Protectors of morality..

I happened to read a news article about the South Indian film actress Nayan Thara going to get married to Prabhu Deva and the comments made by readers about it. (post the link ) Most of the comments showed the narrow mindedness and carried no respect at all to this girl. Many were gloating about what a shame she is to our glorious culture. Is she really a shame to our culture?

Thinking of our culture makes me think about the stories that I read and heard as a kid about the characters in Mahabharata and Ramayana. We read and respect the stories and characters in it even though some of them are beyond the term wrong in today’s morality scale. For example, we all see Rama as the epitome of male character. He is the Uthama Purushan. He gave hundred percent towards fulfilling his dharma and his duty as a king. However, he said that he cannot accept Seetha even if one of his citizens doubts her innocence. Is this ok in today's world? He was the perfect ruler then, looking only at the welfare and concern of his people. However, as a husband, was he able to do justice to Seetha? I agree he took all the trouble to go to Lanka to get her back. However, in the end she was crying her heart out to Bhoomi Devi to come and save her since she couldn’t take the sufferings and humiliation anymore. In another story, we see that his brother Lakshmana cuts off the breast and nose of a Rakshasi, Soorpanaka, because she desired Rama so much. We all read these stories and then go about with our lives after that. We are not sitting and judging the actions of Rama or Lakshmana and trying to see whether they were wrong or right. What they did was right for them and for others around them, end of story.

Similarly, consider the story of Droupadi. I see her as one of the strongest female characters in our history. She had not just one, but five husbands, and one of the main reasons for the Mahabharata war was to satisfy her vengeance. The men only followed, carried out her wishes. We don’t see her as a female with a loose character because she had five husbands. We see her only as a strong, powerful female having her own identity and pride.

And what about our Apsaras like Urvasi, Menaka ,Rambha ,Thilothama? Aren’t they the symbols of beauty and sensuality? Are we going to sit and talk that they are on the wrong side when the issue of morality comes? We used to have this system of Devadasis in many villages. People accepted it and considered them a part of the society. So how come we are able to find pleasure in judging another human being, and that too by invoking our "glorious culture"? I see that our glory was in respecting others, accepting people as they are and finding their positives as opposed to dwelling in negativity. What we need today is giving respect for others, and bringing back the respect women had during our glorious days.

Today there is absolutely no respect for others, especially for women. What Nayan Thara does is her own personal choice. She is the one who is going to get the good or bad benefits out of this. If we are going to say, our kids are going to learn bad habits from people like her, get influenced by people like her, I would say that the finger should point towards us, not towards her. If we didn’t teach our kids how to live a good life by setting examples with our own lives then nobody else is to blame. As long as what she is doing does not bother us or concern our personal lives, can’t we let her do what she wants to do with her own life? Hypocrisy is what I am seeing mostly around us. Everybody is trying to be the sole keeper of a so-called glass crystal called morality?