I based my comments on a few of your statements, Goundamani.
For example, you have argued that 'love marriage' is a good thing - this is a matter of individual choice. From what I understood from others' postings they seemed to believe that arranged marriages are at least as good or as bad as 'love' marriages - this happens to be an issue of collectivism - you have an existing set of practices set in motion by a group that you are a part of - you didn't invent the way it is being done.
This is what led me to conclude that there is an individualism vs. collectivism aspect in the discussion.
I agree about the individualism and collectivism issue involved here.But I dont think that love marriages are inherent enemies of collectivism.I agree that love marriages certainly destroy collectivism
now.But it happens so because love marriage couples are ostracized from society and thus the couple are forced to follow individualism whether they like it or not.If parents,brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts accept love marriages there is no reason why love marriages cannot promote collectivism.If the society accepts "unity in diversity" principle life will be much more smooth for everybody concerned.
I would like to point out that I am not prescribing love marriage for all,but am saying that we should not prevent people who love from getting married.
Inherent in this line of thinking is modernism vs. tradition. Finding one's own partner with or without parents' consent is a relatively modern concept compared to the practice of arranged marriages which has existed for a much longer period of time. Also I distinctly remember one of your statements, 'tradition is a fallacy'.
This led to the inference that there is modernism vs. tradition involved in the discussion.
I disagree that love marriages is something modern.
The first love letter in the recorded history of india was written by rukmini devi to lord krishna.It was an intercaste love marriage.In Ramayana again it was a love marriage between Rama and seetha.Seetha was about to suicide if anybody other than Rama had broken the bow.Murugan and valli is again love marriage.Krishna and radha, love marriage.
Take any of our epics.You will see love being praised and lovers being encouraged by the olden day hindu society.Ganga marrying sandanu was love marriage.Sandanu marrying satyavathi (intercaste) love marriage.Beeshma sending away amba to her lover salvan, is an example of elders honoring love.Nalan marrying damayanthi is again love.Arjuna marrying supathra,alli...everything is love.
In our epics gandharva vivaha was accepted and honored tradition.In tamilnadu men defeated oxen and married the lovers of their choice.If you read thirukural you will see love being hailed by valluvar.In all ancient tamil literatures they talk about love, kalla manam(premarital sex) and indra viza(valentine day of the old).
So I would say that love marrige was the traditional way of our society.Arranged marriages and child marriages became prominent due to muslim invasion of india.
Your views on attitude toward sexuality - how there must be freedom in sexual practices - is definitely a western idea. Although in India we have adherents of different degrees to sexual purity both among men and women the philosophies expressly advocate self-regulation and discipline and we have several valiant adherents to this concept. More importantly, in India we DON'T have the idea that if you maintain self-control in sexual matters you are somehow effete and incompetent as a man or as a woman. In America especially you have 'prove' yourself through your sexual exploits. In India you 'prove' yourself if you keep away from them. To talk about sexual freedom in our community is not consistent with the values proposed by our philosophers.
I would say that Indian society of the past was much more open towards sexuality than the current day European and American societies.
Gays and lesbians who were hunted down and punished by abrahamic religions,were accepted without a problem in India.Even in modern day america they dont have certain rights.But not in olden india.There is not a shread of evidence that any indian king punished homosexuals. Many art works in india like kajuraho and ajantha depict love between gays. We even accepted eunuchs and created a seperate god for them and gave them the rights which were not availaible to them in any other western society for a very long time.
The current notion of sexual puritanism prevailing in India, comes from the mindset of abrahamic religions which considered sex as a sin and women as an objects of pleasure.Even today in southern India women of many communities do not cover their upper body.Compare this with middle east where women wear burquah.Only when British pastors started preaching christianity and started educating people did our women (in south) started to cover their upper bodies.After a 1500 year rule of moguls and british we inherited burquah system (mukkadu) from muslims and sexual puritanism from british.
I can quote countless examples from our puranas,epics art and literature for this.Just read vinayaka purana and any other purana.Even in old tamil literature premarital sex before marriage was an accepted norm.
India of the past was much more open than the modern day western society.
Most of all I think I was most struck by the reductionism (meaning reducing a complex idea into a very simple one in manner that masks the inherent nuances/complexity in the original idea) in your argument and a gross lack of evidence to support your statement. Mami, I think was one of the first persons to point this out.
many times we make simple things too complicated and that is why we feel that somebody is engaging in reductionism.
You may believe that Eastern values are more modern than Western ideas. But that is not the popular understanding of it. So if you want to use your special meaning you have to state that clearly, upfront to avoid confusion.
I believe that I have done so in my previous paragraphs.Eastern society of the past was much more open and accepted diversity of thoughts and action without hesitation.That is why it was able to survive inspite of 1500 years of islamic rule (which no other civilization was able to whither)
All cultures have a place for individualism and collectivism and we have ours. In fact we have been so giving and forgiving toward individualism that we have lost track of what it is that makes us tick as a collective whole. I want to draw attention to the last part of my statement not only because that's what the forum is most interested in but also because I am quite tired of people discussing freedom WITHOUT discussing what kinds of responsibilities it brings.