A lot has been written and said about social evils prevalent in Hindu society but historians or sociologist have not explained reasons for such practices. Female child infanticide is one such practice blighting Hindu society.
From a historical perspective no ancient record or Hindu books of itihasa (history) such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have recorded or alluded to the destruction of girl child in India. On the contrary, since time immemorial Hindus have respected and adored women, raised them to most exalted positions. Where else will you find a woman being identified as 'Shakti' the primordial life-giving force? Hindus have Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati, Kali and many more such female deities venerated as the highest form of God and creation sometimes even greater than Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh. Where else would you find female leaders being venerated like Rani Chennama, Rani Durgawati, Rani Laxmibai, Mira Bai and many others. Where else would you find daughters being called ‘amma’ or 'akka' an old Sanskrit word for Mother or Devi by fathers and brothers?
Where did all this go wrong? How come Hindus who loved and venerated their girl child as mothers, as 'Sakshat Devi' (Embodiment of Mother Goddess) started despising them? Killing them at birth.
The roots of this practice lie in the Muslim invasions of India. Muslim invaders motivated by religious fervour devoid of humanity, culture or civility saw conquered Hindu subjects and their women folks as their property to do as they please. They would regularly kidnap and rape women folk, later selling them into slavery, prostitution or just leaving ravaged women on the streets to become social outcasts. There are many reports in historical text, which confirm this (see Bibliography) where Muslim rulers, governors, local officials and common Muslim soldiers would maltreat Hindu women.
People living in troubled times and in the path of these marauding Muslim invaders in the north west of India which is modern Punjab and Haryana today bore the brunt of such inhumane acts. As a direct result of such atrocities committed by Muslim rulers the girl child became an unwanted burden an offspring that can only bring misfortune and stigma to the parents and to be done away with at birth. How many parents could bear to see their beloved daughters some as young as 10 years old kidnapped or taken away at the point of a spear or sword to be raped by soldiers in plain sight or carted away as loot to be sold into slavery in the markets of Baghdad.
It is to be noted that this girl child infanticide was prevalent mainly among the peasants and other rural classes who lived in the undefended countryside in the paths of these Muslim marauders and had no recourse to law, arms or ransom.
The practice was so deep rooted in some parts of north western India that Sikh gurus had to make it a religious code not to kill the girl child and later the British had to implement laws and even use force to stop the practice.
The roots of this practice lie in the Muslim invasions of India. Muslim invaders motivated by religious fervour devoid of humanity, culture or civility saw conquered Hindu subjects and their women folks as their property to do as they please. They would regularly kidnap and rape women folk, later selling them into slavery, prostitution or just leaving ravaged women on the streets to become social outcasts. There are many reports in historical text, which confirm this (see Bibliography) where Muslim rulers, governors, local officials and common Muslim soldiers would maltreat Hindu women.
People living in troubled times and in the path of these marauding Muslim invaders in the north west of India which is modern Punjab and Haryana today bore the brunt of such inhumane acts. As a direct result of such atrocities committed by Muslim rulers the girl child became an unwanted burden an offspring that can only bring misfortune and stigma to the parents and to be done away with at birth. How many parents could bear to see their beloved daughters some as young as 10 years old kidnapped or taken away at the point of a spear or sword to be raped by soldiers in plain sight or carted away as loot to be sold into slavery in the markets of Baghdad.
It is to be noted that this girl child infanticide was prevalent mainly among the peasants and other rural classes who lived in the undefended countryside in the paths of these Muslim marauders and had no recourse to law, arms or ransom.
The practice was so deep rooted in some parts of north western India that Sikh gurus had to make it a religious code not to kill the girl child and later the British had to implement laws and even use force to stop the practice.
In modern times the practice of girl child infanticide had taken such deep roots in certain sections of the society especially the peasantry, landed communities and poorer sections of the society that it was being practiced blindly as a tradition or received wisdom from the elders that girl child is of nuisance value and not to be had or purely to avoid property and financial loss following the marriage of the daughter.
In the present day, cases of female infanticide is not a nation wide phenomenon but prevalent to some extent in the Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh as a result of Islamic oppression and devastation in those parts. Even in the days of oppressive Muslim rule girl child infanticide was a practice that was very regional and class based, thus it would be wrong, a canard even to call it as a practice prevalent in Hinduism in general.
The case in point is that Hindus in Rajputana, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Deccan and further south have had no such practice. In fact Muslims in India including Pakistan Punjab do not practice it, why? Because being Muslims their women folks were safe from attacks of their coreligionist.
Thus don’t accept the lies that are spread on the evils of Hindu society. Because behind these practices are some very hard facts that our JNU educated Marxist historians and sociologist wont tell you and in the name of ‘secularism’ squarely blame all the evil in the world on Hinduism itself.
Bibliography:
The Story Of Civilization by Will Durant
History of the Maratha People by CA Kincaid
Chachnama, First Arab invasion of Sindh by Kazi Ismail
Tuzk-i-Timuri, Memoirs of Timur the Lame
In the present day, cases of female infanticide is not a nation wide phenomenon but prevalent to some extent in the Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh as a result of Islamic oppression and devastation in those parts. Even in the days of oppressive Muslim rule girl child infanticide was a practice that was very regional and class based, thus it would be wrong, a canard even to call it as a practice prevalent in Hinduism in general.
The case in point is that Hindus in Rajputana, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Deccan and further south have had no such practice. In fact Muslims in India including Pakistan Punjab do not practice it, why? Because being Muslims their women folks were safe from attacks of their coreligionist.
Thus don’t accept the lies that are spread on the evils of Hindu society. Because behind these practices are some very hard facts that our JNU educated Marxist historians and sociologist wont tell you and in the name of ‘secularism’ squarely blame all the evil in the world on Hinduism itself.
Bibliography:
The Story Of Civilization by Will Durant
History of the Maratha People by CA Kincaid
Chachnama, First Arab invasion of Sindh by Kazi Ismail
Tuzk-i-Timuri, Memoirs of Timur the Lame
It is a matter of fact that Muslim rulers resorted to abduction and rape of women in India. But, there are more reasons than what you have stated in your post.
ReplyDeleteThe main evil that makes a girl child "Unwanted" is the responsibility attached. A girl's child costs a lot in the form of "dowry" and other "gifts". This invariably means that parents who can't afford don't want a girl child.
Just because we have "Maa","Shakti", etc,. that doesn't mean that we respect women. You can't push the blame for all evils in Hindu society on Muslim rulers. (My view still remains that Muslims are EVIL!).
If you explain infanticide, then, how do you explain child marriage, treatment of widows, sati, etc,. in Hindu society? Is abetment of suicide by jumping into fire when a husband passes away too is prompted by Muslims or British rulers?
And your explanation for Haryana. We don't have a government or law in place. It's all ruled by Khaps. Tribal Shariat like law with dastardly implementation. There's no difference between them and the sick Muslims except that the women there don't wear a burkha. Khaps kill people indiscriminately taking law in to their hands, and please don't say that religion is responsible for that.
It seems you did not read the post closely enough and ponder on it.
ReplyDelete1) Why the practice is not prevalent in other parts of India for example in the Deccan or the South or the East. Practice of Dowry is practiced in these parts. Burden of Dowry was not the cause.
2) Read last 4 paragraphs closely I have explained why this practice is still carried on even today though to a lesser degree.
3) Sati, Purdah, treatment of widows and child marriages are topics I will deal with in subsequent posts but let me assure you that these are not sanctioned by Vedic Sanatana Dharma. The causes were extraneous.
4) I urge you not to parrot what was taught to you in school or what you hear in MSM. The schools books don't tell you the truth they only help you pass exams. The truth is in books not prescribed by school curriculum. Please read any of the books mentioned especially the book by Will Durant.
You tell me that I should not blame muslim rulers for the practices in Hindu society. Then tell me why you drive on the right side of the road, carry a handkerchief in your pocket which is actually unhygienic and do many other things purely British. If 90 years of crown rule can do this to our society then 500 years of oppressive muslim rule surely can change a lot of things. It seems you clearly underestimate the violent rule of the muslims.
Remember India is the land of Kamasutra, Khujurao and many other such books, temples and building where liberal thoughts ideas and women hood is celebrated. In 500 years how did we regress. The only variable I see is the muslim invasion which led to muslim values and belief system permeating into the Hindu society.
I urge you and others to read more of the non pseudo secular historian books and come to your own conclusion.
Thanks for your comments.
It is a very interesting observation. But don't you think there are many more reasons than just Islamic invasion which would have solidified along with the fear of torture, rape and abduction?.
ReplyDeleteDid you look up references which said that such practices were not prevalent before the 12th Century?. If you can confirm this point then we have another tool to combat such social evil with a stronger reason. A reason which can be quoted to discourage the religion of peace and their demands in this country.
For this you only have to look at the rich diversity of cultural and social development before the Islamic invasion and the subsequent regression. No 10th or 12th century record would say that after muslims invasion we Hindus have started practicing girl child infanticide and not before.
ReplyDeleteYour question is confusing and rhetorical to say the least!!
I mostly agree with the PoV of Shankara, and it makes some sense that undefended Hindus do so. However, this response to Muslim aggression is kind of weak and self defeating and the only opposition I would offer is it is somewhat unlikely that a society would resort to these tactics. During Muslim rule, many young boys were also castrated and sold as khusros, yet, we don't have any such tactic towards the males of the society to prevent them from being castrated.
ReplyDeleteAnd if this is true, we need to work further on how memories of the reason of the custom were forgotten and continue in some parts of the country to this day even after the threat has been by and large nullified. It stems perhaps from improper recording of history, that all memories of events have been nearly annihilated from public psyche. Another reason for such large social changes during muslim rule was our not keeping up with military tech & tactics of those ages. These two principal evils (1) bad recording of history and (2) bad MIC (military industrial complex) still bug our society.
Perhaps I have rambled in the last paragraph, but I was just trying to point out how a war could be lost, for want of a nail on a shoe of a horse.
@Rohit Kashyap Agree with you in most of the points Rohit. One More thing : Why Hinduz want atleast a Son in the family..coz only Son are supposed to perform various religious rituals and cremation ceremony and Muslim invasion has nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI have seen in villages of Rajasthan..how deep are the roots of discrimination. Better food and milk is given to boys as compared to girls as they are supposed to be the future bread earners and head of the family..Women even after doing more than 14 hours job at home are not supposed to eat better food etc. Girls are not supposed to go to school and so many other taboos
Listening to you Archana reminds me of a great marxist student who parrots everything learnt at school and does not believe any other version of fact or history exists. Also never always believe what you see.
ReplyDeleteSon becoming a primary child for rituals & property etc was a evolutionary things in the life cycle of Hinduism due to extraneous forces just like hardening of the caste system happened around the 13th to 15th century AD than thousands of years back as we are taught in school. Prior to this the varna was very fluid and one could climb up the social ladder. Incidentally this was also the time muslim invasion happened in rapid succession so a lot of things that have seeped into Hinduism is a direct or indirect result of the brutal muslim invasion. A Defense Mechanism for survival.
In the south treatment of women is very diff from the north and so are the Brahmins. North Indian Brahmins carry weapons and are as violent as a muslims because they had to respond to the violence perpetrated on them where as southern Brahmins were more or less insulated till 17th or 18th century and remain docile.
For your kind information even President Partibha Patil has said that that Indian women took to purdah and were confined to the back of the house because of fear of muslim abduction and rape and also because of muslim 'sharia' law which required all women to be covered and confined to the home. With the women disappearing altogether from the social scene they became less and less visible and thus became slowly unimportant and redundant from all spheres of life. This happens in daily life today, a friend you see less and less slowly becomes redundant or less important, you make the ones available your best friends.
Also read a book by Katherine H Divers.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the point that it was because of the Muslim invasion that the girls were killed . But that is not the whole truth. The reason that a BOY lives with you forever ,provides for the family and the girl on the other hand HAS to take care of her husbands family ,is I think the main reason of this cause. Raising a girl child, providing for her marring her paying dowry are certainly the other reason of not wanting a girl child. We all must agree with the fact that we are selfish and greedy. We want a boy ( and a daughter in law ) to take care of us when we grow old . This I think is the main reason of killing the female child, in today's world.
And I don't think what Archana has said is something that is taught in school. In fact, that is something we all experience and see all around us , everyday . And still do nothing about it. I grew up with my elder sister and 2 younger brothers. We, sister studied in local language schools and the boys were sent to Convents because they were boys. we did graduation , though we were intelligent enough to do professional courses like engineering or medicine. Because it was 'waste of money ' to send us to these courses, because we were to be married and sent away to our husband's houses , anyway. The boys on the other hand were to stay with them and take care of them when they grew older.... pathetic, isn't it. i do agree it's not true with all people in India. But most of them . Why did not we do something to protect the girls from Muslims invaders rather than just killing them ? I don't mean to be rude, but this is the fact , it is going on all around us. open your eyes and have a look !!!!
ReplyDeleteDoing research and thought this would be something of value, and not a venue where you can spew hatred of another religion without taking blame where blame is due. It is a matter of fact in the Indian/Hindu society that the daughter, who will be raised for another family has no obligation once married to her own family (traditionally speaking); this falls on the son's shoulders...and the cost of dowry....you must mention all facts of you want what you write taken seriously, instead of biased views.
ReplyDelete