Hi, Guess by writing this article you might have opened a Pandora's box...In Ramayana, it is depicted as Rama who is incarnation Lord Vishnu having only Wife...but Krishna, who also happens to be incarnation of Lord Vishnu has two wife Bhamma and Vijaya..and whatever is mentioned below... Most of whom we worship like Lord Murugan - Valli and devanai, Lord Ganesh - Buddhi and Siddhi have two wife....or even Raja Raja Cholan had many wife...but yet what we have been taught and what we are going to pass on to next generation is that having two wife is sin..can't do adultery etc etc... Isn't the two greatest epics ever written..contradicting on this topic and yet we ask our younger generations to follow this.. How are we going to justify our stance?? RegardsSuresh S
Hi, The concept of Krishna is a very complex one. Krishna is termed as Yogeshwara which means a Maha-Yogi. A main characteristic of a yogi is the possibility of attachment and detachment at the same time. For example, what was maha-rasa of Krishna, it depicts the characteristic of attachment and detachment at the same time. Krishna was with all the gopis doing maha-rasa but he was also with none of them at the same time. The same applies to Radha, she thought Krishna was with her and actually he was with her which shows his attachment, but did he marry her, No, so here we see detachment quality, both at the same time.
We need to understand how and why our great epics are written and also what were the prevailing society customs and traditions. There are many stories which we cannot understand till we reach the level of spiritualism which is needed to understand these stories in correct manner.
These lines of Swami Vivekanandmay help to understand spiritualism
What is material and what is not? When the world is the end and God is the means to attain that end, that is material. When God is the end and the world is only the means to attain that end, spirituality has begun.
Complete Works, 6. 66.
Attachment-detachment, great epics and stories are about materials. Having more than a wife cannot stop one's spiritual thirst, I believe.
After much discussion with people and a bit reading:
1. The Smruthis which guide the society, will change according to times.
2. Having one wife was kept as an ideal but it did'not force as a rule.
3. In Ramayana itself -
1. Dasaratha was having 60 wives. Beacsue Parasurama was on a killing spree of kings but will not fight if the King was wearing a Marriage Kankanam. Hence Dasarada used to get married whenever Parasurama was nearby.
2. Tara and Ruma were forced to live altranatively between Vali and Sugreeva.
3. Ravana was asking Sita to leave Rama and marry him. Simillarly when Indra was in exile and Nagusha became Indra, he was asking Sasi to marry him.( There must be such practises also )
4. Mahabhrata has the interesting story of Amba - who was given different explanation. The one who took her refused her saying she loved a different person and the one she loved refused saying that she was won by some one.
5. Ambika and Ambalika got children after widowhood through another brother.
6. Draupati married 5 brothers.
7. Ahalya's was a different story.
8. But Savitri fought for her husband.
In all we were having a very flexible system.That is why they say Dharma is very complex.
The sex ratio then was skewed with more women then with less men - Due to wars.
Now there are more men.
Fortunately Tamilnadu dosenot have this problem.
But Haryana, Bihar and UP have less women.
Again interestingly North strictly follow not marrying in 5 generations and Gotra system. In some areas, they donot marry in the same village twice. Once a girl of village A gets married to the boy of Village B, then the all the remaining boys and Girls of Village A & B become Brothers and Sisters.
But they used the scan machines for selecting baby.
I have been a silent member here, enjoying the discussions and informative links.
This particular link following the question raised by an esteemed member induces me to share my thoughts on this. The question raised is about the impact or significance of puranic and mythological characters having more than one wife and the value attached to the importance of ekapathni viratam.
We need to remember that the characters with more than one wife are all deities, avatars of God or great kings. They not only married more than one wife, but they also accomplished many deeds - deeds which cannot be even imagined by ordinary mortals like most of us! So, we need to remember that we cannot copy those great personalities in one aspect if we cannot do so in performing such deeds!
I am reminded of a story about Adi Shankara, which is significant here.
It goes like this:
Adi Shankara and his disciples were going somewhere and they were tired and thirsty. There were no settlements in sight nor any water body. As they move on, they find a hut. They go there and find a man and ask him for water to drink. He says he has no water but has toddy. Adi Shankar accepts it and drinks. Disciples see him and so they feel it is ok to accept the toddy to quench their thirst.
Now they continue and again after quite some time they face the same situation. This time they come across a blacksmith. He says what all I have is molten iron. Adi Shankara accepts it to quench his thirst.
maha-rasa but he was also with none of them at the same time. The same applies to Radha, she thought Krishna was with her and actually he was with her which shows his attachment, but did he marry her !!
According to the Tamil tradition, Krishna did marry Radha. And Radha Krishna love is the favourite theme of the Bhagavata Religion. And who better than Swami Vivekananda to explain this divine love. And as he said famously (chennai lectures !!!)
"One kiss of Thy lips, O Beloved! He that has been kissed by Thee, his thirst for Thee goes on increasing for ever, all his sorrows vanish, and he forgets all things !!!!!"
Compare this to Andal Pasuram " Karpuram Narumo ... Sol azhi ven sange !!!"
கௌணியன் என்று சொல்வது கௌண்டின்ய கோத்திரத்துக்காரன்
நன் றாய்ந்த நீள் நிமிர்சடை முது முதல்வன் வாய் போகாது, ஒன்று புரிந்த ஈரி ரண்டின், ஆறுணர்ந்த ஒரு முதுநூல் இகல் கண்டோர் மிகல் சாய்மார், மெய் அன்ன பொய் உணர்ந்து, பொய் ஓராது மெய் கொளீஇ, மூவேழ் துறைபும் முட்டின்று போகிய உரைசால் சிறப்பின் உரவோர் மருக
சடை முடி தரித்த இறைவன். அவன் விரித்து உரைத்த வேதங்கள் நான்கினுக்கும், அங்கங்கள் ஆரிற்க்கும் எதிராகப் பேசி வாதிட்ட மாற்று சமயத்தவரை மறுத்து வாதாடி, உண்மையை உணரச் செய்தவர்கள் உன் முன்னோர்கள். அவர்கள் 21 துறைகள் முற்றிய யாகங்களைச செய்தவர்கள்.
வினைக்கு வேண்டி நீ பூண்ட புலப் புல்வாய்க் கலைப் பச்சை சுவல் பூண்ஞான் மிசைப் பொலிய;
இந்த யாகத்திற்கு வேண்டிய கலை மான் தோல் போர்த்தி, பூணூல் அணிந்து வேள்வி செய்து முடித்தாய்
மறம் கடிந்த அருங் கற்பின், அறம் புகழ்ந்த வலை சூடிச், சிறு நுதல், பேர் அகல் அல்குல், சில சொல்லின் பல கூந்தல், நின் நிலைக் கொத்தநின் துணைத் துணைவியர் தமக்கு அமைந்த தொழில் கேட்பக்;
கற்பில் சிறந்த உன் மனைவியர் ( ஆமாம், மனைவியர்- Plural) நீ இட்ட ஏவல்களை செய்து முடித்தார்கள்
காடு என்றா நாடுஎன்று ஆங்கு ஈரேழின் இடம் முட்டாது, நீர் நாண நெய் வழங்கியும், எண் நாணப் பல வேட்டும், மண் நாணப் புகழ் பரப்பியும், அருங் கடிப் பெருங் காலை, விருந்து உற்றநின் திருந்து ஏந்துநிலை, என்றும், காண்கதில் அம்ம, யாமே!
தண்ணி மாதிரி நெய் விட்டு நீ செய்த வேள்விகள் எண்ணிலடங்கா. சிறந்த விருந்தும் வழங்கினை.அதுபோல் உண்டதில்லை.
Perhaps civilization was slowly showing up at that time ! I have read that even Prophet Mohamed Nabhi had married several widows left over in wars between several tribes in the muslim world as a protective measure from invading tribes ! So it is quite possible in Ramayana and Mahabharata times too !