Hunger, Hierarchies, and Resistance: Appetite, Asceticism, and Mind-Body Dualism in Amruta Patil’s Aranyaka

 Amruta Patil’s Aranyaka subverts traditional mind-body dualism by presenting hunger—both bodily and intellectual—as a site of power, perception, and agency. Katyayani, exiled for her gluttony, later becomes a provider, seeing others through the act of feeding. Unlike Yajnavalkya, who associates restraint with wisdom, Katyayani’s appetite—for food, knowledge, and sensuality—challenges the ascetic ideal. Drawing on Foucault’s biopolitics, ecofeminism (Val Plumwood, Vandana Shiva), and feminist food studies (Carol J. Adams), this paper argues that appetite in Aranyaka is not a weakness but a form of radical care. Katyayani’s rejection of bodily denial resists patriarchal and intellectual hierarchies that separate reason from instinct. Postcolonial theory further frames her embrace of nourishment as defying imposed asceticism, reclaiming bodily autonomy. By exploring hunger as a metaphor for control and liberation, this paper highlights Aranyaka’s critique of traditions that suppress bodily wisdom in pursuit of intellectual purity.