Status Of Women in Mother Earth Since “Yugas”

 

For centuries women have always been thought of as the weaker section of the society and marginalized from living a normal life. It’s been so long; doesn’t it feel exhausting to be trapped in such an enclosed and unclean mind and soul that the men of this world are dwelling in!

Satyug:

Taking a tour of the timeline, we first encounter the “Satyug”. Raja Harishchandra was known for his honesty and morality. His subjects were happy and prosperous. In order to evaluate his virtues and righteousness, the Gods decided to test him. They asked the sage Vishwamitra to help them with the same.

Then one day, when Harishchandra went out hunting, he accidentally disturbed Vishwamitra in his meditation. To cool down the anger of the sage, Harishchandra promised to donate his kingdom to him. Vishwamitra accepted his donation but in addition, demanded Dakshina (fees). Now, Harishchandra was left with nothing. To this, his wife, Shaivya, asked him to sell her as a slave. Harishchandra sold her to one Brahmin and also requested him to allow her to take their son along. 

But the money was still not enough and thus, Harishchandra sold himself as a slave to chandala (a person who works in a cremation ground). Suddenly one day, Rohitshwa (their son) was bit by a snake, and to cremate his body, Shaivya took his body to the graveyard where Harishchandra was filled with grief but duty-bound to take tax.

Shiva tore the saree she was wearing and gave it to him as tax as it was the only thing she had in possession. This story shows the sacrifice a woman does for her family. Irrespective of her grand status, she worked as a slave in order to help her husband successfully pay off the donation.

Tretayug:

Let’s take a view on the “Tretayug”, which marks the beginning of the reign of Lord Rama. Rama, the King of Ayodhya is known for his bravery and wisdom. Who could have expected such kind of tomfoolery from him that he would fall prey to the bigoted subjects and restrain from accepting Sita as his wife, questioning her chastity after rescuing her from Ravana.

In order to prove her sanctity, Sita jumped into the fire to perform the Agnipariksha (Fire test). The Fire God then rescued her and she came out unburned. All Gods came from heaven to convince Rama that Sita was a pious woman. This story is again an example of a woman having to sacrifice her life in order to prove herself to all the bigoted souls. 

Dwapar Yuga:

“Dwapar Yuga” is not an exception to this which marks the incident of Draupadi’s vastraharana in Kurava court as one of the ridiculous moments of our mythology. Even before Dushasana tried disrobing her, she was manhandled, dragged and abused by Duryodhana and Karna. The elders present there were witnessing all of this in stupefied silence. 

It was Lord Krishna’s grace that gave her endless garment to protect her modesty and chastity. But none of her emasculated husbands raised their finger in order to protest against this. They kept mum, performing their new dharma, the dharma of slavery. A “tiring again” to ask the same question that why are the women always being objectified to give these kinds of nonsensical tests repeatedly?

The Present Scenario: 

Now, entering the deadly “Kalyug” where a woman getting abused is a very common scenario. And this makes me question, what kind of civilization have we really entered into? It has been several years since Nirbhaya was raped and India lost her and millions of such lives, still counting.

Equality, fraternity, privacy rights were all written way back in the history in our Constitution. But the question is when will the concepts be engraved in the minds of the people who seem to have forgotten all the essence of humanity? Women still remain caged and chained because of these barbaric acts which is an absolute shame.

                                                     “ क्या कहती हो ठहरो नारी

                                                      संकल्प अश्रु-जल-से-अपने

                                                      तुम दान कर चुकी पहले ही

                                                       जीवन के सोने-से सपने ”

                                                                               

- Jaishankar Prasad

Written By -  Chandreyee Ray

Edited By -  Dana Asnan