Nakedness in Hindu/Sanatan Culture
So this clip of a Devi’s (देवी) dance blew up online & every Hindu should know the truth.
In a Mahavidya (महाविद्या) theatre performance held in Kolkata on 8th August, a male performer portraying Goddess Chhinnamasta (छिन्नमस्ता), commonly mistaken as Ma Kali (काली), caught immense backlash for his lack of clothing and the dance moves.
The threats got so bad that the dancer and the production group were forced to apologize.
Whatever their intention was, good or bad, the incident exposes a gap in how well we Hindus actually understand our own Dharma (धर्म).
Firstly, if you read the Tantrasara (तन्त्रसार) or the Dhyana (ध्यान) Mantra of Chhinnamasta (छिन्नमस्ता), she is described as Digambari (दिगम्बरी), and so is Ma Kali in her Karpuradistotra (कर्पूरादिस्तोत्र).
प्रत्यालीपपदं सदाह्यददतिं छिन्नं शिरःकर्त्तरीं
दिग्वस्त्रां स्वकबन्धशोणितसुधाधारां पिबन्तीं मुदा।
नागाबद्धशिरोमणिं त्रिनयनं हृद्युत्पलालंकृतं
रत्यांसक्तमनोभवोपरि दृढां ध्यायेज्जपासन्निभाम्॥
Digambar (दिगम्बर) means covered in all four directions of the sky, which basically means naked. And it isn’t sexual. It represents the ultimate victory over Maya (माया). It is the absolute destruction of the bodily ego and material attachment. We literally revere this exact state in Naga (नाग) Sadhus, in Lord Dattatreya (दत्तात्रेय), and in saints like Swami Samarth (स्वामी समर्थ), but when its a female, everyone loses their minds.
Secondly, folks called the dance moves exposing the behind as obscene and provocative. But funnily enough, Ma is depicted standing on Kama (काम) & Rati (रति), deities of sexual desire, with the fierce form meant to shock you out of physical lust, not provoke it.
The deity’s whole job is to force our human minds to look past dirty, dualistic thinking to overcome the things we try to cover, judge, shame or look down upon - its why Kali sits in burning crematoriums & why deities like Shiva (शिव) or Bhairava (भैरव) accept intoxicants as offerings.
Thirdly, the whole image of women having to wear a stitched blouse & petticoat is a British colonial-era rule.
Our own epics, like the Ramayana (रामायण) and Mahabharata (महाभारत), describe women wearing unstitched drapes like an Uttariya (उत्तरीय) or a single ekavastra (एकवस्त्र). If you visit Khajuraho (खजुराहो) or Konark (कोणार्क), the temple sculptures clearly show upper bodies bare or just bound with a simple cloth band called a Stanapatta (स्तनपट्ट).
In fact, historically in India, covering the upper body was also a caste privilege. During the Channar (चान्नार) Revolt in the eighteen-hundreds, lower-caste women literally had to fight for the right to wear upper-body clothing.
Simply put, what someone should wear or not wear has been a societal issue, because Dharma is pretty cool & comfortable without needing so-called modesty.
So in conclusion, we Hindus need to stop mistaking what was an impulsive performance as a cheap stunt - and we must stop viewing our deities through a colonial lens.
Nakedness & transcendental dance moves, both are part of our Sanatan (सनातन) culture, so stop feeling ashamed & start viewing it through the lense of deep bhakti (भक्ति), devotion & respect.