Ancient Indian Relations to Disability: the Importance of Representation in the Arts

By Fiona Candland

Disabilities of both intellectual and physical form have existed in humans since our race’s dawn. What has not occurred forever is the concept of “disability” and the harsh distinction societies make between able-bodied and disabled people, as well as individuals with developmental disabilities and those considered neurotypical. As this contrast emerged, ancient societies looked for reasons to explain such differences, many finding their answer in religion. For ancient India and many other South Asian states, the idea of Karma, a Hindu and Buddhist philosophy of causal effect, meaning that thoughts and actions have consequences that materialize in future experiences, explained disability: if someone’s child was physically or mentally disabled, it meant they had done something that warranted such “evil” treatment [1]. As religion and its role in society emerged, so did art and literature, as people painted, sculpted, and wrote stories of their favorite religious characters and scenes. As art brought religion to life, it also brought disabled characters from religious stories to cave walls, poetry, and other artistic forms and aspects of culture. Representation of intellectual disabilities and disabilities in general have been prevalent in Indian society and artistic expression since ancient times; this inclusion of disabilities has led to greater levels of acceptance and infrastructure in modern society. Although people in ancient India strongly believed that Karmic philosophy was behind disability, sentiments towards disability was not all bad. People have been writing about, creating art of, and engaging in conversations about disabled people forever. Some of the earliest and most prevalent artifacts we have pertaining to disabled people is from Ancient India. One such relic is Mahabharata, considered to be the longest and most epic poem every written [2]. Within the epic, many characters have disabilities, for example, Dhritarashtra, the king of the Kuru kingdom, who was born blind. Because of his disability and despite his firstborn positioning as the legitimate heir to the throne, Pandu, his younger half-brother, is made the king [3]. Unfortunately, Pandu dies young and Dhritarashtra takes over the kingdom. Despite his blindness, he governs with strength and precision as his character is famously known for having the strength of 100 elephants. Within the poem, his character portrays that one’s disability is not a defining or necessarily weak characteristic as he was an excellent ruler to his people. In fact, his only weakness was his overwhelming love for his son, Duryodhana, who he failed to see any wrong in [4]. Perhaps a metaphor for his physical blindness is his blinding love for his son; his overwhelming empathy and care for the wellbeing for others is a greater inhibitor of his success than his physical disability. This positions his disability as a facet of his existence, however, his humanism and emotion plays a much bigger role in his life, showing that disabilities are not defining of one’s individuality and do not strip them of their humanity. By representing disability in such a light in such a prominent text, the Mahabharata helped build a culture of inclusion and normality around disability in ancient India, despite Karmic beliefs. 

Alongside the epic, the Mahabharata, disability resides in numerous other literary and artistic works that have built Indian culture. Dating back to the 3rd century BCE, the Jataka, a collection of 574 stories about the lives of the Buddha, includes encounters with blindness, leprosy, learning difficulties, simulated deafness, and intellectual disabilities. These stories are also represented in cave art dated from then until the 2nd century CE in Gandhara and the Peshawar Valley, and are known to be the earliest extant artistic portrayals of disability [5]. Overwhelmingly, Dwarfism is the most common disability depicted in Indian art. Sculptures of people with the condition are found at several prominent sites, including pillar capitals at Bharhut, Mathura, Amarāvati, the Virupaksha temple, entrances of stupas holding the gateway at Bharhut and Sanchi, as bracket figures at Ajanta and Ellora, the Ananta Gumpha cave in Khandagiri-Udaygiri, Odisha, the Chalukya caves at Bādāmi, the Pallavā caves at Undavalli, and the Hoysaléswar temple at Halebid [6]. Additionally, the Kailāsnātha cave in Ellorā has a dwarfish yaksha holding the entirety of the shrine-chamber on his shoulders [7]. The institution of people with Dwarfism in holy temples, meaningful landmarks, and important destinations illustrates the integration of people who don’t fit today’s exclusive standards for normality in ancient Indian society. The importance of their centuries long appearance at these cherished monuments goes much deeper than their physical presence; their non-normative bodies challenge the aesthetics of culture, as their sculpted bodies challenge what it looks like to be elegant and admirable. These examples only scratch the surface of the art, stories, and cultural significance of people with Dwarfism in Indian culture as their symbols of divinity prevail, and the ugly desire to judge someone based on anything other than what’s inside is dismissed. 

As we have looked at tangible and specific examples of disability representation in ancient Indian art, it is clear that a humanitarian philosophy is behind these pieces, pushing for a societal acceptance of disability. This rhetoric is abundant in religious texts, in particular, the Aitareya Upanishad, a significant text in Hindu philosophy. With an estimated date of composure around the 6th or 5th century BCE [8], the Aitareya Upanishad is considered to be one of the oldest Upanishads, which are late-Vedicc Sanskrit texts that institute the most central concepts in Hinduism [9]. The Aitareya investigates what it is that makes us all human despite our numerous differences in ability, purpose, and desire, to name a few. In the text, Atman, the individual soul or self, considered eternal and distinct from the body and mind [10], ponders the adhesion of humanity: 

Is it that by wich one sees? Or hears? Or smells odours? Or utters speech? Or distinguishes between what is tasty and what is not? Is it the heart and the mind?

Is it awareness? Perception? Discernment? Cognition? Wisdom? Insight? Steadfastness? Thought? Reflection? Drive? Memory? Intention? Purpose? Will? Love? Desire? But these are various designations of cognition [11]. 

If everyone is physically different than one another, it cannot be the body, if we all perceive and think differently, then it cannot be the mind, and if we all feel different callings, then it cannot be wisdom or love, nor desire. He continues his pursuit, proclaiming: 

A man continues to live after his speech leaves him, for we see people who are dumb. A man continues to live after his sight leaves him, for we see people who are blind. A man continues to live after his hearing leaves him, for we see people who are deaf. A man continues to live after his mind leaves him, for we see people who are imbeciles. A man continues to live after his arms are cut off and legs are cut off, for we see such people [12]. 

The text peruses many different possible abilities and lack of them, finding that each sense or mental capacity that is lost still leaves a person human. Each sentence fills its lungs with inquisition, finding its completion within humanity, as the scripture finds that only the absence of breath will disengage a human from Earth [13]. This divine philosophical text dismisses our differences, finding that our differences are but an aspect of our humanity, and it is only death that disengages from life. By this rhetoric, it is quite literally inhumane to judge or dismiss someone due to their differences and or lack of ability. 

It’s clear that disability recognition and activism has played a great role in the culture and arts of India for some time. This inclusion goes further than incorporating disabled characters in stories and drawings; the longtime grace and acknowledgement given to disabled people has impacted India’s language and vernacular, among other aspects of society. Additionally, one area that India is trying to develop further is the healthcare system, specifically the care given to those with intellectual disabilities. Since Ancient times, Indian medical systems have acknowledged and referenced intellectual disabilities, which many societies either have refused to accept entirely (Ancient Greece, for example), or choose to place on the periphery. For instance, Ayurveda (1000 BCE) categorized intellectual disability as ‘janma bala pravrt', meaning impaired mental abilities with or without physical disability [14]. Furthermore, the Ayurvedic word ‘jadata’ refers to intellectual disability and related disabilities [15]. Numerous other examples from ancient India exist, including the copious amount of words to describe disability in Sanskrit. 

Moving forward a few thousand years to modern India, we find ourselves in a country that has faced a lot of adversity in many different areas. One such issue has been population as India sits as the most populated country in the world. In 2011, Census of India reported that 26.8 million (2.2%) people have disabilities of which 1.5 million have intellectual disabilities [16]. Nonetheless, the country is in the process of creating a healthcare system that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), reflecting the respect and care portrayed in the arts. The initial attempt by the government to provide legislation for people with disabilities brought the Persons with Disabilities Act in 1995. The legislation emphasized and enhanced equal opportunity and prohibition of discrimination, as well as a plan to continue the institution of laws to help disabled people. In addition, central and state governments have introduced numerous social justice measures such as disability pensions, family pensions, travel concessions, income tax exemption and health insurance [17], however, limited access to monetary funds due to the size of the nation remains an issue. One way the government is combatting these issues and following the further planning set in 1995 is with NIEPID (National

Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities) and the creation of regional centres that have been established in different parts of India with the purpose of providing “free early intervention services and medical treatment to conditions such as epilepsy, and hyperactivity often seen in persons with intellectual disabilities” [18]. 

While such governmental attempts to make healthcare for individuals with IDD a given is rooted in politics, medicine, and social justice, as stewards to the cultivation of similar practices in all countries, we must not dismiss the role arts and culture played in the normalization of conditions. By giving disabled individuals space for their bodies, minds, and hearts to be seen in texts, cave walls, and places of worhsip, the longstanding culture and state of India not only normalized, but celebrated the differences we share.

Sources 

[1] Miles, Michael. "Studying responses to disability in South Asian histories: Approaches personal, prakrital and pragmatical." (2001): 143-160. 

[2] Kumari, Neha. "Karmic philosophy and the model of disability in ancient India." Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities 7, no. 1 (2019): 39-43. [3] Bajpai, Yashi. "Enunciating Transition in Indian Civilization: An Analysis of Disability in Ancient Indian Texts." Creative Saplings 2, no. 07 (2023): 1-12. 

[4] Neelakantan, Anand. Ajaya: Epic of the Kaurava Clan-Roll of the Dice. Vol. 1. One Point Six Technology Pvt Ltd, 2013. 

[5] Miles, M. "India: demystifying disability in Antiquity." In Disability in Antiquity, pp. 106-121. Routledge, 2016. 

[6] Sastri, T. V. G. “Dwarfin the Indian SculptuTeP Arts Asiatiques 6, no. 1 (1959): 33-58. wwwjstor.org/ stable/4371483. --------- . “Tivo DwarfYaksha from Nagagunakonda.” Arts Asiatiques 8, no. 3 (1961): 211-4. www.jstor. org/stable/43484197. 

[7] Das, Shilpa. "Disability in ancient Indian art and aesthetic theory : the case of Bibhatsa and Bhayanaka Rasas." The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability (2022). [8] Patrick Olivelle (1998), Upaniṣads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-282292-6, pages 12–15 

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads 

[10] https://www.britannica.com/topic/atman 

[11] and [12] The early Upanishads: Annotated text and translation. Oxford University Press, 1998.

[13] Miles, M. "India: demystifying disability in Antiquity." In Disability in Antiquity, pp. 106-121. Routledge, 2016. 

[14] Mishra, Amitav, and Jayanthi Narayan. "Health care for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities in India." Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities 21, no. 1 (2024): e12484. 

[15] Agarwal, S. C., J. S. Tripathi, and R. H. Singh. "Clinical correlates of mental retardation in ayurveda." Ancient Science of Life 18, no. 3&4 (1999): 179-183. 

[16] MoSPI. Persons with disabilities (Divyangjan) in India: A statistical profile: 2021, (2021).  http://www. nhfdc.nic.in/upload/nhfdc/Persons_Disabilities_31mar21.pdf [17] Girimaji, Satish Chandra. "Intellectual disability in India: the evolving patterns of care." International Psychiatry 8, no. 2 (2011): 29-31. 

[18] NIMH. National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disability. (n.d.). https://www.niepid.nic.in/abtmain.php