As I have mentioned before, Hindu India and Nepal continue to have both polygamy and polyandry for complex reasons which we can't go into here. So it's wrong to say Hindus have 'reformed' but Muslims haven't. Muslims must follow their revelatory book, Al Quran which permits certain practices and calls others haram. Hindus too follow their dharmashastras faithfully, such as Manusmriti. Hence the heinous practice of untouchability persists all over India. Contrary to what Mr. Gangoli believes, it is pervasive, it remains subliminally in our heads even if we believe in equality and fraternity, and in rural India it transforms very quickly into summary violence against dalits who are thought to have arrogated upper caste privileges to themselves, even the simple rights that all non-SCs enjoy - like sitting to eat on a chair or riding a horse, or even sporting a moustache. Breaking caste rules by intercaste marriage results in death for either the couple or the SC groom and perpetual social ostracism of the bride if she survives. Only a Brahminical mindset could complacently believe that untouchability and caste discrimination have been abolished from Hindu majority India.
As for Sati, it still persists in parts of North India, and it wasn't a gift from the British. Their government and administration had been warned by both Hindu organizations and Christian churches not to interfere with traditional Hindu practices, even the most reprehensible ones, such as voluntary death under the wheels of Jagannath's chariot in Orissa and Sati in rural Rajasthan. Sati was outlawed as a result of the tireless crusade launched against it by upper caste men like Raja Rammohan Roy (see his article giving data on sati in different states and Crown territories in 'The Essential Writings of Raja Rammohan Roy,' published by OUP).
Joya Roy
On Sun, 15 Mar 2020, 08:11 Anand Gangoli, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:
Polygamy was prevalent and acceptable all over the world in ancient
times. Many prophets of the Old Testament had more than one wife. Many
Kings in India, Asia and also some in Europe had more than one wife.
But over the generations as social awareness and the concept of
equality (between men and women ) developed, the practice of polygamy
reduced in most countries and religions. Now polygamy is virtually non
existent in all countries which are not Islamic, and prohibited by
most religions - but permitted by Islam. This is because, to put it in
simple terms, polygamy is not good. It makes women unequal. It makes
it legal for men can have more than one wife , but illegal for a women
to have more than one husband. That is unequal.
Most religions, have re-examined their own ancient religious
practices, and discarded those that have no place in todays world.
Hinduism has discarded polygamy, the practice of Sati (of course we
must thank the British for that), and is also trying its best to get
rid of caste system/untouchability. There are still some isolated
cases of violations (Dharmendra related to bigamy, but he got away by
supposedly converting to Islam), but essentially all governments since
our independence have been trying to stop the harmful Hindu religious
practices, with some, though not complete success. We have to keep
working on this.
Christianity too has reformed- there was a time they believed that the
Sun goes around the earth. But they were willing to change their
belief with growth of scientific knowledge. Most other religions have
done the same.
But not Islam. Islam still adheres implicitly to concepts that may
have been relevent in the 7th /8th century, but not today. Some of
these among others, are polygamy and triple talaaq. There is a need
for Islam, as for all religions, to introspect and reform keeping in
mind the changing needs of mankind.
Polygamy has no place in todays world.
Jai Hind
Anand Gangoli
On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 10:00 AM Sarbajit Roy
<indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>
> Which Govt is going to pass these reforms ?
>
> 1) The Govt of a shameless prime minister who refused to acknowledge his wife and live with her ?
>
> 2) The Govt of a shameless party which nominates as candidates "bigamists" who undergo colourable conversions to Islam ?
> This former BJP MP (whose son is now also an MP in that allegedly non-nepotistic party) has reportedly fathered (at least) 6 children to give Lalu Yadav a tough fight in this department.
>
> FYI, it is not illegal for Hindu males to have more than 1 wife at the same time, so long as they don't want employment in the Government and they comply with s.17 of Hindu Marriage Act r/w s.494 of IPC ;-).
>
> Sarbajit
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 9:15 AM Manohar Sharma <manohar.sharma@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear All
>> Today problem is of population control n not whether Muslims polygamy is better than Hindu polygamy (which is anyway illegal).A lot of write up in these emails seems to emphasise how the HINDUS are generally following practices that are wrong (to put it mildly) but surprise of surprises the two wives of Pandu were the 'genesis' of fratricidal war.Such a conclusion can only come from , I dare say ,from the ignorant.
>> Be that as it may, in my view UCC is the need of the hour as population control is an absolute must.Ofcourse it would mean besides other aspects of the code that Muslims cannot have four wives n the second marriage is illegal amongst Hindus anyway.This step would go a long way in curbing the booming population of India.
>> Manohar Sharma ________________________________
>> From: indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net <indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net> on behalf of m.g.r. rajan <mgr_rajan@hotmail.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 10:36:28 PM
>> To: Prodipto Roy <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>; Rajinder Dalvi <rajinder.dalvi@gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [IAC#RG] MR. MODI SHOULD BAN POLYGAMY TO PROTECT WOMEN'S DIGNITY AND CURB POPULATION GROWTH
>>
>> RIghtly said Joya Roy! I hope all in this group realize that those living in glass houses should not throw stones.
>>
>> MGR Rajan
>> ________________________________
>> From: indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net <indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net> on behalf of Prodipto Roy <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2020 10:53 AM
>> To: Rajinder Dalvi <rajinder.dalvi@gmail.com>
>> Cc: indiaresists <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
>> Subject: Re: [IAC#RG] MR. MODI SHOULD BAN POLYGAMY TO PROTECT WOMEN'S DIGNITY AND CURB POPULATION GROWTH
>>
>> Mr. Venkataraman forgets that Dashrath had several wives. All rajas and maharajas had till just recently. How about Pandu, whose wives were the genesis of the sub-continent's major wars?
>>
>> And both polygamy and polyandry persist in India among Hindus. Pahari women and Nepali hill Hindus are free to have several husbands. I have Hindu friends in Bihar who have two wives. Trouble is, the second one is a 'kept', usually with financial independence but without legal status. Did Venkataraman forget how N.D. Tewari's son from an informal marriage had to get courts to force him to have a DNA test to prove he was his child?? Please answer, Mr Venkat. Hindu informal wives have a terrible life even if they are hidden away in secrecy by these male bigamists.
>>
>> The difference with Muslim polygamy is that each wife has a legal status and right to maintenance while her children are recognized as legitimate offspring. My own Muslim acquaintances who are academics all have only one wife each (though they could afford to have two!). The one Shiya friend who has two legal wives has no problem over this as they are not even Muslim and any inheritance from sale of property is divided between the male and female children (including married girls) equally by the family Waqf.
>>
>> The question on population control has been argued by me before - Muslims do not kill their female foetuses or newborn baby girls as other North Indians do. For every 1000 girls born, 300 are killed at birth or just before that in Haryana and Gujarat, two of our most affluent states. Nor do Muslims burn brides for dowry, a practice rampant among Hindus. One should examine the sex ratios of M/F in the 0-6 age cohorts in the Census data. Secondly, girls are educated, even among the poor village Muslims I've met in rural Jharkhand-Bihar. If girls learn the Arabic script just to be able to read the Quran, at any later age they can pick up other scripts easily, which they do. The main thing is to alphabetize children early so they develop the ability to verbalize and express themselves as they get older. A majority of the dalit 'Hindu' ex-untouchable children leave school before class V due to caste discrimination by teachers and fellow higher caste students, hence they lapse into illiteracy shortly thereafter.
>>
>> Is saying this kind of thing merely like throwing water on a duck's back? Does prejudice cloud the cognitive faculties of educated Hindus who criticize minority practices? There. are many analyses of 2011 census data on the Net for them to educate themselves on the statistics of population growth in India.
>>
>> Joya Roy
>>
>> On Tue, 10 Mar 2020, 08:20 Rajinder Dalvi, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>>
>> To:
>> INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION
>>
>> IAC is meant to be a non-political movement, but instead we have a few members using this forum as a propaganda platform for promoting BJP, Modi and their anti-Muslim anti-national sly agenda of completing the unfinished business of partition.
>>
>> What Venkataraman forgets is that POLYGAMY is an ancient HINDU custom which was removed by a British rascal, namely Nehru, in 1955.
>>
>> By Venkatraman's logic King Nemi should have been imprisoned after marrying Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, all their children would have been illegitimate and we would thankfully have been spared the temple at Ayodhya and so on.
>>
>> Of course in those days, when India was allegedly "Ram rajya", this Hindu nation was grossly under-populated with more talking monkeys than humans, and was quite unlike the present scene where some rich banias have 3 wives and 6 children and among super-bania communities like Jainas some males still have 4 "wives" and produce 12 children each.
>>
>> R. Dalvi
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 10, 2020 at 7:04 AM Venkatraman Ns <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>>
>> To
>>
>> India Against Corruption
>>
>>
>> MR. MODI SHOULD BAN POLYGAMY TO PROTECT WOMEN'S DIGNITY AND CURB POPULATION GROWTH
>>
>>
>> As we celebrate International women's Day, it is surprising that no one seem to be talking about the practice of polygamy where one man marries several women. This is one of the most uncivilized practices, severely affecting the dignity of women.
>>
>> While Islam permits polygamy, other religions do not seem to do so. In India, apart from Muslims, politicians, business men and other reckless men marry several women and do not seem to feel ashamed about this.
>>
>> When one of the former Chief Ministers went on a hunger strike for some cause and was lying on the bed in a public place in front of several cameras, it was seen that one of the wives was sitting near his head and another one was sitting near his legs.
>>
>> India suffers from over population which leads to several problems. There is urgent need to reduce the population growth for quick economic progress and ban on polygamy will aid this cause. Global population is increasing at 1.9% per year , which leads to higher consumption and consequent more use of fossil fuel resulting in increasing global warming. Ban on polygamy will certainly help reducing population growth and solving global climate crisis to some extent.
>>
>> Keeping all these factors in view and to protect the dignity of women, Mr. Modi should ban the polygamy practice in India immediately and treat the men who marry several women as criminals. Of course, this will give one more reason for those belonging to Islamic religion to protest against Mr. Modi and the prejudiced politicians and section of media in India will support agitations against the move.
>>
>> Mr. Modi has shown courage of conviction to ban triple talak which has now been accepted in the country. In the same way, he should ban polygamy and sensible people will support his move.
>>
>>
>> N.S.Venkataraman
>> Nandini Voice For the Deprived
>> nandinivoice.com
>>
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