One point is worth noting here. The Tamil poet Kamban describes Taara as a chaste
widow living a life of discipline and privations. It is different in Vaalmeeki, who
includes Taara and the other women as part of the inheritance Sugreeva won from Vaali-in
fact, as an appurtenance of the throne. When Sugreeva lost himself in bodily pleasures and
forgot his duty to Raama, Taara shared his revels and is described as being flushed and
unsteady with wine when she went out at her lord's command to allay Lakshmana's
resentment.
In ancient times, when an elder brother
died leaving a wife, there was a custom in royal and other noble families for the younger
brother to take the widow as wife and protect her. It is difficult for people of one age
to judge the customs of another age. Imagination and great flexibility of mind are needed
to assess the merits and defects of usage's with which we are not familiar. |
