Women, Oral Traditions, Sexism and Patriarchy: A Feminist Rethinking Approach to Balaram Das’s Laxmi Purana

Women, Oral Traditions, Sexism and Patriarchy: A Feminist Rethinking Approach to Balaram Das’s Laxmi Purana
Purbasha Priyadarshini, Lizashree Priyadarshini Sethy and Priyansu Sekhar Routray

Abstract

The Laxmi Purana, inscribed by the fifteenth-century Odia classic poet Balaram Das, provides a pioneering feminist chronicle that not only challenges deep-rooted patriarchal structures but also challenges caste hierarchies through the medium of oral tradition and religious narratives. This paper provides insight into how this classic oral folklore plays a vital role as a tool for highlighting the resistance against dominant gender and caste ideologies while being transmitted primarily through rituals and religious practices performed during the month of ‘Margasira’ in Odisha, popularly known as Manabasa Gurubara. The narrative builds up on Goddess Laxmi’s fearless denial of Lord Jagannatha, her husband and Lord Balabhadra, her brother-in-law, who barred her from crossing into the temple after she paid a visit to the home of Shriya, a woman who belongs to a disadvantaged class group, thus breaking the age-old social limitations. Lakshmi’s non-compliance to undergo the said ‘purification ceremony’ before re-entering the temple amplifies female self-possessiveness and reflects her equalitarian belief, while her strategic decision of withholding prosperity from the gods until they acknowledge their moral failure illustrates feminist hostility against male hegemony.