The Enchantress

15. Exposed

Mahesh had told Indrayani that their daughter had a shift late at night and she had called him at 2 am last night. That's why, both of them didn't disturb her sleeping.

Mahesh, however, didn't tell his wife what had happened last night. He didn't want to complicate things. Maybe he was just overthinking and it was nothing serious. Whatever they had to know, it was better for her to explain it than them assuming the worst.

He believed in their method to bring up their daughter and more than that, he believed in their daughter. She knew about her Dharma, her responsibilities more than what the present generation did. She would never do anything that would be against Dharma.

Dharma is something that is supposed to be done ideally. Dharma can mean responsibilities, righteousness, justice and many more things based on the context. Everything in Hinduism revolved around Dharma.

In fact, not only Hinduism, but Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, the religions which were sects and schools of thought of the religion before breaking off and becoming new religions, centred around Dharma too. That made these religions unique. Hinduism was like a tree who was nurturing these branches.

They had tried to instill the very Dharma in their daughter. Their daughter was not an ordinary woman and they knew about it. It was only right that she got the right upbringing, despite the age of darkness.

Hinduism believed in four ages, Satyuga, (age of truth), Tretayuga, Dwaparyuga and the ongoing age is Kalyuga. Earth is symbolised with a cow and Dharma with a bull. In Satyuga, Dharma would have four legs and he would lose his legs along the ages. In this unfortunate age, it is dangling with just one leg.

This is the age when humans don't follow rules, when humans would think about themselves before thinking about others. That's why, they don't fulfill their duties according to their Vernas and they made sure that the Verna system became hierarchical, only to later change into the caste system.

The BrAhmins, who were supposed to be spiritually superior, made sure that they had maximum power. They were supposed to treat every Verna with respect because all the four Vernas are necessary for the society to function smoothly but instead, they made sure to treat them with contempt and also, to make sure that their children would never fall down the Verna pyramid which they had created.

No wonder the scriptures have said that the Verna system would fail in Kalyuga. No wonder Mahabharata mentioned that in Kalyuga, a bird with scriptures written on its wings will enjoy meat. Those who were supposed to uphold Dharma keep doing Adharma.

Adharma is the opposite of the Dharma. It mean doing something that is not supposed to be done. However, God is God. He would make sure Dharma prevails. If people didn't get justice in this birth, they would get justice in their after life and this justice will reflect in the place where they would be born next.

Getting born in a family following Dharma meant doing good deeds and getting born in a power hungry family meant doing bad deeds. Nurturing yourself is difficult when born in a latter situation but it is not impossible. It all depends on your karma, your deeds and Dharma will be served based on your Karma.

It wasn't like they didn't have enough money but the couple had made sure to keep their expenses, their carbon footprint, their temptations to the minimum. They brought their daughter up in an environment which would look like poverty on the outside but was a sustainable model on the inside.

People in India weren't poor anymore. Women didn't wear salwar kameez or sarees or other traditional clothes anymore. Men didn't wear dhotis, lungis or other traditional clothing anymore. People didn't wash their hair with soapnut anymore. Girls didn't wear bindis (round black stickers or drawings) between their eyebrows anymore but their family used things which were sustainable, cheap, traditional as well as nourishing.