My two cents on Alia Bhatt's Controversial Ad - Page 22

Originally posted by: IWILLDIESINGLE

Because if the said person proclaims to be a feminist they should question every evil in the society, unless obviously if they don't consider Muslim women a part of the society.

I am cool as long as they are NOT supporting it - that would be hypocritical

Tweeting about one and not the other is not really a big deal.

Originally posted by: CherryMe

Jhooth

Woke saree bangal se aate hai

Bihar ko yun badnaam mat karo

Haha ! Ab apne convenience ke liye hamari history hi badal do (yeh strategy kuch jaanin pechanin lag rahi hai)

Bhanykar

Originally posted by: Shaitan-Haiwan

Why are only Hindu customs criticized like this? If it was any other religion the topic would be locked up by now.

Anti Hindu n anti India topics are only allowed here

Hindu rituals and traditions are suddenly at the centre of woke and left activism. Just how we await for an auspicious day or festival to begin anything new, the woke leftist activities too wait for such days to do the ‘shubhaarambh’ of their ‘social messaging’ campaigns. The only difference, our new beginning starts with breaking a coconut while their new beginning starts with telling how breaking a coconut is regressive and illogical.

A very recent example being clothing brand Manyavar’s ad film featuring Bollywood entertainer Alia Bhatt. The advertisement portrays ‘Kanyadaan’ as an oppressive practice and suggests ‘Kanyamaan’ as an alternative.

But what is Kanyadaan?

Author Nityānanda Miśra in a YouTube video addressed the three problematic messages in Bhatt’s recent ad film.

‘Daughters are considered property/ wealth’

Busting some myths, Nityānanda Miśra begins by explaining the meaning of ‘dhan’ straight from a Sanskrit dictionary. As per the book, dhan apart from wealth also means ‘something that is loved and considered to be valuable.’

In Sanatan, not just daughters but even sons are considered to be ‘dhan’ which is known as ‘putradhan.’ Quoting a Sanskrit shloka, he further explains how even ‘vidya’ or knowledge and education is considered to be dhan.

“विद्याधनं सर्व धनं प्रधानम्” which means knowledge is the most valuable thing that can be given to anyone.

‘Women are not to be given in charity’

Questioning the ‘regressive’ Hindu culture, the ad film in its second objectionable messaging says why should women be given away as charity at the time of marriage.

According to Miśra charity cannot be equated to merely wealth or money. In Sanatan, the concept of ‘daan’ expands from knowledge to even life known as ‘vidyadaan’ or jeevan daan’ respectively.

Demystifying the concept of ‘kanyadaan’, Miśra further informed about the concept of ‘putradaan’ as well. He also cited a shloka from the epic of Mahabharata to further his point.

‘From Kanyadaan to Kanyamaan’

Miśra begins by questioning why is ‘kanyadaan’ even considered an insult to the daughters by the ad filmmakers. He then read aloud a mantra which is recited at the time of the ritual of ‘kanyadaan.’

Explaining its meaning, the author says, “As per the mantra the parents of the bride have been referred to as Varun Devta meaning the lord of the oceans while the daughter is referred to as Surya Devta, the lord of the sun. While the groom is referred to as Vishnu Devta or the one who resides in the sky.”

“This signifies the sun’s movement at the time of sunrise from the horizon (as seen from the shore of an ocean) towards the sky indicating a new beginning,” he said further explaining how the concept of ‘kanyadaan’ is in fact ‘kanyamaan’ which need not be mentioned explicitly.

Before being accused of gender bias the author also explained how in Sanskrit, the word ‘dev’ is used to refer to male, ‘devta’ to female and ‘daivyatam’ to neutral.

As per other texts on ‘kanyadaan’, the mantra, japas and other actions performed at the time of the ritual signify the bride as Laxmi. The symbolic act of the bride’s father giving away his daughter to Narayan (the groom) is considered as him making his daughter the ‘grace’ of somebody else’s house.

Research, study and knowledge

It is time when brands realize that an airconditioned office, a fancy laptop and a bottle of beer are not the only prerequisites for a good campaign. Let’s take Bhatt’s ad film as a reference.

It is imperative to note that the shallow understanding of Sanatan culture arises when a layman tries to force-fit English meanings for non-translatable Sanskrit words. For example, the creative director or the copywriter without taking any extra effort to study the meaning of ‘dhan’ in Sanskrit equated it with wealth.

Similarly, ‘daan’ was exhibited as ‘monetary charity’ thereby denouncing the entire concept.

Even a cursory glance at the texts that decode the ritual of ‘kanyadaan’ would have suggested how the ritual is far from being regressive or ‘insulting.’

Talking about the marketing strategy, not sure how wise it was for a brand to tell its potential buyers that the occasion for which they are selling the expensive couture is rather regressive and should be done away with.

Eventhough I don't belong to this religion I feel really bad how these customs are being degraded now

Originally posted by: CrimeMasterToto

I am cool as long as they are NOT supporting it - that would be hypocritical

Tweeting about one and not the other is not really a big deal.

Hypocrisy is when you are asked to talk about it, and than you give excuses like I am not a right person to comment on it.

If you cry animal abuse in Durga Pooja cry same during EID or Easter. If you don't, okay, but if I call you Hinduphobic, don't cry.

Originally posted by: IWILLDIESINGLE

Because if the said person proclaims to be a feminist they should question every evil in the society, unless obviously if they don't consider Muslim women a part of the society.

Pseudos , evil intent is not for d betterment of society . Just feminism etc.. cards excuse to attack sanathana dharma .

Originally posted by: CrimeMasterToto

What if the other person doesnt know enough about the other religion to make a judgement call on it?

This is a ridiculous expectation TBH

Just because you stand up for one cause, you dont need to stand up for every related or similar cause. I can support saving the rhinos without saying save the tigers also and save every animal

I can protest triple talaq without having to take a stand on dowry.

There will always be some mischievous entities who will use tragic practices like the above to gain brownie points, but from what I have noticed, they themselves are a loud minority on either side - be it left leaning or right leaning. Fringe group leaders. If you are going to get upset over fringe elements, then you are signing on for a lifetime for grief because this is never ending.

A single point lies in coordinate plane independently but if there are series of points you can always fit a curve into it and observe the trend.

If you keep supporting save the Rhinos trend while seeing Tigers being killed in front of you then you (not you) are hypocrite and Tigerphobic.

This discussion highlights the hypocrisy. I haven't seen still a single member highlighting weird things in Islam, quoting problematic verses but will have their own interpretations of each and every minute thing of Hinduism.

I am actually stupid to get myself so much involved in this stupid topic as nothing gonna happen. You can find umpteen number of people asking to reform Garuda puran or Kanyadan but you won't find people who will oppose the problematic things in Quran and will agree to have reforms.

My boss is going to fire me for sure 😆

Originally posted by: IWILLDIESINGLE

Hypocrisy is when you are asked to talk about it, and than you give excuses like I am not a right person to comment on it.

If you cry animal abuse in Durga Pooja cry same during EID or Easter. If you don't, okay, but if I call you Hinduphobic, don't cry.

Muslims protesting of opening cinema halls in madina n saying shame on Arab govt n same ppl want meat n wine in Krishna sacred place mathura , hypocrites 😆

Originally posted by: Nonpareil

Muslims protesting of opening cinema halls in madina n saying shame on Arab govt n same ppl want meat n wine in Krishna sacred place mathura , hypocrites 😆

Similar hypocrisy in Mathura vs Lakshdweep

Originally posted by: TMKOC_MY

A single point lies in coordinate plane independently but if there are series of points you can always fit a curve into it and observe the trend.

If you keep supporting save the Rhinos trend while seeing Tigers being killed in front of you then you (not you) are hypocrite and Tigerphobic.

This discussion highlights the hypocrisy. I haven't seen still a single member highlighting weird things in Islam, quoting problematic verses but will have their own interpretations of each and every minute thing of Hinduism.

I am actually stupid to get myself so much involved in this stupid topic as nothing gonna happen. You can find umpteen number of people asking to reform Garuda puran or Kanyadan but you won't find people who will oppose the problematic things in Quran and will agree to have reforms.

My boss is going to fire me for sure 😆

I just dont agree friend !

This thread is about Kanyadaan - that is going to be the main topic of discussion

This I cannot argue with. I hope they are not tracking my laptop usage too closely, else I will probably be kicked off for spending way too much time on IF in the last 24 hours