A heartbroken yet hopeful nation watched as foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya performed the remaining rites of former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's on Friday evening. Heartbroken to see the political leader pass, yet hopeful that another taboo for women had bitten the dust.
Traditionally, Hindu women are not permitted to do the remaining rites, and regarded as too frail to even pass to the burial ground. To set folks on their ultimate journey is likely one of the tasks of a son, even supposing he was once a ways from dutiful after they have been alive or simply 1000's of kilometres away.
In the absence of a son, male cousin qualifies for the task. But a growing selection of women are defying this convention.
Says Diya Chowdhury, a communications skilled based totally in Delhi, "I lit the funeral pyre of my mother, and I am going to do it for my father. I am the only daughter, and my parents and I strongly believe that I am no less than a son."
Last yr, some women began a marketing campaign on social media with the hashtag #mydaughterwill to induce folks to let their daughters be part of their ultimate send-off.
Not everybody needs convincing. A couple of years in the past when P Madhu Nair, a retired army man from Omalloor village in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, expressed his want to have his funeral pyre lit via his daughters, there was once an uproar in the family. "People said I was depriving myself of moksha but I strongly believe that denying funeral rites to daughters is nothing but orthodoxy. My daughters will light mine," P Madhu says.
He is bound that the combat his daughters face might not be a very simple one in a village the place rules dictate dress code, access to the local temple, and even how and when to consume.
Sharwari Waingade from Maharashtra's Hupari village is full of regrets at no longer standing her ground. She and her sister wanted to perform the remaining rites for their father however have been pushed aside. One of the male kin in spite of everything lit the pyre. "When I was watching Namita lighting the pyre, I felt that I should have shown guts," she says in a choked voice.
Many point out it’s easier for city other folks like Namita Bhattacharya and Pankaja Munde (she did the remaining rites for her father and BJP leader Gopinath Munde in 2014) to damage with tradition.
And they’re most definitely no longer wrong. Last month, a Regar family in Rajasthan’s Bundi district was once ostracised after four women of the family lent their shoulder to their father’s bier and lit his pyre. The village panchayat boycotted them and nobody presented them meals after the rite.
Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar who did his remaining rites, says it is time to question those dogmas. “Women are treated as impure and secondary in nearly each and every male-dominated tradition. We have to question and ruin those irrational traditions,” she says.
Traditionally, Hindu women are not permitted to do the remaining rites, and regarded as too frail to even pass to the burial ground. To set folks on their ultimate journey is likely one of the tasks of a son, even supposing he was once a ways from dutiful after they have been alive or simply 1000's of kilometres away.
In the absence of a son, male cousin qualifies for the task. But a growing selection of women are defying this convention.
Says Diya Chowdhury, a communications skilled based totally in Delhi, "I lit the funeral pyre of my mother, and I am going to do it for my father. I am the only daughter, and my parents and I strongly believe that I am no less than a son."
Last yr, some women began a marketing campaign on social media with the hashtag #mydaughterwill to induce folks to let their daughters be part of their ultimate send-off.
Not everybody needs convincing. A couple of years in the past when P Madhu Nair, a retired army man from Omalloor village in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, expressed his want to have his funeral pyre lit via his daughters, there was once an uproar in the family. "People said I was depriving myself of moksha but I strongly believe that denying funeral rites to daughters is nothing but orthodoxy. My daughters will light mine," P Madhu says.
He is bound that the combat his daughters face might not be a very simple one in a village the place rules dictate dress code, access to the local temple, and even how and when to consume.
Sharwari Waingade from Maharashtra's Hupari village is full of regrets at no longer standing her ground. She and her sister wanted to perform the remaining rites for their father however have been pushed aside. One of the male kin in spite of everything lit the pyre. "When I was watching Namita lighting the pyre, I felt that I should have shown guts," she says in a choked voice.
Many point out it’s easier for city other folks like Namita Bhattacharya and Pankaja Munde (she did the remaining rites for her father and BJP leader Gopinath Munde in 2014) to damage with tradition.
And they’re most definitely no longer wrong. Last month, a Regar family in Rajasthan’s Bundi district was once ostracised after four women of the family lent their shoulder to their father’s bier and lit his pyre. The village panchayat boycotted them and nobody presented them meals after the rite.
Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar who did his remaining rites, says it is time to question those dogmas. “Women are treated as impure and secondary in nearly each and every male-dominated tradition. We have to question and ruin those irrational traditions,” she says.
In Vajpayee's last rites, these women find new hope
![In Vajpayee's last rites, these women find new hope]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
August 19, 2018
Rating:
