Rape is nothing new and is one of the oldest crimes known to man. It stems from a desire for sexual intercourse with a prized girl or woman or simply the gratification of desire of a carnal nature with any available woman. Thus we have rapes of white women by negroes in America and rapes of hapless women in India.

Most Christians and that includes holy men  who wear the ecclesiastical robes( including some politicians) have us believe that the recent rape of a Christian  nun in Bengal  is a phenomena ushered in by hardline Hindutva. No less than the archbishop of Calcutta articulated that it was perhaps because of the policy of 'Ghar wapsi" ushered in by the RSS. This, to say the least, is silly and shows that Christians live in an ivory tower. Now the facts are out and the culprits are all Muslims from Bangladesh. I wonder what some politicians like Mamata Banerjee and the Christian clergy have to say about this.

Coming to rape it is very much a part of the Bible. One can quote passages from the Bible that God as the Christians see it as approved rape. There are passages in the Bible where Moses encourages soldiers to take the virgin daughters  of the defeated Midianites as wives. This contrasts with his injunction in Deuteronomy 22.25-27 where he recommends that a rapist be stoned to death. Thus, there are two sides to a coin.

In the Puranas also there is the story of one Danda, son of Ikshavaku, who raped Araja the daughter of the Sage Shukra of the Bhargava clan. On learning of the rape of his daughter, the Sage Shukra was infuriated. He cursed that the kingdom of Danda be destroyed. The sage's curse had an effect and the kingdom of Danda became barren and desolate and even birds and animals migrated away from there. The next part is intriguing as the Sage advised his daughter to do tapasya (penance)  to purify herself. This is a dichotomy as the suggestion of the sage shows he considers the woman is defiled and must purify herself.

Most ancient scriptures have tales of rape, but they have one conclusion that a rape of a woman who is wife or daughter of a enemy is a 'spoil of war' and the winner has free license to marry or keep the women as slaves for sexual pleasure. This is something that has continued till modern times as can be seen from the conduct of the Imperial army, where they killed the men and took their women as wives and keeps (example: the Car Nicobar campaign) Thus rape is part of all the ancient scriptures and is not confined to any particular sect or belief. To impute motives to modern rapes is not the correct way to eradicate this crime. The requirement is exemplary punishment for all men who rape irrespective of caste or religion.


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