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Abstract

In this presentation, ‘Representations of Gender in Pre-Islamic Religions of Central Asia,’ we will examine just that, representations of gender. The traditions in question, Tengrism, Judaism, Mazdeism, and the great missionary religions, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Buddhism, all paid attention to gender, but as we shall see, gender expectations underwent a subtle change with the advent of these expansionist faiths. This included a widening of options for the direct participation of women in religious life as both religious specialists and supporters of these religions. This is intimately connected to the promotion of ascetic behaviors in all three of the missionary religions as a challenge to procreative expectations especially relevant but not strictly limited to women’s gender roles. A closely related ascetic practice evident in all three is poverty, the intentional abnegation of wealth, wealth which was often safeguarded by strict border maintenance through social constraints on marriage and birth. But ascetic celibacy and poverty were not at all widespread, and the new and expanding religions found room for those unable to take special vows - procreation and wealth were also used to further the goals of expansion as represented in depictions of donors, both male and female. One of the perhaps more surprising findings of an examination of gender roles in each of these respective religions is how similar these representations are, rather than how different they are. This is especially noteworthy coming from our contemporary perspective of emphasis on distinctions, the specificity of religious traditions, ethnic culture, gender determinations, and even personal identity. This is by no means coincidental - it is determined by the demands of missionary religions to expand beyond the boundaries of the specific environment in which each religion originated, thereby requiring a new conception of self that allowed for a great deal of syncretism to take place. Our sources are primarily written, but we will pay special attention to visual representations, although we are significantly hampered by the fragmentary nature of surviving resources, both visual and textual.