women and civilization

The value of a civilization is judged by the status of the women! A civilization is worth preserving and protecting if the women are treated with kindness and dignity. There was a time in India when nothing was more sacred than the honor of women. Men laid down their lives to save the honor of women. Rulers like Shivaji,Rana Pratap,Gobind Singh,Akbar,Shahjehan and Bajirao Peshwa had given strict instructions to their soldiers that women and children should not be harmed at any cost! Vivekananda,Ramakrishna,Kabir,Tukaram and GuruNanak had the greatest reverence for women! They all looked to her as The Mother. The decline started with the advent of European civilization in India. During British rule prostitution was introduced in villages and concepts like Devdasis came into being. The woman became a plaything and a chattel and was denied access to education and culture.

The Islamic civilization spread rapidly in Arabia,Asia and even Europe because it stood for equality of sexes. Its decline began when it accepted European cultural values and started mistreating women.

Today the world is at a crossroad-civilization or barbarism! All over the world women are revolting at the treatment given to them. Violence against women has reached epidemic proportions and rapes,brutality, mutilation,slavery,female infanticide and prostitution is increasing in every country.

If this civilization is not to end in a catastrophe respect women!

women and politics

 Politics is the natural domain of women because they have a better grasp of ground realities than men! It is only because they were denied the opportunity that they were unable to make a mark. History is replete with extraordinary women who influenced the course of events. Joan of Arc,Rani Laxmibai, Ayesha wife of the Prophet, Roza Luxembourg, Queen ElizabethI,Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Julia Gillard,Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and many others.
A silent revolution is taking place across the globe and women are occupying key decision making positions in politics,finance,business and other international organizations. Napoleon Bonaparte referring to his mother said " The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!".
Women being intuitive are quick in decision making and shaping events. They are also blessed with empathy and a keen democratic sense.
The true value of a civilization is judged by how it treats women!

women and career

One of the significant features of our modern civilization is the increasing participation of women in fields which were considered exclusive bastions of men. Politics,business,technology,armed forces and even religion! The glass ceiling no longer exists.
This is creating its own peculiar problems- less children,divorces,disputes over property, aggression,alcoholism and increasing discord.In India the number of women alcoholics is increasing everyday. The casualty is the child-juvenile delinquency,teenage pregnancies,drug related violence and many other similar ills.
I believe Scandinavia has been successful in coping with these issues. Certain aboriginal and tribal cultures have also been able to find a healthy life style.
I think with the evolution of the internet and increasing opportunities of working from home,the women will be able to reconcile family with career!

women and family

women and family

All over the world,the family is the first priority of a woman. Most of the conversation of women revolves around the family. The woman is the glue which binds the family.If countries like India are less rocked by violent social upheavals it is because of strong family ties and the pivotal role played by women.
All over the world the concept of family is changing-nuclear family,single parent family,live-in relationships,group families,polygamy,polyandry and many other forms are evolving but the basic feminine traits are the same-nurture,caring,teaching,feeding and culture are universal!
The men are also being compelled to share in the upbringing of the child- a healthy development in my opinion.
An unfortunate development has been the conflict between career and family which most women are facing. Earlier the parents used to be there to look after the children but that is no longer possible because of distances and other factors. In the West DINKS are growing which has its own social implications.
I am sure women will rise to the occasion and evolve suitable strategies to cope with changing conditions to ensure that the child is not neglected!

savitri

But Savitri answered from her violent heart,-- 
Her voice was calm, her face was fixed like steel: 
"Once my heart chose and chooses not again. 
The word I have spoken can never be erased, 
It is written in the record book of God. 
The truth once uttered, from the earth's air effaced, 
By mind forgotten, sounds immortally 
For ever in the memory of Time. 
Once the dice fall thrown by the hand of Fate 
In an eternal moment of the gods. 
My heart has sealed its troth to Satyavan: 
Its signature adverse Fate cannot efface, 
Its seal not Fate nor Death nor Time dissolve. 
Those who shall part who have grown one being within? 
Death's grip can break our bodies, not our souls; 
If death take him, I too know how to die. 
Let Fate do with me what she will or can; 
I am stronger than death and greater than my fate; 
My love shall outlast the world, doom falls from me 
Helpless against my immortality. 
Fate's law may change, but not my spirit's will." 

Savitri. Sri Aurobindo
 Savitri, daughter of the son, is a mythological character from The Mahabharata. She enters the realm of death to recover the soul of her dead husband Satyavan. She succeeds in defeating Yama,the God of death and returns to Earth with her husband.

cleopatra

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burn'd on the water...
...she did lie
In her pavilion—cloth-of-gold of tissue--
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did. (Act 2, Scene 2)
Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; Late 69 BC– August 12, 30 BC), known to history as Cleopatra, was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
Cleopatra was an extremely beautiful,talented and wise ruler of Egypt. She used politics and statecraft to save Egypt from Roman conquest. She succeeded in preserving the unique culture of Egypt from the Romans at the cost of her own life!
Her love affairs with Julius Ceaser and Mark Antony are part of folklore now.
The people of Egypt loved their Queen and followed her blindly.
Cleopatra's foreign policy goal, in addition to preserving her personal power, was to maintain Egypt's independence from the rapidly expanding Roman Empire. By trading with Eastern nations—Arabia and possibly as far away as India—she built up Egypt's economy, bolstering her country's status as a world power. By allying herself with Roman general Mark Antony, Cleopatra hoped to keep Octavian, Julius Caesar's heir and Antony's rival, from making Egypt a vassal to Rome. Ancient sources make it clear that Cleopatra and Antony did love each other and that Cleopatra bore Antony three children; still, the relationship was also very useful to an Egyptian queen who wished to expand and protect her empire.

women in ancient cultures

The ancient world was perhaps more charitable to women! Women in ancient Greece,India,Egypt,Babylon and China had an exalted status and were considered equal if not superior to men. This was the period when creativity,arts,literature,music,dress and expression was at its zenith.This was the period of the Rishis in India who composed the Vedas,Upanishads,Mahabharat and Ramayan and The Philosopher-King,Iliad,Odyssey,the Parthenon and the Acroplis, works which remain unsurpassed even today!
In ancient India women like Gargi,Maitreyi,Savitri,Anusuya and Renuka were considered leaders and had a defining influence on society. Enheduanna, Tashlutum,Sappho,Kugbau,Aphrodites and Cleopatra were all highly learned and cultured and were household names in Greece,Egypt and Sumer.
The Tantra, one of the paths to the divine, regards the woman as the Guru,who can take any person to self-realization! The only condition is that she has to be approached with great sensitivity and egolessness.
Women were rulers,philosophers,writers, artists and sculptors in ancient times. This was a period of abundance,peace,creativity and equality!

a historical perspective

This is a sincere attempt to trace the evolution and progress of women from times immemorial to the present times. The task is challenging and formidable but with divine help I propose to undertake it!
Woman-mother,sister,wife,daughter,lover,muse,nature,shakti,power,harmony,love,compassion,yang,durga,kali,laxmi,fertility,creatrix and many other.
In pre-historic times the role of a woman was confined to that of a home-maker. She was the mother,wife,sister and daughter. The man did the hunting and the woman the cooking. Life was simple and harmonious.
With the introduction of farming the responsibilities of the woman increased. She had to do ploughing and tilling along with her other responsibilities. However life continued to be simple and harmonious.
As the human being evolved,education gained in importance. Now women also started acquiring better skills to be able to do their tasks more efficiently. After the basic needs were fulfilled,culture started becoming important. Dance,music,poetry,literature,theatre and other forms of expression gained in importance. Women gained in prestige and respect and started participating in public life. This was perhaps the most glorious period of civilization.
As religion gained importance the woman's personality also changed. She too accepted the challenge and undertook the journey to the infinite! In certain cultures she was assigned a superior role and became the guide and the teacher.
With the advent of science and a materialistic perspective the decline of the woman started. The acquisition of wealth,trade,domination and conquest became more important and the man took over! The woman was considered as a chattel and a plaything. She could be bought,sold,exchanged and was treated as inferior to man. Art,culture,music,literature and the other aesthetic values were thrown into the dustbin. The balance was disturbed!
Women revolted and started demanding equality. This movement originated in the West and gradually spread to the East.. Slowly life improved for women and they again regained their dignity.
In the present times the conflict between man and woman has reached its zenith! Both are facing an identity crisis and are trying to assert their supremacy. The result is discord,violence,destruction and chaos.
Hopefully the present situation will change and the earlier balance and harmony will be restored!