(This poem has references to the stories of Sita from the Indian epic Ramayana, Draupadi from the Indian epic Mahabharata and Rani Padmini, who was a Queen in the modern state of Rajasthan in the 13th century. Most Indians have some familiarity with their stories.)
Sita
I was a goddess supposedly
That was not enough to let me be free
To have a voice, to be able to protest
Decisions unjust- at my husband’s behest
I had to leave my palace in a delicate state
Be banished to the forest-such was my fate
Decided by gossip his majesty overheard
I did not even have a chance to say a word
About my innocence-mind you, I had already
Walked through fire to prove my chastity
That was after months of humiliation
That I had faced in my imprisoned situation
Throughout my life decisions had been made
By the men in my life, the path for me had been laid
Goddess I might be, but the rules of patriarchy
Did not prevent me from blemish, you see
**
Draupadi
You know a colossal war was fought over me
That changed the course of Bharatvarsha’s history
My husbands fought gallantly but I must say
They had the cowardice to gamble me away
I was violated publicly, my crime had been
To make fun of Duryodhana which he had seen
As an affront to his male ego, this, in a world
Dominated by patriarchy, a monster unfurled
After the war, on our heavenward journey
I was the first to fall, bringing more humiliation to me
My sin- to one of the five, partiality I had displayed
Love was not a choice I was allowed to have made..
**
Rani Padmini
Little did I know what would ideally be
A positive quality would turn out for me
A death sentence-what was worse
The women of my kingdom fell with me, such was the curse
Of my beauty- that caused a battle to be fought
Tragedy struck, without our men, our lot
Was doomed- patriarchal rules were such
That honor was important, life not so much…
So we committed large-scale harakiri
This forced cowardice, ironically, is labeled bravery..
**
Modern Indian woman
We talk about strong women in our culture and history
Yet on closer examination you see
That their stories follow ultimately
Rules established by patriarchy
So when I fight for gender equality
I am fighting thousands of years of history
The patriarchal mindset is deeply ingrained
In both women and men- though we have gained
Some ground in addressing this issue deep-seated
Frequent crimes against women leave me feeling defeated..
We need to change mindsets, one by one
Starting with our daughters and sons
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Good to see you back on the blog, again!
LikeLike
Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot- the demands of daily life had taken over
LikeLike
so not fun…..
LikeLike
Greetings! I love your work and how thought evoking it is. You’ve tackled big ideas and concepts with your writing!I’m in love with your work and a huge fan😊 I was wondering if you could check out my new piece on stereotypes that create hostile sexism and sexist humour. And I would really appreciate it if you could comment some feedback to improve the writing style. Looking forward to hearing from you. – Kiran
https://kiranninprogress.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/is-it-now-a-womans-world-part-1/
LikeLike