Position of Brahmins and their customs as seen in tv

Renu the unfortunate child widow is Ahilyas friend. The way it is shown she gets married and is sent to in laws that early in life. She is visiting her parents when hubby dies or so the news comes. Immediately she is summoned. by grandma and is made to sit. And her head is shaved off in public with the whole village watching. Worse still is the scene where Ahilya goes and hugs Renu whose head is half shaven with some hair still remaining about half her head or so. And then there is pushing and pulling and crying and protesting by Ahilya. Will they let anyone touch a person whose head is getting shaved? They have to have a bath first before anyone touches them. Even men after haircut have a bath first before touching anyone. Ahilya goes a bit further. She shares some gyan in how your sadness goes away when you eat sweets etc .While they show a social evil for sure this happened 250 years ago when many other things happened side by side. Usually when they show some abuse of women they show a declaration that this channel does not support atrocity on women. But here they showed no such message. I wonder why. Is this how it happened then? Did they do full research on the norms and customs then?

lol, 😂 welcome to entertainment ki duniadari...again, there is atrocities even in the past, something that's not anew ...you might wanna include the atrocities by gautamabai towards Ahilya like pulverizing turmeric, verbal abuse which made her feel desolated in the palace, etc...plus khanderao torturing Ahilya, playing mridangam to coax her & then going back to his abhorrent personality...historical shows arent always accurate as a lot of drama comes from folklores

Originally posted by: Myrah_2020

lol, 😂 welcome to entertainment ki duniadari...again, there is atrocities even in the past, something that's not anew ...you might wanna include the atrocities by gautamabai towards Ahilya like pulverizing turmeric, verbal abuse which made her feel desolated in the palace, etc...plus khanderao torturing Ahilya, playing mridangam to coax her & then going back to his abhorrent personality...historical shows arent always accurate as a lot of drama comes from folklores

Leave alone all that. Ahilya the smart kid did she ever wonder or ask why Malhar has four wives while her father has only one. Any idea why Malhar married Harku who is only slightly older than Khanderao? A smart kid would wonder about these things as well. Right?

Back to my original question what according to the CVS is the role of Brahmins in society in those days. That they look like peasants and they dress up like one? The “smart ones” are bit more educated and they run Pathshalas where they teach alphabets to village children and in return they get paid so they can make a living. And then their children get married young and sent off to in laws and if hubby dies ASAP their head gets shaved off in public with the whole crowd watching the “ceremony” . And the smarter fairer skinned versions of the same mind the temples where the idol of Hindu Gods is situated which is usually made of stone or metal. And they do stuff like doing “puja” to cow and cow alone leaving the calf hungry and punishing anyone who comes in between them and the rigid rituals? They also bow to the king since they are poor and are servants of the king. Is there nothing else in religion except worshipping big idols having rigid rituals. giving harsh punishments to little kids . Is that what religion is all about? So that CVS can go about “reforming” this religion and the priest community ?

There is one thing about dramatizing but another about showing a community in bad light painting them in a certain way. TV is a powerful medium. People get influenced by it a lot and they believe in the stories “As seen in TV” . Have. social responsibility when showing about religion and culture.

I have read that people commit crimes influenced by movies. Dramatization and wrong info are two different things

Waited for this long but having received no reply so far I have more things to say. Gangoba Tatya minister to Malhar is also shown as a Brahmin. He is a servant of Malhar. So Malhar calls him in second person singular . But everybody else is ever so respectful towards each other in the serial. Malhar calls his own wife Gautamabhai saheb. Rest of them a call each other as akka sahib ayi saheb and so on. Minister usually is a Brahmin and they are definitely less than a king. But they do not go fight wars or go as escorts to anyone risking their lives. Definitely they do not eat in people belonging to other communities .unless Malhar is a Brahmin which he is not per history. This century is different. This was 250 years ago and I have also heard that any community not just Brahmins do not eat in any other person’s house except their own caste. So per story the so called Brahmins eat anywhere and everywhere but they stick to customs like they treat their widows so badly shave their heads in public and lock them up in a room. In fact they are taking this head shaven widow part to another level. It is like public head shaving ceremony and these women are made to look like eternal jokers and fools. Example Chivu in Mere Sai who even drinks alcohol because she is a fool you see. Earlier as a suhagan she snatched onion wali bhelpuri from another caste woman because she liked to eat it. That is what they are fools idiots greedy people who snatch and eat other people’s food. In those days Brahmins did not outside. There was another serial elsewhere where one such widow was asked to eat some hotel food by another foolish lady. In fact their shaved head is to make them look like fools and nothing else. In reality along with shaved head they were observing strict diet restrictions no cooked food in the evening no onion no garlic etc.In olden days though nobody liked to be a widow with a shave head they observed their fasts strictly.

But in our TV serials no one has ever heard of such a thing.In fact they go on and in about saatvic khana etc etc. Do they know what it is I wonder. Because if they knew they wouldn't show such rubgish. And this locking up widows in a room I have never heard of it before. It gives bad ideas to viewers who may try to do the same.

We see the negativity of the whole idea.For the sake of entertainment do you scapegoat a community without even trying to understand how anything happened that long ago. For sure lots of atrocities happened. But they happened everywhere not in one section of the society.

After my long soliloquy if CVS try to know how Brahmins lived then what they did for a living.etc. They can show it in tv and not as people solely responsible for blind beliefs and stupidities

Originally posted by: u4tlu

Waited for this long but having received no reply so far I have more things to say. Gangoba Tatya minister to Malhar is also shown as a Brahmin. He is a servant of Malhar. So Malhar calls him in second person singular . But everybody else is ever so respectful towards each other in the serial. Malhar calls his own wife Gautamabhai saheb. Rest of them a call each other as aka sahib ayi saheb and so on. Minister usually is a Brahmin and they are definitely less than a king. But they do not go fight wars or go as escorts to anyone risking their lives. Definitely they do not eat in people belonging to other communities .unless Malhar is a Brahmin which he is not per history. This century is different. This was 250 years ago and I have also heard that any community not just Brahmins do not eat in any other person’s house except their own caste. So per story the so called Brahmins eat anywhere and everywhere but they Stick to customs like they treat their widows shave their heads in public and lock them up in a room. In fact they are taking this head shaven widow part to another level. It is like public head shaving ceremony and these women are made to look like eternal jokers and fools. Example Chivu in Mere Sai who even drinks alcohol because she is a fool you see. Earlier as a suhagan she snatched onion wali bhelpuri from another caste woman because she liked to eat it. That is what they are fools idiots greedy people who snatch and eat other people’s food. In those days Brahmins did not outside. There was another serial elsewhere where one such widow was asked to eat some hotel food by another foolish lady. In fact their shaved head is to make them look like fools and nothing else. In reality along with shaved head they were observing strict diet restrictions no cooked food in the evening no onion no garlic etc. But in our TV serials no one has ever heard of such

a thing.In fact they go on and in about saatvic khana etc etc. Do they know what it is I wonder. And this locking them up in a room I have never heard of it before. It gives bad ideas to viewers who may try to do the same.

We see the negativity of the whole idea.For the sake of entertainment do you scapegoat a community without even trying to understand how anything happened that long ago. For sure lots of atrocities happened. But they happened everywhere not in one section of the society.

After my long soliloquy if CVS try to know how Brahmins lived then what they did for a living.etc. They can show it in tv and not as people solely responsible for blind beliefs and stupidities

Regarding the bold part above, even Peshwa Bajirao was a brahmin but he and his entire family went to war risking their lives.

Yes there were strict rules in those times, but that doesn't mean that there were no exceptions at all.

Originally posted by: Sree0796

Regarding the bold part above, even Peshwa Bajirao was a brahmin but he and his entire family went to war risking their lives.

Yes there were strict rules in those times, but that doesn't mean that there were no exceptions at all.

Agree with you on that point above. Peshwas became rulers. as well later on. They went to war as well.. In some other places too Brahmins went to talke part in wars. There are exceptions to this rule but not many other rules.

I remember reading about Bal gangadar tilaks life . He had progressive ideas. Once he drank tea in a missionary's house . Because he did that no priest would come to do Shradh his house He told his wife not to worry and to do all prep. When everything was prepared he did the ceremony himself. He was so learned. Goes to show how strict society was in those days. Eating outside was unheard of.

What they show as plight of brahmin widows then is a social evil. There is no doubt about that. The custom was eradicated from early 20th to mid 20th century. And it was no thanks to any other person/ persons other than the brahmin community people themselves. So many brahmin women fought against it for the sake of others. So many parents fought against such injustice against their daughters against society. We have only them to thank. for the eradication of such cruel practice and no one else.

Now why the practice originated is a question. It is certainly not because widows were considered bad omen and were considered responsible for their husband's deaths. It was because they did not want these women to be the object of sexual abuse by lustful men. .Still it is a cruel way to stop them from being the object of any such unwanted attention.. This is the same reason Buddhist nuns and Jain nuns tonsured their head. Some other religions too had this practice for their nuns and monks.

Strange as it may seem some religions around the world had their women shave their heads as soon as they are married so that they do not look attractive to other men. These women used to wear wigs while going out. These religions were not in India. This practice was there even in the twentieth century. I have read books about it.

The same reason was responsible for the practice of sati. Many may argue that it was voluntary. But how voluntary it was is a debatable question. And Sati was abolished with the help of British and indian reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

In fact there was a brahmin windowed lady in the southern state who was a victim herself as she was a child widow. her parents sent her to school and college.against society. She founded many women's organisations which gave asylum to such brahmin widows especially child widows who were victim of this cruel practice.

And guess who questioned her work? Rest of the society and the reason they put forth was why brahmin widows ? why not all widows.

The lady answered that only brahmins went through this child marriage and consequent child widows had a lifetime of misery. Other communities did not marry their children before puberty. But she offered to help anyone who needed help. They just have to come forward.. Her work is still remembered toiday.

But as early as mid 1700s I doubt if anyone could do any reform in society not even Ahilya bhai nor her father in law even if they wanted to help.

I am not sure why there are no replies. But I have this to say. If any of what I said "hurts" anybody's feelings .... when I saw the way some sections of the society is portrayed it hurt some other's feelings too. This serial glorifies Ahilyabhai Holker a truly exceptional lady way ahead of her times. And Malhar Rao Holker who supported his daughter in law so much. How it came about is for anybody's guess.. To glorify someone does not mean you not portray somebody else in a bad light. You can show Gautama bhai and Khanderao in any way you like. They are not here to defend themselves. It is wrong to show them in bad light too. IMHO. But to show a section of the society that exists today as well in a bad way is wrong too. Blanket prejudices are bad. Blanket opinions are bad too. Just because one person is great that does not mean somebody else or some others are bad. As for the favorite line" If you don't like it do not watch" etc why should we not watch? How else would we know how much it portrays things in a wrong way? Everybody has a right to feel hurt and express their feelings. Take it in that sense. Do your research well when making such historic serials. We expect a lot. This is entertainment ki duniya is not an excuse. You have a social responsibility not to spread wrong ideas.