V
V.Balasubramani
Guest
Padmavati And Halal Feminism
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I first heard the ballad of Maa Padmavati from my mother as a child, so have many of us who share the blood of those oppressive, regressive and patriarchal men who gleefully committed saka, an act of walking outnumbered into the battlefield and death, even as their women embraced death by fire. The feminists who are in hysterics over the ‘vaginisation’ of historical women, somehow seem to have entirely bypassed the Yazidi women who have tried everything from scratching themselves to be unattractive to their Isis captors , to jumping off buildings rather than fall into the hands of Khilji’s descendants in faith. ISIS cadre themselves burnt 19 Yazidi women alive in cages for refusing to have sex with them.
There is no denying that this is a disturbing aspect of the history of conquest globally, but is there really only the honour/shame paradigm to understand and assess it? Is honour only sexual? Could it be that Victorian morality introduced a sexual dilution into what was a belief system of honour by the agency of self-determination? Were Indian freedom fighters compelled by sexual honour as they risked life and limb when, as some say, they could have survived and thrived? If sex is indeed about power as Betty Frieden insisted, could it be that the capture and rape of a queen or any woman post war is about the complete extermination of the agency, self-determination and honour of a people, intended to crush their spirit of freedom and ensure eternal submission to the conquistadors?
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One is either free or isn’t, your life is either yours or it isn’t. Here, is where there is no gray.
Valiant men and women, be they Rajput or otherwise, who know the difference between living and surviving have always chosen to live on their terms. Be it a Padmavati who commits jauhar or the countless warriors who ride into battle certain of their end, irrespective of race, religion or nationality. History has never lacked them, even when they die their legend lives on. On the other hand when an insta-feminist who eschews the honour of agency, respect, community, family and goodness dies, she really and truly is dead with no legacy to outlast her. It is the subconscious projection of one’s own eventual and mortal irrelevance that has terrified every shrill and feminist quack to fight, besmirch and humiliate a long dead woman who is immortalised by her sacrifice since centuries.
A woman who, to me or to countless others, grew up hearing tales of honour and valour was never weak, oppressed or afraid. To us who were raised on the principle of uncompromising and complete self-determination, Padmavati was and is the goddess incarnate, the deity Bhavani come to life by her self-determination and action, idolised in verse.
Jai Maa Padmavati, Jai Bhavani
Read more at: https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/padmavati-and-halal-feminism
I first heard the ballad of Maa Padmavati from my mother as a child, so have many of us who share the blood of those oppressive, regressive and patriarchal men who gleefully committed saka, an act of walking outnumbered into the battlefield and death, even as their women embraced death by fire. The feminists who are in hysterics over the ‘vaginisation’ of historical women, somehow seem to have entirely bypassed the Yazidi women who have tried everything from scratching themselves to be unattractive to their Isis captors , to jumping off buildings rather than fall into the hands of Khilji’s descendants in faith. ISIS cadre themselves burnt 19 Yazidi women alive in cages for refusing to have sex with them.
There is no denying that this is a disturbing aspect of the history of conquest globally, but is there really only the honour/shame paradigm to understand and assess it? Is honour only sexual? Could it be that Victorian morality introduced a sexual dilution into what was a belief system of honour by the agency of self-determination? Were Indian freedom fighters compelled by sexual honour as they risked life and limb when, as some say, they could have survived and thrived? If sex is indeed about power as Betty Frieden insisted, could it be that the capture and rape of a queen or any woman post war is about the complete extermination of the agency, self-determination and honour of a people, intended to crush their spirit of freedom and ensure eternal submission to the conquistadors?
……………………….
…………………………
One is either free or isn’t, your life is either yours or it isn’t. Here, is where there is no gray.
Valiant men and women, be they Rajput or otherwise, who know the difference between living and surviving have always chosen to live on their terms. Be it a Padmavati who commits jauhar or the countless warriors who ride into battle certain of their end, irrespective of race, religion or nationality. History has never lacked them, even when they die their legend lives on. On the other hand when an insta-feminist who eschews the honour of agency, respect, community, family and goodness dies, she really and truly is dead with no legacy to outlast her. It is the subconscious projection of one’s own eventual and mortal irrelevance that has terrified every shrill and feminist quack to fight, besmirch and humiliate a long dead woman who is immortalised by her sacrifice since centuries.
A woman who, to me or to countless others, grew up hearing tales of honour and valour was never weak, oppressed or afraid. To us who were raised on the principle of uncompromising and complete self-determination, Padmavati was and is the goddess incarnate, the deity Bhavani come to life by her self-determination and action, idolised in verse.
Jai Maa Padmavati, Jai Bhavani
Read more at: https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/padmavati-and-halal-feminism
