It’s a posting in response to an article with heading ‘BHULE
JABAR AGE’, in Bengali, meaning ‘Before I forget’, written by Sri Arunoday
Saha, Ex-V.C of Tripura Central University in the issue of local daily Dainik
Sambad on February 18, 2013. The eminent educationist has praised my writings,
especially my novel “Bridging Souls – a Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata”.
I am expressing my sincere regards to Prof Saha for his
excellent gesture of highlighting my writings in his lucid language. He has
also spoken with me on the same day. But, his article has a fallacy, which
needs clarification. My book Bridging Souls is basically a travelogue.
In this fiction, I have tried to portray a protagonist Ambujanaba Sharma, a
police officer. In course of his visits to some places of the modern Bharat, he
analyzed some of the incidents of the epic Mahabharata which took place more
than five thousand years ago in the lens of modern laws.
I have narrated some incidents of sexual assaults in my
book. From the article of Prof Saha, it appears that I have brought rape
charges against Bhishma. This is a far fetching imagination. Yes, I have
brought theft charges against him for stealing Nandini, the divine cow of sage
Vasishtha, as youngest of the eight Vasus. I have also accused him for abduction
of three beautiful princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. Perhaps, my beloved
teacher has been confused by section 494 IPC which I have brought against
Vichitravirjya for bigamy. Bhishma was charged for abetment. He was also
charged for abetting Amba to commit suicide. I didn’t spare him from criticism
for organizing the rituals in the name of the Pandavas and their mother Kunti
with the charred bodies of a Nishad family of similar composition, mother and
five sons after the fire at Wax Palace, knowing fully well that the Pandavas
were alive.
In fine, the following are some major incidents of sexual
assault witnessed in the epic:
* Sexual assault upon Kunti by Sun
God and the birth of Karna.
* In the version of Bhil’s
Mahabharata, Draupadi had been sexually assaulted by Vasuki Naga for about a
month.
* Sexual assault upon Satyavati by
sage Parashar and birth of Vyasa.
* A maid servant was sexually
assaulted by Dhritarashtra when Gandhari was in her pregnancy resulting birth
of Yuyutsu.
* In Tamil version of the
Mahabharata, Arjuna sexually assaulted a beautiful lady named Ali, in the guise
of a snake with the assistance of Sri Krishna who played the role of
snake-charmer. Arjuna subsequently married Ali.
* Lord Indra raped Tara, the wife of
Brihashpati.
* After the Kshatriya kings were
slain by Parasuram, their widows were forcibly raped by the people from higher
echelon of the society.
There are many more instances of gruesome offences in the
epic which the readers may find in my book “Bridging Souls – a Journey from
Mahabharata to Bharata”.
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