Representation of Female Sexuality in the Ayurvedic Discourse of the Early Medieval Period

Abstract

This article explores the representation of female sexuality as depicted in the ayurvedic discourse of the early medieval period, and shows how this representation was a gendered one. Within this discourse, women were marginalized, if not altogether excluded. The woman's body, in health and pleasure, had no autonomy of expression and was dependent on the male guardian/physician for its manifestation. The only depiction of the female body framed within this male discourse is what was of significance to men. Thus, the only occasion when women's diseases are discussed is in the context of the uterus (grabhavyāpata) and genital tract (yonivyāpata), and the men's concern for it is not because of women's health per se, but because a healthy uterus was crucial for child-birth. This asymmetry between the concerns for men's and women's health is also reflected in dealing with the old age of the two sexes. The virilification therapy (vājikaraṇa) as discussed in ayurvedic texts focuses solely on men; in contrast, the woman's menopausal stage is completely ignored. An analysis of the ayurvedic discourse, thus, leads us to draw the conclusion that under patriarchy expropriation of female sexuality for the use of others defined the ‘sex woman’.