Lecture on women portrayal in Mahabharata cancelled after groups oppose topic

The CPR Institute of Indological Research had organised the lecture on the portrayal of women in the Tamil versions of the epic.

The CP Ramaswami Aiyer Foundation cancelled a lecture on the portrayal of women in Mahabharata after some groups opposed the topic of the lecture.

The CPR Institute of Indological Research had organised the lecture on the portrayal of women in the Tamil versions of the epic.

The lecture, “Reluctant Brides, Deviant Wives, Cunning Witches: Women in Tamil Mahabharatas”, was to be delivered on Saturday by Professor Vijaya Ramaswami, who previously taught at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Ramaswami has authored books on South Indian history with a focus on women and was previously with the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS) of JNU.

However, posts on some WhatsApp group disapproved of the professor and the topic of the lecture. These posts reportedly urged people, especially women, to call up the institution to vent their ire about the topic of the lecture. One such post, written in Tamil on a WhatsApp group, said, “The lecture will be one which will portray our women in poor light. And the speaker is a deformed one from JNU.” The post also shared an invite for the event along with phone numbers of the organisers, urging everyone to call the institution to cancel the event.

Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary H Raja also demanded that the event be cancelled. In a tweet, he tagged Tamil Nadu minister ‘Mafoi’ K Pandiarajan, and asked whether such lectures were possible about texts of other religions.