Research Paper
Professor David. A Stoler
FIQWAS 10505-HA2
Research Paper
When Rama father exiled him to forest, Sita accompanied him to forest and lived there for thirteen years. She was kidnapped by Ravana and stayed in her place for an entire year until Rama came and rescued her. Sita walked through fire to prove her purity because people accused her character, since she lived a year in Ravana palace. During her pregnancy, Rama abandoned her and ordered her to live in the ashram. Years later, when Rama send a messenger to escort her to kingdom, before she could reach Rama she was taken in by the earth. (Narayan pg. 125-142)
In traditional Indian culture, women role in the society is mainly to be house wives. They live under men’s dormancy and must follow all the principles that the traditions ask them to do. They are conditioned in such a way that they don’t question on any aspect. They spend their lives beneath their husbands shadow and obeying them is considered a virtuous deed. Such concepts give birth to the religious practices like Sati in which women are buried alive with their dead husbands. Injustices and discriminations are on peak during this time phase which causes unrest in the society. However, in present society, things have changed because of the efforts of women right movements and idea of feminism. Women enjoys their freedom and can get the highest amount of education and can work professionally. They speak up for the injustice done to them. They are independent, can work and earn their own status in society. They have right to give divorce with was not common in historic times. This indicates how the concept of the word women has changed drastically over the time.
Sita is the representation of how women were treated back in the days. She was wrong by Rama in various stages of life. This shows how Indian women suffered from the hands of old traditions and male characters. They were beaten and treated like an object for men’s pleasure. The only role of a women in men’s life was to continue his family line. According to an article, Role and Status of Women in Ancient India, “They became worse off in the Gupta period. The Smriti shastras abused them; Manu dictated a woman would be dependent on her father in childhood, on her husband in youth and on her sob in old age. Apart from child marriage and sati, prostitution and devadasi system became widespread.” (Arnab). Women’s were deprived from education because the education was the only way to they could progress towards a bright future. Not only in India, the concept of women inferiority and dependency is found throughout the world. In United States, the women didn’t have any job opportunities until the World War I. Despite all the injustices, traditional women were strong mentally and spiritually.
One characteristic that these prehistoric women had was commitment and the bravery. It needs a big fearless heart to go through hardship and suffering and yet be able to live gently with the same person and remain loyal to him, says Doctor Susham Bedi, a professor at City College of New York. Traditional women had more enduring nature. Not matter how they were treated they accepted their faith. As in the short story of Valmiki by R.K Narayan, Sita faced many trail and tribulation in every step of her life and yet maintained her policy of undergoing such hardships and never abandoned her love for Rama.
Draupadi faced many difficulties in her life. At first, she was used as an object. Draupadi was won by a warrior named Arjun, in an archery contest. She married Arjun and four Pandava brothers at the same time and remained loyal to them. She was dishonored during a court scene in which she was disrobed and humiliated for men’s amusement. She stood up and fought back for her rights and wanted to take revenge for the injustice that she had faced. (Narayan pg. 159)
Draupadi is the representation of a modern-day women. She stood up against the injustice and showed her bravery at the time when no one was expecting it from a woman during that time. Womens today are more powerful in term of the historic one. The society has shifted from a men’s society form a society of all people. Women has more opportunity to work and get education. Education is the key factor in changing the concept of the women. According to chart: the percentage of women and men in each profession, women are in clear majority in the fields of administration, medicine, education and in social and human services by over ninety percent compared to the men’s (Rocheleau). This supports the argument that women today have accelerated in every field.
Women today are discovering their talent and becoming more independent. They are further striving for their moral and spiritual growth. Their efforts are being highlighted and praised in an article of New York times, Role of Women, “Today’s women have grip on their resources and should start finding their own inner resources and tapping into them when needed” (West). These are result of women right movements which stood against injustices. Women empowerment has caused many introductions of new legislation and abolishment of many long-standing tradition. The old age ideas are fading which is a positive change for women position in the world (Bedi). Women have now right to vote. Over the period the time, the political power of women has expanded to such an extent that women’s like Indra Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto leading their whole country respectively.
Devi was sent by the Gods to kill the Demon King Mahisha. Devi had many hands and each hand equipped with the weapon to kill Mahisha. Mahisha had the ability to grow regenerate into a new self by a single drop of his blood She was able to kill Mahisha due to her manly power and the long tongue which she used to avoid the blood of Manisha from falling on ground. (Narayan pg. 49-63)
Devi represent how a modern feminist should be like. She was send by the gods to free the world from the injustice and cruel Mahisha. Her actions are like present female leaders. Her character is inspiration for every woman today who are unable to speak for the justice and are suffering from the cruelty of the world. Women today should stand up against any kind of violence that affect them and needs to be united against the common aims. As it’s United States famous campaign, “if you see something say something.”
Traditional women were brave and faced many difficulties in their lives. They were forced to obey every command of their husbands and were tortured physically and mentally. They were brave, accepted every disgrace and humiliation for the sake of their house and children. However, present women are more confident on what they do. They have all the opportunities to excel in their life and create their own term on how to live their lives. Today women’s have advantages that the stone age women didn’t had. There are laws against the injustice for women’s and they also have gained political representation in he government. The word women are same in both time, however, the role and expectation from women’s have changed which has caused a profound influence on society.
Work Cited
Narayan, R.K. From Gods, Demons, and others. 1964, pg. 125-142.
Narayan, R.K. From Gods, Demons, and others. 1964, pg. 143-161.
Narayan, R.K. From Gods, Demons, and others. 1964, pg. 49-63.
Bedi, Susham. “Personal Interview.” November 1, 2017.
West, Lindy. “Role Models for Women” New York Times, Sept 22, 2017. Accessed Nov 2. 2017.
Basu, Arnab, “Role and Status of Women in Ancient India” History of Ancient India, Feb 19, 2014.
Rocheleau, Matt, “Chart: “The percentage of women and men in each profession.” Globe Staff, March 07,2017
Reflection
The research paper has been a wonderful experience for me. The piece was very interesting to write and has taught me various things. It’s should me many important aspects that a person should take inconsideration while doing research. The library session was quite helpful. Its showed me various tools and sites which helped me finding my secondary sources. Also doing the research on the topic of women of ancient times vs women of modern times was quite interesting because it completely changed my perspective about this topic. Also, my writing skills have developed to a new level. The e topic worked perfectly towards my objective because it gave me enough knowledge and understanding of material. I could write a well-developed analyzes because of a deep understanding of the material. It’s also has polished my writing and analytical skills.
The interview with Doctor Susham Bedi was important aspect of research paper too. I was greatly influenced by her ideas and comments on this topic it surely helped me in the final stages of my paper. I was greatly moved by her comments. Also, the research paper showed me how to extract information from various sites and how to put them in my work according to the need. It was a wonderful experience doing this work.