INTRODUCTION

The culture studied in this book is no exception if emphasis on aspects of procreation, and thus motherhood, is considered. Besides, all over the world, since prehistoric times, many finds have been preserved proving that it was one of the most important issues that occupied the human mind. Moreover, as L. Clark-Callister points out, studies on childbirth and culture provide evidence for the existence of specific assumptions related to giving birth to children, which must be looked at more broadly – including as an emotional and spiritual experience, not only a socio-cultural phenomenon (intimate experience vs. societal event). These include moral systems or values, then ceremonies and practices, gender roles in the system of blood relatives and in-laws, and finally knowledge and beliefs related to behaviours and experiences directly linked with pregnancy. There are many examples of the above in India's textual and visual culture. Two main perspectives can be expected – masculine, priestly, official, idealized; and feminine, more personal and intimate, which in the case of the ancient cultures cannot be directly observed. S. Bawa notices that early Indian art contains many representations of women, but this “does not signify either equality of status or equivalence of power in the socio-legal sphere.” To some extent, the initial positive identity and role of women as breeders, socially beneficial, has been re-evaluated, as recapped then by S. Bawa. Therefore, for the re-searcher, due to the widespread discussions about female reproduction, sexuality and finally strisvabhava, it is not possible to make a homogeneous reading of the women's images as positive. Especially if there are no direct references to motherhood in them, and female nature was often classified in negative terms. Implicitly, by collecting scattered records from texts, trying to remove the patriarchal filter from them, describing objects of material culture, one can extract basic information about the female world. To cite and analyse all the significant fragments, however, a much larger work than mine would be needed. In the previous Chapter, I drew attention to the most important objects of the visual sphere, which clearly prove that the subject of fertility and abundance must have been substantial and preserved in the images of various traditions.