Page 54 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

q&A

MAdhAvi Menon
Author
Talking All Things Desire

with Madhavi Menon

Known as a ‘historian of desire’, Madhavi Menon writes on desire and queer theory. A ten to suit certain political agendas. The
professor of English at the Ashoka University, she is the author of Wanton Words: Rhetoric repackaging of yoga as India’s great
and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama; Unhistorical Shakespeare: Queer Theory in contribution to the world is simultane-
Shakespearean Literature and Film; and Indifference to Difference: On Queer Universalism. ously a repackaging of yoga as a “Hindu”
She is also the editor of Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of artefact. But the histories associated
Shakespeare. Recently, she spoke to neha kirpal about her latest book Infinite Variety: A with yoga tell a startlingly differ-
History of Desire in India ent story. Patanjali’s 4th century Yoga
Sutra mentions asanas — the embod-
edited excerpts from an interview • ied form of yoga most popularly prac-
tised today — only in 1 of 196 sutras.
For the form of yoga that we practice
Infinite Variety covers the history it that its history is not very well today around the world, we have to
of desire across a wide range of documented? go to the Bahr-al-hayat, the 16th cen-
subjects — religion, legend, myths, History is always a hotly contested topic, tury Persian text written by the Sufi Sh-
poetry, literary and cinematic works. as we see with different political regimes aykh Muhammad Ghawth Gwaliyari.
Tell our readers the inspiration for attempting to rewrite history to suit their It is thought that this text was born out
the book. own purposes. But desire has the ability of actual conversations between the
My main argument in Infinite Vari- to puncture political agendas, which is Sufi saint and practitioners of yoga who
ety is that desire is multiple. By this, I why it is not conducive to producing a de- had developed the poses over the centu-
mean both that desire exists in multiple finitive history. For instance, if you want ries. This book was beautifully illustrated
sites and has multiple manifestations. to show that “Indian” sexual norms have with the aid of a special commission
And like desire itself, this book too vis- always been invested in reproductive from Prince Salim, who was later to be-
its multiple sites and manifestations. heterosexuality, then how do you explain come the Emperor Jahangir. What we
An equally important argument is that the sculptures of Khajuraho or the love understand as yoga today is thus a per-
desire, rather than being exotic and eso- poetry of Khusro? Writing the history of fect example of the syncretic develop-
teric, belongs to the everyday. This means desire is an impossible project because ment of ideas and desires in the Indian
that desire is everywhere, all around us, desire always surprises us, it always es- subcontinent.
all the time. Hence, what you term the capes final classification. It is this element
wide range of subjects are the natural of unfixity that makes desire unappeal- The Ayyappan temple in Kerala is
stomping grounds of desire. We encoun- ing as an official subject of investigation a celebrated pilgrim site. What is
ter and learn about desire in literature, because it undermines rather than bol- its significance in a book about the
cinema and religion. What we think of sters official records. history of desire?
as “our” desires that belong to each one Religion and religious practices play a
of us individually, are in fact socially There is a chapter in the book that significant role in what we understand
generated desires that we are taught and talks about yoga not being entirely as desire. Most religions set up an anti-
from among which we pick and choose Hindu, but having Muslim influence thetical relation between religious tenets
as we go along. as well. Tell our readers about this and desire; both Judaism and Christianity
briefly. are examples of this adversarial relation-
Desire plays a very important role Yoga is an excellent example of what I ship. India is fairly unique in that most
in society and the nation. How is just described as history being rewrit- of its religions, perhaps bar-

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 54 www.Tehelka.com

54-56 Q&A Neha Kirpal.indd 2 03/07/18 4:07 PM