There is a relentless concerted effort by the Hindumisic Bollywood mafia and Corporates to spread hatred against Hindu traditions, rituals and festivals under the garb of women’s empowerment and respecting religious plurality.

Recently an advertisement by an apparel company called “Manyavar” owned by Vedant Fashions, criticised the ritual of Kanyadaan in Hindu weddings by calling it regressive and anti-women. Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt featured in the ad is seen deploring her Hindu family for considering her as ‘Property’ to be alienated in marriage.

Funnily, the regressive anti-women Hijab and Burkha normalising Bollywood actors in movies like Raazi and Gully Boy along with Hinduphobic corporates routinely twist Hindu rituals and Sanskaras to suit their agenda of demonising Sanatan Dharma, which sees every animate and inanimate thing in the universe as manifestation of the cosmic Parabrahma. The anti-Hindu hatred is driven by the nexus of communists-Islamists-Christianists to annihilate Hindus and Hinduism. The corporates with majoritarian Christianist and Islamist pre-disposition play their part in popularising Hindumisia.

The social media backlash and economic loss after the infamous Tanishq commercial reinforcing the typical Love Jihad imagery and the Surf Excel ad showing festival of colours Holi, as un-Islamic seems to have been lost on Alia Bhatt and the apparel company.

MUSLIM MARRIAGE AN UNCONSCIONABLE CONTRACT?

The same corporates and Bollywood lobbies are silent over the social evils and anti-women medieval age barbaric practices of polygamy, Mehr (price fixed for Muslim bride to accept marriage proposal) in Nikaah, Mutah (one night stands aka temporary marriage), Halala (forced institutionalised prostitution) in Islam to say the least. Marriage is not even a fair contract in Islam, it is an unconscionable contract where the woman is at the mercy of her husband where he can divorce her unilaterally and arbitrarily at will for something as silly as serving burnt Rotis.

A Muslim wife can be dumped by her husband just by offering her three months maintenance during the Iddat period after oral pronouncement of Talak. Three months Iddat period is to be compulsorily observed by the wife for checking whether she is pregnant with her husband’s child. Now that is not regressive and demeaning for Bollywood mafia nor the Hinduphobic Corporates.

GIVING THE BRIDE AWAY IN CHRISTIANITY

The anti-Hindu media, Bollywood mafia, academicians, pseudo feminists (specially Indian ones) and corporate advertisements like to always portray white Christian marriages in Church with the bride’s father walking her up to the altar and giving her away in marriage to the bridegroom as very sentimental and emotional moment. Now, do not women become chattel here? So, a half-baked copied version by Christians of the Kanyadaan ritual followed in Hindu marriages is perfectly Kosher but not the concept of spiritual union of Vishnu and Laxmi depicted in the Kanyadaan ? Is it because of lack of knowledge or wanton hatred for the polytheistic non-Abrahamic Dharmic system? The latter seems to be true. But for the benefit of larger Hindu society cut from their roots and original knowledge systems, I would like to state in brief the philosophy of Vivaha as a sacrament and the significance of Kanyadaan below.

VIVAAH: A SACRAMENT & NOT CONTRACT

The concept of Vivaah or marriage in Sanatan Dharma is a Sanskara, a sacrament and not a civil contract between two individuals as in Islam. It is the spiritual journey of two Atmas in Gruhasta Ashrama, where both husband and wife have to perform their individual Dharmas towards their family, society and nature. Sanatani marriages are not union of two individuals, it is a union of two families.

KANYADAAN IS NOT DONATION OF DAUGHTER

There is a misconception, wanton or otherwise, in society that the word ‘Kanyadaan’, a wedding ritual, means literal donation of daughter creating baseless wrong notions of regarding women as property to be traded in. Kanyadaan is neither a donation of property nor a daughter.

Kanyadaan Is Gotra Daan

Kanyadaan is actually “Gotra Daan” where the daughter leaves her father’s Gotra and adopts her husband’s Gotra. The father adieus his daughter from his Gotra and the bridegroom accepts her in his Gotra by invoking the Agni Dev (Fire God) as witness. This ritual is called as Kanyadaan.

The Kanyadaan is considered as the highest form of Daan. Here Daan does not mean donating a property. Daughter is a gift that any father receives from Paramatma, she is not property or wealth earned in a physical sense. The father while performing the Kanyadaan is first supposed to ensure that the bridegroom is worthy of his daughter and takes an oath from him to take care and shower all love and affection on the girl through out her life the same way as she is cherished by her parents.

Kanyadaan’s Origin

The Kanyadaan Mantra can be traced from sage Harihara’s commentaries on Paraskar Acharya’s Gruhyasutram. In this sutra the father recites Mantras and takes solemn promise from the bridegroom, only then is the daughter married to the bridegroom.

The daughter given in marriage as Kanyadaan is considered as Devi Lakshmi herself and the bridegroom is considered as Bhagwan Vishnu. So when the daughter enters her husband’s family, she fills her husband’s household with happiness, prosperity, peace and well-being.

Concept of “Daan” in Vedas & “Kanyadaan”

The Vedas does not specifically have a word called ‘Kanyadaan’. Words like ‘Panigrahan’, ‘Pratigrahan’ – meaning acceptance and ‘Daan’ – meaning donation are found in the Vedas in various circumstances.

The significance of “Daan” is described in the Rigveda as a person donating Cows, Horses, Clothes are considered very fortunate and their homes would be always prosperous with all kinds of wealth (Rigveda: 5-42-8)

The Atharva Veda mentions “Daan” in the context of the donor donating milking Cows, Bullocks, clothes, gold etc. attaining a higher status of Atamic journey after life (Atharva Veda: 9-5-29).

One might ask that when there is no reference of “Kanyadaan” in the Vedas, then how did this tradition come into being from Smriti and Sutras? This can be understood perhaps from a Shloka in Manusmriti (9-88) where there is a reference to the father desiring to marry his daughter to a groom is supposed to ensure whether he is well deserving and qualified to be wedded to his daughter. The Shloka has reference to ‘Panigrahan’ or acceptance means the father’s satisfaction to the bridegroom’s eligibility to marry his daughter.

The Shloka in Manusmriti (9-3) refers to women being cherished, looked after, and secured in her childhood by her father, by her husband in her youth and by her son in her old age. Here the stress is on caring and celebrating womanhood at every stage of a woman’s life and not seeing it under the lens of imaginary “freedom” brigade of feminists, who do not raise even a whimper against institutionalised sex-slavery sanctioned in Islam.

“Daan” Is Not Giving Away Property

The concept of Daan in Sanatan Dharma is not just giving away property or physical wealth. It is enriching a person with something that is invaluable to the giver. We also use “Vidya Daan” when a Guru imparts knowledge (Vidya) to his students. Similarly, there is “Pran Daan” when a person sacrifices his/her very life for a purpose. Even sons are given away in “Daan”, termed as “Putra Daan” when they are given in adoption to someone or when they are offered as contribution to serve and fight for the community. Sikhism being a protective militant wing of Hinduism, came into being when each Varna contributed by giving away the eldest son of their family for protection of Dharma. So, to say that women are treated as slaves and chattel and traded away as gift in Sanatan Dharma is a monumental lie.

Wife As Ardhangini & Ardhanarishwar

It is a mischief to misinterpret Manusmriti provisions to state Sanatani women are considered property and slaves by their fathers and husbands. If she were a slave why would it be necessary to educate and take good care of her? Also, why would women be considered as Ardhangini? Bhagwan Shiva identifies himself as Ardhanarishwar. Shiva is half Shakti. Shiva cannot exist without his consort Shakti who is half of his body and mind.

So, the Sanatani philosophy regards marriage as a union of two Atmas for spiritual journey and not just physical union of bodies. No Pooja, Havan or Yagya can be done by a Sanatani man without his wife’s presence. The wife is considered the source of energy (Shakti) for the spiritual Yagya and stands in the right side of her husband and imparts the necessary energy for a fruitful spiritual mission.

Nari Shakti As Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati

Last but not the least, Sanatan Dharma celebrates and reveres feminine power in the form of Durga giving strength and vigour to fight the evil, Lakshmi the Devi who blesses us with prosperity and wealth and Saraswati the Devi who blesses us with all kinds of knowledge- spiritual, language, science, arts, music, dance etc. Then we have the Annapurna Devi who ensures that all living beings are fed and nourished.

CONCLUSION

So Kanyadaan is the greatest respect accorded to the Kanya/Daughter and it is ‘Kanyamaan’. So, the Alia Bhatt advertisement calling for ‘Kanyamaan’ and shunning ‘Kanyadaan’ is a misinformed statement at best and pure mischief when deliberate. Also, Kanyadaan is not mandatory for a Hindu marriage to be legal under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The marriage becomes legal once Saptapadi is performed and the Kanyadaan ritual only happens later.

The inherent hatred for Hindus and Hinduism by the global majoritarian Islamists, Christianists along with their communist fellow travellers have spawned a sustained attack on Hindus for their religious beliefs in all fronts be it socio-political, media, academics, entertainment and even in the corporate sector. The latest scurrilous campaign against Kanyadaan is another such targeted attack on Hindus. While the same corporates, media houses and academia run campaigns propagating wearing of Burkha and Hijab, which dehumanises women, as “ freedom of choice and celebrating plurality”. It is time the Hindu community resoundingly counters this menace by battling their venomous hatred using multi-pronged approaches like challenging them legally and even by boycotting products or cinema produced, sold and advertised by Hindumisic forces.

Acknowledgements: Shri Ramesh Shinde ji of HJS for helping with the Gruhya Sutras and Manusmriti provisions for Kanyadaan.

Image sourced from internet.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.