MATRIARCHAL INFLUENCE PERSISTS IN BENGAL

The geographical environment influences human expressions. Consequently, different schools of music and dance arose in various parts of Bengal. The same thing is taking place even today and will do so in the future as well. The topography which has resulted from the meeting of the three rivers has exerted a great influence on the Bengalee mentality.

By temperament the Bengalees are a sentimental people. Sometimes they tolerate injustice for a long period without any murmur, without even a whimper. Suddenly they decide not to tolerate injustice any longer, and they rise in revolt. In a few days they get involved in a bloody rebellion. They were subjected to endless torture, insult and humiliation. They tolerated all the wrongs and injustices like a nation of lifeless corpses. But suddenly, they may erupt in strong protest. These are the symptoms of a sentimental race. The people of Bengal, particularly the people of the lower stratum of society, had to undergo tremendous torture and humiliation in the past. Suddenly they revolted and embraced Islam in large numbers. They are also Bengalees – in bone, flesh and blood. They became Muslims as a reaction to the exploitation by the contemporary society. The Jains of Bengal, particularly those of Bankura, Midnapur and Purulia, discarded the Jain religion and accepted the Vaeśńava religion of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in large numbers. Even today, there are Jain temples, but there are no Jain worshippers.

This typical sentimentality is one of the specialities of the Bengali character. The Bengalees, by struggling against the primitive culture of ancient Gondwanaland,⁽¹⁾ the original cultural trend of the Gangetic valley and also the pure Mongolian⁽²⁾ culture of the Brahmaputra valley, have built a new, integrated Bengalee culture of their own. This typical Bengalee culture emerged about 3000 years ago. That is, about 3500 years ago, the Bengali language had its very old structure. That old structure of the Bengali language, through successive changes, has taken the form of the modern Bengali language. Modern Bengali is about eight hundred to one thousand years old. Thus, after the Bengalees distinguished themselves in so many ways, they thought that the ups and downs of their social life also should be directed in a particular flow, which is neither wholly in conformity with the full-fledged matriarchal system of Gondwanaland, nor the full-fledged patriarchal system of the Gangetic valley nor the Mongolian female-dominated system of the Brahmaputra valley.

In the ancient social system of Bengal, the women had a preponderant role. Members of that society would introduce themselves by the name of their mothers. As a rule, to find out the identity of a person, people would ask a person, “What’s your name? What’s your mother’s name? What’s your grandmother’s name?” Among the Khásiyás of Meghalaya, this system is still in vogue. Bengal has discarded the system long since, because it was not conducive to the growth of the Bengalees. The Bengalees built a diverse social system which contained certain characteristics of both the matriarchal and patriarchal societies, according to necessity.

For instance, in the rest of India, the property of the maternal uncle, if he dies without an heir, goes to the relatives of the father. The property of Mr. Shukla will be inherited by his nephews, though they might be his distant relations: Mr. Shukla’s own sisters’ sons will not be entitled to the property. But Bengal’s social system is different. If a maternal uncle dies without any heir, his property will be inherited by his sisters’ sons and not the more distant relations. This is the law of inheritance of Bengal, which is quite different from that of the rest of India. In the rest of India, property is not inherited by members of different lineages. If the maternal uncle’s property goes to the sister’s son, it means it goes to a different lineage. If the maternal uncle is one Mr. Banerjee, and the sister’s son is a Mr. Chatterjee, and Mr. Banerjee belongs to Sháńd́ilya lineage and Mr. Chatterjee to Káshyapa lineage, the property of the Sháńd́ilyas cannot be inherited by the Káshyapas. So it is seen that the property of the maternal uncle in northern India does not go to other lineages, which is possible in Bengal.

There is yet another speciality of the Bengalee social system. In the rest of India, a daughter, after marriage, loses the identity of her father’s family. But in Bengal this is not the case. According to social law in Bengal, a girl, after marriage, becomes a member of a new lineage no doubt. Suppose a girl of the Bose family [[marries into]] the Mitra family, she still retains her old blood. This fact cannot be ignored. She may marry into the Mitra family but she still carries the blood of the Bose family. That is why a system was introduced whereby a girl, even after marriage, will have to observe ashaoca [a purificatory period of mourning] for at least three nights after the death of any of her parent’s family. But in the rest of India this period of mourning is not required for a married woman, because now she is a member of a different lineage. Bengal adopted a system of its own because its culture is not the unmixed Gangetic culture, but a blended culture of Gangetic, Ráŕhii and Brahmaputra Valley cultures. This is how the issues of practical necessity have been inculcated in the social system.

Next comes the question of the law of inheritance. The rest of India is governed by the Mitákśará law of inheritance, which is based on the Manu Saḿhitá⁽³⁾ [as interpreted] by Vyasadeva. Bengal is governed by the Dáyabhága system⁽⁴⁾ which is based on the interpretation of the Manu Saḿhitá by Jiimútaváhana. In northern India, sons are entitled to ancestral property even during the lifetime of their fathers. In fact, the children, even when they are in their mothers’ wombs, acquire the right to property. When they are grown up, they can get their share by filing lawsuits against their fathers. But this is not permissible in Dáyabhága laws. As long as the fathers are alive, they [fathers] are the sole owners of the ancestral property. And if a father so likes, he can deprive his sons of their ancestral property: he may disown his son, or he may transfer the property right to other persons outside his own family. In the rest of India, there is no law to disown one’s son. Only Bengal follows that system, the Dáyabhága system of inheritance.

Not only this, there is proof that girls have a particular type of legal relationship with their parents in Bengal. One hundred years ago there was a rule. Suppose a girl’s name is Máyá, and she was born into the Basu family and married into the Mitra family. How will she maintain a relationship with her parents? Before marriage she writes her name as Máyá Basu Duhitá [daughter], whereas after marriage she writes her name as Máyá Mitra Jáyá [daughter-in-law]. Even after marriage, if she so wished she could write her name as Máyá Basu Duhitá [or Máyá Basu-Mitra]. After all, she was a daughter of the Basu family. This proves the fact that even after a girl’s marriage, her relationship with her parents is not permanently severed.

Bengal’s culture and civilization emerged from its own soil, whereas the culture and civilization of the rest of India is a product of its environment. There is some difference between the two. The Bengali civilization is indigenous, as Bengal is predominantly a land of water. People have to remain constantly vigilant as to whether there is solid ground under their feet or not. There are some places in east Bengal where the land remains under water for seven months during a year. As long as there is sufficient water in lakes and rivers, the girls can easily go to see their parents. But the rest of the year they cannot, as there is no land route.

Bengal’s culture and civilization emerged from its own soil, whereas the culture and civilization of the rest of India is a product of its environment. There is some difference between the two. The Bengali civilization is indigenous, as Bengal is predominantly a land of water. People have to remain constantly vigilant as to whether there is solid ground under their feet or not. There are some places in east Bengal where the land remains under water for seven months during a year. As long as there is sufficient water in lakes and rivers, the girls can easily go to see their parents. But the rest of the year they cannot, as there is no land route.

Phiirá áisyá bandhu ámár guyápán kháio,
Náo laiyá sháon másere bandhu náiyor laiyá yáio.

[Return, O friend, and taste betel nut and betel leaves.
Come back in the month of Shrávań and take back the daughter to her father-in-law.]

This poem shows that the month of Shrávań [August-September] was a good time for married girls to visit their parents.

Footnotes

(1) Gondwanaland was an ancient continent, now, due to geophysical changes, no longer intact. –Trans.

(2) Since in ancient time Mongolia was an empire, and symbolized all of North and Northeast Asia, “Mongolian” here means the Oriental, or yellow, race. –Trans.

(3) The Manu Saḿhitá (Manusmrti) is an authoritative collection of social rules, customs and etiquette for Hindus authored by Manu, who lived about two thousand years ago. –Trans.

(4) In the Dáyabhága system the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father. Another feature of this system is the rights of inheritance for women. For a more detailed discussion of the author’s views on inheritance, see Ideal System of Inheritance in “Building a Healthy Society – Excerpt H” –Trans.