Women of then
Yashodara, in the Buddhist stories we absorbed and sermons we listened to, was minor, not given prominence at all. Brought more to our notice as children was Queen Mahamaya, wife of King Suddodhana of the Sakyan clan living in Kapilavasatu, who gave him a son and heir. She was karma-destined to die within a short period of birthing. Thus came to prominence Prajapati Gotami, sister of Mahamaya who Suddhodana took as wife; she nurtured the mother- less infant as her very own.
Visakha, a situduwa, daughter and then wife of rich Brahmins, who supposedly had gone far on the Path preached by the Buddha, became his chief female dayaki or devotee. Sujata offered the ascetic Siddhartha a meal which sufficed for weeks since early next morning of having the food, seated under the Bo tree in Gaya, he realized the truth of samsaric life which he had sought for seven years and more.
Prominent as having been saved from insanity and seeking solace in the dispensation of the Buddha are Kisa Gotami who had her child dying, and Patachara suffering the death of her entire family. He saved them from pangs of intense bereavement, making them realize the impermanence of life and its eternal suffering until the Truth is realized and Nibbana reached.
Film portraits of Yashodara
I am grateful to Navin Gooneratne and Prof Sunil Ariyaratna for their films giving more prominence to Yashodra in the former and the second being principally a biopic on her.
Gooneratne’s Sri Siddhartha Gautama, 2013 Sinhalese epic, is on life of Siddhartha until he attains enlightenment. Directed by Saman Weeraman, written by him, Dr Edwin Ariyadasa and Navin, the film starred Gagan Malik, Anchal Singh, Ranjan Ramanayake and other Indian and local stars. It received five of eight awards presented at the 2014 UN Vesak Buddhist Film Festival in Hanoi, Vietnam, and was translated to many languages or dubbed and screened overseas.
I was privileged to chat with Gagan Malik and also visit the location of the film in the grounds of Navin’s home outside Colombo. Gagan said acting the part of the Sakyan Prince changed his life. He almost gave up his Bollywood film career and devoted time and energy to promoting Buddhism through the film overseas, assisting Navin in the project. On screen he lived the part of Prince Siddhartha, depicting to near perfection the many faceted but mostly contemplative nature of the prince until he left lay life, suffered deprivation and realized the Truth of Life.
Anchal Singh starred as Yashodara, radiantly beautiful and conforming to what we had heard and knew from the Buddhism we read and learnt: true companion in this last life of the Bodhisatva, knowing full well her husband had to leave her in his quest for the truth of life.
Prof Sunil Ariyaratna’s excellent 2018 film Bimba Devi hevath Yashodara features Yashodara as the protagonist. The film starts with her as an aged bhikkhuni walking to where the Buddha is resident, to die. She recalls her past which is shown in flashbacks as we know it. Pallavi Subhash is Yashodara and Siddhartha is played by Arpit Chaudhary; a very smart move of Prof Ariyaratna to have Indian stars play the lead roles. Local actors depict others. It screened locally for more than 100 days and in 74 cinemas overseas.
The film story runs true to that of Siddhartha, Yashodara and others we were familiar with. Yashodara was selected as his bride after many refusals since Prince Siddhartha was already set on going in search of an end to suffering which he perceived as universal. They are cousins and thus settle down to happy married life.
Siddhartha announces to his father he cannot take the position of heir to the Principality of the Sakyan gotra. His father is angered but step-mother understands his impelling need, brought along through eons and a multitude of births and deaths in samsara. Yashodara has been with him through many lives as his mate as is said in the film. She accepts his renunciation of lay life. Her only request is he leaves when she is asleep.
Prof Ariyaratna follows her life as given in histories and sutta narratives (stories, mostly recorded verbally and then in writing), that have come down the ages. She renounces all luxuries and knows that karma decrees her son will follow the father.
She is not bitter nor resentful of Siddhartha and more so after he becomes the Buddha. One of the most touching scenes in the film is when the Buddha visits Kapilavastu and people flock to the grove where he and his Sangha live. The royal court is a-buzz and all gather in the palace to hear the Buddha preach and be served dane. Not Yashodara. Let him come to me, she tells herself. He does come to her living quarters with compassion, love and probably gratitude.
She falls at his feet weeping. There is absolutely no resentment in her nor anger, not even when Rahula, asking for his inheritance as tutored by her, approaches his father who takes him to live with him and join the Sangha, when older. She discerns it is their karma, by then convinced in the veracity and aptness of the Dhamma the Buddha preached. Thus her entering the Order of Nuns, no sooner Prajapati is permitted by the Buddha with additional rules to observe, after three refusals, to initiate the Meheni Sasna – Bhikkhuni Sangha.
Shyam Selvadurai’s story of Yashodara
Published in 2022 by Penguin, Canadian Sri Lankan author’s Mansions of the Moon is an epic of 402 pages sweeping across north central India called the Middle Country, including Bihar and parts of present day Nepal where Siddhartha was born and his father ruled a principality from Kapilavastu. The novel not only sweeps geographically but historically – sixth and fifth centuries BC and includes the incidents, tenets and basics that the Buddha taught; accurately, concisely and precisely.
Shyam and his parents – father Tamil mother Sinhalese – and relatives were targeted and suffered the 1983 ethnic riots. Thus interrupting his schooling at St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia, the family migrated to Canada. He was 19 then. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from York University, US, and Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 2010.
He had already been traumatized in 1983 and on a return journey to Sri Lanka he was again subjected to discrimination and so, as he writes, he took consolation from Buddhism given a book by a good friend. He studied the philosophy; familiarized himself with Dhamma teaching absorbing the principal teachings; listened to stories; meditated and when the idea of writing the life of the Buddha grew in his mind, he travelled widely in India and Nepal and researched exhaustively. And the result is his tome: Mansions of the Moon, which phrase occurs in a therigatha – verses of the bhikkhnis of then.
He decided to write of Siddhartha/ the Buddha as from Yashodara’s viewpoint and impressions. Thus the main protagonist of the book is Yashodara. He gives clear characterization and development of the woman whom Siddhartha marries, from a spritely farming princess of the king of a neighbouring principality, BUT totally different to the Yashodara we heard about and believed in.
He is writing for an international audience; he is not writing a historical novel nor a biography. Rather is he fictionalizing the lives of those of the time of the Buddha. He keeps true to the characters of Siddhartha Gautama, his cousin Ananda, and brother-in-law Devadattta.
But the principal women are changed. Prajapati Gotama is described as a soured, disappointed woman resenting the fact Suddodhana still loves Mahamaya. Yashodara, very opposite and contrary to the idea we have of her, is resentful and unforgiving of her husband having left her and their son and until the very end is not a believer in his doctrine and goodness. Her leaving lay life and seeking to be a bhikkhuni is not because she is convinced of the Teachings of the Buddha but because the womenfolk of the Sakyan gotra, deserted by their men who have joined the Sangha, are being chased out to fend for themselves. Also she wants to rejoin her son Rahula. Thus a very different Yashodara emerges from Shyam’s pages to the understanding, ever loving wife we were inducted to imagine. He has every right to change her.
I certainly admire Shyam’s story and writing, keeping in mind he has to create an interesting story with protagonists having diverse characteristics and personalities, mostly for foreign readers. Recollecting the life of the Buddha and others of his time this Vesak season, we strongly desire peace and better times in Sri Lanka and the world.
from The Island https://ift.tt/HsRPjvK
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