Why Lord Shani's anger will continue to strike down Indian women

The fight is nothing new. It is as old as the ages themselves. Sometimes it rages into a battle and sometimes simmers in the background. This is the fight for turf in what's believed to be the biggest money-spinner - religion. And, this time around, the gloves are off.

Since time immemorial, people who run religion have ruled using the tool of fear. They understand its power. They have worked hard at instilling the fear of God in us. The more we fear the Almighty's wrath, the more we toe the line and listen to those who claim to be His agents on the earth.

Target

These people tell us about the innumerable ways the ire of God will strike us down, if we break the rules laid out by the people who run the fear propaganda machine. The easier targets of this machine are women, who are unfortunately not on a level-playing field, not only in India but all over the world.

Also read - If Kangana is a witch, so are all strong and fearless women

So, if we break religious fasts, we will suffer consequences. If we wear certain colours, we may face doom. If we buy metal - iron or steel - on a Saturday, Saturn will be displeased. If we visit temples during our period, trouble will dog us. Worse, we will be accused of defiling the temple. And God does not take breaking the rules lightly!

Society makes women follow these rules - somehow the onus of keeping it all going smoothly is the woman's responsibility. In some families, the men munch upon meaty bits of mutton or chew plump chicken legs, while the women in the house eat vegetables.

Because, being vegetarian food is pious. The women will make egg bhurji for the men binging on alcohol as they slink back into their kitchens and toil all day. The women have to keep the most religious fasts and facilitate all the religious customs of the family. It is easy to appease God through a woman's hard work!

Also read - This Mother's Day give motherhood a break, and a lounging chair

The fear propaganda machine keeps turning and keeps feeding this fearful society into doing all they can to prevent mishaps. The Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, in the news these days, falls in the same category.

Who has not shivered at the anger that Lord Shani can unleash upon mere mortals? Who has not counted days for Saturn's seven-and-a-half-year cycle to end which comes in everyone's life? Who is not mortally afraid of Shani Bhagwan?

Mystery

And then if the main temple dedicated to this god is inbuilt with a certain air of mystery and unreachability - what can be better?

So, women can't go inside the sanctum sanctorum. Women can't pour mustard oil on the deity's sculpture from plastic bottles sold by the temple authorities. They can merely stand there, quivering, praying to the god while the men go bond with him.

Also read - Shani Shingnapur temple ending 400-year-old bias against women is a big win

Oh, if a worshipper looks back while walking out, the dangerous side of the God will literally climb up their shoulders. What will happen to them next, is anybody's fearful guess.

Then what happens when a band of brave women insist on the Right to Pray to the lord at the Shani temple and win that coveted right through the aegis of the highest court of the land?

The keepers of the propaganda machines go into overdrive. And these seers who are probably senile, make it their responsibility to announce that now there will be multiple rapes inflicted upon the women of this land. Lord Shani will befall women in India.

Also read - Why India is obsessed with a woman's virginity

How can there be any dilution in the seat of religious power? How can the people who hold the reins give away some control? How can these people be sure that the grabbing of these rights by women will not spill into other arenas of life?

Fear

Once this understanding is clear, we will figure where these statements of people like the seer originate. The religious machinery earns its zillions only through the fear of people. The moment there is a crack in the façade, the machinery spins overtime. And these people begin with speaking the most ridiculous of things.

Also read - For godmen like Swaroopanand, religion is an excuse to rape

Religious leader Swaroopanand Saraswati said that the "Kerala temple tragedy may have occurred due to women forcibly entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra." The horror of such a statement will strike deep in many hearts and women may go crawling back into the dark holes they have been in all this while. What a pity.

See how easy it is for these men to blame women for anything and everything. Disgusting. It is time to wrest control and prove that the hand that rocks the cradle indeed does rule the world.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)