Of Tradition and Women

As much as it sounds cliched, the crimes on women are increasing at an alarming rate. No, dont shout at me saying, "What the hell yaar, they are already high in numbers". I know. But the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have proved this hypothesis to be practically true, with examples like the acid attacks on women and kidnapping of MP's daughter and the Mangalore pub incident when innocent women having fun were dragged out of the pub and beaten up by someone called as ‘Shri Ram Sene’ because they were against the Indian tradition and culture( Bhagwan Ramji, I hope aap sun rahen ho aur dekh rahen ho)

Apart from the issue of human rights, the fact that one of those incidents ie, the attack on Managalore pub, was done in the name of God and Hindu tradition was highly infuriating. As far as I could understand, the culture that these people are talking of is about the place of women in the society- the one and only, home. As much as that sounds male chauvinistic in today's world, these people really don’t seem know what the real tradition is. True, history reveals that the women were confined to kitchen and home while the men went to work. It has been perceived by these male bastions that because women were confined to kitchen (read home), they are not supposed to go out at all. But do they know how important it is for the women to be in their place, in their role?

When a male spouse dies, the women is not allowed to re-marry, they generally don’t in a conservative society, although the scene's changing slowly. But when the female spouse dies, most of the men think of remarriage, at least there would be pressure from the society. That’s because the traditional men cannot even dream of taking the role of women- to cook and clean and other household chores. Yes, there are exceptions in this case and I express my deep gratitude to all those men. The actual tradition about women, written in the Vedas says this- “Women are worthy of worship. They are the fate of the household, the lamp of enlightenment for all in the household. They bring solace to the family and are an integral part of dharmic life. Even heaven is under the control of women. The gods reside in those households where women are worshipped and in households where women are slighted all efforts at improvement go in vain.” Manusmriti 3-56

“O bride! May the knowledge of the Vedas be in front of you and behind you, in your centre and in your ends. May you conduct your life after attaining the knowledge of the Vedas. May you be benevolent, the harbinger of good fortune and health and live in great dignity and indeed be illumined in your husband’s home.” Atharva Veda 14-1-64.

“The wife should do agnihotra (yagna), sandhya (puja) and all other daily religious rituals. If, for some reason, her husband is not present, the woman alone has full rights to do yagna.” Rigveda Samhita, part 1, sukta 79, sloka 872.

Women were considered the great embodiment of virtue and wisdom. They were allowed full freedom of worship. Their household chores were not considered as sundry and insignificant but they were respected for it. When the Hindu tradition preaches us to respect women, why in the name of god (literally) are these men committing crime on women? These give a bad impression of the sacred texts like the Vedas. Oh Lord, please descend to the sinful earth from the Heaven above and free these mortals from the clutches of ignorance.

Courtesy: http://www.ivarta.com/columns/OL_070503.htm