Posted:
Brilliantly put! You summed up all my anger and helplessness I felt yesterday when I watched the amazingly executed but very disturbing episode.
Women have historically been chattels in any "war" or even conflict fought amongst men, this is throughout the ages and is not county or race specific. I was discussing this with my husband yesterday (who is not Indian so an interesting discussion as he did not grow up with MB like I did 😃). We both agreed that even when men suffer and are stripped of honour, titles, wealth etc, they fight on their own playing field generally (there are exceptions before anyone jumps down my throat but I am generalising), but women have to then additionally deal with the stripping (pun intended here) of that commodity which we have decreed across centuries to be intertwined with their souls-n their honour.
For a man to stand by his high ideals of duty, honour, dharma, call it what you will, is in some respect academic especially when they cannot (as you correctly identified in your post) step away from their misconceived notions to defend what they should be valuing above all else- the respect and honour of a wife, mother, daughter, the veritable Goddess that creates and nurtures each of us. Exactly as you said, only Shri Krishna was above it all, hence the important message that God is who you really call upon and rely on at crucial times, your respect and strength will not be defended by others if you rely on them, without surrender to the Almighty as only He will come to your aid regardless of any so called traditions and principles.
Something very private but am moved to share it here as it is overflowing within me today! I have personally experienced the hurt, anger and disappointment that comes from relying on others to "defend" your honour. I had a bad first marriage where there were a thousand humiliations and trials suffered, no way comparable to Draupadi, but still to each their gradual erosion of self respect can be just as hurtful. No one, from various in laws to husband himself came "to the rescue" as such. My constant guide and support were my Kanha and my Mataji, I drew endless source of strength from them and one day my own parents realised the extent of issues and made me see how wrong I was to keep a relationship that was empty, a shell and wrong, simply due to my misconceived sense of duty.
As you can imagine, watching the current track is very disturbing but also inspiring as it demonstrates yet again how no one can take your self respect from you unless you let them. Therefore, whilst the Pandavas were the losers in that game of dice, Draupadi did not allow her molestation and the disrobing was of the perpetrators, not hers in the end.
Sorry for having written an essay, I hardly ever post anything but couldn't hold back 😃
Cricket
Arjun
Jhanak
Tum Se Tum Tak
