Bollywood has ruined me when it comes to the idea of love. In a generation where we’re supposed to be okay with settling for the “bare minimum”, I am still waiting for my grand romantic gesture. Forget trying to catch the love of your life at the airport before she gets on her flight; in today’s day and age if your partner texts you a simple ”Have a safe flight”, he’s the GOAT. Forget travelling across the world to stop your soulmate’s marriage; if the guy you like is ready to commit and actually call you his girlfriend, that’s HIGH-KEY BUSSIN.
Having been in my fair share of “SITUATIONSHIPS", I still don’t know what a situationship is. Are we friends? Are we more than friends? Are we a couple but dating secretly? Are we in an open relationship? If you get bored, will you actually be sweet enough to “break-up” with me or will you just GHOST me? It’s torture!! Gen Z has run the bulldozer over the belief of an ideal relationship that the generations before us had worked hard to create. BIG L.
However, this scenario of chaotic dating in our culture does seem familiar. Have you heard of the ruler of Awadh who had 370 wives, or the Muslim King of the Mughal Dynasty i.e. Jahandar Shah with 700 wives. Lord Krishna’s said to have eight principal queens, Ashtabharya. “In ancient Hindu law polygamy is the rule rather than the exception, the norm rather than the ideal”.
Practicing polygamy among the ruling class was considered to be a sign of wealth and status as having multiple wives showcased that they were capable of handling a larger household and were thus prosperous and powerful. Rulers would marry women from different royal families to strengthen political alliances and to expand progeny. Polygamy was also considered as “dharma” under circumstances where the women needed protection and support. However, some men simply practiced it to demonstrate their virility.
Loyalty, commitment, and possessiveness are aspects of any real relationship. Today, if your life partner even has a small, trivial relationship with a third person, we consider it as plain and simple infidelity. However, rulers in ancient India were expected to have at least more than one wife. The Bhagavad Gita, as well as other Hindu religious scriptures, says that “one can marry as many as one wishes”. Polygamy could take place even without the consent of the women involved. This is an injustice to the wives, who must be justifiably distressed by the addition of a new wife into the family. Women in such polygamous relationships or families are commonly unhappy.
Traditionally this practice is morally objectionable and so polygamy in India slowly faded, thanks to a combination of various laws, changing lifestyles, women empowerment and a dose of common sense. In 1955, owing to the Hindu Marriage Act, polygamy really fizzled out giving rise to relationships formed between two equals on the basis of love. BIG W.
Let's ensure that this effort made over the centuries is worthwhile.
My Prince Charming, ask me to marry you in Shah Rukh Khan style.
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