Page 41 - HIRS - Eng
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RESPECT AND PROTECTION                                7

               with only one leg, one hand or only one side of the body.
               He must have two sides. 1

            Such protection meant that the girls would not go anywhere
            unaccompanied. While it may seem restrictive to the point
            of being suffocating to modern women, traditional ladies
            were used to it and happy enough to potter around in their
            houses, going out only with other family members. Due to
            this, incidents of rape or harassment of women by strangers
            were practically unheard of. They were not subjected to the
            unpleasantness of outsiders ‘checking them out’ and making
            lewd remarks when they were outside their home, for the
            men accompanying them took seriously their responsibility
            of taking care of them, to the point of challenging anyone
            who even looked at them lustily.
            Upholding  a  woman’s  dignity  was  a  matter  of  utmost
            importance, and any violation was taken to be a poor reflection
            on the family and society itself. Along with the family members,
            the government was equally conscientious about protecting
            women. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes that when one of the
            warrior princes, Arjuna, appeared to be morose and dejected,
            he was questioned by his elder brother, Yudhiṣṭhira: “You
            are always the protector of the deserving living beings, such
            as brāhmaṇas [priests and teachers], children, cows, women
            and the diseased. Could you not give them protection when
            they approached you for shelter? […] Have you not properly
            treated a deserving woman?”  Śrīla Prabhupāda comments
                                        2
            in the purport:


            1. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.26.17, purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
            2. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.14.42–43.
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