The pseudo-secularist anti-Hindus efforts to denigrate and rundown the Hindu faith and practices have to be admired at least for their unabating and untiring perseverance. Do any of the so-called “Hindu fanatics” bother to keep up relentless salvos against the enemies of Sanatana Dharma?
What triggered this post is the following news item:
Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad's book that defames Draupadi has been selected for a Central Sahitya Akademi award. Selection panel constituted by Congress (Italian) had purposefully nominated this novel which denigrates Draupadi who is an iconic feminine character and an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna to hurt the sentiments of Hindus. One of the main objections raised by the concerned Hindu organizations is the interpretation of Draupadi as someone who forever craves for carnal pleasures.
Following strong protests and complaint filed by from Hindu organisations headed by Prajna Bharati, the Human Right Commission sought explanation from the AP Government. The Human Right Commission has also stayed the Award function proposed on February 16.
Y.L Prasad who holds Ph.Ds in Hindi and Telugu from Andhra University. He was close to NTR and became a Rajya Sabha MP in 1996. This man who was awarded a Padmashri in 2003 for Literature & Education could not resist a dig at a highly revered character like Draupadi, who is one of the Panchakanyaka. Draupadi, Ahalya, Mandodari, Sita and Tara are remembered by Hindu married ladies as the epitomes of chastity. These five noble ladies set the highest standards of conduct for a chaste Hindu lady. So then why am I not surprised at the sense of outrage among the Hindu people when the highly revered Draupadi is depicted as a nymphomaniac?
Let me say a few words about this Draupadi in question.
King Yajnasena Drupada of the Panchaala Kingdom with Kampilya as the capital had a fiery daughter, “a dark-skinned, stately, wondrously beautiful maiden” known variously as Krishnaa, Kalyani, Panchaali and Draupadi. The King had two sons Dhristadyumna and Satyajit.
King Drupada was captured by the master archer Arjuna and his four brothers in a sudden surprise attack and brought before the vindictive Dronacharya who compelled the King to make a humiliating apology for an earlier slight and also confiscated the Panchala lands north of Ganga River. King Drupada’s whole life was poisoned by this bitter memory and all he lived for was to avenge it. He also transmitted this burning passion of his life to his children. To avenge their father’s humiliation was the mission of their lives too. Princess Draupadi had set her heart of marrying the most redoubtable warrior in the whole of Aryavarta who can destroy Dronacharya. Such was her iron determination to avenge her father’s humiliation that she was known as the “Daughter of Drupada” rather then her own given name.
Fast forward to the time of Draupadi Swayamvaram. Arjuna, in the guise of an anchorite, won the stiff archery test at the Swayamvaram and won the heart and hand of Princess Draupadi. Kunti, the senior wife of late Emperor Pandu, not knowing that the five brothers, the Pandavas are bringing home the Princess of Panchaala, unthinkingly asked the brothers to share what ever they brought equally among themselves.
When Empress Madri died on the funeral pyre of her husband Emperor Pandu she left her two young sons in the care of the Empress Kunti. The three sons of Kunti and the two sons of Madri pledged to honour and obey the words of Mother Kunti under all circumstances. Mother Kunti lived her life to keep the five brothers, the Pandavas, united and strong. Her wish was their command.
The Pandavas, the five brothers and their mother Empress Kunti wanted Princess Draupadi to marry all five brothers. In Hindu households, it is the older son who marries first then the younger sons. Arjuna too felt that older brothers Yudhisthtira and Bhima had to marry first before he married. The only solution they found was for all the five brothers to marry Princess Draupadi. This solution was opposed by King Drupada, Prince Dhristadyumna and Princess Draupadi.
King Drupada, Prince Dhristadyumna and Princess Draupadi were very much against Princess Draupadi marrying the five brothers. They felt it was gross adharma. It would bring stigma to the entire family.
Maharishi Veda Vyasa was invited to the confabulation to sort out the royal mess! Veda Vyasa, the fountainhead of Dharma, The Best of Munis, counseled as follows: A dedicated wife is the root from which spring strength and discipline which make life righteous. The divine sages have ordained that a family should revolve around a dedicated wife. If she falls the family falls with her. Chaos reigns. So they decreed that one wife be dedicated to one husband. This is DHARMA. To tackle unforeseen calamities the ancient sages have also sanctified unfamiliar ways in extraordinary circumstances. This is the APADDHARMA.
One such APADDHARMA is niyoga. A childless widow can approach the brother of her deceased husband to beget a child for her and continue the family line.
Another APADDHARMA is for a woman to marry more than one brother to avoid a calamity. Such marriages prove successful if the wife is wise and the husbands considerate. She has to give equal dedication to all of her husbands.
In days gone by, Jatilaa, the daughter of Sage Gautama, one of the Saptarishis, was married to seven brothers who were rishis.
King Havirdhana of the royal lineage of King Prithu had ten sons who were known as Prachetas. These ten were all righteous men famous for performing severe austerities and meditation. The Prachetas brothers had one wife among all of them.
Rejecting Yudhisthtira’s solution would mean that Draupadi would become a rejected bride whom few noble warriors would care to win. By this King Drupada would have also broken his vow of marrying his daughter to the winner of the swayamvara test, thereby putting him to shame before kings and nobles. Demanding that only Arjuna marry her would result in separating Arjuna from his mother and his powerful brothers. That would weaken her husband Arjuna.
By marrying the five brothers, the motherless Draupadi would get a loving and dedicated mother, Kunti. The five brothers – loving and considerate – united in word and deed, their strength cemented by her undivided devotion will either rule the Kurus or establish an empire for themselves. By marrying the five brothers Draupadi would be serving Dharma whose instruments they were. This was the counsel of Maharishi Veda Vyasa to Princess Draupadi. The wise princess chose to follow the sage’s advice. He father King Drupada was known as one of the pillars of Dharma in Aryavarta and Princess Draupadi would be no different. That is why she is counted among the highly revered PANCHAKANYAKAS.
Muni Yaja, Muni Upayaja and Bhagawaan Sri Krishna who were present at the confabulations between the Panchalas and the Pandavas concurred with the opinion of the Maharishi Veda Vyasa.
I have drawn most of the material in the above narration from Dr Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi’s book ‘Krishnavatara’ Volume III [Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Edition 2006]
According to B.S Bisht, The Khasas of Jaunsar-Bawar (Dehra Dun District) are a polyandrous community. In the Mahabharata the Khasaas are expressly mentioned among the northern tribes who brought presents to Yudhisthira. Many important sites in Jaunsar-Bawar have associations with Pandavas and they even have temples dedicated to the Pandavas. In Jaunsar-Bawar, the bride generally goes through a marriage ceremony with the eldest of the brothers but becomes the wife of all of them. In Bawar every brother has a day allotted to him for consorting with his wife. The Khasa wife enjoys all sorts of privileges, respect, affection and love of the family members as well as of the community. At present the fraternal polygamy is changing to bi-polyandry, monogamy and polygamy.
So why this belittlement of Hindu icons, faith, beliefs and practices? In the powerful words of Maanoj Rakhit in his trailblazing book ‘Christianity in a Different Light: Face Behind the Mask’ [3rd Ed May/June 2005], Christians could not tolerate the existence of a superior civilization on the face of this Earth and they had to conspire to wipe it out totally.
Christian Briton slowly and systematically eradicated the ancient and egalitarian ancient system of education established in vedic times and replaced it with a costly and elitist system of education which reduced this ancient nation to a colony of clerks and peons. Today’s convent educated “secular” Hindus are actually crypto-Christian, Anti-Hindus acting as a deadly traitorous fifth column rendering the nation defenceless and destroying it from within.
A product of this British colonial Christianising education, Jawaharlal Nehru declared in a shameless manner: “By education, I am an Englishman, by views, an internationalist, by culture, a Muslim, and I am a Hindu only by accident of birth”.
YARLAGADDA LAKSHMI PRASAD, ANOTHER PRODUCT OF MACAULAY’S BRITISH CHRISTIAN COLONIAL EDUCATION, FOLLOWS THE MIND-SLAVE TRADITION OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU.
Let not Lakshmi Prasad forget the fact that M.F Hussein, the jihadi paint brush warrior, who had likewise hurt the religious feelings of Hindus through his pornographic paintings of Draupadi, is now hiding in exile outside India, despite the best efforts of the anti-Hindu "secular" forces to bring him back to this country.
India’s contribution to various branches of knowledge and wisdom was denied in the past by the British as well as many Indian historians working under the British Raj and British influence. But why has this attitude not changed even after independence? With the introduction of Macaulay system of education in 1835 the enslavement of the Indian mind began and it continues to be so even today --- even after 63 years of our partitioned independence.
Readers may want to refer to the detailed review by Sri V. Sundaram I.A.S (Retd.) of the book written by two intellectual Kshatriyas Professor Makhan Lal and Professor Rajendra Dixit in their outstanding book titled ‘EDUCATING TO CONFUSE AND DISRUPT: Defiling History and Education System of India’ [India First Foundation, New Delhi.]. http://www.newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33&id=20121
1 comment:
Draupadi was an extra-ordinary woman that mankind has ever come across.
I read somewhere, that in her previous birth she wished to marry a man who has 5 gunas or good qualities. God granted the boon that it will happen in her next life. But that came in through 5 different men.
keeping 5 men without a fight amongst themselves was a difficult task then, as it will be now. but she managed it well.
if one wants to know something really good about the woman Draupadi, one should read Osho's book - Krishna, the man and his philosphy.
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