Virgin Creatrix / Bountiful Womb

Abstract

This article explores the ambivalent view of women that is frequently found in siddha thought and poetry. The first section describes the Siddhars’ attitude toward women in various sources, some of which explicate the notion of the gendered “ghost” and warn of corrupting or malign influences. This attitude contrasts sharply with the “virgin” goddess Vālai, who is seen as a generative force and goddess of learning and knowledge. The second section explores the siddha cosmology of Vālai and the linkage with vālai (mercury) in siddha alchemy. The third section focuses on the objectification of the female body present in some Siddhars’ views. It concludes that the anticaste and anti-Brahminical perspective prominent in some siddha writings does not permit an egalitarian view of gender: women in general are often presented as limited and primarily reproductive beings, inscribed in reductive terms that are a glaring contrast to the exaltation of Vālai.