Chomos of kinnaur: A critical reflection on the gendered cultural politics

Abstract

The paper “Chomos of Kinnaur: A Critical Reflection on the Gendered Cultural Politics” attempts to historically locate the role of women in Buddhism in general and the Chomos (the Buddhist nuns) in the present day Kinnaur; and how historically the Chomos have been made to live a life far below dignity than that of the Lamas in the Kinnaur region. Despite some instances of women’s Buddhist ordination since the Sixth century BCE, the women within the Buddhist philosophical and religious norms as well as in general Indian patriarchal set up, the Chomos are a victimized race whose concerns need to be brought to the fore to make it a public issue. The critical gaze to the Chomos through a feminist lens is the need of the hour to ameliorate their material conditions and also to lend them the necessary dignity in life for the work they do in the religious order of Buddhism.