THE BREATH-TAKING AWAY SUPERSTITIONS

SUPERSTITIONS Was the topic we started with in beginning and now we are observing that the world is not developing because of them.But some changes has took place with the great help and contribution of our great social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy,Ishwar chandra Vidyasagar,Swami Vevekananda,Baba Amte,Gandhi Ji Etc...

But now I would like to project the light on some of the big breath-taking away superstitions practised earlier in India (and even now in some places) and made the people ESPECIALLY WOMEN bounded in the flames of fear.

PURDAH SYSTEM

By restricting women’s mobility, purdah results in the social and physical isolation of women.Lack of a strong social network places women in a position of vulnerability with her husband and her husband’s family. Studies have shown that in conservative rural Bangladeshi communities, adherence to purdah is positively correlated with risk for domestic violence.The restriction on women’s mobility limits their ability to access health care and family planning services, especially for unmarried girls. In rural Pakistan, unmarried women and girls had trouble accessing healthcare facilities even in their own villages due to purdah; all types of women had difficulty accessing facilities outside of their villages because they had to be accompanied. Along the same vein, studies of women’s contraceptive use in Bangladesh shows that women with decreased observance of purdah and increased mobility are more likely to use contraceptives.

By restricting women’s mobility, purdah places severe limits on women’s ability to participate in gainful employment and to attain economic independence. The ideology of purdah constricts women in the domestic sphere for reproductive role and places men in productive role as breadwinners who move through public space.However, due to economic needs and shifts in gender relations, some women are compelled to break purdah to gain income. Across countries, women from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to observe purdah less because they face greater financial pressures to work and gain income.Studies show that “it is the poorest, most desperate families that, given the opportunity, are more willing to stress purdah norms and take the social risks entailed when women engage in wage or self-employment. For instance, rural women in Bangladesh have been found to be less concerned with propriety and purdah, and take up work where available, migrating if they need to.They take up work in a variety of sectors from agriculture to manufacturing to the sex trade. However, other studies found that purdah still plays a significant role in women’s decisions to participate in the workforce, often prohibiting them from taking opportunities they would otherwise.The degree to which women observe purdah and the pressures they face to conform or to earn income vary with their socio-economic class.

SATI PRATHA

Sati (Devanagari: सती,) was a social funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.Either voluntary act or a form of coerced suicide, it has been heavily debated.

Hindu texts forbid its practice in Kali yuga, the current age.But the practice was revived most notably during the muslim invasions of India. By law, the practice was banned several times, adding that the promoter and planner would be sentenced, if convicted.

Sati is the burning or burying alive of –

(i) any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or

(ii) any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or otherwise.

Sati still occurs, albeit rarely, in the rural areas. A well documented case from 1987 was that of 18-year old Roop Kanwar.In response to this incident, additional recent legislation against the practice was passed, first by the state government of Rajasthan, then by the central government of India.

In 2002, a 65-year-old woman by the name of Kuttu died after sitting on her husband's funeral pyre in the Indian Panna district.On 18 May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year-old woman allegedly committed sati by jumping into the blazing funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Fatehpur district in the State of Uttar Pradesh.On 21 August 2006, Janakrani, a 40-year-old woman, burned to death on the funeral pyre of her husband Prem Narayan in Sagar district.On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman committed sati by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district.

FEMALE INFANTICIDE

Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of newborn female children or the termination of a female foetus through selective abortion.The practice has been the cause of death for millions and is a major cause of concern in several "Third World" nations, with China and India being cited by genocide scholar Adam Jones as notable examples. Jones argues that the "low status" in which women are viewed in patriarchal societies creates a bias against females.

Among the Inuit of Northern Alaska and Canada, the practice of female infanticide was a common occurrence.In 19th century China, female infanticide was widespread, readings from Qing texts show a prevalence of the term ni nü (“to drown girls”), and drowning was the common method used to kill female children. Other methods used were suffocation and starvation.Leaving a child exposed to the elements was another method of killing an infant: the child would be placed in a basket which was then placed in a tree. Buddhist nunneries created "baby towers" for people to leave a child; it is however unclear as to whether the child was being left for adoption or if it had already died and was being left for burial. In 1845, in the province of Jiangxi, a missionary wrote that these children survived for up to two days while exposed to the elements, and that those passing by would pay no attention.The dowry system in India is one given reason for female infanticide; over a time period spanning centuries it has become embedded within Indian culture. Although the state has taken steps to abolish the dowry system, the practice persists, and for poorer families in rural regions female infanticide and gender selective abortion is attributed to the fear of being unable to raise a suitable dowry and then being socially ostracised.





-YOU MUST BE THINKING THAT THESE ARE THE SOCIAL EVILS SO HOW THEY CAN COME IN THE CATEGORY OF SUPERSTITIONS,BUT MY FRIENDS THE REALITY IS "THESE SUPERSTITIONS HAVE ONLY GIVEN THE RISE TO THESE SOCIAL EVILS TOO"

I AGREE THEY ARE REMOVED FROM OUR SOCIETY BUT NOT REALLY.NOT COMPLETELY!

Friends we should understand that "superstitions is the blindfoldness of a person towards one of his fear not other things"

And now you only tell me due to the blind minded people only these superstitions use to occur, am I right or not!
but that does not mean to eliminate these blind minded people,OUR MAIN MISSION IS TO ELIMINATE THIS THOUGHT FROM THE MIND OF PEOPLE SO THAT WE CAN MAKE OUR WORLD A WORLD!