Swara Bhasker’s recent remarks labeling Jauhar—a tragic medieval reality—as "dangerous" and a glorification of suicide from a modern standpoint is not an analysis of history, but a symptom of deep ideological bankruptcy. When people sit in air-conditioned 21st-century rooms and judge medieval tragedies, their intellectual dishonesty becomes glaringly obvious.
In the medieval era, when brutal invading armies overran defeated kingdoms, women had only two choices: either become "war booty" to face lifelong gang-rape, forced conversions, and being sold in slave markets, or protect their sovereignty and dignity by choosing death. Jauhar was not helplessness or cowardice. It was a fierce, sovereign act of defiance that stripped conquerors of their ultimate victory prize.
Throughout global history, when Jewish people committed mass suicide at Masada to escape Roman slavery, when Greek women jumped off cliffs with their children at Zalongo to escape Ottoman forces, or when Japanese Samurai committed Seppuku for honor, this liberal class views it as bravery. Yet, the moment it comes to the brave women of Indian history, their "progressive" lens suddenly twists self-respect into mere suicide.
The most damning aspect of this entire discourse is the blatant, unabashed selective secularism of these self-proclaimed commentators. Take Swara Bhasker, who happily married into a Muslim family, or actress Ratna Pathak Shah, who sparked massive outrage in 2022 by arrogantly branding the traditional Karwa Chauth fast as 'superstitious' and 'appalling.' Yet, the very second it comes to confronting the deep-seated religious misogyny within their own domain, their loud, performative feminism falls deafeningly silent. These so-called progressive voices—always eager to lecture historical women on 'agency' and 'choice'—are conveniently blind to barbaric, modern-day realities like Nikah Halala, where a divorced woman is systematically subjected to institutionalised assault just to return to her husband.
Whether it is the ultimate degradation of women through instant Triple Talaq, or using religious personal laws to justify the marriage of minor girls to older men twice or thrice their age—the anger of these pseudo-intellectuals never erupts against these living, breathing social evils.
This double standard is not just local; it is global. This entire lobby buries its head in the sand like an ostrich when it comes to terrifying practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), where millions of young girls have their bodies brutally scarred in the name of religious orthodoxy.
Comparing a modern rape survivor to a medieval woman facing Jauhar is fundamentally flawed. While a woman today theoretically has constitutional rights, laws, and human rights support to fight for justice, elite commentators like Swara Bhasker remain completely oblivious to how these mechanisms collapse on the ground. They deliberately shut their eyes against the harsh reality of India’s real villages and marginalized societies, where a poor and exploited survivor is still forced to bend before the system simply because she cannot access legal aid or justice.
Global and national crime data reveal a horrifying reality: survivors of sexual assault are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population, with nearly 33% of victims contemplating suicide and over 13% actually attempting it due to systemic failures and social stigma. When hundreds of victims in this so-called modern era are ultimately driven to suicide by social stigma and legal helplessness, the feminism of these social media activists is nowhere to be seen on the ground. Those who do not have the basic grit to stand by a single victim or navigate the courts to get her justice today find it incredibly easy and convenient to sit in air-conditioned rooms and pass intellectual judgments on the harrowing crises of medieval women.
In contrast, during the zero-choice medieval era, being captured meant absolute, endless exploitation with no escape. The historical queens of India chose the flames over serving in the harems of invaders because they valued their dignity above all else. It is time for these self-proclaimed reformers to stop distorting history. If they truly care about women's rights, they should show the courage to question today's harsh realities like Halala, child marriage, and FGM with the exact same hostility and sharpness.
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