NIRBHAYA

The very name Nirbhaya caused great bhaya (fear) in the hearts of all Indians and even beyond. Everyone witnessed so much anger which was exhibited in the form of demonstrations and organized discussions to deal with this. Especially the women were most affected by this. When we deal with and discuss situations like this only from the present point of view, we may fail to find solutions which are wholesome.  Discussing any kind of problem without referring to the past and trying to implement the solution in the present will only result in repetition of history.  The solution of “Forgive and forget” could be the greatest tyranny for someone who has experienced the trauma. It may also result in repetition of the crime in future. This land or any other, where there’s human existence, has unfortunately seen oppression and exploitation of women and children. When we see our own Indian traditional books, we learn how such incidents are dealt with. There is action which is apt for punishing the culprit; and only on that platform is there any discussion on rectifying the life of the victim.      In the Ramayana, the incident of Sita’s kidnapping, has been narrated by Valmiki and Tulsidas in great detail.  It is very unfortunate to see how Surphanaka, in spite of being a woman herself, was instrumental in helping or provoking Ravana to kidnap Sita. She was so selfish that she could not understand the pain that Sita would have to go through on being forced by Ravana. Another woman, who was less powerful, but still stood by Sita’s side in time of Her need, in the very land where Ravana was very powerful, was the wife of Vibhisana. She was able to give emotional support to Sita, but of course, that was not sufficient.  The culprits had to be booked and punished. For the sin of forcing his so called love on Sita, who was not at all interested in him, Ravana had to lose everything, including his very life, in the hands of Rama who was the personification of justice.    In the Mahabharata, the incident of the attempt to disrobe Draupadi took place in the very land of the capital city of India, where laws are supposed to be made and implemented. It is very disturbing to know that many Indian authors who have written quite a few commentaries on the Mahabharata, consciously or unconsciously, blame Draupadi herself for the attempted disrobing. According to them, since she had insulted Karna, he took revenge against her, or they quote the incident when Duryodhana was laughed at when he fell in the water in the palace of illusion, since he was hurt so bad, he gave a fitting reply to her. Now, love and the choice of marriage are not based on whether some one feels insulted or not. Moreover, Draupadi was already married to someone else. To drag her to take revenge does not befit refined human intellect and specially those who are holding the reins of the government. The gory incident is described….how after the Pandavas lost everything, including Draupadi, Karna was the one who told Kauravas to bring Draupadi naked in front of everyone, because after all she is the woman for five 5 men, hence she was a prostitute. Of course, it was a fully baseless and illogical argument; Draupadi was a most chaste woman and not a prostitute. But, even legally or morally, it’s not human etiquette to drag even a prostitute (of course Draupadi is not one) in a public place to be exposed naked. It’s inhuman even of those who may not have refined civilization. Calling for such an act by Karna and being ordered to be executed by Duryodhana is a horrific and gruesome crime to the entire womanhood.  Now what’s most important is how it was dealt with……by the very personification of justice, in the form Krishna. What followed was the destruction of the Kuru dynasty, including Bhishma and Drona.  Even though both of them were not party to it, but they were neutral, . On the other hand, someone like Jatayu, who is subhuman, had the decent intelligence to fight for Sita rather than seeing this atrocity. It’s so strange that those who are categorized as subhuman show much refined sentiments and the so called refined human beings lose all emotion and became like dry wood or block of ice. They were sitting like ostrich birds, as if nothing was happening. Basically, the war was not between two groups of brothers, that was just a superficial reason, actually it was a fight for justice for Draupadi’s public humiliation.Only when we punish the culprit and those who have assisted in the crime, then can we talk about counseling the victim to go on in life with positive attitude. It is impossible to forgive unless the crime is taken care of. Forgive and Forget will only make the offenders perform more crime on the oppressed and helpless.Health cannot be gained while sheltering the deadly bacteria. Deadly bacteria are there to kill and disintegrate our body, in such a condition no good wishes and prayers will work, though we  need them too. Most importantly, to get health back, one has to uproot, by all means, all the foreign elements in the body, and that really causes great exhaustion, like in malaria medicine, the medicines are quite exhausting, but only on that platform, the re-gaining of sound body and mind begins.  So it is this lesson, Mahabharata and Ramayana teach us.  Nirbhaya, means fearlessness.  It can only come by dealing it, in a practical way.