Wendy Doniger on the rings of desire

Wendy Doniger

Why are sex and jewellery, particularly finger rings, so often connected? Why do rings keep getting into stories about marriage and adultery, love and betrayal, loss and recovery, identity and masquerade? These questions appear to have piqued the interest of renowned American indologist Wendy Doniger for over two decades now. The result is a newly released title, The Ring of Truth (Speaking Tiger), where Doniger reveals why rings and other circular jewellery are not just mere objects of decoration, but also represent important cultural signifiers.

Her argument, which makes for a captivating read, takes us through Indian mythology, Medieval European romances, vignettes from folk culture and literature, as well as popular culture, where rings have, time and again, played a pivotal role in dramatically changing the course of events and human action. "I wrote several articles about rings almost 20 years ago, and gave lectures on them too. Each time I gave a lecture, someone in the audience would come up afterwards and tell me a story about a ring. Later, as I was teaching courses on Sanskrit texts, Greek myths and Shakespeare plays, and watching old movies, I began to notice the rings in them too," says 76-year-old Doniger.

The diamond necklace that was said to be gifted to Marie Antoinette, containing 647 stones and weighing 2,800 carats

Doniger, who is a professor of history of religion at University of Chicago, recalls having found a fascinating pattern in the tales that were being relayed to her. "A pattern emerged about the ways in which men have controlled women through jewellery, and women have fought back and secretly manipulated men through jewellery; that was what I wanted to write about," says the historian.

One story, where a circular jewellery, in this case a necklace, becomes an interesting motif that helps take the writer's argument of seduction and adultery forward is that of the stolen diamond necklace, containing 647 stones and weighing 2,800 carats, that Queen Marie Antoinette is said to have received from Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan. "It was a complete lie as it turned out, but it was the last straw, the thing that sent her to the guillotine," says the writer.

The writer also points out the "visceral connections between the ring and the body. "Nowadays some people get rings tattooed on their fingers instead of buying metal rings. The naturally close association between rings and fingers (and the heart) underlies stories in which a ring conjures up a person in his or her physical entirety. When, in the Ramayana, princess Sita, separated from her husband Rama, sees his ring, she feels 'as happy as if she had been reunited with her husband'," Doniger says in the book.

The ring, the writer says is also broadly regarded as a symbol of the male sexual body. "The Tibetan word for male genitals is 'jewel' (nor bu), and the word schmuck means 'jewel' in German and 'genitals' in Yiddish," she says.

But, Doniger's inquiry goes beyond understanding what rings symbolise. Most interesting are her references to stories from Indian folklore, and ancient texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. In Shakuntala, for instance, the ring becomes a symbol of "forgetfulness and memory". Several writers in ancient history have recounted how King Dushyanta falls in love with the eponymous maiden of the story, whom he encounters in the forest and briefly abandons, with the promise to send for her. "In the earlier version of the story [in the Mahabharata], there is no ring at all. The king simply pretends to have forgotten Shakuntala when he knows very well that he fell in love with her in the forest," says Doniger.

Kalidasa, however, introduced a ring into the story of Shakuntala. The folk motif of the ring - that Dushyanta had given his lover - is at the heart of the tale of Shakuntala and becomes the ring of recognition. "The ring is a way that Kalidasa gets the king off the hook, and forgives him for forgetting Shakuntala," says Doniger.

From her understanding, she feels that "rings have become devices for storytellers, and readers, who want the story to have a happy ending". "It's amazing how often that extremely unlikely event saves the day in stories about rings," she says.