Why are girls suddenly increasing in India?
A remarkable Harappan sculpture, entitled Woman Riding Two Brahman Bulls, provides a glimpse of both the women and the art of India in the second millennium B.C. It is a rare artefact of the civilisation’s early bronze culture which spanned across northern India and the Indus Valley.
Haryana’s skewed gender ratio, a result of rampant female foeticide, has sparked off a full-scale business of buying brides with hundreds of young women now being sourced from a dozen Indian states and even Nepal, says a research study.
It notes that Haryanvi men are procuring brides by paying between Rs 35,000 and Rs 1.50 lakh, depending on their social status, beauty, marriage status and education of brides. “The bride buying business is booming too, with commission agents making big money,” says the paper.
The brides, who are called ‘Paro’ or ‘Kharidi hui’ or ‘Mol-ki-bahu’, are literally treated as chattels and sold. They come from poor families in Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and also Nepal.
How patriarchy started?
One of the reasons could be the "MANUSMRITI".
The Manusmṛiti also known as Laws of Manu, is believed to be the first ancient legal text and constitution among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism. In ancient India, the sages often wrote their ideas on how society should run in the manuscripts. It is believed that the original form of Manusmriti was changed as many things written in the manuscript contradict each other. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts to be translated into English in 1776, by British philologist Sir William Jones, and was used to construct the Hindu law code, for the East India Company administered enclaves.
You may come across one of the most famous verses of the Manusmriti – “yatr naryasto pojyantay, ramantay tatr devta”(at places where women are provided place of honor, gods are pleased and reside in that household)
However, in its shade, the Hindu apologists often forget the verses that reek of outrageous abhorrence, discrimination, and bigotry against women-
1. Women Must Be Guarded
Chapter 9 in Manusmriti outlines the duty of a wife and a husband whether “they be united or separated.” The 15th law of it says, “Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however quickly they may be guarded in this (world).”
2. Women Ostracisation
Manusmriti has all rules for women, no matter how evil his husband is, it is she who is to be punished for everything. One of the laws of Manu says- “She who disrespects to (a husband) who is addicted to(some evil) passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be deserted for three months (and be) deprived of her ornaments and furniture.”
3. Women as seducers
Reducing women to derogatory standards has been done during various instances in the text. In the second chapter Manu writes, “It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world; for that reason, the wise are never unguarded in the company of females.”
4. Women should fit in the standards
Manusmriti highlights the obsession with beauty, name, perfection, and societal status. Here are the words from chapter 3 law 8: “One should not marry women who have reddish hair, redundant parts of the body [such as six fingers], one who is often sick, one without hair or having excessive hair and one who has red eyes.” The very next law to this says, “One should not marry women whose names are similar to constellations, trees, rivers, those from a low caste, mountains, birds, snakes, slaves or those whose names inspire terror.”
Law 10 and 11 of chapter 3 says- “Wise men should not marry women who do not have a brother and whose parents are not socially well known.” (3:10)
“Wise men should marry only women who are free from bodily defects, with beautiful names, grace/gait like an elephant, moderate hair on the head and body, soft limbs and small teeth.”
5. Women Dehumanised
In chapter 3 verse 239 it is written, “A Kandala, a village pig, a cock, a dog, a menstruating woman, and a eunuch must not look at the Brahmanas while they eat.”
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is widely remembered for his three contributions, first being the Constitution, mass conversion of Mahars (1956) and burning of the Manusmriti (1927).
Among the notable Indian scriptures and texts in the early 20th century, B. R. Ambedkar had criticized Manusmriti holding it responsible for the caste system in India. To protest against discrimination in the name of caste, community and gender, he burnt the copies of Manusmriti in a bonfire on December 25, 1927.
We do not have real copy of Manusmriti . The Manusmriti we have is the translated version of Max Müller. Max Müller was a German- born philologist who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He had excellent knowledge of Sanskrit. His study about the Aryans was always been part of controversy. So it is possible that he may have altered the real Manusmriti.
Another scholar named William Hunter was infamous for his Hunter Commission Report which was presented in the British assembly in 1882. The report was about the education system in India ,in which he said, that he was successful to do distortion with some precious texts in Sanskrit.
Also it was casted as a law-book of Hindus by Britishers. Which is clearly not. In fact, Hinduism do not have any law-book. Such “Smritis” are the particular person's code of conduct for the life. And we have many such “Smritis” out of which Manusmriti is the most famous.
Fun fact is , the Manusmriti which was burnt into ashes by Dr.B.R. Ambedkar in 1927 was also not the real copy. It must be the British version of the book as these scenes happened after the Hunter Commission. It is the fact that Mahatma Gandhi also praised many verses of Manusmriti.
We have to understand that it is not possible that British left our country making everything as it was. “History is always written by winners”.
People were known by their mother's names in our ethnic books. So it's a bit difficult to digest the fact that women was considering lesser than males.
The first three Pandavas, especially Arjuna, were known as Parthas: the sons of Pritha(Pritha was a name of Kunti). They were also called Kaunteyas(the sons of Kunti).
Lord Krishna was called Devaki Nandan.
Karna was called Radheya after his foster mother.
Bhishma was called Gangaputra after his celestial mother.
Many others were also addressed directly as sons of their mothers.Eg: Duryodhana was called “Son of Gandhari", Balrama was called “Son of Rohini", Aswatthama was addressed as “Son of Kripi" etc.
Violence against women in India is actually more present than it may appear at first glance, as many expressions of violence are not considered crimes, or may otherwise go unreported or undocumented due to certain Indian cultural values and beliefs. These reasons all contribute to India's Gender Inequality Index.
The Government of India is implementing various schemes/programmes to overcome gender disparity and provide equal status to women in the country. The schemes being implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development for welfare of women are
Beti Bacho Beti Padhao (BBBP) to improve the Child Sex Ratio and enabling education for the girl children,
Swadhar Greh Scheme to provide relief and rehabilitation to destitute women and women in distress,
Ujjawala a Comprehensive Scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation,
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to provide loan to poor women through Intermediary Microfinancing Organisations (IMOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to promote their socio-economic development,
Working Women Hostels (WWH) for ensuring safe accommodation for women working away from their place of residence.
“The improved sex ratio and sex ratio at birth is also a significant achievement; even though the real picture will emerge from the census, we can say for now looking at the results that our measures for women empowerment have steered us in the right direction ,” said Vikas Sheel, additional secretary, Union ministry of health and family welfare and mission director, National Health Mission.
Good work👍
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