Today let’s talk about two different stories set in two different backdrops but pivoting around one theme – societal expectations from both men and women in a patriarchal set up – quite explicit in the narrative itself.
The First Story
Zanjeerein (Chains) is a tautly scripted and directed Pakistani drama revolving around two feuding tribal chieftains, the apple of discord being the barter of a woman of the family of one to the other as a compensation for a crime. This system is known as swara wherein the patriarch of a family having committed a crime (in this case murder) gives away a woman of his own family (his sister) to the victim’s family in marriage in a kind of “out of court settlement” to put an amicable end to a dispute. The only difference here is that this entire redressal or dispute settlement is carried out in the presence and with the consent of a tribal council called the jirga which is sort of law unto itself. There is no police. No FIR. No formal investigation into the matter. No trial. No intervention by the advocates of human rights. The entire resolution is based on so-called tradition perpetuated by the elders of the council.
But does the feud end with this transaction?
No.
The bartered woman, called badley ki aurat or woman-in-transaction, is looked down upon in her new family. She dies giving birth to a son. The motherless child is not accepted either and is made to feel like the “other one” in the household. His maternal uncle (mother’s brother), who has his own axe to grind, takes advantage of the situation. He does not leave a single opportunity to poison the young boy’s mind who grows up with a deep-seated inferiority complex manifest in rage and hatred – his sole aim now is to get his rightful entitlement.
Time passes. Chieftaincy passes on to the next generation. So do the mutual abhor and mistrust. The new chieftain is committed and protective of his people but he does not keep well. Blood analysis reveals that he is subject to slow poisoning. The suspicion obviously goes to the step sibling and his maternal uncle who are after his chieftaincy. Before the matter can be further investigated the chieftain and his wife are brutally killed on their way to the hospital. Again the suspect is none other than the step brother who is now an absconder.
So again a jirga is called.
The cunning maternal uncle of the step brother now offers his niece (elder brother’s daughter) in swara to the deceased’s family. The offer is rejected. This gives rise to another potent issue – who is going to accept a girl in marriage who has been rejected in swara or transaction?
The chieftaincy passes on, as per tradition, to the younger brother of the former chieftain. The young man – urban bred, well educated – does not understand this way of life where violence, considered normal, is culturally embedded in its fabric. His dream is to move abroad, study further and get married to the love of his life – his betrothed (first cousin). But he is under oath not only to take on the responsibility of chieftaincy but also to avenge the death of his elder brother. His mother’s demand is head for a head.
In the meantime, in a macabre turn of events, the young man’s best buddy is badly assaulted in Islamabad. Before breathing his last he entrusts his newly wed wife to his friend’s custody beseeching him to protect her from the assaulter in his absence. Learning that his dead friend’s sister has named the wife as the prime suspect in the FIR, the young man brings her, under a false identity, to his mansion far away from the city. But the grieving, traumatized girl is misconstrued as the “other woman” in his life.
He reveals her identity to his fiancee and pleads with her for support. She agrees and befriends the widowed girl. But one night, after a minor altercation with him, his fiancee mysteriously goes missing. Who is to be blamed ? Of course the “other woman” who is believed to be in an illicit relationship with the novice chieftain.
Now it all pans down on a young chief who, though pretends to put up a brave front, is breaking bit by bit inside as all his near and dear ones are being removed from his life one by one. He suspects the perpetrator is not an outsider but somebody who is among the trusted household. His own life and that of his mother’s are also in danger. So is that of the young widow under his protection. The burden of promises and pledges on his shoulders is killing. He is in the throes of depression unsure whether he will be able to do justice to his role as a chieftain and bring the culprits to book.
To make things worse, in a dramatic twist in the plot, the jirga now wants him to marry the widow of his friend because a young , unchaperoned woman cannot stay under the same roof with him without the sanction of a wedlock.
(To continue)
First, the bartered woman for the crime is already disturbing. What the…. surely, a horrible life after. It’s getting worse and worse.
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Yes, it is disturbing but such effete practices still carry on unfortunately though we say we have progressed.
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Oh I wish it’s all fiction. Not good in reality
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I wish so too.
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Oof! That’s awful. Some traditions need to die out.
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Unfortunately, they don’t. On both sides of the border, such practices thrive culturally.
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Movies are serials are a mirror of society.Unfortunately such practices are prevalent there especially in remote border areas.
Practices as swara should have in fact helped to put an end to crimes,but it seems it only takes the form of a vicious circle.
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Yes, I know the system is prevalent still in spite of being outlawed
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दिल भी दुखता हे गीता दी,मर्दों की गलतियों की सजा भी औरतों को झेलनी पड़ती हे
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बिल्कुल सही कह रही हो नुसरत। यही असली ट्रेजेडी है।
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You are right; as much as we think these practices don’t exist, they still do and not much is known about it. I used to think bonded labour does not exist and some TV serials depicted that but I got to know recently that bonded labour still exists in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Southern India.
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And also Northern India. There is a chilling serial in this too on Netflix. A Punjabi Hindi mix serial. I am forgetting the name.
And then khaap, honour killing, dowry death, domestic violence….even in urban xentres
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You are right. Truth is stranger than fiction.
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People should never be looked upon as items to be bartered and traded. But even today, women are still considered second-class citizens. I wonder if this can ever be changed.
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I think the exploitation will just take new name and form but it’s complete eradication is doubtful unless and until we humans get a spiritual upliftment
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Geeta Ji, the deeper question in this story is not merely who is guilty, but what happens to human beings when society places tradition above justice and conscience.
When a woman is reduced to an instrument of compensation, and a man is burdened with the expectations of lineage, authority, and revenge, both are imprisoned in roles created by society. Violence does not always begin with weapons; it can also arise from inherited beliefs, fear, prejudice, and traditions that are followed without being questioned.
The real conflict is within the human mind. When revenge becomes duty and social approval becomes more important than conscience, justice gradually loses its soul.
Perhaps the most important question raised by this story is this: Are we merely carriers of the traditions we inherit, or do we possess the courage to question them and choose a more humane path?
True freedom begins when a person rises above the role imposed by society and listens to the quiet voice of conscience within.
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Vijayji, your analysis is spot on.
Society creates roles for men and women. Roles create expectations. If either falls short of that expectation they are critically evaluated and even castigated.
Nobody asks whether they actually want those roles or fit into them or not.
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It’s such a complicated story Geeta.
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It’s an engaging watch Sadje. The commodification of women in the backdrop of patriarchy is on both sides of the border. Sadly
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Very sad dear friend. The tribal culture is very backwards and they use the Islamic law as a tool for their own leverage
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I think these parallel systems run everywhere though their relevance is hard to establish. We have, similarly, khaap here.
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More in third world countries
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Maybe because the old and the new still reside side by side in these societies or they are under transition
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Yes, that is probably the reason. But it’s also lack of education and enlightenment that plays a role.
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[…] This is in continuation of Part I of this post which can be read here. […]
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[…] heartfelt thanks to all my esteemed readers who read Part I and Part II and expressed their views. The discussion was most […]
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