(Published in the Business Standard, 8th January 2013)
In times of trouble, turning to the great epics is always useful: their ancient bloodstained lines are reminders that we do not have a premium on violence, rape and corpses.
Over the centuries, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have become India’s default epics, eclipsing the Rajatarangini, the Cilapatikkaram and other equally powerful legends in the mainstream imagination.
Insightful, powerful. Loved reading this. Yes, we need to change ourselves from the roots. We are rotten at the roots in treating women. I read the Ramayan in parts, lately, and specially read the part where Sita has to pass “Agni Pariksha” as a proof of her purity, and then comes the Luv Kush part, where Luv and Kush are brought in front of their father, Ram, and there the courtiers want Sita to go through “Agni Pariksha” once again? Why wasn’t Ram asked to pass an Agni Pariksha?
Our society is maligned with male chauvinism. We, the youth, need to curb that for our children, for our daughters, for our sisters. But the point is the attack needs to be two pronged, women need to participate in it equally. I say that, because I know girls or ladies who want to be the way society wants them.
