Thursday, March 29, 2012

Woman as an Individual.........


Woman as an Individual..........


My intention to write this article on woman to let her know, with the advancement and progress of Indian Civilization and Culture, how the Indian woman has been loosing her dignity and respect in the society, And how she is at the back foot of the society. Why is she treated just as a commodity with having no identity and free existence? She had a glorious past but with the due course of time, how she was degraded in the society. 

India is a country of different religion and castes, and has a splendid history of 5000 years. It is the only alive ancient civilization and culture worldwide. That started from The Vedic Era. That was the time when woman had a prestigious and respectful place in the society. Her presence was must in the every walks of life. She had her own identity in spite of being married. Even she had full right to choose her husband (Regveda-mantra-10.27.12). If she was widow, she could live with her parents and could retain the ancestral property.In Vedic period woman could roam fearlessly even in the nights.

 She was taken as a powerful element of the society as man. In the oldest scriptures Rigveda- It is clearly indicated that, how woman was established as a Power (she had given the name-“Shakti”) in the society with dignity and respect. That’s why she held more arms than man. It was sure sign of woman’s safety in the society, she need more protection than man. If we see the picture of the Hindu Goddess like Kali, Durga, these pictures show the goddess are having 18-20 hands, holding different types of arms in their hands. On the other side, Gods like Shiva, Vishnu hold 6-8 arms in their respective hands. Many hands of Gods and the Goddess are symbolic to show their power and the necessity of the arms accordingly. It means woman need more protection than man and she knew how to protect herself. Man should be safe for the country and society but woman should be saved from the illegal elements of the society.

Woman were given military education. As it is inscribed in the holy book the Ramayana, How Kaikeyi, the queen of Mithila helped her husband Janak- the king of  Mithila in the battle field. Goddess kali, Chamunda, Durga fought against the Mahishasur, Tarkasur like demons and won the war. There is authentic proof that in Vedic Era, women got training to protect themselves.They had given special army training and learnt war tactics. And that was not happened in a single day. That was before the Buddha Period.The Goddess Kali and Durga fought against the demons very cleverly and skillfully and now they are worshiped in India by the Hindus but it is shameful that neither the society respect their women not the society award of the bravery of these goddess.
Woman was said to be 'Vira' (वीरा). This ward symbolizes the brave and daring child. There is also a word in Sanskrit for woman - 'Purndhi'-(पुरंधि) मेंस 'One who retain the city' or better to say "One who protects the city".In that era where man took charge of the state or nation, woman took responsibility of the city. So there was division of work and labour. Where there is responsibility, there is always respect. That clearly show that woman equally held the duty and power as man in every field of the society and state.
She was calling as 'Vira' (वीरा ) in childhood, 'Purundhi' (पुरुंधी ) in youth and 'Shakti' (शक्ति  ) after marriage.And that was her personification. She proved herself in respective age. A very popular name was also was given to the woman 'Arya' means 'superior or brave woman'. So anybody can ask- How such woman would be the weaker section of the society. It happened in the later centuries and it was done intentionally. 


The Indian woman who had a glorious past and got education in the Gurukul, soon lost that respect and dignity,as the  time passed and the caste system entered in the Indian society- Every thing was changed and restriction imposed on woman and the down trodden people of society. Woman who took active part in every religious occasion with her husband ,was kept aside and the Brahmin caste took her place. Her progress was debarred and she was forcefully kept on the four walls of home.


Woman is defined as the other half of the World, the first half is the man. She is the representative of the half human race but .........but in the name of equality with man, she is still at the back foot. In the whole world, not even a single country, woman has no equal status as man. There are many countries where the freedom of woman is still a dream. If woman has freedom, it is restricted. Neither of any country can दावा that woman is totally free in their country but constitutionally she is equal to man. So on writing she has equal status as man but factually this is still a dream for her.
Country like India, where woman has a status of the goddess and it is also written in the ancient inscription:-
यत्र नार्यस्तु पूजयन्ते, रमन्ते तत्र देवता........."
Where woman is worshiped, God is there.
How ironical is this, on the other hand this ancient inscription debarred the freedom of woman, as written in the epic Mahabharata:-
" स्त्री स्वतंत्र महर्ती."
Woman has no right to freedom. This shloka clearly underlines the status of woman in Indian society. The freedom of Indian woman can be a thought but not the reality. In India, it is still in practice that she can't live independently and this is hundreds of century’s old tradition............as it is also written in the Vashishtha Dharma sutra.
 "पिता रक्षति कौमारे, भरता रक्षति यौवने;
रक्षति स्थविरे पुत्र, न स्त्री स्वतंत्रता महर्ती."
 It is very meaningful that the man as father can protect her virginity in her childhood, as husband protects her youth and as son protects her in her old age. It means, she has no independent existence. In the name of protection of the Woman, it is enough reason to put her in shackles. There are many-many quotes for woman to interdict her in the name of morality and ethics. Woman obligates not to enter into the temples during her monthly period, there are some temples where women are not allowed but man are happily allowed, how ironical it is..!!, most of the temples belong to the different goddess.
In Indian society, woman is always said to follow her husband or the man. It is clearly directed in the Vrahadarnyak Upanishad……….
“Pati va anu jaya.”(पति व अनु जया)
Means, “after the husband”. How intelligent and capable a woman is, her place always is after the man.
So whatever woman achieved in centuries in the name of freedom, respect and prestige was gone in the coming centuries.In the Vedic era where woman was an Individual, turned into one of the commodity of home in the later centuries and her position has becoming worst to worst in the last century. 

Now a days women is progressing in every walk of life. She is getting better and equal opportunity with man. She enters on those fields that are restructured to her. She is proving better manager, consultant, politician etc. than man. She has now economic independence. She is now not in the four wall of home. It seems a bright picture of woman. But is this real.....? No.!! this is one side of the picture, the other side is dark and horrifying. Woman still has no right to choose her life partner, if she does; she is killed in the name of honour killing. She has restriction to choose her career. The raising graph of crime against woman shows that woman is not sage in the Indian society and she is raped, abused -every type of the crime that dishonor the woman's dignity and respect is going on in a very rapid manner. The picture is very very shameful - the hands that are responsible for  the safety  of woman are disrespecting her.


 Woman is taken herself for granted, she feels herself a 'bechari'. Until or bless woman respect herself and capable of protecting herself, she won't be taken as an individual in the society. Woman should raise her hands against any type of crime staging her. If she wants back those glorious days of Vedic Era, she has treat herself as a human being and not allow anybody to insult her or disrespect her. For this she has to open her mind and eyes. Don't follow the western lifestyle, it shouldn't be her way of life because this is not the road to get those golden days of Indian woman. Mental freedom is must for her individuality. This is the change that needs every Indian woman and the Indian society as a whole. And all this is not done without the active participation of Indian man. So what do you say an Indian Man....!!


v

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Nature- The mother of evrey child


Nature in Rainy Season



The lines of famous Hindi song, “Vo kagaj ki kashti; vo varish ka pani……..” (That paper boat, that rainy water) indicates the strong bonding between innocent childhood and rainy season, Very good combination of nature and the childhood.



The rainy season brings me back through the memory lane where I spent my childhood. First time when I was about 5-6 years old, I came close to the nature through rainy season. Generally nature means the flora and the fauna present around you. But the forest, river, mountain, environment, clouds, fountain etc. are the parts of nature. Nature creates a magic spell that mesmerized the passer by. She is more charming, fascinating, magnificent and splendid when she changes her beautiful attire with changing season but her attire in rainy season hypnotizes. In rainy season, nature looks so adorable, so charming – beyond words. If you want to experience that, come closer to the nature in rainy season and feel her breadth with her lush greenery that spreads in every nook and cranny.




Rain attracts every child and compels him or her to become wet in its shower. This I can say with my personal experience. And my first encounter with nature was through rain, the competition by Kissan opens the door of my childhood memories, where I found myself wet in the rain. Whenever there was rain, I rushed to the road with my 4-5 friends. The roads in heavy rain were soon flooded with water and the drains were fully filled with the rainy water and seemed like small streams. Seeing all that, we always played our favorite game of floating paper boat on the flooded roads and drains. At that time I always requested my grand father to make paper boats for me and for my friends. He did it for me but with a warning not to go far from the home otherwise he wouldn’t make paper boat next time. It always happened, we forgot his warning and he made paper boat for us. As we floated our boats on the roads or on the drains, we ran after and chased the boats and tried to find out, whose boat’s came first. Sometimes some boat turned upside down and submerged in the water, we again took the new paper boat and started floating on the water. The water of the drain carrying the huge amount of water in heavy rain was fallen into the main hole. So our boats were disappeared or smashed in the whirlpool of the main hole that was formed by the huge rain water. We looked down in the main hole hoping that we any boat could be seen but it hadn’t happened. So we returned back to hour home in despair.    






One of my favorite games with the rain was jumping in the flooded road. My friends and I were jumped on the road that filled in the rain water and our feet were merged in that water. Whenever we jumped a sound was created. That sound was heard like ‘chhapak’. For enjoying that sound we tried to jump higher and higher. Continuous jumping in the water was created a musical note of the “chhapak” sound (if somebody wants the proof just go on doing this). And as we jumped in the water, the water splattered all around our feet and it wet our whole body. We were totally wet but we didn’t care whether we were beaten or chided by mom or any other family member.

Mostly rainy season turns into the season of mischief and amusement for the children, in my childhood I enjoyed rain splashed down on the roads, we tried to catch the water droplets that were fallen down. Sometimes we opened our mouth to catch the rain water into our mouth and we had a competition for that exercise.

Rain was the first introduction of nature to me. I learn a lot from nature through the rain. I learn to save water. My mother told that water is precious and essential for life and Nature gives that gift in the form of rain. But we as a human being don’t taking care for it and wasting the water very cruelly. Nature taught me to save the plants because I still remember that my mother had a small garden. She loved the plants and sometimes she switched on the tape of some songs to the plants. When I asked him for that, she told me that plants have life and they also feel pain, happiness etc. I learn the lesson that plants are the prominent part of nature and rainy season is the king of all season because the nature and all life form are handicapped without this season. We can’t imagine our life without water, Oxygen and food, these all come from the nature. Just come close to the nature and try to hear her silence- she has a very lovely and unforgettable song of life.