The tough Jewish women are hard-trained in self defence, “modern” in every aspect yet so connected to their roots. They receive awe worldwide with every parent desiring such courageous daughters. To me, they are a reminiscent of nothing more than our brave “Rajput” and “Maratha” women of ancient times: who could clearly identify the demon behind humans, fought till the last breath to protect self-dignity and were “modern” enough to have high education, top-class military training and progressive ideas.
But the golden era is long gone. Starting from 12th century, we had afghan invaders, Turk rulers who commodified women. Indian women were dragged from battlefield to brothels called “harems” to please the Mughal emperors. Swords were replaced by “Purdahs” and military training by dance classes or “Mujra”. Right to choose a partner was reserved exclusively for royal men of sultanate. Post the death of her husband, a woman was forced into hellish life by an emperor who treated his subjects like his property(as opposed to a Prithvi Raj Chauhan who treated his subjects as his masters). So emerged the practice of “Jauhar” – dying on a pyre after husband’s demise. “Sati” owes its origin to this tragegy. It was never a hindu “custom” as potrayed by western media which “ended” due to British intervention.
Despite all of this, our women fought back with amazing courage by either ending their lives to protect dignity- like Rani Padmavati or like Rajmata Jijabai- raising gems like Shivaji. But sadly, the land of such bravehearts is losing its daughters to crimes like “love-jihad”. The false narratives, twisted history in textbooks have hidden some important facts that our young generation needs to know. As a woman living in this “India of lost heritage”, I can bet upon this. Girls need to know that learning dancing or singing should be secondary to learning self-defence.
We’re living amid hyenas with broken mindsets waiting to pounce on us. Recognise them the way jewish women identify Hamas. Protect yourself instead of regretting for a lifetime. Don’t let anyone misuse your empathy against you. After all, our decisions today as individual citizens will decide whether we end up being a nation like Israel or Afghanistan.
