Disability & Society

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Disability in an Eastern Religious Context:

historical perspectives

M MILES

To cite this article: M MILES (1995) Disability in an Eastern Religious Context: historical
perspectives, Disability & Society, 10:1, 49-70, DOI: 10.1080/09687599550023723

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Disability & Society, V ol. 10, N o. 1, 1995 49

Disability in an Eastern Religious

Context: historical perspectives
M. M ILES
4 Princethorpe Road, Birmingham B29 5PX , U K

ABST RAC T Disability in the past of eastern religions has attracted little form al or comparative
scrutiny. A range is sketched here of historical data, viewpoints and attitudes on disability in
Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, which continue to in uence the thoughts of half the world s
population. A pproaches for more detailed studies are suggested, moving tow ards such global
measures for understanding, remediating and accommodating disability as would be more
appropriate and acceptable to the non-w estern majority. Popula r notions associated with
disabilities in these religions are discussed.

An U pcom ing Field

M arvello us tales of m onsters in the East, according to W ittkower (1942) ,

determined the western idea of India for alm ost 2000 years , gradually becom ing
stock features of the occidental m entality and surfacing in a wide range of
literatu re. These tales reached the W est through the Indika of Ktesias, c. 397 BC,
but possibly origin ated with the Aryan Indians, by exagge ratio n of what they saw as
the strange features and repulsive customs of aborigin al D ravid ian and M ongolian
inhabitants (Rawlinson, 1916, p. 26; Thapar, 1971 ) [1]. Som e m onster stories m ay
also have origin ated in travellers encounters with severely disabled or abnorm al
people, embroidered with snatches of religio us m yth. Two m illennia after Ktesias,
monster stories and their religiou s interpretation were slowly givin g way to a m ore
physical discourse. Careri, travellin g in India in 1695, described a `monster , but in
term s that make the m edical condition identi able (Sen, 19 49, p. 168). Terry
(1655/1777, p. 21 8), and other travellers in the East, still m ade a point of m ention-
ing disabled people or their absence, presum ably to satisfy their readers on a m atter
of known interest.
As a m odern topic, `D isability in Eastern Religio ns has generated very little
published m aterial. The dom inant voices of European and N orth Am erican debates
on disability issues proceed with a com mon underpinning of (post)-Judaeo-Chris-
tian ethics and philosophy. The quiet, continuing undercurrent of this religiou s
heritage m ay surprise m any western debaters who do not consciously think in
religiou s terms. Y et when viewed from outside the western cam p, it is m uch m ore
obvious that the term s of debate whether righ ts, wrongs, duties, meanings of life,

0968-7599/95/010049-21 1995 Journals Oxford Ltd

50 M . M iles

images of personality derive from , or in reaction to, a western understanding of the

(origin ally m iddle eastern) Judaeo-Christian philosophy and ethics.
At least 70% of glob al disability is experienced in countries and contexts upon
which western ethics and philo sophy im pinge only peripherally. Those easterners
with whom westerners most often com e into contact usually belong to the minority
who can accom m odate western thinking, i.e. by learning and using European
languages. Yet m ost of the disability in the world (certainly 70% , possibly more) is
felt and thought about in other term s. M any of these `other terms are unfamiliar to
most westerners and m ay have been dismissed with stereotypes of `eastern fatalism ;
or are considered `outdated , or even the old colonial standby, `barb aric . In the
main, as Scheer & Groce (1988) note, they have sim ply been neglected. Y et in the
postmodern and pluralistic age, the existence of concepts and belief systems that
differ radically from those conventional in western debate cannot continue to be
ignored; nor, on the other hand, too hastily swallo wed. Critic al appraisal of their
otherness and likeness is needed. (A n historical view further dem ands som e term ino-
logical tolerance. W ords now considered archaic or abusive, such as `dwarf , `idiot ,
`deform ity etc., will hereafter appear unapostrophised and un[sic.]ed, where the
context requires them ).
Som e attention has been paid to disability perceptions in multicultural societies
(W estbrook et al., 1993 ; M allory et al., 1993) and among modern ethnic m inorities
in W estern societies (A tkin, 1991; Connors & D onnellan, 1993), who are handy
objects for study. D isability studies grew during the 1980s in western academ ia, in
parallel with a growing interest in the study of world religion s, inter-faith activities
and cross-cultural comparisons. In the 1990s these elds should connect. A small
overlap does exist between som e aspects of m edicine and their religio us context.
There have been detailed studies of m ental illn ess in early Hindu, Buddhist and
Islam ic contexts (e.g. Bhugra, 199 2; O beyesekere, 1977; D ols, 1987); also historical
studies on dwarfs and people with deformities in the M iddle East (D asen, 1988), on
epilepsy, and on diseases attribu ted to the `evil eye in variou s regions (Levi, 1941);
which have made some review of the religio us context. D isability has also gured in
codi cations of religio us law , where it can affect legal capacity, inheritance and
penology. Glucklich (1984) gives a modern review of such issues as they developed
in Hindu law . Yet aside from brief glim pses in law , m edicine and travellers tales, the
com bination of disability, religio n and the orient comprises a new eld.
It would be hard enough to state sim ply `how Christianity has addressed
disability . D isabilitie s and disabled people appear in Christian contexts and litera-
ture across a vast spectrum , generating a plethora of views, in an on-going, acceler-
ating process. Even less can one sum m arise con dently how the m ajor eastern
religion s of Hinduism , Buddhism or Islam have addressed disability. H owever, these
religion s do contain and describe encounters with, and view points, on disabilities,
which are of interest for com parison or possible uniqueness. To study them should
ideally occupy multi-disciplin ary team s from inside and outside the cultural com-
munities in question, working from texts in Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic and other lan-
guages. The present paper offers m erely an introduction, based on translations; and
of necessity aim s to sketch some of the challenge and com plexity of the ideas, rather
 Disability and Eastern Religions 51

than to attem pt to situate each one in its origin al social context. In fact, for m uch
of human history, the m ajor religio ns were the `social context : they were an
all-embracing way of life, rather than the m odern western notion of an individually
chosen set of beliefs and values shared with a minority in a secular state.

Variety of Viewpoints

M y interest began during a decade s work on information resources for fam ilie s with
disabled children in Pakistan. To devise suitab le resources, one should study
people s cultures and their concepts of disability, in order to com municate appropri-
ately. It was useful to nd historical references to disabilities in Islam and in the
Indian religion s that have in uenced Pakistani cultures (M iles, 1981). Pakistanis
adopt som e innovatio ns merely because they are told that these are `good activities
from `advanced western societies , but there is naturally m ore enthusiasm for
em ulatin g worthy actions from M uslim history. There was practical reason to nd
such actions, and also aspects of disability in H indu and Buddhist history.
Seeking historical precedent is nothing new. Lushington (1824, p. 188) noted
a sim ilar m anoeuvre to legitim ise female education in India. Baron (18 27, pp. 555
559) wrote of `well meant devices used to propagate vaccination, by derivin g it from
Indian antiquity; others described the process as a `pious fraud (see W ujastyk,
1987). Happily, in the disability eld neither fraud nor device is required. There is,
however, m ore than one view about which historic activities are `good . One m ay for
exam ple quote from Islam ic history the debate among the Jurists on the civil righ ts
of m entally handicapped men, centuries before such a debate in Europe (Ham ilton,
1957/1963, pp. 526 529; Tyser, n.d., pp. 149 156; Rahim, 191 1/1968, pp. 188
194). Pakistani M uslim s are usually pleased to learn of this; yet their pleasure m ay
hardly outlast the re ection that the civil rights of the present populatio n seem less
than those of disabled m en discussed by lawyers centuries ago.
Another exam ple of differing viewpoint: the Prophet M oham m ed seem s to have
undergone a learning process with regard to blind persons, being rebuked by Allah
for his initial im patience, and so reaching a m ore favourable attitude (Rodwell,
1909, p. 39). This story, in the Quran and traditions, should be a good opener for
discussing attitudes with M uslims. Indeed, it is used by one M uslim , extollin g the
bene ts granted to disabled people by Islam (Tarzi, 1978). However, for m any other
M uslims it is unacceptable to suggest that the Prophet s behaviour m igh t ever have
been less than a perfect m odel. Com mentators such as Ali (1920, pp. 1159 1161),
Farid (19 69, pp. 1315 1316) and Palm er (1880, pp. 320 321), follow ing a custom
at least 600 years old (D aud, 1989, p. 50 ), go to some lengths to avoid the
straigh tforw ard m eaning of the story; though to western eyes it seem s an adm irable
exam ple of M oham m ed s responsiveness to new experience, and hum ility in record-
ing Allah s rebuke. O rientalists m ay solve the problem by claim ing that M ohamm ed
was not the subject of the story (Bell, 1939 , p. 635); this also is unacceptable to
many M uslim com m entators. An `inter-faith approach m ight com pare the apparent
reticence in early Christendom over an encounter of Jesus with a blind m an. M ark s
gospel (8:22 26) records an experim ental process of healin g one of few details
52 M . M iles

peculiar to M ark and noticeably om itted in Luke s and M atthew s parallels. D id the
Church later nd it unacceptable to show Jesus apparently havin g two shots at
healing, rather than succeeding rst tim e? Yet the M arcan record appeals m ore to
modern Europeans, who approve of `client partic ipatio n in healing, and know that
one regain ing sight would have poor initial focus, seeing people `as though they were
trees .
Studying how Islam , Buddhism or Hinduism address disability now, one
cannot avoid differences of viewpoint. Yet at the `surface level of history, these
religion s have produced little different from the bag of ideas that Christianity held
(at least until the 20th century deepening of Christian interest in disability).
D isability did not gure in creeds or article s of belief. Insofar as disabilities were
found m eaningful, it was as m isfortunes, sent by deity, fate, karm a; often associated
with parental or personal sin, as in the Laws of M anu (XI, 53):

Thus in consequence of a remnant of (the guilt of former) crim es, are born
idiots, dumb, blind, deaf and deform ed m en, who are (all) despised by the
virtuous. (Bu hler, 1886, p. 440)

This verse sum s up a series of examples in which particular disabilities are supposed
to be ` tting retribution for particular sins, responsibility for which lies entirely with
the individ ual. D oniger & Sm ith (1991, p. 256 ) translate a little less harshly,
em phasizing contem pt for the past misdeeds rather than for the present disability.
Yet they also rem ark (p. lii) that

m adm en and drunkards, adulterers and gam blers, impotent m en and

lepers, blind m en and one-eyed men, present them selves for social inter-
course again and again , and are rejected again and again .

They see in M anu s prescriptions an elaborate dance of the victim s and the
victim izers , in which those who have killed other creatures in past live s becom e fair
gam e for the `social death of disability in their present existence [2].
Person and impairment have customarily been view ed as one. This m akes the
person defective, rather than the person s body m erely having a part that does not
work or works differently. Adherents of most religio ns are exhorted not to m ock or
obstruct people with disabilitie s, but to be charitab le to them . Such `charity has
seldom appeared in terms of equality of esteem and of opportunity; yet it m ust be
preferable to the notion of `lum ps of esh without souls , ascribed to M artin Luther
and linked to European beliefs about changelings (Luther s W orks, 1964 68,
vol. 54, pp. 44 45, 53, 396 397; Haffter, 1968).
M odern apologists would give a m ore favourable exposition, claim ing that
current positive views of people with disabilities merely re ect what their religion
long ago bestowed upon hum anity [3]. H owever, when Asian disabled activists are
asked how the m ajor religion s address disabilities, and whether they nd any
correspondence between people s professed beliefs and their practical attitudes and
behaviour as observed by people with disabilities, there is little enthusiasm ; as is also
the case in western countries. Furtherm ore, as D esai points out in a discussion of the
com plexity of Indian m edical ethics (198 8), there is no central accepted authority in
 Disability and Eastern Religions 53

the Hindu tradition, and There is no authority that can proclaim a particular code
of conduct for all Hindus, m uch less see to its enforcem ent .

Attitu des R eported

Attitudes self-reported by people in Pakistan s N orth W est Frontier, towards disabil-

ities and people with disabilities, appear below, form ulated in steps of increasing
acceptability to current western sensibilities:

(a) M ocking, playin g tricks; fear and rejection.

(b) Pity m ixed with fear; pity overcom ing fear.
(c) Alm s-giving as a religio us duty; alm s-giving with com passion.
(d) Idea of society s duty: `m ust be a place where they can be cared for .
(e) Ascription of caste status and social needs, i.e. `they should be put together
with others like them selves .
(f) Should be enabled to live their own live s as far as possible.
(g) Should have access to the righ ts and services availab le to anyone else.
(h) Positive action to make righ ts and services availab le.
(j) Should have the righ t to be different. Equality, dignity, opportunity.
And as an afterthought: (k)D o `they perhaps have som e views of their own?

Sim ilar attitudes have been casually reported am ong people of m any religio ns (and
none). Do they arise mainly from individual experiences and personality, reinforced
by religio us beliefs or more rarely challe nged by beliefs? The list above arises from
a questionnaire survey of 273 adults and children in Peshaw ar and rural district
(M iles, 1983), using a two-step approach: asking people what is the general feeling,
then what the respondents own attitudes are and whether they agree with the
popular view. People tended to report their own attitude as one step m ore `ad-
vanced than what they attribu ted to the general public. Thus if they felt that m ost
people feared or m ocked disabled people, they contrasted that with their own
attitude of pity, suggesting the increm ental nature of attitude change.
The public s unconscious attitudes, as endured by disabled people, are usually
less acceptable than those self-reported. A mong the languages of the Indian subcon-
tinent there are system s for classifying other beings, with concepts which m ay be
rooted too deeply to be visib le to the perpetrators. Smith (1992) notes that
classifying animals was a way of classifying people in ancient India and refers to the
monkey/ape/dwarf/pseudo-men com plex of term s by which non-Aryans were differ-
entiated and set outside the pale of `real hum anity. T his would support Rawlinson s
suggestion (above) about the origin of the `m onster stories. Turner (1966, p. x),
after 50 years com parative study of Indo-Aryan languages, remarked on the prolif-
eration of varian ts on `defect them es, m ental, physical and moral [4]. He noted that

they are liab le as `expressive words to changes which indicate emphasis,

as derogatory words to deliberate deformation, and under both headings to
the form ation of rhyme-words.
The em otions aroused when describing disabilitie s seem to have required this
54 M . M iles

audible underlining (cf. M asica, 1989, pp. 183, 471). English `defect insults with
rhym ing, letter doubling and vowel changes, e.g. silly-b illy, hoddy-doddy, noddy,
ninny, nitwit, nignog; gawky, gauche, gow k, gook, goop, goon, goof, suggest a few
late ripp les from the Indo-Aryan profusion.

Possible Approaches

The fact of diversity in viewpoint and attitude has been sketched. H ow m ay one
grapp le with these nebula? Several handles m ay be tried. Exam ples of each are given
below:

(a) Events of Signi cance to Disability or People with Disabilities, in the Geographical
Area and Context of a Particular Religion, in a Given Period
1. The 3rd century BC Buddhist emperor Asoka is said to have organised care
institutions for people with disabilities, though little is known of how they func-
tioned (Sm ith, 1920, pp. 66, 162). The practice was revived in the 4th century CE
(Christian Era) by the Ceylonese ruler Buddhadasa: For cripples [w ho m oved
about with the help of a chair-lik e frame] and for the blind he built refuges in variou s
places (Geiger, 192 9, pp. 13 14). The Chinese pilgrim Fa -Hien, c. 400 CE,
reported city houses of treatm ent for disease and disability, in Buddhist north India,
which seem to have had a short-term residential capacity (Legge, 1886, p. 79).
Around 645 CE, Harsha revived Asoka s practices (Sm ith, 1920, pp. 317 318,
324). H ow long the institutions continued is unclear. There are long periods during
which evidence of formal public services for disabled people is very scanty. Reddy
(1941) quotes an inscription dated 1162 about free food distribution to poor and
disabled people. A few asylum s for people with leprosy or m ental illn ess existed from
the 15th and 16th centuries, from Christian and M uslim sources. M odern veri able
data begins with the Hindu R ajah Kali Shanker Ghosal, who opened an asylum for
blind and other disabled people at Benares in 1826, closely follow ed by the M uslim
N asiruddin H aider who opened the King s Poorhouse for `blind, maim ed, leprous,
in rm etc at Lucknow in 183 1 (M iles, 1994).
2. Most early data on disabled people did not concern services, but law s and
social arran gem ents. Kane (1974, pp. 297 298) quotes Baudhayana s rules for a
special type of upanayana, the rite of initiatio n to educational studies, perform ed for
youths who were `blind, deaf, crip pled or idiots . Though they could not study the
vedas, perform ance of the rite conferred social status and enabled them to m arry. In
view of M anu s strongly negative prescriptions, this exib ility over the initiatio n rite
is the m ore rem arkable. However, A mbedkar (1946, p. 191) notes that upanayana
was unavailab le to anyone `disabled by m em bership of the lowest caste, the
Shudras.
3. Flexibility of interpretation m ay continue in m odern tim es to bene t disabled
people. In Pakistan, around 198 0, a local com mittee of M uslim s disbursing Zakat
(an Islam ic wealth tax) debated how it could be used to support a school for
mentally handicapped children, when Zakat allo cation for im poverished students
was restricted to Food, Soap, Clothing, Textbooks. They accepted that, for children
 Disability and Eastern Religions 55

with severe m ental handicap, to pay a special teacher was equivale nt to purchasing
textbooks.

(b) Speci c Religio-legal Sanctions Adversely Affecting Disabled People and Public
Attitudes to Them
1. Inheritance law s, and the quali cations needed to be king, priest, royal
counsellor, monk, or doctor, often barred people with disabilities or chronic ail-
ments. D etailed exclusion lists appear in the ancient texts of Hinduism and Bud-
dhism , as well as Jainism , Zoroastrianism and Judaism (D avids & Oldenberg, 1881,
pp. 191 225; Bu hler, 1886, pp. 76 , 106 108, 119 120, 239 etc.; D arm esteter,
1895, p. 17; Telang, 1898, 319 321; W ood, 1926; D anby, 1933, p. 538 539; Jain,
1947, p. 174; R agh avachariar, 1965, pp. 485 486). Such lists, which are inform ative
sources on early disability categorie s, sometim es include the `disability of being
female. Under Shintoism , disability disquali ed also from being a god (N inom iya,
1986). The Hindu gods, however, were expected to break out in `m ad spells from
tim e to tim e; as were their devotees (Kinsley, 1974).
2. Serious crim es could incur a disabling punishment (Bu hler, 1879, p. 306;
Jolly, 1889, p. 388; Bandyopadhyaya, 1927 , pp. 234 238) [5]. Even an innocent
amputee m ight be suspected of having been a crim inal (Haj, 1970, p. 173).
Actual practices may have been less severe. Law codes often recorded the lim it
to which punitive zeal m igh t go; but leniency could be exercised, and a ne
substituted. The Q uranic sanction of am putation for theft should not be im ple-
mented if someone stole through pressing need, e.g. hunger [6]. Nevertheless,
mutilation as an eastern punishment was noted by outside observers from Strabo in
his Geograp hy (15.I.54) in the rst century (transl. Jones, 193 0, vol. 7, p. 91) to
Pottinger (1816 , p. 214 ). Carey (1882/1964, pp. 263 264) reproduces a detailed
account of judicial amputations at C alcutta in 1789. Elgood (1970, pp. 181 187)
give s a gris ly m edical review of castration, blinding, tooth pullin g, excision of
tongue, ears, hands and feet, burning and bastinado, practised in Persia (and, as he
notes, also in Europe at vario us tim es). Some cuts had ancient religio us sanction
even dogs were liable to lose an ear for a rst bite and their tail at the fth bite, on
the authority of Zoroaster (Elgood, 1951, p. 9) [7].
These actions, while now appearing grotesque [8], are part of a complex pattern
of personal, m edical and religiou s, as well as juridical, behavio ur in earlier ages.
People did not suddenly com e up with the idea of cutting part of someone else s
body, in isolatio n from all their other activities. At the sim plest level, warfare used
to be m uch more a hand-to-hand affair, and surgery a bloodier, noisier business.
Self-m utilatio n by am putating ngers or toes as an expression of m ourning or to
appease spirits , by hook-swinging, ling teeth and by causing other deformities for
beggin g purposes, have been known in variou s parts of the world (Friedm ann,
1972). D isablin g deformation of upper-class wom en s feet lasted in China from the
10th to the present century (Veith, 1980), and in fashionable m ode continues in
W estern countries, as does tattooing and body piercing. Cranial deform ation has
been established in all continents (D ingw all, 19 31). The application of red hot irons
to the body also has a long history across A sia, the M iddle East and Europe [9].
56 M . M iles

(c) Speci c Religious Injunctions Bene ting People with Some Disabilities, in Recognised
Scriptures or Traditions
1. The Laws of M anu lay a clear duty on the head of the fam ily to m aintain
disabled relative s (Bu hler, 1886, pp. 372 37 3).
2. The Padm apurana lists m any disabilitie s and dishonourable states that a m an
may suffer, yet exhorts his wife to revere him as her god, lavishing all care on him
(Dubois, 1906, p. 344). Fem inists m ay search in vain for any record of the converse;
yet at least M anu (IX , 79) conceded that a husband s insanity or im potence were
fair grounds for a wife to become disenchanted with him .
3. Kautilya (Sham asastry, 1923, p. 236), probably chief minister of Chan-
dragupta M aurya in the 4th century BC, and perhap s disabled (as his nam e
suggests), recorded one of the earliest `politic ally correct law s again st discrim inatory
language:

Am ong abusive expressions relatin g to the body, habits, learning, occu-

pation, or nationalitie s, that of callin g a deformed man by his right nam e,
such as the blind , the lam e , etc., shall be punished with a ne of 3
panas. If the blind, the lam e, etc., are insulted with such ironical expres-
sions as a man of beautiful eyes , a m an of beautiful teeth , etc., the ne
shall be 12 panas. Likewise when a person is taunted for leprosy, lunacy,
impotency and the lik e. A busive expressions in general, no m atter whether
true, false, or reverse with reference to the abused, shall be punished with
nes ranging above 12 panas, in the case of persons of equal rank.
(Kautilya, 3.18)

Kautilya s displeasure with `ironical expressions contrasts with the eastern habit of
designating unaesthetic things with virtuous expressions , cited by Preuss (transl.
Rosner, 1978, p. 273). Thus the Hebrews called the blind sagi nehora or m a or
eynayim , m eaning clear-sigh ted; also mephatcha apertus or roeh shemesh, one who sees
the sun . M arcus (1980) noted, however, that such expressions then lost their
origin al (virtuous) meaning. Furtherm ore, none of these considerations deterred the
writers of sacred texts, in all the m ajor religio ns. Concordances show them repeat-
edly denouncing as metaphorically `blind and `deaf those who disregard the divine
message. This com prehensive damning of people with the epithets `blind and `deaf ,
used thus far m ore frequently than in reference to sensory disabilitie s, enshrined in
holy writ and recited publicly and privately throughout two m ille nnia, can hardly
have had a positive effect on disability im ages.

(d) Folk Beliefs W idely Propagated and Generally H eld, Affecting Attitudes Towards
People with Disabilities
For exam ple, on the positive side, som e people with disabilities are `lucky or
`holy ; they have `second sight or `an extra sense , their presence may give protec-
tion again st the Evil Eye (Levi, 194 1; D asen, 19 88). The darker potential of folk
belief appears in its ancient dream of a super-race in a disability-fre e utopia. One
sam ple of this occurs in the Zoroastrian Vendidad (Farga rd II: 27(70) 29(80) ):
 Disability and Eastern Religions 57

Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of m en and women, of the greatest, best
and nest on this earth. [Translator s footnote: The best specim ens of
m ankind, to be the origin of the more perfect races of the latter days.]
There shall be no hum pbacked, none bulged forward there; no im potent,
no lunatic; no one m alic ious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one
with decayed tooth, no leprous (transl. Darm esteter, 1895, p. 17 )

The Bom bay Parsis, heirs of Zoroaster, have been notably philan thropic towards
disabled people within their own com m unity and m ore widely (M iles, 19 94). T he
European Nazis saw it otherwise, taking the `best specim ens to be blond, blue-eyed
athletes, and killin g disabled, deviant or non-Aryan people [10].

(e) The `Problem of Pain, Suffering, Evil , and its Development, as Treated in Each
Religion
This is not pursued here, as others have treated it in depth (e.g. Bowker, 1970);
but it is worth noting the `crip ple s dance , in the context of a Korean people s
theology born of pain and destitution. Younghak (1985) re ects on the experience
of disabled beggars, grossly abused and hum iliated during repeated invasions of
Korea, who still dance, in private, the spark of being alive and human. It is

not a form of self-laceratio n or self-pity as the healthy tend to think. It is

an assertion of their hum anity and, as such, their dance is a critic al
challe nge to the normal people. They seem to be saying, W e are just as
hum an as you are. M ore than that, we are even m ore hum an than you
`healthy ones

being strip ped of all protections and thus driven to the naked realitie s of life. This
meets upward de profundis the Buddhist religio us strivin g downward for
dis gurem ent and divestm ent from protections (discussed below).

Popular Notions for Review ?

Each m ajor eastern religion has som e notions popularly associated with it, involvin g
aspects of disability. These need careful scrutiny and perhap s some reconstruction.
A few exam ples will be sketched.

Islam

M uslims are sometim es said to be `fatalistic , because Islam requires subm ission to
the W ill of Allah; and this alleged fatalism `contradicts an active policy of preventing
or remediatin g disabilities. (Similar stereotypes exist of traditional Catholicism ).
In practice, ordinary people s thoughts m ay be m ore subtle than expected. For
exam ple, one man brought to a Peshawar disability centre his child, who had
cerebral palsy from birth and later suffered post-polio paralysis. The father re-
quested treatm ent for the paralysis; but forbade action on the cerebral palsy, since
the child had com e like that in the rst place. H e saw polio as a disease and `for
58 M . M iles

every disease, A llah has appointed a rem edy . Cerebral palsy was a condition, to be
accepted with fortitude; to try to change it would be rebellio n. W e agre ed with such
parents, that Allah had sent the child in a given state, and one should not com plain ;
but argued that Allah intended also that the condition be managed using availab le
knowledge. To ignore this would be a refusal of the help that A llah m ercifully placed
at our disposal
M any westerners might consider the whole argum ent rather odd. Yet western-
ers also can feel uneasy over the strenuous efforts that are sometim es m ade to
`im prove children who are born looking a bit different. The characteristic appear-
ance of people with D own syndrome can be altered surgic ally reducing tongue size
and tweaking the eye shape so that the syndrom e is less recognisable. Should this
be done, in aid of `passing ? Should we m ove on to `im proving children with red
hair (visibly different, often attracting tiresom e nicknam es, but highly valued in
some cultures); or lefthandedness (unpopular in m any cultures, and possible to hide,
at som e risk of psychological disorders)?
On the positive side, severely disabled adults who are unable to earn their livin g
and have no m eans of support, appeal to Allah and to passers-by, for `Justice
something to which they are entitled not for charity. If Allah deprives som e of the
normal means to earn a livin g, it is clearly the duty of Allah and his servants to give
such people their due. There should be no hesitation in demanding such justice. If
it is not done, the balan ce of society is disturbed a perception reached by western
disabled activists rather m ore recently. D isabled M uslims expectations were
founded on a traditional sense of mutual responsibility and religio us duty within
com munities, under the all-seeing eye of A llah . Speaking of m entally retarded
children, H assan (1990) suggests that in traditional M uslim culture all their
needs are met not out of pity but as a gesture of seeking goodwill from G od [11].

Buddh ism

Buddhists may appear fortunate in avoiding m ental debates with them selves for or
again st a possibly capric ious deity who give s some people a disability while others
enjoy good health and faculties. However, Gautam a s crisis encounter with sickness,
disability and death is central in the origin s of Buddhism. T he ancient spell of a
`disability-fre e utopia was carefully m aintained around him (C owell, 189 4, pp. 27
35):

Then havin g rem oved out of the way with the greatest gentleness all those
who had m utilate d lim bs or maim ed senses, the decrepit and the sick and
all squalid beggars, they made the highw ay assume its perfect beauty
[before the prince s outing].

Yet once the gods caused the protected youth s eyes to open upon the fact of hum an
suffering and death, he was obliged to em brace it and seek its m eaning and discover
how one should conduct oneself in such a world.
Buddhism , as it has developed, is the m ost interesting and rewarding religiou s
stim ulant to the post-Judaeo-Christian west, since it seeks actively and universally to
 Disability and Eastern Religions 59

tackle the realitie s of everyday life and to give coherent guidance, based on prem ises
substantially different from those of Christianity and the other m onotheisms.
In due course, real challenges may em erge from Buddhist quarters, to western
disability thinking. One targe t could be the apparent western over-em phasis of the
individual personality, selfhood and in ated public achievem ent orientation. In
western discussions of disability whether of the live s of disabled adults or of
the future of im paired infants the phrase `quality of life som etim es appears.
This tends to be associated with having capacity for an array of choices and
possessions and being free to engage in the `pursuit of happiness . In a Buddhist
discussion of `quality of life , such goals m ay seem naive. The phrase would m ore
lik ely em brace right conduct, righ t m entality, livin g the life one should live, being
the person one should be. The Buddhist concern is to `ful l one s dharma rather
than the western `following one s dream which usually involves breaking away from
predicted roles.
However, the Buddhist critique is not yet much in evidence. W ould it be
perceived by westerners, if it started from som ewhere other than where we are, or
were expressed with a polite reticence? Reynolds (1980) describes both the com m on
ground between Buddhist and Christian ethics, and the substantial differences; but
the form er, being fam iliar, is of course easier to dwell upon. The W est has a very
short history of trying to equalise opportunities, to integrate people with disabilitie s
to society s mainstream and to nd, or recognise, valued roles and activities for
them . The attem pt has yet to m ake m uch progress, though many people in the eld
now see it as a goal. Perhaps after 30 years the aim will seem m istaken, and our
Buddhist colleagu es may show a different way.
The Buddhist em phasis on m ind culture and on high mental achievem ent,
which appears to place some disabled people at a disadvantage (Saddhatissa,
1970, pp. 28, 84), may be harder to embrace. T he Buddhist religio us, in self-
exam ination, should constantly re ect that I have attained the state of (bodily)
dis gurem ent; my life depends upon the (aid of) others , with a renunciation of
physical vanity, individuality and personal independence (Tachibana, 1926/1992,
p. 178). However, this conscious effort of self-abasement hardly supports a
(western) positive view of physical disability. It intends to free the religiou s
for advanced m ental concentratio n. Y et there are at least 40 m illio n people in
the world with varyin g degrees of m ental handicap; and m any more whose
mental powers have been lim ited by poor nutrition, a lack of early stim ulatio n, and
methods of schooling that aim m ore for social control than mental developm ent.
Further, those with any sort of disability are likely to suffer a degree of neglect
in childhood, and problems of access to any worthwhile education. Such people
are unlik ely to achieve m uch m erit in the traditional Buddhist way of thinking.
They may well bene t from the caring activitie s of Buddhists, but the achievement
of `equality of esteem seem s unlikely without radical reconstruction of Buddhist
thought. (But are self-esteem and equality of esteem illu sory goals? For a traditional
Buddhist, and indeed for m uch of the Christian tradition, to seek the esteem of
others in order to m aintain one s sense of self-worth would be striving after a
delusion).
60 M . M iles

H induism

The classical texts of H induism often refer to disabilities and deformities. Vedic
references are known m ainly to scholars, but the epics contain m any disabled
characters familiar to all Indian adults. There are thus aspects of disability known
both to professionals and to the m asses, havin g the signi cance of religio us m yth and
continuing to shape attitudes.
The Ramayana, for exam ple, tells of Vishnu s appearance as a dwarf, to trick
the dem on Bali out of the land he has snatched. (The Buddha also appeared as a
gifted dwarf an early `super-crip in the Ja taka, and also as a pretended deaf-
cripple (Cowell, 1895 1907, I: 203 206, VI: 1 19)). D warfs, hunchbacks and freaks
attend on R oyalty a phenomenon worth some further investigation by itself. One
of these, the hunchback M anthara, prevents Ram a s coronation and precipitates his
exile and subsequent battles. M anthara appears in an evil light. Y et in m itigatio n
Ram a re ects, at least in some versions of the epic (Barz, 1991; Buck, 1991), that
as a boy he teased M anthara about her deform ity, which could account for her
revenge or for her being the instrument by which the consequences of his wrong
attitude are visited on him . M asson (1980, pp. 110 124) exam ines this episode in
the light of the (m ythologically) later sexual teasing and intercourse between Krishna
and the hunchback Kubja. He suggests in psychoanalytical term s some of the
redactors possible m otives in reworking these stories through the m any versions.
Vishnu s appearance as Ram a(chandra) was itself seen by some comm entators
as a `stupid incarnation (lacking consciousness of his divin ity), follow ing his
bruising encounter with (Parashu)ram a (Shea & Troyer, 1843, pp. 26 27). The idea
would hardly recom m end itself to the m odern devotees of Ram a. Possibly there is
some con ation with one version of Parashuram a s history, in which his brothers are
condem ned to become idiots for disobeying their father s com mand to kill their
mother a fate Parashuram a avoids by obedience (M ac e, 1926 , pp. 255 25 6). As
already noted, the religiou s public relatio ns industry has been burnishing disability-
related stories since early tim es, whether to `sustain the image of Moham m ed or of
Jesus or of Vishnu s incarnations. O n the other hand, the m onkey-hero Hanum an,
being of lesser divinity, is allow ed greater vulnerability . M asson (1981) notes that
This irre proachable monkey has two characteristics that one often nds in the
ambivale ntly loved hero: he is ille gitim ate and he is deform ed .
The greatest Sanskrit epic, the M ahabh arata, incorporates the legal inability of
a blind person to inherit a kingdom , and the battles between competitors for the
throne. Other major charac ters with severe disabilitie s or deformity appear in later
Hindu literature, such as the Dasakum ara-carita (Basham, 1954, pp. 442 444); and
in the theatre, the stock gure of the Vidusaka, sham bolic com panion and foil to the
hero (Keith, 1924, pp. 310 311) and the picaresque cripp le-dram as (Shulm an,
1985, pp. 88 94, 373 379);. By and large , disability is portraye d as something
fearful, usually a punishm ent for m isdeeds. Credence is give n to the equation of a
twisted personality with a twisted body. W om en are also portrayed with the stereo-
typic oppositions now deemed unacceptable, e.g. as virgin or whore; beauty or hag;
ckle, bird-brained playth ing or deep-dyed schem er. M eanwhile, m ale heroes
 Disability and Eastern Religions 61

appear as compulsive brawlers, street-corner bragga rts, serial rapists or love-struck

loons an early R ealism school, untouched by the cosmetics departm ent.
D isabilitie s are often understood in term s of retributive consequences. T he
Institutes of Vishnu list disabilities and the sinful state in a previous incarnation,
givin g rise to them. T hus, one who steals a lam p will be blind; a usurer will be
epileptic; one who consumes dainties alone (i.e. not sharing) will be rheum atic
(Jolly, 1880, pp. 147 149). The idea of karma need not necessarily appear in quite
such retributive term s. Those who have been dom ineering or over-intellectual in one
life m igh t need the `rehabilita tive experience of being m entally handicapped next
tim e round, to overcome the arrogant tendency and thus enable the soul to progre ss
towards enlighten m ent. In fact, m uch of m odern psychotherapy intends to relieve
the `inner disablem ent caused by repressed m em ories, and to enable people to
answer to them selves for their past actions. A s Goldman (1985) suggests, the Indian
epics embody the re ections of a great civilisation on this universal hum an need.
Further, Bowker (1970/1987, pp. 203, 206) notes that alth ough the goddess
N irriti is the personi cation of m isery and suffering , yet she also protects those
who by being born into evil families, are handicapped, and yet who, despite that
remain virtuous . The Buddhist Puggala-Pannatti graph ically portrays such people,
livin g in the direst poverty and also swarthy, ill-featured, hunchbacked, a prey to
many diseases, purblind, or with a crooked hand, lam e or paralys ed , who neverthe-
less are well-doers in deed, word and thought. For them, a happy destiny in the
brigh t worlds is due (Law, n.d., p. 71). Unfortunately there is little mention of a
helping hand in the here-and-now; let alone a transform ation of society to reduce
poverty, disease and disablin g enviro nm ents.
Classical Hinduism involved much ritual that was precisely speci ed and
user-unfriendly. There was no room for the sort of mistakes easily m ade by people
with physical or m ental disability. Pollution carelessly introduced in religiou s or
dietary ritual required m uch bother and expense to rectify. The fam ily with a
severely handicapped member m ust have found it hard to meet its religio us duties.
The social problem s arising were also considerable. Later Hinduism seems to have
been m ore accom m odating, though even today the burden can be heavy for
traditional-minded fam ilie s.

Questions and Projects

Clearly, a vast am ount of data and reference should be com piled and shaped `for the
record , from which useful trends or topics may em erge. M erely broaching this
painstaking process, there are interesting possibilities:
(1) To compile the more attractive ( but perceived by whom ? ) contributions
from each religio n, form ulatin g a global account of the religiou s m eanings of, and
responses to, disability, e.g. how to love or give worth, dignity and esteem to people
who appear or act signi cantly differently. Current form ulatio ns, e.g. the U.N.
W orld Plan of Action for the International D ecade of D isabled Persons (1983) , rest
upon a large ly western liberal consensus of view s. That docum ent, subscribed to by
62 M . M iles

many governm ents, is a ne work of the hum an spirit; yet also a work of unintended
cultural colonialism , recognising very little of the history and anthropology of
disability outside the dom inant culture of the western educated classes.
(2) In the everyday context of the m ajor eastern religion s, great m aterial
inequalitie s exist; millio ns live in crushing poverty or in the fear of it, with little hope
of future improvem ents; violence between ethnic and religio us com munities is
com monplace; the social intercourse of humanity is increasingly threatened by the
physical hazards of the urban jungle. Som e religiou s teachers, working out their
ethical prescriptions in this taxin g context, are forced to a more robust view of
hum an hardship and death than their western counterparts (cf. R enzong, 1985;
Ratanakul, 1985). W here 25 0 per 1000 neonates do not see their fth birthday, the
issue of taking high ly expensive m easures to ensure the survival of the 1 per 1000
profoundly im paired baby seem s academ ic. The intervention of sophisticated tech-
nology in the course of life and death hardly arises. O rdinary families can be rather
pragm atic about whether or not they give the necessary care for a severely disabled
infant. If they see little prospect of success, the infant soon nds its death and the
parents start another one. The processes by which ethicists work in such a context
may shed some light on the present m ess of western bioethics, where technological
capability has outpaced both care budgets and any social consensus on ethical
decisions. Every m ajor ethical tradition has something to offer and som ething to gain
from such exchanges (Juergensmayer, 1985; M iles, 1990).
(3) Conversely, one m ay ask whether the religio ns do actually enlighten our
thinking about disability at the end of the 20th Christian century. Is it m ore a case
of modern thinking casting light on the religio us traditions, obligin g the religion s to
discover new things within their resources? Veatch (1989, p. 42) seem s to have gone
full circle: it is the well-developed ethical traditions of religio n that he `discovers as
a challe nge to liberal orthodoxy.
(4) How is it that people with vario us disabilities have been at variou s times and
contrastingly

(a) regarded as lucky, e.g. protecting from the evil eye;

(b) feared and thought to be under retributive punishm ent;
(c) excluded from religio us cerem onies and legal standing;
(d) `collected by kings and wealth y people;
(e) considered `holy and havin g `second sigh t ?

In Conclusion

As global efforts are m ade to im prove the situation of disabled people, again st
massive inertia and com peting claim s, and perhaps some backlash, it is unwise to
maintain a Eurocentric neglect of historical beliefs and attitudes inherited from the
world s major non-Christian religio ns, towards disability. Som e of these beliefs and
the practices associated with them m ay now seem bizarre; yet all have their own
socio-cultural logic and can be instructive challe nges to western practices. Som e
 Disability and Eastern Religions 63

migh t well now be denied or disowned by m odern adherents of the eastern religion s.
Som e, alternatively, m ay be presented with pride as evidence of the origin ality and
universal m erit of those religio us traditions.

NO TES
[1] A rst century CE document (Schoff, 1912, pp. 47 48) reported tribes of m en with
attened noses, very savage; the Horse-faces and the Long-faces, who are said to be
cannibals a tribe of men with short bodies and broad, at faces . Schoff noted
(p. 254) that The Aryans professed the greatest contempt for the Tibeto-Burman races at
their eastern frontier, and their references to them are full of exaggeration and fable .
[2] A modern parallel might be the shifting perceptions of adults imprisoned for sexually
abusing children. Public vili cation is little mitigated by the idea that some abusers were
themselves abused in childhood, or were victims of a corrupt society. Loss of liberty m ay
be compounded by violence from people jailed for other offen ces, who m ete out further
`justice to those whom they see as m ore damnable than themselves. The dance m ay
include unexpected steps, when an appeal against conviction succeeds and the `abuser
reappears as a victim. Not surprisingly, a minor industry of choreographers exists to
supervise the legal and personal adjustments; just as, in India, a specialised group of
astrologers caters for those wishing to confront their karma (Goldman, 1985).
[3] Wertlieb (1988) defends disability legislation in the Talmud against charges that Judaism
supported negative attitudes; but avoids exaggerated positive claims. See also the Talmudic
detail in Preuss (transl. Rosner, 1978, pp. 206 209, 230 239, 270 280, 289 293, 299
321, 402 407). One might also defend the Christian reformer Luther against charges of
inhumanity, though he undoubtedly saw the devil at work in every illness (Luther s Works,
vol. 54, p. 53). His detractors enjoy quoting `hearsay evidence of his views; and his
monstrology was medieval. Yet Luther s written arguments for the care of pregnant women
(vol. 5, pp. 381 382), consolation of women who miscarry (vol. 43, p. 245 250) and
solicitude for infants born out of time (vol. 54, p. 58) give quite a different picture of his
thoughts.
[4] Among 14,845 headwords in Turner s dictionary, 224 (at a rough count) clearly have
disability-related meanings, from which are derived several thousand defect words among
the Indo-Aryan languages. (This exercise refuted my initial idea that there might be `few
words for disabilities in the `early languages of India). Bailey s study (1961, parts 2, 3)
suggests some of the complexity of derivation. Some links to modern English can be traced
in the Indo-European synonyms for Dull, Stupid, Deaf, Dumb, Lame, Blind, Crooked,
Small, Short, Thick, etc., recorded by Buck (1949). Our m odern verbal prejudices m ay be
more anciently rooted than we think. (However, ter Haar s review, 1993, casts doubt on
the impact of terminology, for attitudes.) A further complication is the Asian custom of
giving children apotropaic names, e.g. calling a child `Shit-heap in order to trick demons
into leaving him or her alone (Emeneau, 1978; Elwin, 1939/1986, pp. 530 537).
[5] The international debate in 1994, on an American sentenced in Singapore to a caning said
to produce lifelong scars, indicates the current relevance of the issue. Strong feelings were
aroused, not only about whether the punishment was `appropriate or `barbaric , but about
the right of Singaporeans to apply their own laws within their borders without fear of
coercion from outside.
[6] Instances of severity and mitigation in the life of the Prophet are discussed in Siddiqi (n.d.,
vol. III, pp. 907 922) Few societies have tried to redress the balance of justice as did the
ancient Peruvians. Where a thief could show that hunger was his motive, the local chief was
punished instead, because he ought to have ensured that his people had food (Friedmann,
1972).
64 M . M iles

[7] M utilation as a Persian method of managing war captives resulted in perhaps the earliest
society of disabled people, the exiled Greek amputees who met Alexander as he advanced
on Persepolis in 331 BC. Diodorus of Sicily (trans. Welles, 1983, X VII.69) and Quintus
Curtius (transl. Rolfe, 1962, V.v.5 24) record nearly 4000 disabled m en. They had lost
feet, hands, ears and noses, though their captors left each man the extremities with which
he earned his living. Alexander, moved by the sight, offered nance and repatriation.
Euctemon warned his disabled fellows that their welcome at home was uncertain. They
would be scattered from one another, whereas their strength lay in solidarity. Theaetetus
proposed to go home and face out any reaction. After debate, the veterans decided to stay
put and stick together. Alexander ordered that resources be provided to them, and tax
exemption.
[8] M utilations seem grotesque to the more secure westerner, but some current western legal
and m edical procedures will also seem barbaric and disabling in 50 years time; indeed, the
treatment and status of elderly Britons appears barbaric to many Asians now. `Justice
squads in U lster, who disable `trouble-makers by smashing their knee-caps, have had a
modern education; yet nd their solution justi able in term s of retaliation, deterrence and
convenience. Con nement in W estern European jails, with ample diet and leisure options,
provides a higher material standard of living than is available to half the world s population
now or to 90% of humans ever alive. To be `punishing to such populations, a jail `needed
to undercut their already minimal level of subsistence; so mortality and morbidity in such
jails were high. Manu (IX:288) recommended that prisons be visible to the public, where
the sufferin g and m utilated evil-doers can be seen (Doniger & Smith, 1991, p. 228)
presumably pour encoura ger les autres . Penal blinding as a substitute for capital punishment,
in medieval Europe (Bruce, 1941) may have intended some deterrent effect. The idea of
rehabilitating sinners has seldom made much headway in conditions of socio-economic
stringency, where law-breaking among the masses threatens the privileges of a rule-making
class. However, in the application of M anu s Laws, as in any sophisticated judicial system,
extenuating circumstances were recognised. For exam ple, you could be ned for defecating
on the King s highway; but commentators say it was excused if you had good reason, such
as the sudden appearance of a tiger (Doniger & Smith, p. 227).
[9] Hot irons have been used variously as a remedy for cholera and chronic disorders (Sen,
1949, p. 151; Chuckerbutty, 1864); cautery for palsy, epilepsy, harelip, hunchback, etc.
(Albucasis, transl. 1973, pp. 36, 38, 60, 128 et passim ); expulsion of demons causing
madness, still reported in rural Pakistan (Hussain, 1988); trial by ordeal (Khan, 1801,
pp. 172 180); and plain torture. Chevers (1854, pp. 306 309) details ve arrangements for
torture by burning, including one used on a three year old girl. Branding and banishment,
two forms of social death, were punishm ents for guilty Brahm ins whom it was not legal to
execute (Jolly, 1889, p. 388). Casal (1962) noted that from slight moxa burning of naughty
children in Japan, partly as punishm ent, more rationally as a counter-irritant to their
disturbed physical state , the practice escalated to permanent branding of malefactors
with a hot iron. (Westerners of course used more sophisticated technology to burn the
people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
[10] Bhatt (1963, pp. 84 87) catalogued the `primitive destruction of disabled people in many
countries but denied (p. 92) that there was evidence of it in India (apart from killing of
female babies, p. 85). Strabo, however, (Geography, 15.1.30) noted the custom in the
Punjab region of publicly examining babies after two months, to decide whether they were
well-shaped and worthy to live (transl. Jones, 1930, p. 53). Diodorus (XVII.91.4 6) and
Quintus Curtius (IX.i.24 25) clearly say that those with defects were destroyed. M ore
recently, Chuckerbutty (1864) described the `revolting spectacle of infants with convul-
sions exposed to die in Bengal, through the belief that they were possessed.
[11] The modern m ovement for so-called C ommunity-Based Rehabilitation in developing
countries wishes to capitalise on this traditional if actually somewhat meagre
community caring, while superim posing a largely western/liberal agenda of individual rights
 Disability and Eastern Religions 65

(cf. W olffers & Finken u gel, 1993; Miles, 1993) that has arisen in G esellschaften (rationally-
chosen, associational societies; if they do in fact exist) rather than being based in
Gem einscha ften (traditional, communal societies; as comm only idealised) (To nnies, 1887).
The appropriateness of the Rights approach to developing countries has been questioned
by the Chinese philosopher Renzong (1993), though it appeals to him personally. It is not
at all clear that these two approaches can cohabit successfully, based as they are on
substantially differing perceptions of society and humankind.

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