Localising the Universal: Women, Motherhood and the Appeal of Early Theravada Buddhism
Author(s)
Andaya, Barbara Watson
Abstract
Offered in the spirit of considered speculation rather than assertion, this essay suggests that in early Southeast Asia beliefs about female spiritual inferiority were countered by the public space Theravada ritual permitted women as lay devotees (upasika) and by the affirmation of their nurturing and maternal role. At once transcultural and yet intensely local, the experience of mothering and of being mothered is envisaged here as a mode by which new soteriological ideas were refracted through profoundly familiar imageries. In the process Buddhism became a dynamic element in the cultural production of attitudes both among and towards women across much of mainland Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the increased social solidarity that Wyatt has associated with the spread of Theravada may also contain a gendered dimension. Although historical sources point to the mothers of kings as the foremost exponents of female piety and generosity, women of all classes could identify with the mothering role these ‘royal patrons ‘ exemplified. While the ability of different societies to recognise the familiar within the universal helps explain the acceptance of new systems of thought, it may also supply another reason for Theravada’s appeal to women and thus its success in pre-modern Southeast Asia.
