@Ramya I was not an active member in MB forum though I made couple of posts there. Reason though I watched MB, when MB was running I was mad after another serial DABH in SP. Whatever free time I had it went in analyzing DABH, writing OS, SS, FF in that forum. Especially FF. To do justice to my readers it was a task in itself to keep it updated regularly. When the bhoot of DABH came down from my head MB was almost over 😃. But I had analyzed mythology extensively in EHT and MK forum. And I do the same in ETR2 forum also. Most cases MB was used to draw parallels. 😃@Ruchi I had read your post yesterday also. Actually I wanted to reply to that post because you had written some beautiful points in your post. Time constraint didn't permit me to post there. So putting it here, for both posts of yours. One thing you have to understand it whenever epics like Ramayana or Mahabharata are touched there are purists who wants the divinity in the character to be there. And when divinity is attributed you cannot criticize a character, you lose the chance to question a character. Then there are people like you and me who want to see these epics from a more practical point of view, from the perspective of Vedic culture, to treat the avatars as Humans. And humanity should be given more priority because the avatars whether it is Rama or Krishna it happened because God wanted to show humans, how to live life. Since as God he cannot show a direction, he took the form of human and went through all the trials and tribulations as a human to deliver his message. By giving divinity what we miss is the message to live the life they wanted us to live. Because that is a tough task right. Because it requires action. If you give divinity then they can be kept above humans and their actions cannot be replicated. Worship them by Poojas and other rituals. It's easy. And put the blame on whatever mistakes you commit on their actions. Ram abandoned Sita, so I can abandon my wife. Sita gave Agnipareeksha. So my wife has to walk on glass pieces. Krishna had many wives. I can be a Casanova.
But Ram lifted the bow of Lord Shiva to win the hand of his love. He respected the tradition and the competition kept by Sita's father and abided by it. He left the palace and stayed in jungle for 14 years to keep his father's promise. He crossed the ocean, fought a asura king to liberate his wife. Well can this also be followed by people who put the accountability of their negative actions on Ram.
Krishna saved the people who trusted him by lifting Govardhan mountain, to one piece of cloth Panchali gave to cover his wound, he gave her mounts of cloth when she needed it the most, he took the curse of the war from Gandhari owning accountability for the actions he committed in the war. People who want to be Casanova can they do what Krishna did, own accountability for their actions.
We all know answer will be no. Because society always want the easy path, whether it is Ram or whether it is Krishna their paths were always tough. But irrespective of that they protected the dharma.
And in Ram's life as well as Krishna's life woman played a very important role in the restoration of Dharma. Sita was the medium through which Ram completes the purpose of his incarnation, killing Ravan. Kaikeyi too was a medium, because in one of the stories it is said that Gods asked Saraswati Devi to sit in the tongue of Mandira and ensure Ram leaves Ayodhya to fulfill his birth mission. Ruling Ayodhya was secondary for Ram, killing Ravan and restoring balance of the nature was first.
Krishna had a biological mother and foster mother. He gives equal status to both. He had a lover and wife. Again both Radha and Rukmini are equally respected. Panchali holds a special place in Krishna's life and he had helped her whenever she asked his help. He respected his sister's wish to marry his friend and send her away. He even takes Gandhari's curse with a smile seeing it as the agony of a mother.
Problem people fearing the epic told from Sita's perspective is that, for ages patriarichy and powers associated with it has used this epic as a tool to subjudicate good woman and even good men. Patriarichy is not just propagated by men, there are enough women out there who take undue advantage of it.
And this whole power structure will face a rumble if the image of Sita as a subjudicated, abused, suffering woman breaks. The moment Sita emerges from the doormat image, ideally Ram too should emerge from a majbhoor pati picture. The moment the illusion around Ramayan breaks the evil in the society cannot take refuge under it for its power structure any more.
Hence rumblings will be there and they will grow bigger only. Because change causes noise, change brings in destruction of old thoughts and beginning of new thoughts. So the old power structures will make the last rumbling noise for their existence. Change is around the corner.
The very proof the matter is that we have started questioning, questioning the messages around the epics.
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