South Asian Archetypes

In the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, characters such as blind King Dhritarashtra and his blindfolded wife, Gandhari; Ashtavakra, the “eight ways disabled” scholar; and the crafty hunchback Manthara (also known as Kubja) may be hard to link with historical people having dates of birth and places of residence. However, over centuries, they have been popular South Asian archetypes of disabled persons, known to hundreds of millions of people through local dramas drawn from the epics and, more recently, on film, video, the Internet, and schoolbooks.

Dhritarashtra, born blind, was thereby disqualified from kingship. He managed, nevertheless, to acquire the kingdom after his half-brother Pandu died. His disability and legitimacy thus became pivotal to the conflict between his own sons and Pandu's sons, providing the frame story for the Mahabharata. Dhritarashtra married Princess Gandhari, who immediately began wearing a blindfold to avoid the shameful situation of knowing more than her lord. Later, Dhritarashtra complained to his driver that because he was blind and could not engage actively in the [Page 1488]conflict, his eldest son Duryodhana considered him a fool and paid little heed to his words.

Ashtavakra also appeared in the Mahabharata. When the learned Kahoda's wife became pregnant, the fetus, who was already well versed in the Vedas, found fault with Kahoda's reading. Kahoda cursed his yet unborn critic to be eight ways crooked. At King Janaka's court, Kahoda was defeated in academic debate by Vandin and forfeited his life. Later, as a young man, Ashtavakra went to King Janaka, but the guards refused him entry. He then asserted his rights as a Brahmin over “the blind, the deaf, the women, carriers of burdens, and the king respectively.” He gained admittance and defeated Vandin in debate. Kahoda reappeared and reflected that weak men may have strong sons, stupid men may have clever sons. Ashtavakra later entered the river Samanga, and his limbs were straightened.

Manthara, hunchbacked maid to Queen Kaikeyi, was the hinge on which the Ramayana frame story turned. When King Dasaratha, the (earthly) father of Rama, became decrepit and nominated Rama to succeed him, Manthara persuaded the junior Queen Kaikeyi to campaign for enthronement of her own son instead. Manthara's wiles resulted in Rama's exile to the forest with his wife Sita. In Valmiki's Ramayana, Queen Kaikeyi thought that women with deformities were usually sinful and perverse, but Manthara's “hunch” contained her knowledge and wisdom. In some versions, Rama later reflected that in his boyhood, he teased Manthara about her disability, and this was why she took revenge on him or was the instrument by which the consequences of his mistaken conduct were visited upon him. (Such reflections do not appear in later versions that emphasize the divinity of Rama.)