Every era is oppressive of women, and in every country; it is only a matter of degree, and where you happen to have been born and to live. If you were a woman in Afghanistan today, life would be hell, but despite general conservatism, life there for women was quite civilised till the 1980s. If you were Savita Halappanar in Dublin, and had to die because the rigidly Catholic anti-abortion laws would not let you have an abortion even you were dying after a miscarriage, that would be murderous (legal) oppression. Whether it is domestic violence or being the commodity in the global flesh trade, it is the women who always suffer.
But coming to the issue at hand and to set the record straight, Sati was legally abolished in India much earlier, in 1836,under the then Governor General Lord William Bentinck. The two regions where it was most prevalent were Rajasthan and Bengal. it was unknown in Maharashtra, the Punjab, and the whole of South India. The whole spadework for its abolition was done by the great Bengali reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and the British agreed to the legislation to abolish it only after he assured them that there would be no general revolt against it. There was none, and the vile practice practically collapsed overnight. This was proof that the social backing for the abolition of Sati was already there.
As for the harem, I agree with you entirely, and I cannot understand all the fuss about it. As for the family viewing angle, so many of the scenes shown on prime time TV these days are infinitely more vulgar than a couple of girls looking like students of belly dancing, and not a squeak out of anyone.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
Originally posted by BreezeStar
Oh, I have been here countless times..wahan par Jodha ke jhumke bane hain in her kitchen.
But you know historians say its an error..
Guys that era was oppressive for women in general, the era where things like sati system existed which was abolished only in 1928. Hindu kings too had so many wives, the Harem is just a place where women of the palace live including Mahaangna and Jalal's mother. Why is this such an issue?
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