Unconventional Protest

(Pic Courtesy-Times of India)

The recent ‘protest’ by the CM of Delhi has been called names, chief among them being ‘anarchy’. The CM is accused to have driven the state to an anarchical state by leading the protest. Friends and foes were up in arms about the means and the unconventional modus operandi of the protest. How can the CM force an established system to change ways? Are the state and its CM beyond the purview of the constitution? Has he not violated the constitution by taking his protest public when his prime job is to quash all public protests, which could have led to violence?

 

(Pic Courtesy - NDTV.com)

I am appalled to say the least when I heard and read the ‘learned’ make such comments in such pompous and holier-than-thou attitude and words which were quite a mouthful, meanings for many made me scamper towards the dictionary. I am not learned enough to understand the jargon and matters around the Constitution, Republic, etc. I don’t know much about Governance as I have seen more of the lack of it, so let me refrain from commenting on the 9pm-intelligentsia.

But what is beyond me is the raising of perfectly threaded eyebrows to certain issues. What are people upset with – is it David unsettling the Goliaths or the unconventional means of protest? As far as the confrontation of the fledgling political outfit of a David with the established political parties with all the paraphernalia at their beck and call – the world has seen the outcome and people are rejoicing at some glimmer of hope on the horizon. We have seen many instances of overconfident giants being relegated to defeat by relatively unknown or minor entities who stood no chance prior to the confrontation.

What baffles me the most is the hue and cry on the unconventional method of protest. Since childhood, we have been exposed to many unconventional methods of protest and none have bothered to question them.

When Gandhiji first mooted the idea of burning the ‘passes’, an obligatory identification document for all non-South African citizens in Johannesburg, wasn’t that against their constitution? When he further advised people to protest non-violently, wasn’t that unconventional? When he advised equality of all castes, wasn’t that against the then social order? When he suggested protests by burning all foreign imports, wasn’t that against law of the land? I can go on, but what is important to realize is that it was exactly these unconventional methods of protest that ushered in a change and need I mention, change for good.

Mythology too is witness to many an unconventional methods of protest. Sati jumped into the sacrificial fire to protest against her husband, Shiva’s insult. Today people will call it suicide, but then it was unconventional even for the gods, and it was so disturbing to Shiva that he literally lost his cool! In Ramayana, towards the end, when Rama is united with his sons, it was hinted to Sita that she should prove her chastity once again. Sita protested against the unfairness and decided to find refuge in Mother earth than submit. Wasn’t this an unconventional protest for a woman who had stood by every said and unsaid norm of the then society? Didn’t she question the laid down societal norm or convention?

Conventions lead to status-quo and a state of complacency for any establishment. While the unconventional disturbs the fabric of order, it does set in new rules of the game. Martin Luther King had once said, "One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."

While the ‘protectors of status quo’ are up in arms, I am sincerely hoping that ‘fraternities of the indifferent’ will rise to the occasion, since ‘our very survival’ depends on our ability to accept this ‘challenge of change’.

While I am not holding a brief for the new David on the block, I do think that the nation needs a revolution. We need a change and change is what we need.

When a child is born, it causes unimaginable pain to the woman, but is the most joyous moment for the mother. On this Republic Day, we as citizens of India need to take a call, we want to endure like the woman in pain or enjoy like the joyous mother – a little discomfort notwithstanding.

You decide.

Lord Shiva’s Wedding Procession

It is said that when Shiva’s marriage with Parvati was finalised, like all grooms he too was invited with his relatives to the brides place on the day of the wedding.

Since Shiva had no relatives as such, he is supposed to have asked all his friends and acquaintances to accompany him. Since his friends were not from the ‘mainstream civilisation’ of the times, the wedding procession was quite a site. It also reflected on Shiva’s far from homely lifestyle, which to everybody’s horror was definitely horrifying, to say the least.

His wedding attire was tiger-skin for dress and a snake for a necklace. He had ashes smeared over him, and his unkempt hair in matted locks! He was sat atop his vahana, the Nandi bull and the whole sight was a far cry from what any bride’s family would have preferred to see. The members of the wedding procession too were worth a sight. Shiva was accompanied by ghosts, goblins, gnomes and all sorts of weird creatures from the crematorium, where Shiva spent most of his time. Many of them were bedecked with skulls and bones and some of them were smoking hemp!

When the procession reached the doors of Parvati, all the women-folk who had gathered to greet the procession ran away in fear. Parvati’s mother, Menaka, refused to greet such a hideous crowd and a semi-drunk groom! It took a lot of cajoling from Parvati for Shiva to look more worldly and pleasing at least on the wedding day. So to conform to the societal norms, Vishnu and Brahma who were part of the procession, and other gods got together, bathed him with perfumed water, and adorned him with gold, silver and gems! With proper dresses and combed hair, he is supposed to have looked more handsome than Kamdev himself, thus making him more acceptable to his would-be-mother-in-law, Menaka, who was too happy to wed her daughter to the erstwhile mendicant!

 (A 1955 Hindi film, Munimji, has a song ‘Shivji bihane chale palki sajaaike………’ which describes the entire episode very beautifully.)

Shiva’s marriage to Parvati was his second marriage. Earlier Shiva had married Sati, in which Sati had followed Shiva to Mount Kailash and after getting his reluctant consent, had married him. This was more of Shiva giving in to Sati’s worship. This did not make him any more husband than what he already was. He more or less remained the same ascetic and yogic that he was prior to Sati coming to Kailash. He remained far from the society and the worldly ways of life and Sati was content being his wife, nothing more.

But in the second instance, Parvati insisted that he come and wed her in the most proper manner. Shiva and Parvati were to be a worldly couple and the two get married by the Vedic rites, performed by none other than Lord Brahma himself. This was Parvati’s way of educating Shiva, the acceptable norms of a worldly society of which she was a part of and this time; unlike in her past form of Sati, she did not want an ascetic and a yogi for a husband. She wanted a worldly man with all the emotions and longings for a woman. She wanted children, a family and a loving husband. This can also be seen as taming of Shiva in worldly ways. She was going to be his Shakti (power) and the two together would signify the male and female principle of the cosmos.

Hereafter, the saying शक्ति के बिना शिव भी शव के समान हैं meaning ‘Without his Shakti, Shiva is nothing but Shava (corpse)’, would have its true meaning.

The Myth of Sati

As per the Shiva Purana, Daksha’s youngest daughter left her father’s house to follow Shiva, the mendicant as she had given her heart to him. She became Shiva’s obedient consort and became known as Sati, the perfect wife, much to the dislike of her father Daksha. 

Daksha’s dislike of Shiva goes back to a previous episode mentioned again in the Shiva Purana. According to this reference, one day Daksha was invited to a gathering of the gods, and as he entered the hall, all the gods rose in reverence, all but Shiva. Shiva’s intention was not to insult as he was oblivious to the prominence of Daksha who was considered to be the patriarch. Though Shiva’s intention was not to be disrespectful, his action of indifference did not amuse Daksha. He swore never to invite Shiva to any yagna or occasion as he did not find him worthy of such respect.

Once, Sati found that all the gods and goddesses were invited to a yagna organised by her father Daksha. She reached her father’s house only to find that there was no place reserved for her husband, who obviously was not invited, and this was a deliberate act. When she asked her father the reason for this, she was told by Daksha, that her husband’s ways did not warrant an invitation to such get-togethers. This was so insulting to Sati, that she decided to avenge her husband’s insult and even before anybody could understand, she jumped into the yagna fire and self-immolated herself, thereby causing a vighna – an obstacle to the yagna.

When Shiva came to know about the death of Sati, he was filled with both  grief and uncontrolled anger. In his fury, he took the charred remains of Sati and wandered around the cosmos in a destructive spree. The world would be engulfed in this fury and he had to be stopped.

At that moment, Lord Vishnu decided to hurl his ‘sudarshan chakra’, the heavenly discuss, to dismember Sati’s body into different pieces. These pieces fell in ‘Jambudwipa’, i.e. the present day Indian sub-continent.

It is said that there were 108 pieces made of Sati and each place where a piece of the body fell became a ‘Shaktipeeth’, a place of reverence. However, man in due course of time has lost out on majority of these places, and today we have 51 Shaktipeeths known to mankind. All these are well known places of religious significance.

Shaktipeeths in the Indian Sub-continent

Shaktipeeths are holy places of cosmic power; they are places of worship consecrated to the goddess ‘Shakti’. Throughout the Indian Sub-continent, there are many Shaktipeeths. A few prominent Shaktipeeths are:

v      Kalighat in Kolkata

v      Kamakhya in Assam

v      Katyayini in Vrindavan

v      Manibandh near Ajmer, Rajasthan

v      Naina Devi Temple in Himachal Pradesh

v      Bahucharaji in Mehsana district of Gujarat

A few Shaktipeeths exist in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

All these places have been said to have received some body part of Goddess Sati and the place is revered as a Shaktipeeth.