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Hinduism
Panchkanya
Women of
Substance – 20
Finding no response, with quicksilver presence of mind
she seizes upon a social ritual to wrest some moments of respite from
pillaging hands. Her speech drips with sarcasm. The elders whom she
ceremoniously salutes, deliberately using the word “duty,” have
remained silent in the face of Vidura’s exhortation to do their duty and
protect the royal daughter-in- law.[[1]]
Look at her choice of words:
“One duty remains, which
I must now do. Dragged
by this mighty hero,
I nearly forgot. I
was so confused.
Sirs, I bow to all of you, all my elders
and superiors. Forgive me for
not doing so earlier.
It was not all my fault,
gentlemen of the
sabha.” (Sabha Parva, 67.30)
It is a “mighty hero” who
is dragging his menstruating sister-in-law, clad in a single cloth, by her
hair. She has “nearly forgot” her duty, while the elders are wholly
oblivious of theirs despite being reminded by a servant-maid’s son. It
is surely not her fault that she is being outraged, and certainly it is
not she who is “so confused” but rather the Kuru elders of whom
Bhishma says,
“Our elders, learned in dharma,
Drona and others, sit
Here with lowered eyes like dead men
with life-breaths gone.” (ibid, 69.20)
Yajnaseni succeeds in winning
back freedom for her enslaved husbands. Karna pays her a remarkable
tribute, saying that none of the world’s renowned beautiful women have
accomplished such a feat: like a boat she has rescued her husbands who
were drowning in a sea of sorrows (Sabha 72.1-3).
With striking
dignity she refuses to take the third boon Dhritarashtra offers, because
with her husbands free and in possession of their weapons, she does not
need a boon from anyone. No twenty first century feminist can surpass her
in being in charge of herself. Can we even imagine any woman having to
suffering attempted disrobing with her husbands sitting mute; then facing
abduction in the forest and having to countenance her husband forgiving
the abductor; be molested again in court and be admonished by her husband
for making a scene; then be carried off to be burnt alive; thereafter,
when war is imminent, witness her husbands asking Krishna to sue for
peace; and finally find all her kith and kin and her sons slain-- and
still remain sane?
–
Continued
Panchkanya Pages : 1 |
2 | 3 | 4
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 |
22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27
Now also in Hindi at
http://www.hindinest.com/visheshank/01stri/panchkanya1.htm
Now also in French at http://www.neurom.ch/mbh/kanya.pdf
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