Womb Envy

One of my friends is about to conduct research on an alternative hypothesis for the downfall of the Indus Valley Civilization. At first , that seems to be a highly post dated post mortem analysis. However, it is a part of human nature to attribute the occurence of historical developments to alternative hypothesis. This is very laudable, since understanding the reasons behind past mistakes, can prevent us from committing the same mistakes again.

Almost all Indians have a hypothesis to explain one of the most unfortunate events of Indian history. --The Partition of India. Psychologists have tried to explain the extreme behavior and the violence and the mayhem ,and how people can despise their own neighbours to the extent that they are ready to murder them.

But what was responsible for partition in the first place . If we go into history , we would realise that they was hardly any popular and widespread demand for separate states for different religions throughout that colonial age. Leaders like MA Jinnah and VD Savarkar were unpopular cult leaders, as evidenced by their poor show in the elections.

And also well known is the fact that a few months after partition, Jinnah came to Delhi and told Nehru " Jawaharlal, I have committed the worst mistake of my life. "

This raises the intriguing possibility that Jinnah was overpowered by his primeval instincts rather than logical reasoning, in demanding for Partition . ( As for an example , consider that when we are very angry and enraged , we often do not use our logical reasoning to arrive at decisions, and after having done what we wanted, regret it greatly)

But what primeval instinct was guiding the behaviour and rigid stand of Jinnah? It wasn't likely to be anger or hatred, since he himself was secular (he accepted that himself) and hardly a devout muslim, considering he was a regular consumer of wine and pork. As a further proof of this fact , consider, what he said while inaugrating the new state of Pakistan" The two indias , are separating as friends, to remain friends forever" .-Not exactly representative of hate and dislike.

Then what was it that forced a well educated and intelligent man to take a far reaching decision that he himself regretted later?

One intriguing possibility --consider the concept of Womb Envy. According to this concept , propounded by Karen Horney, It refers to men's purported fear and jealousy of women's power to give birth and nurture life, leading males to react in other pursuits of powers; such as physical or political.Horney claimed that men feel a drive for success and to make their names live on to compensate for inability to bear and nurture children. Men apparently ( unconsciously , this is an example of Freudian fixation) feel inferior to women for their inablility to give birth and create new life. Hence, they might be driven to ensure that their legacy lives on after they have died, since they cannot create life otherwise. They might be driven to ensure their space in history, they want (unconsciously) for future generations to remember them for their creation of something. Consider the fact that most people who do all kinds of weird things to ensure their place in Guiness Records ( and hence reserve their place in history) , are overwhelmingly men.

Did Jinnah unconsciously succumb to this psychosocial tendency ? This possibility is further raised by the fact that people view Pakistan as a " creation" of Jinnah, and a recent BBC documentary on Pakistan was called " Jinnah's Children" and the present generation of Pakistanis was referred to as " Jinnah's Grandchildren" by the reporter. !!!

If that were true , it is perhaps the most extreme example of Womb Envy known to humanity . However, this is remain a mere possibility and will never be confirmed . Because obviously , it is no longer possible to assess Jinnah's state of mind using psychological techniques--we can't possibly hand over a questionnaire to a dead man .