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Kukari ki rasam: Women Body, assigned meaning and the Violence

Author Affiliations

  • Institute of Health Management Research, IIHMR, Jaipur, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Social Sci., Volume 1, Issue (1), Pages 49-54, September,14 (2012)

Abstract

In this article a gloomy picture had been depicted upon centuries-old custom of "Kukari ki Rasam" (thread ritual), which being a curse for the women, where a skein of thread is used to detect the presence of an intact hymen of the newlywed bride. The custom had its birth in troubled times in Rajasthan when the state was ravaged by the foreign intruders and marauding armies who indulged in mass rape. Even the Rajputs conducted virginity tests for a while. Now it isn't just used to torture women, but is often used so that the groom's family can make money. "Impure" brides are beaten to reveal the names of their "lovers" and then these lovers are forced to pay large amounts of money to the bride's family. In ‘Sansi’ tribal community this practice still exists and receiving a menacing position among the women of the society. The government even failed to interfere in this ‘culturing’ violence as Sansi people feel that whatever happens within the home between husband and wife is private, so education is probably the best route to invoke any change in the cultural practice. The matter of conflict ‘traditionality and modernity’ also gives a rise in Gender Based Violence in the Society, which need to be ameliorated.

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