2 ms·
Thanks that you liked my comment. Minor correction, its Shikhandi and she / he had valid grudge against Bhishma. I rather not tell that story lest I hog this en
by srean 12y ago
Thanks that you liked my comment. Minor correction, its Shikhandi and she / he had valid grudge against Bhishma. I rather not tell that story lest I hog this entire thread but you can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikhandi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikhandi
Human shield you say, been done and at the suggestion of Krishna.
(sorry HN'ers, I am admittedly bit of a Maharabharat fanboy, please grin and bear)
Bhishma knew about the story so it was sort of self inflicted penance. This is what I find just marvelous about the Mahabharat no one can take a moral high ground. There is no holier than though stand to adopt and every single person got served, Krishna included.
EDIT
I would also take the opportunity to state that ubasu and tn13 are not wrong (framework of laws did exist and both sides did agree to follow them but when push came to shove ...), just that they are scrutinizing every word and projecting too much on the choice of words. The piece could have been worded better, written better but I dont see any evidence of bad faith or bad intentions in the article.
- ubasu 12y agoIt is the subtext that is anti-Hindu here (i.e. you have to read between the lines). Doniger seems to be forwarding the narrative that Hindus are violent Others, driven by their holy text. This is similar to the established(?) narrative that Muslims are terrorists, being motivated by the Quran, never mind that it is not true. You may say that it is only my interpretation here, but this sort of narrative-building is all too common - in the past, the word "savages" would have been used. Words are the tools of Doniger's trade. It is extremely unlikely that her choice of words is inadvertent.