Duryodhana married the daughter of the king of Kashi with the help of his friend Karna as it is mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Vyasa's Mahabharata is silent about her name and her response to her husband's behavior. Some folklore tales mention her name as Bhanumati.
It is interesting to note that the wives of major villains in the Ramayana play an important role in trying to convince their husbands to abandon their evil ways. Tara in Ramayana tries to convince Vali not to accept the challenge of Sugriva the second time since he had an alliance with Rama.
Ravana was repeatedly advised by his chaste and good wife Mandodhari to abandon his evil intentions. Both Tara and Mandodhari reflect upon the death of their husbands. They show their loyalty as wives but maintain an independent view of things from the dharma point of view. Both blame their husbands for being punished by Sri Rama.
The Bhagavata Purana states that wives are the intelligence behind the men. However the demons Ravana and Vanara Vali rejected their good advise. On the other hand Duryodhana, Karna and Shakuni shut their intelligence to such an extent that they did not give their wives any importance in their life. Vyasadeva mentions the name of their son in battle but does not make any mention of their wives. Their greatest ill fortune was that they shut their intelligence. Exactly as Dhrithrashtra had shut his heart and ear to the good advise of his wise wife. Surely they must have made their wives cry repeatedly . The only good thing was that Duryodhana 's daughter was married to Sri Krishna's son Sambha . But even his daughter could not change her father.
Therefore Manu says that in a family where women are not respected and are made to cry, their prosperity is destroyed.
Amazing analysis pr. People generally tend to see only specific side about verses mentioned in shastras, and that too without context.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this.
Very insightful article. It's very true that when women are not given the due respect and importance, the society tends toward degradation. People in general don't appreciate how greatly respected women were in Vedic culture. In modern times, in the name of freedom, women seem to be losing their respectability.
ReplyDeleteNow if our tears destroy the prosperity of our family, then it is better we adopt to ignore pain and learn to be happy.
ReplyDeleteNice article full of wisdom and learning .
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