What if Padmavati had not committed suicide?

For a moment, imagine Padmavati was captured before she could commit Jauhar. And probably, subjected to rape at regular intervals. This is exactly what happens in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. The story of a woman who chooses to survive.

Suicides have triggered some of the most intense and polarizing debates in the last two years. Often, depending on the person’s beliefs, they are colored with all kinds of judgment — Some suicides are called courageous, well thought out, acts of sacrifice while some suicides are brain washed cowardice.

I, sitting comfortably on a laptop, can’t possibly imagine the horror of a brutal medieval war and the fate that awaited them. Hence, can’t remark on someone’s decision to or not to commit suicide. However, Since the society glorified it into into songs, tales, poems and fairs, during a relatively peaceful time, I can remark on the society.

Why would a society glorify this kind of suicide over other alternatives? And there were alternatives. There was a practice called Kesariya, where all the men – adolescent boys and non warrior meṅ go into the battlefield to a certain death. Why wasn’t that option presented to those women? It’s not like that option wasn’t present. Just a preliminary google search revealed, around the same time Padmaavat was being written, Rani Durgavati defended a fort against Mahmud of Ghazni.

While that question sinks in, we must also ask ourselves why is suicide glorified over resilience as a virtue? Why there aren’t many folklores about rescue and rehabilitation of the victims of sexual violence in wars? There’s very little information about what happened to women who were captured. There must have been stories of women who became slaves, if they were as numerous as we’re led to believe, there must be someone who was resilient through it all and flourished. Why isn’t that narrative also being celebrated? or has even the society that stands for protection of women forgotten those women once they were assaulted sexually?

One may ask, what’s the problem with glorifying a suicide? Well, it’s because it has a ripple effect. Studies show it normalizes it and leads to a rise in the number of suicides. In India, a very famous example of that is Ek Duje Ke Liye. The makers had to change the ending where couple commits suicide and that was glorified as true love. But it still stuck.

If that weren’t a problem, there’s a second part to it. Martyrs are made out of people often to provoke more people into conflict. It’s already happening in the country at the current times.

Compare that to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, it’s a story of times when a fundamentalist regime abducts fertile women only to service their generals. The protagonist is one of the abducted women, she’s regularly raped, yet she finds in herself the means and resources to survive and fight back. Being raped was not the end of it all.

Then there’s story of Puro in ‘Pinjar’ by Amrita Pritam, who’s abducted by Rashid over ancestral and communal disputes. Her story doesn’t end with her abduction, it stays with her even after that and sees her adopting a child, and saving a girl from rapists during partition. Deciding her identity on her own terms.

Society, what you glorify is up to you. Rani Padmavati, may have displayed agency by choosing to live and die on her terms. But that was just one way to deal with the conflict. There are alternatives, you’re morally obligated to present them too. After all, you’re the one who’s going to pay its price.