Was it fair to banish Shakuntala?

Shakuntala was the central character of "Abhigyan Shakuntalum" by great poet Kalidas. She was the daughter of Apsara Menaka and great sage Vishwamitra. Menaka was sent to distract Vishwamitra from meditation by Lord Indra. Menaka left Shakuntala in the forest and returned to heaven. Sage Kanva found her in midst of Shakun birds and named her Shakuntala. Shakuntala was brought up in forest. One day king Dushyant who had come to jungle for hunting and saw Shakuntala. He was lost in lust of the beauty of Shakuntala. He married Shakuntala through Gandharva system of marriage. He left Shakuntala and returned to his kingdom, gifting his royal ring to her and promising  her to take as his wife.

One day Sage Durvasa arrived at Kanva's hermitage in absence of Kanva and asked services of Shakuntala. Shakuntala lost in day dream of her beloved, failed to respond to serve him. Angered sage cursed her that he would forget her.

On her way to meet her husband, she lost her ring. The king failed to recognize her and did not accept her as his wife. She had to return to forest. In forest she gave birth to Bharat. One day when king Dushyant was returning to his kingdom after a war, he saw Bharat playing with Lion cub(counting its teeth). Fascinated to see boy's braveness, he went to find her parents. Knowing that Bharat was his son, he accepted Shakuntala as his wife and brought them back to his kingdom.

I am not here to tell you this story. But discuss with you about the failures of the patriarchal nature of Indian society. You probably know that our Indus valley society was matriarchal where society was headed by women. We have known about the great women scholars of that era like Lopamudra. Slowly as the civilization died down, gradually our society decayed also. Soon all the powers were with men, women became their mere puppets. The women lost their supreme position and were confined within the walls of their home.

This story is significant in present time. Our society is male dominated and females are restricted within household chores. Females are treated as males' property. They are thought to be baby making machines. They are tethered to male for all work. I was going through an article in Sunday Times I was moved where girls returning from school were searching dustbin for left over fruits. In poor family mothers treat their son as royal prince and give them all good care and food but girl child is treated as servants. As when the son grows up he is going to take care of her but girl will be married to other family and she has no liability on them. This habit of eating leftover food is not limited to poor family in upper class too. Mothers have habit of eating leftovers from fathers, showing their love. Have you ever heard about the opposite. Do the fathers never love them?

Returning back to the story of Shakuntala, Shakuntala's example is a classic case of manhandling by the men dominated society. King Dushyant being in her lust married her through nontraditional marriage. But when he returned to his palace he realized his mistake. How could a king marry the daughter of hermit? This was against the society. What would his subjects think when they would be aware of his marriage? This threw a question mark on the propriety of marriage. If a male wanted he could marry nontraditionally and later he could not undertake his actions.

Sage Durvasa represented the thinking of male dominated society. Females must be engaged in the household works and should not think beyond that. If she thought beyond that, then that was offense, hence punishable. But why Dushyant was not punished? This male dominated society took its pride in keeping females at the bay. They were the thinkers; they had the right to make laws governing everyone. No female representation was required. The ring symbolized the freedom she had inside her house but as soon as she came out, she lost her freedom.

Then why did Dushyant accepted her back? Each king had dream that his son would be strong who could rule his kingdom after him. Bharat was brave and strong and he needed an heir. He could foresee Bharat as the perfect one who could succeed him, he could see a great king in the making. Then the society did not question him. He was accepted as heir to the throne and on his name our country was named Bharat. No one was sympathizing with Shakuntala. Had she no power to punish him? Again the mother was recognized due to her son.


This is the time to rethink the structure of our present society and bring back our old glory. Women should be given their proper place. They should be answerable to all the liabilities of the society. Only making laws for women reservations won't work until you start resurrecting your own house. Give them the freedom and chance to perform. Who knows they can outperform you? Could you not feel what would be going inside Shakuntala's mind in court of King Dushyant who was showing no respect to Shakuntala? She had no power to express her concerns.