Monday, February 22, 2010
Oedipus resistance
I recently told a 21 year old Indian male about Freud's notion of the Oedipus complex. He seemed appalled and said that such a concept was very typically an intriguiging textbookish theory and nothing more. While for a newbie this idea seems quite unplausible, authors have continually pointed to echoes of the Oedipus in Indian mythology. Those who are well versed with these texts seem to have their resistances towards this and thus fail to notice the apparent representations of the complex. Examples are discussed by A.K. Ramanujan in The Indian Oedipus. Parvati cursed Ganesh with everlasting celibacy when he expressed his wish to be married to someone exactly like his mother. A folk tale recited in North Karnataka is that of a girl with a curse on her head that she would marry her own son. She eats a mango on which a passing king has urinated, is impregnated and she gives birth to a male child. She abandons the child into a stream. He grows up in the nearby kingdom and eventually marries his own mother. Ramanujan has found various variants of this story in the neighbouring areas. A recurrent motif in South Indian folktales is of a man returning after a long period of exile to find his wife in bed with another man. He attempts to kill the man until he realises that the man is his own sn who has grown to manhood during his long absense and is still sleeping innocently in his parent's bed. Indian culture even today is shaped such that families live in single bedroom and children continue to sleep in the same bed as the parents well into adolescence. Community bathing is very common and the pivotal position of the mother has been variously documented. Despite this the idea of incestous love is very repulsive for most in the Indian context.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
recently there is been movie released in kannada which one the national award called "vimukti", its about the electra complex, the adult daughter loves his father. we can add up to the discussion.
there are lots of tales and stories which explores the oedipus and electra complexes in indian context, i would say the story of kanyakumari and there is a temple in southern karantaka region, female godesses, which tells about the odeipus complex.
i have two questions, one is to what extent we can say that tales and stories are the "reality" to understand indian mind? second how cultures,ideologies and society plays a role in such a context?
lastly i would like to ask the question on ur topic, how we can understand the indian mind or psychology of indians through the use of loop called psychoanalysis. can u tell us is there anything called unconcisouness existing in the tales and stories, are reality, which is intertwined in the ideologies and cultures of indian society.
In one sense the folklore that any culture has forms the unconscious of that culture. Those are the stories children grow up listening to and societal structures are erected in accordance to scriptures. To understand these stories would definately then provide an understanding of the Indian psyche. Perhaps the great emphasis our society has on the mother would not have been there if it weren't for the goddesses who are worshipped and around whom the folklore is centred. Ours is a very religious society and most Indians are influenced greatly by the tales of the Gods. This influence may be unconscious too.
Kiran to answer ur 1st question as to what extent these stories are a reality to understand the indian mind I can say only this: Most Indians brought up in religious homes tend to believe in the occurrence of the war at kurukshetra, the existence of ram in ayodhya, etc.. sometimes reluctantly. We have grown up hearing these tales from various sources and they seem to be closely attched to our notion of religion and the notion of religion in turn is closely attached to the notion of self for most. Thus these ideas form a very important part of our psyche and our belief systems.
@kiran,
"one is to what extent we can say that tales and stories are the "reality" to understand indian mind?"
I think what is more important than validating the "real-ness" of such folklore, is to appreciate the question: "Why do we have such stories (true or false)floating around in the first place?" The very construct, themes and relational aspects in the stories are very strongly suggestive of how we think about things and express them. Something along the lines of a TAT item, you know. We know the stories may not be true but we can attempt to size up a person nonetheless. Folklores may be thought of in that sense.
I am in NO way saying that this is all there is to folklores but that validating the truthfulness of such stories may be besides the point.
Jyothi
i agree to ur point of we have grownup in religious famlies, one question that i would like to raise is to what extent is the unconcious psyche is effected by religious story and folkores?
i just want to know is there any factful research that provides data about indian population abt this religious story and folkore acting on unconciousness.
jyothi i do accept to ur point. very important question u have raised why is folklores and stories are floating at the first place? but another question would be raised to what extent this stories can really suggestive abt our thinking? there are several stories which are just a fantasy, and question that i like to raise is how many stories can explain our thought? another point i would like to make is the political power,which plays on the story maker and story listener.
@ Kiran's question of how these stories can reflect our thinking: Actually, much of these "religious" works, as you know, have been twisted to suit the times. Take the Ramayanas for example: Valmiki's realistic Ramayana as opposed to everyone else's highly idealized ones.
And you guys HAVE to read some of the Hindu stories about the origin of the universe. They're unbelievable! Freud would've had loads of fun with those. I'm trying to get a hold of online copies of them, coz I can't find the book I read them in (someone borrowed it from my liby n never returned it).
i do agree to ur pt that stories are twisted with time. but the another question,kind of similar to the earlier, why stories are twisted? can u elaborate more and tell me, can u tell me what does it signifies, does it tell anything abt our thoughts. can u take the question to construct an indian mind. i am not interested in reading stories. try to find a something which is related to our aim of our blog.
gunn can plz put on ur thoughts, abt the issues, i find a problem here, why are u using the loop of psychoanalysis to explain our thoughts, can u explain any perspective or philosophy which is similar to psychoanalysis that are found in indians.
Post a Comment