Am I right ?

I believe that mythology is the sub-conscious of a culture. Having said that, I'd like to focus on a particular fantasy which, I think, we as Hindus have. Why is polygamy not uncommon among our gods? Be it Siva, or Vishnu, or Krishna, or Vinayaka, or Karthikeya, or Surya, or Chandra, and many other insignificant gods. This pattern is also seen in most of the prominent male characters of the Mahabharata. We have many of our heroes in a polygamous relationship because, we (males) have a desire of being in one. However, this is hardly seen anywhere in the female characters (except Draupadi).

Interestingly, all the female characters, except Panchaali, seem to be contended with just one. Is it really! Let's go through this in detail, shall we? The polyandrous situation in which Draupadi was in, was not a normal one in the existing culture also. Polygamy was allowed because it served a purpose and polyandry was discouraged because it posed a danger to society. Ancient India was characterized by frequent wars. Men were regularly killed in battle, and hence the women outnumbered men. Polygamy was hence essential because it provided safety for the extra number of women, whereas polyandry would only make the situation worse. Most of the cultures in India at that time were patrilineal and it was essential to know who the child's father was for the continuation of the family. This would be possible in polygamy, unlike polyandry. It is basically to ensure the link between the father and the child.

And hence, the idea of woman having multiple partners has been sub-consciously being eliminated from their minds whereas the 'fetish' of a man having more than one (female) partner remained. Subsequently, this is reflected in our mythological characters. This is ironical, considering women being capable of enjoying multiple orgasms and we (men) incapable of that. Going by that, polyandry should also come into existence along with polygamy (since, there are no more wars that kill only men). Now, that's up to the contemporary 'feminists' to decide whether they want equal grounds in this aspect.

[Note: Draupadi was not exactly in an polyandrous situation. All her husbands except Yudhistir are married to other women (Arjuna having the record of maintaining most number of wives at the same time - according to my knowledge, 7). So, the situation in the palace of Indraprastha would have been like a celestial orgy.]

Coming back to my point, my concern is whether I'm on the right lines with respect to this sub-conscious (or unconscious?) fetish of ours? I'm not sure of this. All this is a result of a few observations I've made and some application of my reasoning. Google and Wikipedia failed to give me any sort of clues on this subject. Any comments or flaws or pointers on this is highly entertained.

Use 'em Carefully

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Before and after a word has been uttered, both the sender and recipient will no longer be in the same state. This change is permanent. That's the power of a word.

- Excerpts from the book, "The Ashwamedha" by Subash Kak

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It all started when I wanted to apologize (sincerely, with all my heart) to a person. The first (pathetic) word that came out of my mouth was 'Sorry!'. But, he wouldn't understand that since he did not know english at all, not even a word of it. The last and only resort I had was the word 'ksHamincHandi!' (roughly and vaguely translated to common english, it would mean 'Sorry!'). A strange thing happened. It was on the tip of my tongue, yet, it wasn't coming out. I wanted to, really, I do, but I couldn't.

Why? Why? Why the F**K??!!

I stormed out of that place, all frustrated and on top of it, confused (note that I did not apologize yet - I had my own problems to take care of). For hours, I was wondering why I could not do it. And then, it struck me, like a lightning! The first thing I did - went straight to the person and was able to apologize. Now that I'm done, allow me to share with you the reason ...

To err is human, but using that as excuse has become a habit. So, the word that comes handy to everyone (that includes me) and every occasion is 'Sorry'. It's like we make mistakes just to use the "S" word. We've systematically murdered the bhava, the soul of the word 'Sorry' because of the 'context-free' and hap-hazard use. One advantage of the unfortunate influence of english over regional languages - We seldom use the words like 'ksHamincHandi!', 'maaF keejiye!' and so on. And hence, the very soul of such words is tremendously powerful and still surviving. I've not been able to cope up with its power (if I may say so) and therefore found it difficult for use.

Another Instance (Warning!!! Parental Advisory. Keep your children away from the following content!). By now, every living soul (that knows me directly or indirectly) is aware of my boothu-purAna. Very rarely would you find a sentence (that comes out of my mouth) which doesn't contain the you-know-what words. Again, because of the 'context-free' use, the words like 'mAdarcHod', 'beHncHod', 'Maa-ki-cHut', 'loude-ke-baal', 'picchi pooka', 'erri pooka', 'lanja pooka', 'mOfO', etc ... (assuming everyone is aware of the meaning of these words, I see no need for any translation). Anyway, to let go of my frustration on Ajit (name changed :P), I used all (and even more) of the above mentioned words. Yet, the anger did not die. Then, 'Mother Fucker!!' and 'Son of a Fucking Whore!!!' came to my rescue. That would do! You see, phrases like 'Mother Fucker!!', 'Son of a Fucking Whore!!!' ... are not used very frequently which is why their effect is intense and long lasting.

If you do not believe me, you can try it out yourself. Try any of the following with anyone you prefer (again, depending on the context) -

1. ksHamincHandi!
2. maaF keejiye!
3. Mother Fucker!!
4. Son of a Fucking Whore!!!

aaaHHHH! Now that you're done with the above experiment, you'd now believe me now, wouldn't you? I guess I'm trying to say - Please use your words carefully. Do not make zombies of sHabda by separating the bhava from them. After all, they are the medium of communication. Let's not disrupt that. Of course, I'll also keep that in mind. I know that's very difficult, but, let us give it a try. Shall We!

P.S: This is the very reason that I like songs with good lyrics AND books of authors like Sudhir Kakar, A.K. Ramanujam, Noam Chomsky, Wendy Doniger, etc... AND lectures and talks given by Ganesh Devy, Vishwajit Pandya, Aditi Nath Sarkar (they give power to the words by using them accurately along with the right expression and timing).