In recent years many people across the world make use of their nudity to express opposition for an issue. May be that they think their above behaviours would attract the attention of media and public to their causes. As regards these protests France is ahead of all other countries in the world. In these demonstrations females also participate cheerfully. Some females in the state of Manipur in our country protested the raping and then killing of a young woman there by removing their clothes in 2019. This year in March one MLA in Karnataka State Assembly took off his shirt by standing in the well of the House for expressing objection to an issue. Last month some farmers in Delhi protested the new farm laws by removing their upper garments.
In reality, nudity is not a new thing for us, Indians. Thousands of years ago, the founder of Jain religion in India Lord Vardhaman Mahavira did not wear any clothes himself. The above mentioned religion believes that for attaining salvation one should abandon all the material possessions. And wearing of clothes amounts to enjoying worldly comforts. Then, there are innumerable Gods and Goddesses in Hindu religion. One of these Gods is Betal who is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. And Betal is a male nude God. A book entitled ‘Kamasutra’ written by ancient Indian philosopher Vatsyayan, the pictures and sculptures of Ajanta, Khajuraho and Yellora and processions of nude Sadhus in the Kumbhamelas are instances that show that we Indians are quite familiar with nakedness.
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One story of ancient India persuades us to think about nudity from a different angle.
Shuk was the son of sage Vyas. He was wise, humble and a great philosopher. One day both the father and the son were walking along a footpath. The son walked in front and the father followed him. Shuk was without clothes. There was a lake beside that way and a few young women were bathing in it. Shuk went onward past them. But when Vyas reached on that spot, these women became red in the face through shyness. The sage was taken aback. He turned towards the lake and said to one of these women, “just now my son went past you. He was young and naked. And that did not make any difference to you. But when you saw me, an old man, you blushed. Is this not strange?” The woman replied, “we women instantly recognise the gazes of men. Your son is innocent. Would it make any impact if one sees a naked child? But you are not like your son”!
The topic of nudity came to fore during the freedom struggle movement of India. One of the greatest leaders of that historic movement was Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji used to move from place to place wrapping merely a piece of cloth around his waist. The then prime minister of Britain Sir Winston Churchill ridiculed Gandhiji and called him ‘half naked fakir’. In fact Gandhiji had a strong moral reason for becoming himself ‘half naked’! During those times, India was a very poor country. The people did not have enough food to eat and enough clothes to wear. And in order to identify himself with these poor masses of India, Gandhiji adopted for himself very simple lifestyles. And wearing of minimum clothes was one of them.
