Critical Review of Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Renunciation by Meena Khandelwal
Meena Khandelwal’s Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Renunciation is a seminal work in Hindu studies, offering a nuanced exploration of the intersection of gender and renunciation in Indian religious traditions. Published in 2006, the book challenges long-standing presuppositions about women’s role in Hindu asceticism, arguing that their engagement in renunciant life was not merely an exception to prevailing norms but a rich and meaningful expression of spiritual authority. Khandelwal, a distinguished scholar of religion and South Asia, infuses this study with rigorous scholarship and cultural nuance, making it both approachable and engaging for readers interested in the intersections of gender, spirituality, and social hierarchy within Hinduism.
Biographical Context: Meena Khandelwal
Meena Khandelwal is an Indian-American scholar of religion, sociology, and feminist theory. As Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa, she’s dedicated her career to exploring the place of women in Hinduism, particularly where gendered roles and religious practice meet. Her work often explores the intersection of religious doctrine and societal norms, and she’s known for masterfully contextualizing complex theological ideas within their historical and cultural milieus. Khandelwal’s background — with bachelor's, master's, and a doctorate from the University of Virginia — has given her a deep knowledge of Indian and international religious conversations. Women in Ochre Robes builds on this foundation, expanding her inquiry into the specific realm of renunciation and its gendered dimensions.
Overview of the Book
At its core, Women in Ochre Robes interrogates the cultural and religious constructs that define renunciation (sannyasa) in Hinduism, particularly as they pertain to women. The book challenges the presumption that renunciation is a masculine pursuit, tracing the history of women’s asceticism from antiquity to the modern day. Khandelwal excavates an array of sources, from classical Hindu texts and oral traditions to ethnographies and contemporary accounts of women sannyasins (renunciates), to craft a subtle investigation of gendered spirituality.
This begins by situating renunciation in Hindu cosmology, emphasizing its role in achieving moksha (liberation). She then examines the ancient belief that women were inherently spiritually inferior to men, particularly to renunciants. This impression, she argues, stems from patriarchal readings of Vedic scripture and the cultural expectations of a woman as wife, mother, and guardian of dharma. But Khandelwal argues that women’s renunciation isn’t necessarily a surrender to mansplaining yogis—it’s a powerful form of gender subversion, offering an alternative yet equally legitimate path to spiritual freedom.
Key Themes and Contributions
And perhaps most intriguing to Khandelwal is her exploration of the dichotomous basis of much Hindu practice. She explores how the concept of guna (qualities) in Hindu philosophy—particularly rajas (passion), sattva (purity), and tamas (inertia)—has been used to categorize women as more tamasic or rajasic in their spiritual pursuits, thereby justifying their exclusion from certain ascetic practices. With this lens, she reveals how even the most holy spiritual texts have been interpreted to maintain gender disparities. For instance, she critiques the common assertion that women are naturally drawn to srishtikarma (creative activity). At the same time, men are more suited to kriyakarma (action), suggesting that this dichotomy has been weaponized to marginalize women in the monastic sphere.
Khandelwal also points out the historical and geographical variation in women’s asceticism. While the sannyasa tradition is often associated with male ascetics, she points to the existence of akruti (women ascetics), kalika (female mystics), and shudra women who have historically embraced renunciation despite societal constraints. Following in the footsteps of the 16th-century mystic Mirabai and 19th-century reformer Kali Ambalal, Khandelwal demonstrates how women have hacked new spaces for themselves in the spiritual world — often reimagining renunciation as a mechanism to reclaim agency and combat caste-based and patriarchal oppression.
Another significant contribution of the book is its exploration of the shudra (untouchable) women’s entry into the renunciant tradition. As Khandelwal describes, these women — who were frequently excluded from upper-caste monastic orders — created their own paths to spiritual liberation that fall underneath the radar of most mainstream narratives. Their stories, she contends, reveal a broader spectrum of Hindu renunciation that is not simply gendered but also classed, caste, and economically conditioned. This striation of identity muddies the discussion, showing that women’s renunciation is anything but monolithic—it’s a dynamic, complex beast.
Critical Analysis
While Women in Ochre Robes is a groundbreaking text, it’s not without its snares. One potential critique is the book’s focus on the sannyasa tradition, which, although central to Hindu asceticism, may not encompass all forms of renunciation. Khandelwal acknowledges this, but her analysis could have been further enriched by including a wider range of practices, such as bhakti (devotion) movements and yoga traditions, in which women have historically played more prominent roles.
Moreover, while the writer persuasively argues for women’s exclusion from monasticism, some readers might object to her minimizing female agency within such frameworks. For example, although she notes that women sannyasins often embody a hybrid form of renunciation, caught between spiritual and familial duties, the book is deficient in its examination of how these women negotiate identity in a male-dominated environment.
However, the book’s true strength is in its cross-curricular nature. Khandelwal brilliantly blends textual and ethnographic analysis, giving readers a true sense of what it’s like to live as a Hindu. Her use of modern examples, such as the emergence of women-led spiritual groups in present-day India, highlights the ongoing relevance of her points and how age-old traditions respond to changing social contexts.
Understanding Hindu Beliefs Through the Lens of Gender
Khandelwal’s work is critical reading for those who seek to explore the nuances of Hinduism — how gender informs spirituality and how caste influences. By examining the sannyasa tradition, she illuminates how Hinduism has historically been a site of both spiritual liberation and patriarchal control. The book helps us see that Hindu renunciation was not simply about devotion but a social invention, created within shifting power and identity structures.
More broadly, however, it challenges the notion of Hinduism as a monolithic tradition, showing how its practices are continually reframed and reinvented. Khandelwal’s attention to women’s diverse experiences of renunciation, whether through formal monastic orders, informal spiritual communities, or hybrid practices, reveals a Hinduism that is pluralistic and adaptable. Readers will gain an appreciation for how women have quietly but indelibly enriched Hindu spiritual traditions.
More generally, though, the book prompts us to reconsider the importance of gendered spiritual architectures for Hinduism’s encounter with modernity. As Indian society becomes increasingly secular and women’s public and religious roles expand, Khandelwal’s old and new gender dynamics provide a lens by which to understand Hindu faith’s strains and transformations. Her work is particularly significant worldwide, where Hinduism is seen as an ancient, conservative religion with scant space within it for feminine spirituality.
Conclusion
Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Renunciation is a masterful and insightful examination of how gender shapes spiritual practices in Hinduism. Meena Khandelwal’s interdisciplinary approach and her immersion in both the ancient and the modern provide readers with a richly textured portrait of the ambivalence of the Hindu tradition. While the book may have expanded its scope to include other forms of renunciation, it remains a welcome contribution to feminist theology and Hindu scholarship. By centering the resilience and resourcefulness of women in the renunciant tradition, Khandelwal not only enriches our understanding of Hindu thought but also highlights gender as a crucial lens for exploring religion. It’s an excellent read for anyone interested in the intersection of religion, gender, and social change, and a telling reminder of how Hinduism lives and breathes through its adherents.
In other words, Khandelwal’s tome is an essential intervention in the Hindu discourse — challenging us to look beyond simple narratives and to contend instead with the deeper forces that shape religious life in India. Not only a homage to the enduring strength of women’s voices in the renunciant tradition, but also a call to respect the plurality of paths to liberation in Hindu thought.
