Navratri is one such Indian festival that is popular among people from all the age groups, be it children, youngsters or elders. It is a festival that celebrates Shakti, the embodiment of feminine power. No other country in the world has a tradition where so many female goddesses are worshipped together for 9 days. Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati and Kali are considered the epitome of power, wealth, wisdom and might. Millions of people in India worship these goddesses and young girls during Navratri festival in the hope of getting their blessings. Yet in this same land, we have men and women who deliberately choose to abort the birth of their child when they discover it is going to be a daughter. Such silent homicides are carried out blatantly by parents who feel giving birth to a daughter would mean a huge financial burden. This evil practise has emerged from a long prevalent social practice of dowry system which entails paying huge amounts of money by the girl’s family to the groom’s family to get her married.
In most countries of the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males as compared to India, where there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. Surprisingly, the preference for a son is not limited to poor families alone; it is rooted in the social norms and cultural beliefs of the bourgeois middle-class families too. The issue of female foeticide is a complex one because it is connected with social mores, tradition, economic constraints etc. The patriarchal society in India has always meted out unfair treatment to girls and women. From childhood itself, little girls are made to feel inferior to boys, unwanted and a life-long liability. They are underfed, purposefully undereducated and under-privileged most of their lives. They cannot remain single because of financial considerations and social ostracism. They are forced to live through a bad marriage and suffer physical and mental abuse by their in-laws and husband. Nowadays, even educated women find it quite difficult to lead a single life in our male-dominated society, and it’s a bitter fact that nobody really wants to accept.
Today people find it easier and probably less sinful to do away with an unborn foetus than to kill a born girl child, which amounts to infanticide. Even though detection of the gender of an unborn child is banned in India, still scores of clinics have mushroomed in places where the preference for a son is high. Very little has been done over the years to end the rampant violation of laws that prohibit sex-determination tests and provide tough punishment for violators. We fail to understand that every human being has a right to live and humans cannot give or snatch others’ lives as and when they wish. Don’t forget that the law of karma is infallible. Hence every soul is born in a new human body according to its previous karma. The family in which a soul takes new birth is decided by its own karma. So, denying a soul the right to take birth by using illegal means is like inverting the fundamental spiritual laws which will definitely lead to painful ends.
Today the need of the hour is to change our attitude towards the girl child, rather than making new laws and legislations. This change will, however, come only when something is done to curb the evil of the dowry system because at the root of all these wrongdoings is greed. We must understand that temporal laws can only limit the crime to some extent but people have to be made aware of a higher law i.e the law of karma that decides the destiny of their lives.
Religious and spiritual leaders can play a vital role in empowering women by developing their innate values and strengths by creating awareness in their communities and issue directives to stop this inhuman practise the feminine power was considered very sacred and powerful in many ancient cultures. The Shakti and Devi are still invoked for various powers by millions of devotees across the world. Remember !! In a world that is being torn apart by increasing fragmentation at all levels of existence, it is feminine values like tolerance, sacrifice, patience and compassion that will ultimately create lasting peace and harmony on earth. But our spirituality and devotion to female goddesses would be considered hypocrisy if we do not take steps for emancipating girls and women from centuries-old suffering and bondage. The first step towards emancipation must begin with giving the girl child the right to be born and to live with dignity. So let us all pledge this Navratri that we would give every girl child “Right To Take Birth” in this beautiful world and allow her to live life with freedom and dignity.
