Why Draupadi is the Real Modern Age Woman!

Everyone knows who are Pandavas and Kauravas. They know the story and the result of Mahabharat. But do you know who the real protagonist of Mahabharat was? It was Draupadi. She declared the war with Kauravas long before it actually happened. It happened when Yudhisthir lost her in a game of gamble to the Kauravas and Duryodhan humiliated her in front of everyone when he asked her to sit on his lap. She was dragged by her hair in a hall full of people and molested her. She was saved by Krishna her best friend and after that incident, she took a pledge that she will not tie her hair until she washes them with the blood of Duryodhan and Dushasan. This statement was in itself a declaration of war. In short, Draupadi was a beautiful, fierce and intelligent woman. When she was mistreated and she did not blame it on herself she took a stand and made sure that her culprits were punished. She was strong not because she was born strong but because she believed that she was strong. Isn’t this the type of woman we all want to be? She is a role model for modern age women. If you are still not convinced here are some reasons why I believe that she is the real modern age woman.

1. She chose her own groom.

Draupadi lived in an era where women were allowed to choose their own groom. They were given the freedom to marry whoever they wanted, unlike today where people are killed in the name of ‘honor killing’ just because they fell in love with the person of other cast or religion. We are living in the 21st century and are still not allowed to marry the person we love. Why? Because ‘Log kya kahenge’. This ‘Log kya kahenge’ has ended lots of stories. So we need to decide what is important, what people think or the happiness of our daughters or sisters? When Draupadi can have the freedom to choose her own groom why can’t we?

2. She was married to 5 men at one time

In those times where kings were allowed to have more than one wife, Draupadi was married to 5 men and no one judged her. She was respected by everyone. On the contrary, nowadays women are judged for having more than one relationship. We live in a hypocritical world today where a man can have as many relationships he wants but if he finds out that a woman had more than one relationship then she is labeled as ‘uncultured’. Her character is assassinated and god forbids if her present relationship doesn’t work then her past relationships are blamed for that. This shows that Draupadi lived in a more advanced and forward society than us.

3. She was independent

Draupadi was independent. She made her own decisions. Like I mentioned earlier when she was humiliated in front of the entire hall, she didn’t wait for her husband to protect her. She didn’t sit there like an ‘abla naari’ instead she retaliated and declared war with Kauravas. She called out everyone including her husbands who just sat there while she was getting harassed and humiliated. She had the courage to disagree with her husband (Yudhishtir) decision to keep her as bet since he lost everything. She was not his property. This shows that she was not scared of anyone judging her because she knew she was right and that it was not her fault that he lost everything in the bet. She was not going to just sit there and accept her ‘so-called destiny’. Isn’t #MeToo campaign somewhat similar to what Draupadi did in the hall? Today women are calling out all the people who just sat there and did nothing while they were getting harassed and humiliated. Women are not only calling their predators but also calling out people who didn’t pay heed when they reached them for help.

4. She had a platonic relationship with Krishna

Draupadi and Krishna were friends. She used to believe in him, confide in him and most importantly trusted him. In today’s term, we can say that they were ‘best friends’. He used to call her “Sakhi” and she use to call him “Sakha”. The Pandavas knew about their friendship and they never objected to it because they understood and respected their relation. They understood that a woman and a man can be friends and there is nothing wrong with it.

This is in stark contrast to today’s reality. In today’s time, people think you can’t be friends with the opposite gender. Do you think it is possible for a married woman or a woman who is in a relationship to have a male friend without her husband or boyfriend’s objection? Would they be okay if they find out you are talking to your friend even after marriage? This shows the irony of the whole situation as people living 1000 of years ago understood the meaning of friendship instead of people like us who claim to be modern.

5. She taught us that it’s okay to be selfish.

Draupadi was absolutely in love with herself. She knew how to keep herself important in her husband’s lives. She was a strategical planner as to when the city of Indraprastha was complete, she told Pandavas that if they want to marry other women they can but none of them will enter Indraprastha. This way she would remain the only queen of the kingdom. She gave herself importance and didn’t care about what her husband or her mother-in-law will think. However, in today’s time, a woman cannot think about being selfish because she will then be accountable to her parents before marriage and to her husband and his family after marriage. In our society women are considered as people who will sacrifice her wish, her dreams to fulfill other dreams. They never expect a woman to follow her dreams. If by chance a woman shows courage and thinks about herself, her work and gives importance to her career then she is looked down upon.

The Real Modern Woman

Draupadi is the most complex woman of our mythology. One the one hand she is this beautiful woman who is very virtuous and generous on the other she creates havoc in the lives of people who did wrong to her. She knew about her rights as a daughter-in-law and as a wife and she never compromised on that. She made her culprits pay the price of the crime they have done. She is a determinant and fierce woman who inspire women to challenge injustice and demand fair treatment from their husbands and society. She is the exact example of how today’s woman should be. But keeping in mind today’s scenario do you think it’s possible to be like her? I think yes, it is. All we need to do is just make up our minds and create our own destiny.

Cast your vote not vote your caste!

We live in a divided country, not divided by states but by religion and caste. In every election, the main agenda of the parties is not to highlight their achievements and future development plans, but to highlight and raise cast and religion-based agenda. They have gone to the extent of filling children’s brains with ideas they don’t even understand. In a piece of recent news, Uttar Pradesh’s Hindu Jagran Manch warned Christian schools in Aligarh not to celebrate Christmas with majority Hindu students. Hindu Jagaran Manch claims that Christmas celebrations lure Hindu students, it affects their mentality and later converts them. This incidence shows what type of India we are living in! It is very unfortunate that a country that strives on the motto of ‘unity in diversity’ has become a victim of communalism. Yes, communalism! just because there are no riots happening or no one is getting killed does not mean people are not getting divided! and the people who are playing this divide and rule policy are not outsiders but people who are citizens of this country. These politicians are no less than Britishers. They are walking on the same footstep and making India weak. It’s not entirely their fault though, we the citizens of our country are also at fault. We are the ones who elect them. In India people don’t cast their vote they vote their caste. We know that they don’t deserve to form a government but still we vote them because we are blinded by “idol worship” or “party worship”. It’s high time we realize that this won’t help in the development of our country. I am not saying that democracy is bad no never! I believe in democracy as much as you but one thing which I know is that I won’t cast a vote to the party just because my family has been doing so. I will give my vote to the person who knows how to run a government and will not play cheap political tricks to ruin my countries unity.

Triple Talaq: What took it so long?

Triple Talaq or Talaq-e-biddat is a form of Islamic divorce which is used by Muslims in India. It allows Muslim men to divorce their wives by uttering ‘talaq’ three times in verbal, written, messages, or any other electric form. This left Muslim women with nothing as after the divorce they were not entitled to alimony or child support or any other support from the ex-husband. With no money and support, they were forced to live in poverty and were left vulnerable which made them prone to violence and harassment. Recently the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgment by stating that the triple talaq is unconstitutional, illegal and void. They said that it is not integral to religious practice and violates constitutional morality. It is a historic judgment but the question is why it took decades to eliminate this unconstitutional law?

Resistance to Change!

A Certain section of the concerned religion and politics are the reason behind the delay of the verdict. All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a non-government organization opposing a ban on triple talaq states that in patriarchal society discrimination is prevalent be it in Hinduism or Islam or any other religion. Other than this there are some ‘respected’ people in the concerned community who think that since women are the weaker sex they can’t take the decision on their own. They don’t know what is good or bad for them and that’s why they are not given the power of instant talaq.

These are not my words this ‘ideology’ came to my notice when I was watching a debate related to triple talaq on a news channel. In that debate, there was a woman who was given divorce by triple talaq and she was favoring a ban on this unconstitutional practice. She asked a question that if triple talaq is valid in their society then why are only men given this right? The ‘honorable’ man in the argument stated that women are weaker sex and they don’t have the knowledge, therefore, they can’t make this important decision. The power to make a decision which involves lives of two people is given to male counterpart because of the gender stereotype. In a time when women of our country are making us proud by winning Olympic medals, heading the banks and MNC’s and going to space, some orthodox people still consider women to be weaker sex! We live in the 21st century gone are the times when women were considered ‘abala’ now times have changed and it’s high time that this stereotypical thinking also changes.

Politics adding to the feud!

Politics also played a major role in the delay of this verdict. In the 1980’s the Supreme Court held hearing for the Shah Bano case, where Shah Bano was asking for ₹500 alimony from her ex-husband. The Supreme Court ruled in her favor but the then Rajiv Gandhi government passed a law which nullified the Supreme Court’s judgment. All this was done to appease the Muslim vote bank since after the Supreme Courts judgment there were protests in many places by certain sections of Muslim community stating that the Supreme Court was interfering in their religious personal law. The Shah Bano case goes down in the history as the case where SC’s judgment was overturned just for the sake of politics. Even now many political parties were still against the ban on triple talaq because they didn’t want to lose their vote bank.

It’s time to change. Politics and religion should not come interfere in the development of the country. On one hand, we are planning to make India a super power, on the other hand, it took us decades to give basic women rights to the females. Religious freedom is worth protecting but it should not come at the expense of equality.