Sunday Special-Brahmans Exposed-Part 3-Religious Prostitution
Brahmins raped many girls in the name of Dharma.
Chapter 30 Clause 22 of Manusmriti states that beasts and birds that could be consumed may be slain by Brahmanas for sacrifices, and in order to feed those whom they are bound to maintain; for Agastya did this of old.
![devdasi](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sF0Uqo431Vq3c0ubOtFtKiiwtnOsJH3_0cQfVL8gZNi6xrIjcxf2Nmf-FagJev6myMUnJUi9OMzCSKpFZ6ylltFKEibZWrsgVJoYlQ9GynMo2uTOKyQsBhFoR_cw=s0-d)
Searched,compiled and Illustrated by Tejinder Kemboj
While singing praises of the Hindu
culture, it is often claimed that it has always believed in equality,
both social and spiritual, and has never emulated the base customs of
the western culture, which reduced men and women to
a deplorable status of an object.
It is also said that Hindu culture
condemned the sale and purchase of humans, holding man and his existence
in its full glory. Several modem thinkers and philosophers have
glorified Hindu culture for upholding the cherished ideal
of human equality, even in its primitive stages. One among them was
Vivekanand.
Evil of slavery
However, the tendency to evade reality and
live in a world of make-believe has been a special heritage of India.
The reality is that the evil of slavery, in one shape or the other, has
always cast its evil shadows on the Indian
society. Even in the days of it's utmost glory, when the Vedas and
Upanishads were being composed, the curse of slavery polluted the
atmosphere.
The Rigveda reveals that the Aryans
invaded India and defeated the original inhabitants and made them
slaves. They bore the condemned label of Daas (feminine Daasi), Dasyu and Shudras. And these
slaves were considered as objects to be given away as gifts and placed in the category of animals.
In one of the Valakhilya hymns of the Rigveda the following is mentioned
![](https://truthabouthinduism.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/052515_0718_1.gif?w=625)
“You gave me 100 donkeys, 100 sheep that render wool, and 100 slaves”
[Rigveda 8/56/3]
An acknowledgement thus made in a disinterested, casual tone reveals that such bargains were common in those days. Aitareya Brahman (Kaand 8, Chapter 4) disclosed that a king donated 10,000 slave girls and 10,000 elephants
to the priest who presided over his coronation.
With this ceremony Udamaya, the son of Atri, inaugurated Anga. Thence Anga went conquering everywhere over the whole earth up to its ends, and sacrificed the sacrificial horse. This Anga, who was not defective in any respect had once said, “I give you O Brahman, 10,000 elephants and 10,000 slave girls, if you call me to this sacrifice.”
In the Rigveda, there are numerous places
where gifts of beautiful girls as salves are made to saintly persons.
For example, Rigveda 6/27/8 mentions Abhyavarti, son of Chayaman,
presenting a gift of slave girls stuffed
in two big wagons to Rishi Bhardavaj.
![](https://truthabouthinduism.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/052515_0718_4.gif?w=625)
Two wagon-teams, with damsels, twenty oxen, O Agni, Abhydvarti Chayamana, the liberal Sovran, gives me. This guerdon of Prthu’s seed is hard to win from others.
Another instance of gifting slave girls is mentioned in Rigveda 1/126/3
![](https://truthabouthinduism.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/052515_0718_5.gif?w=625)
Ten chariots drawn by bay steeds, carrying damsels, stood near me, given to me by Swanaya; and a thousand and sixty cows followed: these, after a short interval of time did Kashivan deliver.
Another episode in Aitareya Brahman
highlights the cold-bloodedness of such bargainers. It is mentioned in
Aitareya Brahman Kaand 7, Chapter 3.
King Harishchandra had no offspring so he
worshipped Varuna. Varuna was pleased and said, “You will have to offer a
sacrifice if you desire to have an offspring.” Time elapsed and the
queen gave birth to a son. King Harishchandra
remembered his promise to Varuna, so he purchased Shunashep, son of Rishi Ajigart in return for 100 cows to sacrifice him.
This particular episode finds a place in
many leading mythological works such as Bhagvat Puran (9/7), Brahma
Puran (ch. 104) and Shaankhaayan (15/17). For your information Shunashep
is a Rishi of some hymns of the Rigveda. This
incident also shows that humans were sold and purchased as slaves and
even human sacrifice was prevalent.
The most distinguished works of Hindu philosophy, the Upanishads, too, relate incidents that reflect slavery.
In Chandogya Upanishad, a sage who had
realized the supreme truth rendered his knowledge to the king only after
the king’s daughter was given to him as a slave. In Chandogya Upanishad
4/2 and 4/3 King Janasruti Pautrayana took
six hundred cows, a necklace, and a carriage with mules, went to Raikva
and said:
‘Raikva, here are six hundred cows, a necklace, and a carriage with mules; teach me the deity which you worship.’
However, Raikva refuses to teach him. Then King Janasruti took again a thousand cows, a necklace, a carriage with mules, and his own daughter, and went to him.
He said to him:
‘Raikva, there are a thousand cows, a
necklace, a carriage with mules, this wife, and this village in which
you dwellest. Sir, teach me!’
Then considering her (the princess) as the door for imparting knowledge, Raikva said:
“O Sudra! You brought these cows and other presents; this is good. But you will make me speak now only through this means (i.e. the princess).” [Chandogya 4/2/5]
This incident proves that women were gifted just like other animals and the so-called priests yearned them badly.
The Mahabharata, the great Hindu epic,
gives details of the system of slavery. Yudhistira, in Sabhaparva
(52/45), Vanaparva (233/43) and Viratparva (18/21) bestowed a massive
number of 26,40,000 slaves on 88,000 graduates (at the
rate of 30 slaves per graduate).
अष्टाशीति सहस्राणि सनातका गृहमेधिनः
त्रिंशद दासीकः एकैकॊ यान बिभर्ति युधिष्ठिरः
त्रिंशद दासीकः एकैकॊ यान बिभर्ति युधिष्ठिरः
“And eighty-eight thousands of Santaka Brahmins leading domestic lives, all supported by Yudhishthira, with thirty serving-girls given unto each, gratified by the king, always pray with complacent hearts for the destruction of his foes.”
If such an enormous dealing in slaves was
done by an individual, one can very well understand that there must have
been countless number of slaves who led a subhuman life.
The Mahabharat (Adiparv 220) also reveals
that slaves, especially women, were given as a part of the dowry to the
bridegroom. Krishna, in his sister Subhadra’s dowry gave along with
other objects, “one thousand fair complexioned,
charming damsels with lustrous hair and adorned with gold and
who were good at serving.” These beautiful women were to be treated as
slaves or even as harlots.
सत्रीणां सहस्रं गौरीणां सुवेषाणां सुवर्चसाम
सुवर्णशतकण्ठीनाम अरोमानां स्वलंकृताम्
परिचर्यासु दक्षाणां प्रददौ पुष्करेक्षणः
सुवर्णशतकण्ठीनाम अरोमानां स्वलंकृताम्
परिचर्यासु दक्षाणां प्रददौ पुष्करेक्षणः
[Mahabharata Aadi Parv, section 220]
In simple language, it meant
commercialisation of women. Under the guise of dowry, a woman was
reduced to the status of a prostitute. Even Rama received such slaves as
wedding gifts from King Janak when he married Sita. This is
mentioned in Valmiki Ramayan, Baal Kaand, Sarg 74, shloka 5. The
duty-conscious (maryada purushottam) Rama, of course, did not see
anything inhuman or barbaric in accepting an enormous dowry which
included slave girls.
ददौ कन्याशतं तासां दासीदासमनुत्तमम
“besides (Janaka gave) hundreds of highly decorated girls, divine in their mien, as unexcelled servant girls and handmaidens.”
Though men too were put on sale, it was
particularly women who fell victim to the insatiable lust of the
male-chauvinistic Hindu society.
Ancient Indian thinkers have regarded a
girl as an ornament that could be mortgaged with a money-lender.
Mahabharata narrates an incident in which Rishi Galav goes to king
Yayati and asks for 800 horses as he had to give them to
his guru, Rishi Vishwamitra. King Yayati does not give horses but
offers his daughter and says:
“She is my daughter. She is extremely beautiful and virtuous. She is desired by every male in three worlds. She can charm any Sur, Asur, Aryan or non-Aryan. I offer my daughter to you. You can sell her to any king and manage to have your gurudakhshina.” (Udyog Parv, section 115).
So, Rishi Galav, without any qualms of
conscience, accepts the king’s daughter and mortgages her to Ayodhya’s
king Haryashaw and in return gets 200 horses. He takes 200 horses,
leaving Madhavi to bear a son to the king. (Udyog
Parv, section 116)
The Rishi Galav then searched another
buyer for Madhavi and this time it is king Divodas who gives 200 horses
in the bargain. (Udyog Parv, section117). Then he takes her to king
Ushinao and manages to strike a better bargain. He
receives now 400 horses. (Udyog Parv, section 118). Such were the
ideals and principles of the so-called learned scholars and rishis!
Kautilya’s Arthshastra reveals that slaves
could be sold, mortgaged or even slaughtered. They were subjected to
inhuman conditions. They could not ask for justice in any court. Every
wealthy family had a number of born slaves.
The owners of female slaves not only had sex with them but also offered them to their guests as a part of entertainment.
Very often economic calamity drove a
person to accept slavery. The famous legend of king Harishchandra
supports this truth. He had to sell his wife, child and himself in his
bad days. (Markandey Puran chapter 8 )
Sacrificing and Eating Animals:
In every yagna and few key homas, animal
sacrifice was a must. Mostly it was horse, ox or cow. And according to
Manusmriti, the Brahmins who conduct these yagnas and homas were
supposed to taste the meat of the sacrificed animals.Chapter 30 Clause 22 of Manusmriti states that beasts and birds that could be consumed may be slain by Brahmanas for sacrifices, and in order to feed those whom they are bound to maintain; for Agastya did this of old.
Religious prostitution
www.youtube.com
Southern India's devadasi system, which 'dedicates' girls to a life of
sex work in the name of religion, continues despite being made illegal
in 1988 In South India ...
|
![](https://truthabouthinduism.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/052515_0718_6.jpg?w=625)
![payal](https://brahminsexposed.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/payal.png?w=640&h=515)
Another form of slavery that has shadowed
the Hindu society through many ages is that of the Devdasis or the
‘temple girls’ who were forced into prostitution in the guise of
religion. These girls adorn temples especially in South
India. They are offered to the temple in their childhood.
As they reach maturity they are wedded to
the temple deity. The privileged ones are kept by priests to satiate
their lust. The not so fortunate ones become common prostitutes.
Such is the vulgarisation of Hindu religious practices.
Devadasis still exist in India today, as
shown in a 2004 report by the National Human Rights Commission of the
Government of India (1). According to this report,
“after initiation as devadasis, women migrate either
to nearby towns or other far-off cities to practice prostitution” (page
200). A study from 1990 recorded that 45.9% of devadasis in one
particular district were prostitutes, while most of the others relied on
manual labour and agriculture for their income.
The practice of dedicating devadasis was declared illegal by the
government of the Indian state Karnataka in 1982 and by the government
of Andhra Pradesh in 1988. However as of 2006 the practice was still
prevalent in around 10 districts of northern Karnataka
and 14 districts in Andhra Pradesh. Devadasis are also known by various
other local terms, such as jogini. Furthermore, the devadasi practice
of religious prostitution is known as basivi in Karnataka and matangi in
Maharastra. In some western and southern
parts of India, unfortunate widows are offered to religious
institutions and are condemned to lead the life of a prostitute. Young
and innocent girls, sold as ‘temple girls’, are kept in temples, waiting
to be auctioned.
Comments
Post a Comment