The Mahabharata has seen one of the deadliest conflicts of ancient India, the Kurukshetra. It all started when the Kaurava prince Dushasana affronted Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas, by disrobing her in an open court. What followed was a total devastation which took over three million lives. The Lankan emperor, Ravana, abducted Sita, the wife of Rama . The consequence is what we study in the Ramayana where in Rama, heading an army of Vanaras waged a war, killing Ravana and destroying his spectacular kingdom of Lanka. These examples show that in what we generally opine as barbaric, orthodox and ancient times, women occupied a better state in being revered and respected. We today boast ourselves for being so civilized and modern, yet, we, as a society, are pathetically failing in providing safety to our sisters, daughters and mothers. Pity on us. And shame on our so called civilization.
What comments everyone make after a heinous crime has been committed on a woman, be it dowry death, rape or molestation, are that government has failed in protecting women, or that there isn’t sufficient Police patrolling, or that the Judiciary is at a snail’s pace in doing justice or something of the similar sort. These may be tangible arguments but these after all are attributed to the aftermath of the crime. The quintessential focus of identifying the root cause of the crime is not taken care of.
We are living in the transcendentally competitive era, where in children are starting their IIT orientation while they are still in the sixth grade. Marks count more than the knowledge acquired. But neither the parents nor the children do care about the moral values of the latter. Taking birth as a human is simple. But being human till our last breath is not that simple. Morals are what guide us towards truth and humanity. And what we are evidently lacking is that. Moral values.
It is rudimentary to include moral education as a class room subject till the end of tenth grade. Parents have to teach their children about being responsible towards the society. The abysmal notion of women being treated as sex objects and kitchen wives has been deeply rooted into our society since ages. Each family should make a voluntary effort to eradicate this notion forever. Liberty is the first condition for growth and welfare. Women are to be liberated from these ill notions. They have to be given their right to participate. Parents should make their wards learn to respect women, live in harmony with the environment and be vigilant. Our nation shall only see ultimate progress when every male child grows up fearing that he shall be punished, severely, if he harms the other sex in any sort. And the judiciary should immensely improve in prosecuting the wrong-doers and dispensing justice in time, for justice delayed is justice denied. What we have are the laws. What we need is the order.
Government is encouraging girl child education, women employment and self-help groups and taking pains in drafting laws to dispense multitude of women welfare programs. Government has also made laws, strict laws, to curb the exponentially rising crimes committed on women. All these efforts by the government to educate the girl child, to protect the Indian daughter, would go in vain if women don’t act to break their shackles of staying mute and being oppressed. The government can only help those women who want to help themselves. Even today, it is not appalling that many women across the country wouldn’t report the atrocities against them such as sexual assault, domestic violence, minor marriages etc for prestige issues and for the fear of facing violence from their family if such matters are made public.
Since ages, women have all the time been trained in helplessness and servile dependence on others. They have been and are being considered as manufacturing machines and sex objects. And so, they are good only to weep their eyes out at the slightest approach of a mishap or danger. We don’t encourage girl child education (particularly in the rural India). Even though the girl starts her schooling, we force her to drop after a certain age owing to an early marriage. We confine our women to kitchens, not letting them explore the world and being employed. We make the bride inferior to the groom by offering dowry as if it were a compensation paid to the groom’s family for accepting the bride. And the world has taken pride in emphasizing: Since women are the weaker gender, they ought to follow the aforementioned etiquette or code of conduct or whatever we call it. We are terribly mistaken. Well, in actuality, since women have been abiding by these rules imposed by the male chauvinist society since ages and since they have not revolted to break their shackles off, they confined themselves to be remained as the weaker gender. Wake up my dear mothers and sisters…you are a power. Because man oppresses you, you are circumscribed to stay the fox. But if you acquire the spirit of valor and prowess you will become the lion.
Let us all work together in seeing THE LION in our Indian woman.
