Okay so I see some discourse about scriptures on my tl and i wanted to share this ( pls read the full thing before you start writing essays). I beg you- stop viewing Mahabharata and Ramayana in pieces. Stop breaking it down into parts and analysing the parts by themselves- its+

not supposed to be like that. That is where we first go wrong- the epics are supposed to be viewed, analysed and criticised in ther entirety. Every act is related to the other, and it forms the context and background of what the epic is trying to say. The epic as a whole tells a+

story, imparts a lesson. Now, lets get to the specifics here- I see a lot of tweets on why Mahabharata is misogynist ( that is all i saw so i'm going off that) - there is a difference between portraying acts of misogyny and justifying them. Does the Mahabharata portray misogyny?+

Absolutely. Are actions of mamy characters flawed and wrong? Yes. But that does NOT make the epic in itself misogynistic. You have to remember here- an epic is a story. The moral validity of a story is not judged by the presence of immoral acts in it- just pure, harmless acts+

can be found only in children's fairytales ( hell even they are darker). The moral validity of a story is based on how itviews itself- on how it portrays the good and bad, amd whether it tries to justify/ condone the bad. And that is the fucking point. What happened to Draupadi+

is absolutely wrong and horrible no 2 questions about it- but that is literally what the epic is trying to portray. The entire message of the epic is that destruction befalls when women are not given the respect/treatment they deserve. Everyone in the gambling assembly is +

punished by death. The war of Kurukshetra is fought literally because Krishna wanted to show the world what would happen to anyone who dared touch a woman. This is why I said in the first place- view the epic as an interconnected whole. Oke important thing you have to remember +

about the scriptures is that- everything was pre ordained. The gods assumed these roles on Earth, and appointed certain humans to play their roles BECAUSE they wanted humanity to learn from their actions- and that means both good and bad actions. Krishna ji literally says in+

the Mahabharata that he can finish it all off in an instant- he can stop the war then and there. There is no need for bloodshed ( which Arjun even questions him about). But he won't.Because the Mahabharata was literally supposed to usher in a new era- it was supposed to teach +

humanity what would happen if they went astray, and it wanted to show how old, regressive norms and values need to be destroyed to welcome a prosperous future. It portrays every evil found in humanity- not because it condones it, but because it emphasies on how we need to +

destruct it. Krishan explains how everyone is merely an instrument- the real value of it lies in their actions- and the lessons to be learnt from the consequences ( which means not repeating their mistakes). There is a saying about the Mahabjarata by Ved Vyasa- "what is found +

in it will be found everywhere in thenworld, but what is not found in it will not be found anywhere else". And do we find only good things in the world? Hell no. There are millions of evils- which are shown in the Mahabharata because its supposed to be a reflection of society. +

But it does not condone these evils. The same logic is supposed to be applied to the Ramayana. Please don't misconstrue my words to think I'm justifying what happened with Draupadi or other actions- hell no- my point is, EVEN THE EPIC ITSELF does not seek to justify them. The+

problem is that too many people only see what the story tells about its events- they fail to see what it says about itself. Its own body. Every work of art has a purpose and a meaming. The actions are unequivocally wrong- but they are there because they want to show the harm+

this wrong can cause. This is like saying a story which shows abuse condones it- no. Another thing is- yes many times people themselvesead to these misconceptions. They force their own narrow mindedness onto the scriptures and view them through their misnformed lenses-but that +

does not mean the epic in itslef is wrong. People who say that "drauapadi was the reasom for the war" are wrong- the Mahabharata ( in the words of Krishna ji) literally says the reason was the growing evil of humanity- shown through Duryodhana, and the need to educafe humanity+

about crushing these evils, and crushing the traditional regressive norms. I beg you- please stop viewing scriptures through a narrow lens- instead look at what they say about themselves. Oh another thing - I said that all were punished by death in the assembly. So you'll +

wonder what about the Pandavas- weren't they supposed to be the good guys? NO. Please stop going off what popular depictions and tv shows says. They are actually supposed to be grey at best - Krishna himself says that they were adhering to a different kind of dharma ( which was+

wrong because they started placing the cultural values and promises over basic human compassion)- and that their atonement was killing their family for their bad deeds. As i said- everyone was merely an instrument. I think you can work out the Ramayana in a similar way. Also +

please remember- this is what I think based off my limited knowledge, analysis etc. If you feel i'm wrong feel free to have a civil polite discussion with me. I am open to crticism. And hinduism is too- just please don't voice it by hurting sentiments ( i saw people saying r@mji

is a b word and..yeah other curses)Do it constructively and politely. Sanatana dharma encourages free and critical thinking.