Fred Noronha wrote the following: 1: < It's very easy to talk about the perceived ills of The Other, while we forget the log in our own eye!>
2: < That is probably why the Portuguese/British made a huge issue about 'sati', which while a problem was nowhere as big as was made out to be, as historical research now indicates.> 3: < To be more specific, it's easy to talk about practices which are *not* part of the community we culturally belong to (i.e. the Catholic community) and instead focus on "dowry burning, sati, and devadasism (sic)".> 4: < Shouldn't reform begin at home? Shouldn't we talk about the impact of alcoholism on women (a seriously and widely-felt problem)? Or, the impact of out-migration? And, migration and tourism-linked AIDS in coastal Goa? Even the way in which Goa's supposedly 'uniform' family laws are twisted to ensure that Catholic women are disinherited from their property rights?> 5: < At the end of the day, we seem to be simply scoring brownie points against The Other (i.e. people unlike us!) in the name of showing a concern about gender issues. It's hypocritical to say the least for Catholic Goans to lament the woes of Hindu and Muslim women, without taking up gender rights within the community itself.> 6: < Or does it simply give us a false sense of security, in the (misplaced) believe that we are "better" and "superior" than others? A view long held by Goans, to the detriment of all, as we are ourselves overtaken by people who have less inflated egos.> 7: <Time to puncture some of our own gas bags? > ************************************ jc's input: re FN 1: I agree. re FN 2: I will wait for the "historical research" that Fred Noronha is talking about. Forget about the Portuguese and the British, and HOW BIG they may the Sati issue. The question is Does Fred Noronha think that Sati should NOT have been an Issue? Does he think that Sati or Dowry burning should NOT have been banned? And What are his views about Devadasism? Is it his view that it should continue? re FN 3 & 4: Well then....should we be writing MORE about the issues Fred Noronha has identified i.e. alcoholism, AIDS, and property rights INSTEAD of "uniforms et al". re FN 5: I believe that FN may wish to expand on that view. Before he does that, he may wish to re-read (only if he has the time) the original post. And forget about the "log" in the eye, just removal of jaundiced contact lenses will suffice. FN 6 & 7: Point 6 Ignored as it is just an effort to gain 'brownie points' without earning them. I am glad that Fred Noronha has decided to puncture his "own gas bag". While waiting for Fred Noronha tells us about the "historical research" wrt Sati jc a: Worth checking ....if Francis D'Souza really wrote this in the Loksatta: When a Tomar King in Gujrath died, his 90,000 queens were requested not to commit sati. They consulted their Kula-brahmana, who advised them to commit sati as Veda verse 18/877 mentions "Agne" and not "Agre", just for the sake of golden coins, thus condemning these 90,000 women to flames. 3000 queens committed sati with king of Vijaynagar. On conquest of Jaselmere by Muslims, 24 thousand queens committed sati. Old cremation place has got inscriptions mentioning names of those committing sati. 112 queens of king Amarsing of Bundi, 88 queens of Keshosing, Jagirdar of Dharampur, 78 queens of Surendrasing of Palitana. Some social reformists tried to prevent sati of 95 queens of Bharatpur, but they had to commit sati. b: Worth checking Shastri Shakuntala Rao's "Women in sacred laws" c: Worth checking Babasaheb Ambedkar's "Castes in India" please visit "NEW" on The Goan Forum at http://www.colaco.net _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
