First female president in India

So, India has another first in its vast history -- its first female president.
Pratibha Patil was elected as the first president of the country. In a country that has been known to respect the ladies and its women, this does not surprise me.

Wikipedia has a nice writeup on the president of India. You can see it at President of India .

Someone recently asked me how can I say that Indians respected women, when there have been incidents of Sati and bride burning. I understand their concerns but drew their attention to the fact that the rituals of Sati and Jauhar are known to have started in the medieval era only -- when India (then known as Bharat) was being attacked from the west. To save themselves from humility and trouble, wives and unwed girls killed themselves after their husbands were killed. The most common way was to jump in the pyre lit to cremate the husband. For those who are unaware, Sati is the term used to describe the ritual when the wife sits on the cremation pyre along with the dead husband's body. Jauhar on the other hand, is the term used to describe the ritual when all the ladies of the house jumped into the fire, mostly when their husband(s) or men were killed in a battle and the enemy was expected to loot the palace or kingdom. The most well known such cases were recorded in the Rajput states of Mewar (now Rajasthan).

A look in the early history tells us that Indians have treated their women as Goddesses as described in the Vedas. However, there has never been a mention of these rituals in earlier times. It was sheer call of the period that forced this custom amongst the women of Western India, and it gained an improper mention in the PR engines of the world, without giving the right reason for it.

Thankfully, this process is no longer followed. There have been few incidents where girls (more specifically brides) have been burnt, in most cases due to dowry related matters. Both these (dowry and burning) are crimes and are heavily punishable by law. In fact, I am told that the law in India goes to the length of saying that if the bride dies (of any cause) with in the first 7 years of marriage, there will be a judicial inquiry into her death. It is not a thing written in any religious book to burn anybody -- just some idiots, who feel that this is the only way they can show their power, turn to this stupid way. Little do they realize that this way they only show their impotence and powerlessness. It is a most heinous crime and should be deplored by one and all.

Hopefully, Ms. Patil's appointment to the highest office in the country will let the women in India know they have more power and rights. She has very big shoes to fill in, as the office of the President of India has been occupied by leaders like Dr. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and the outgoing President, Dr. Kalam. There have been women leaders before Ms. Patil (Rani Lakshmi Bai - who led the first war for freedom from the British, Sarojini Naidu - a great freedom fighter and Mrs Indira Gandhi, to just name a few). Hopefully, she will bring honor to these names and also to the women of India.