All was well with the world of Purdah till our Presidential hopeful Pratibha Patil rattled the hornet's nest claiming that the purdah system was started to protect the women from Muslim invaders and Mughals in particular. What about the heavily purdhah-ed women of Rajashtan?
Once when I was still doing my law, had been to Delhi as part of our course and so we went to Jaipur. There was a wedding taking place in a temple and the bride was fully covered with clothes and flowers from head to toe. We wanted to see the bride. With a lot of charm and persuasion, a few of us girls managed to go see the girl lifing her purdah, she was such a young delicate girl, so beautiful, the feeling we had after seeing her was will she be this way always within the purdah... Sad state!!
Law too exempts certain classes of people from personal appearance in courts. Once amongst them is the purdahnashin(or the lady wearing the veil). She is not expected to appear in courts.
I just read a precis by Sanjeev Nayyar from the book "Thoughts on Pakistan" written by Dr. Ambedkar about the Purdah System and am reproducing it below-
"Purdah system - That something more is the compulsory Purdah system for women. As a consequence a system of segregation of Muslim women is brought about. ‘Friends have reproduced excerpts of purdah impact’. All of them are confined to the same room, not expected to visit outer rooms. These burkha clad women walking on the streets is one of the most hideous sights one can witness in India. Such seclusion cannot but have its deteriorating effects upon the physical constitution of Muslim women. They are usually victims of anaemia, tuberculosis and pyorrhea. Their bodies are deformed with their backs bent etc. Ribs, bones and nearly all their bones ache. Heart palpation is very often present in them. The result of this pelvic deformity is untimely death at the time of delivery. Purdah deprives Muslim women of mental & moral nourishment. Further they become narrow and restricted in their outlook. Being deprived of a healthy social life, the process of moral degeneration sets in. They have no desire for knowledge, because they are taught not to be interested in nothing outside four walls of the house. It makes them helpless, timid & unfit to fight life.
The origin of purdah lies of course in the deep-rooted suspicion of sexual appetites in both sexes and the purpose is to check them by segregating the sexes. But far from achieving that purpose, it has adversely affected the morals of women. They have limited contact with the outside world; the men have no company of females except children & aged. The isolation of the males from the females is sure to produce bad effects on the morals of men. It requires no psychoanalyst to say that a social system that cuts off all contact between the two sexes produces an unhealthy tendency towards sexual excesses & unnatural and other morbid ways & habits.
Purdah is also responsible for social segregation of Hindus from Muslims, which is the bane of public life in India. The Hindus do not want to establish social contact because it means contact between a Muslim man with and Hindu lady and Hindu man. Surely Purdah is found amongst a section of the Hindus too but it lacks religious sanctity, as is the case with the Muslims. ‘Friends what the Hindu ladies do is to have a ghoonghat, meaning covering of the head and face. Again it is more prevalent today in smaller towns & villages. A number of ladies cover their heads only as a mark of respect to elders. However, Hindu women do not wear another layer of clothing like Muslim women do'.
Thus there is stagnation in the social life of the Muslims. But there is also stagnation in the political life of the community in India. Their predominant interest is religion. Politics is essentially clerical and recognizes only one difference namely that existing between Hindus and Muslims. None of the secular categories of life have any place in the politics of the community and if they do find a place – they are subordinated to none and the only governing principle of the political universe, namely Religion.
Once when I was still doing my law, had been to Delhi as part of our course and so we went to Jaipur. There was a wedding taking place in a temple and the bride was fully covered with clothes and flowers from head to toe. We wanted to see the bride. With a lot of charm and persuasion, a few of us girls managed to go see the girl lifing her purdah, she was such a young delicate girl, so beautiful, the feeling we had after seeing her was will she be this way always within the purdah... Sad state!!
Law too exempts certain classes of people from personal appearance in courts. Once amongst them is the purdahnashin(or the lady wearing the veil). She is not expected to appear in courts.
I just read a precis by Sanjeev Nayyar from the book "Thoughts on Pakistan" written by Dr. Ambedkar about the Purdah System and am reproducing it below-
"Purdah system - That something more is the compulsory Purdah system for women. As a consequence a system of segregation of Muslim women is brought about. ‘Friends have reproduced excerpts of purdah impact’. All of them are confined to the same room, not expected to visit outer rooms. These burkha clad women walking on the streets is one of the most hideous sights one can witness in India. Such seclusion cannot but have its deteriorating effects upon the physical constitution of Muslim women. They are usually victims of anaemia, tuberculosis and pyorrhea. Their bodies are deformed with their backs bent etc. Ribs, bones and nearly all their bones ache. Heart palpation is very often present in them. The result of this pelvic deformity is untimely death at the time of delivery. Purdah deprives Muslim women of mental & moral nourishment. Further they become narrow and restricted in their outlook. Being deprived of a healthy social life, the process of moral degeneration sets in. They have no desire for knowledge, because they are taught not to be interested in nothing outside four walls of the house. It makes them helpless, timid & unfit to fight life.
The origin of purdah lies of course in the deep-rooted suspicion of sexual appetites in both sexes and the purpose is to check them by segregating the sexes. But far from achieving that purpose, it has adversely affected the morals of women. They have limited contact with the outside world; the men have no company of females except children & aged. The isolation of the males from the females is sure to produce bad effects on the morals of men. It requires no psychoanalyst to say that a social system that cuts off all contact between the two sexes produces an unhealthy tendency towards sexual excesses & unnatural and other morbid ways & habits.
Purdah is also responsible for social segregation of Hindus from Muslims, which is the bane of public life in India. The Hindus do not want to establish social contact because it means contact between a Muslim man with and Hindu lady and Hindu man. Surely Purdah is found amongst a section of the Hindus too but it lacks religious sanctity, as is the case with the Muslims. ‘Friends what the Hindu ladies do is to have a ghoonghat, meaning covering of the head and face. Again it is more prevalent today in smaller towns & villages. A number of ladies cover their heads only as a mark of respect to elders. However, Hindu women do not wear another layer of clothing like Muslim women do'.
Thus there is stagnation in the social life of the Muslims. But there is also stagnation in the political life of the community in India. Their predominant interest is religion. Politics is essentially clerical and recognizes only one difference namely that existing between Hindus and Muslims. None of the secular categories of life have any place in the politics of the community and if they do find a place – they are subordinated to none and the only governing principle of the political universe, namely Religion.
Does it matter whether the purdah is one layer or two layers. The idea is to keep the women folk in seclusion. And it really does not matter what the origin, this system defintely has to go if India has to grow. This also means the relevant changes in the Laws too have to be brought about.
Pics-The Internet
1 comment:
muslims like persians, pakistanis, afghas and that surrounding area, bangladesh and adjacent countries all do believe in purdah. maybe for all protective reasons in their religion, but hindus have this system only india and no where else. the so called "modernised" indian women dont consider it as required anymore since her society too accepts her "mark of respect" goes even without showing with gestures of this sort. for one thing, in rajasthan and northwest areas, it maybe reasonable to wear ghoongat for the simple reason that the beautiful skin of those charming women go dry/wrinkles if they expose their face to sun in those areas. after all its deserts there. reasonble for those women to continue to wear if its only for such protection :d...law must change for ghoongat wearing woman to appear in court, irrespective of their beliefs. law rules. i dont see any religious reasons for ghoongat among hindus either.
Post a Comment