this question strucked in my mind a while back. i am not too aware of the religious resonings behind it, but i do believe they must have mentioned somewhere about why it's not appropriate. whether to buy their arguments or not is up to us, but i simply want to know why women in our religion (hinduism) are not allowed to perfom or participate in the last rite/cremation.

please do come. i am all ears!

LooTe

Very good and important discussion. We need to reform and modernize our traditions so that it is in harmony with the modern era. WHile preserving the good aspects and doing away with discriminatory practices we can give sanatan dharma a better chance of surviaval for the future generations to come.

I think we are progressing Just hear today that Nepal gave citizen ship to a transgendered person as both male and female. although i personally do not like the idea of recognizing someone as having both sexes i think this gives our society a new weapon to confront and combat discrimination and bigotry.

I thought it had something to do with what happened in the after-life if a son performed the cremation (if I remember correctly). But I could be wrong.

On another note, does anyone recall the story of a Ms Indira Rana, a lawyer by profession, who performed the last rites of her mother? It got front page coverage in Nepal a few years ago as a bold and revolutionary step.

.
theres nothing in hindu lore that says woment cant perform last rites
its more a cultural convention than a religious one

and seriously, folks need to move away from this 'impure while period' nonsense

I applaud women who have defied the repressive culture and done the last rites for their loved ones.

Shame on those men who deny them this right, invoking the feeble excuses such as the women are impure, weak and unchaste.

But more than that, shame on those women who think the same.

Hey Cleopatra, go and buy yourself a backbone, for heaven's sake. You might deem yourself unworthy and weak, or you might just be too dimwitted and lazy, but you speak for yourself not for women in general. Tsk tsk tsk.

i do not think they are weak emotionally and for that reason they cannot attain the last rituals. i think our religion has more respect to the women than any other religions. women are to bring the life to the world not to terminate or even participate in the last rituals.

Why is it that we cannot stick to the origional discussion ? I can see name calling and improper language when someone is trying to start a good discussion. I am sick of these 'out of the line' comments...Unfortunately, that is what you will find in most of the discussions in sajha...are we really 'weak' in the head ?

Cleopatra wrote:
>I agree with Bhate. Women are always considered very delicate
>and emotionally weak.Giving out the body of their loved ones
>to fire, is definitely one thing they could not do.So may be the
>people just made it a rule and assigned the job to the male
>member of the society who are considered more strong emotionally.

What about "Sati" pratha that was practiced as early as fourth century BC ? Could Satis have been considered emotionally strong or weak by then society ?

On the original query, I really don't know the explanation from the scriptures. Any अध्येता ?

hmmm....interesting extension. thanks all for your valuable inputs.

captain,
yeah i do remember that incident. it got all the visibilty it deserved. BRAVO ms. Indira!

well, it's kinda strange that many of us do not know the rationale behind a ritual yet most of us end up following it hehe :P. we follow it because that's how we've been taught or we see being practiced in our society. we are educated but we are fools as well on certain grounds, let's admit it. :P

as for the claim that women are emotionally weaker compared to men is concerned, while i don't want to pass a judgment or generalize the statement and be offensive, i do however believe that it does hold some degree of truth. women, in general, are emotionally weaker - the ease at which tears come from women's eyes is a small proof in itself. i don't know for sure, if it's the reason for which women are denied to participate in last rituals, but if it is, i would be a touch happier for our religion to have put a more sensible resoning behind a restriction than some mere so-called explanations worth bs as in some of the other things.

LooTe

i hate religion

"A man cannot attain moksha unless he has a son to light his pyre. A male offspring alone guarantees moksha. According to Manu, a man "wins both worlds through a son and gains eternity through a grandson". There are no vedic verses for women. Manu says a woman who gives birth to only daughters may be left in the eleventh year of marriage."

According to Manu (2000 BC-2000AD), a woman cannot attain moksha. She has to be reborn as a man for redemption. according to the India/Hindu outlook, a woman is a field and the man the master (owner).

So according to Manu, if women light the pyre, one cannot guarantee moksha..:(
If it's the price of moksha, I don't need it !!

woment giving birth to daughters only is not a fault of women..the fault lies with man

Hey SNDY!! - Thanks for posting that. Hope you are doing well. Since you have posted a very valuable piece of information, I was wondering what your source was - just so that I can use it in future conversations if I have to.

:)

Yo Manu bhanney kukkur ahiley pani baacheko bhaye gu khuwaidai beskana sisnu-pani le kutna parney... alakchina moro. I hope he is rotting in hell.

Hey capt saab,
Been a while hagi?? How r u?? I'm ok..trying to stay away from this place coz was getting a little distracted :)
As for the source, just googled it kya :)
Have a nice week !!

thanks sn dijju...that was sweet!!!. i got the answer.
i had heard that story before somewhere but i could not quite recollect it. i can't believe, this is one of the MAJOR reasons for gender discrimination in our societies.

you may want to read this article:
Silent< a target=new href= target=_blank>http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010506/spectrum/main1.htm> Genocide

Riten,
while i do resonate with your expression of rage over manu, i feel that we, the people, who have been following this ritual ever since, are equally responsible and hence liable for gender discrimination. i mean still, how many of our families would heartily welcome a woman to cremate/incinerate a corpse?

LooTe

Hey Lootebhai,
How have u been?? Long time no talk !! Hope everything's good at your end :)

hey dijju,
yah u've been in and out !! i was/am always here .....sometimes in the center and mostly at the corners. all is well at this end. lil' disturbed due to some serious allegations but that's okay. how have u been? it's getting colder here. wish i was in california :P

LooTe

Loote,
I'm alive..:)
It was warm yesterday, getting cooler today..I'm just waiting for summer..Nice to see you around..have fun :) I think you should take that trip to California :)

yah sndy
haven't been to southern part yet but i quite liked the bay area : San francisco, diego, mateo, jose and alll when i last visited. cali surely is one of the happening states and a good place to settle down. the only thing that i found a lil' awkward to adjust was the time. couldn't believe it was already 11 in the east coast when it was just 8 in there. hehe...sounds like one is in a different continent altogether. :P

LooTe

Simply love the weather...specially summers..:) U'll get used the time difference..just the matter of time ni :)