I visited around 50+ Pandals in my visit to Kolkata this Durga Puja. There is one thing that I noticed that was super strange.
Female Gods never wear slippers. (Or never depicted with slippers). I mean NEVER.
Most times male gods as well as asuras wear slippers. Sometimes the slippers look really good too. But females are always bare feet.
Even in male gods, sometimes Ganesha, does not wear slippers. Shanmuka/Karthikeya almost always wears slippers.
Mahisasura is usually depicted with very ornamental slippers.
In some modern depictions, no one wears slippers. But it’s never the case that the female gods are wearing it and the male gods aren’t. In fact the female gods “never” wear slippers in any depiction.
Is it because they stand on a lotus and lion? Am I smelling patriarchy here? Is there a deeper meaning than the subjugation of women or we are just convinced that is the reason? Am I reading too much into it?
At first I just thought it’s a fleeting thing. But later I found it as a pattern and once you see it, you can’t but notice it.
Next time you visit a Pandal, do notice this.
