A history teacher in Madurai is preparing a lesson on the Tamil region from about the sixth to the ninth centuries CE, when states had emerged there. She first reads out a hymn in which a woman devotee of Shiva describes herself in her own words. She then shows the class an old inscription recording gifts made to a Jaina monastery in the same region. Finally, she asks the students to think about which groups in society usually supported such monasteries in those centuries.
Historians read the woman devotee's description of herself as presenting a contrast to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → traditional notions of feminine beauty
Option (1) traditional notions of feminine beauty — Correct. Karaikkal Ammaiyar pictures herself as a demoness with bulging veins, protruding eyes and jutting teeth. This picture is the opposite of the usual idea of a beautiful woman.
Option (2) traditional images of the female Pey (demoness) — Incorrect. Karaikkal Ammaiyar describes herself as the female Pey (demoness) with bulging veins and jutting teeth, so her self-portrait matches that image; historians read it as a contrast to feminine beauty.
Option (3) traditional notions of a widow's white robes — Incorrect. The white robes of a widow belong to the story of Mirabai, who is supposed to have donned them after leaving her husband's palace; Karaikkal Ammaiyar's poem draws no such contrast.
Option (4) traditional notions of a princess's palace comforts — Incorrect. Rejecting the comforts of a husband's palace belongs to Mirabai's story; Karaikkal Ammaiyar's poem sets her demoness form against traditional notions of feminine beauty.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.3 Women devotees … “Ü List the ways in which Karaikkal Ammaiyar depicts herself as presenting a contrast to traditional notions of feminine beauty.” |