers the question of why the restrictions exist by explaining the framework within which they arose, without necessarily speaking for or against the restrictions.

Of course, given the controversy surrounding Sabarimala, one can interpret the previous paragraph as mental gymnastics required to ignore the book's popularity with religious fundamentalists. Rereading Chapter 8 about Sabarimala in particular, I realized that the author states that physical effects of the temple are a given for anyone who menstruates (as opposed to a just a possibility for someone of dedicated faith). This is why I recommend reading the aforementioned feminist review, which states:

"1. The author regards and communicates their perceived understanding of Hindu traditions to be highly logical, scientific and ahead of the western body of knowledge.

2. Based on her study of traditional texts and her own experiences, she concludes that the ban on allowing womxn into the Sabarimala temple should be upheld for their own good."

The review also specifically addresses the book's heteronormativity, casteism, and trans-erasure. Basically, Joseph writes in language one could attribute to socially-conservative culture. In spite of this, the book does have one interesting paragraph near the end:

"Spirituality, in its ultimate form, knows no gender. But for most of us, reaching that stage is not easy. Until we transcend our gender identities and reach the stage where we identify ourselves as neither male nor female, gender matters very much. The masculine and feminine energies consecrated in temples could have a different impact on each of us, based on our gender identity."

This statement does not undo the language in the book wherein identity is conflated with genitalia. But, it does show awareness of the limitations of gender as a way to classify people.

To conclude, I'd say that you shouldn't read this book. Get an overview of Hinduism somewhere else, without the confounding factors of politics.