Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s1.24

c6.s1.24

That Śvetaketu with his Vedic lineage and Upaniṣadic background continued to be remembered as a thinker during the later centuries is evident from two episodes in *Mahābhārata*. He was the first person to have protested against the violence on women. The episode narrated in *Mahābhārata* is as follows.²⁸ It so happened that Śvetaketu saw his mother being dragged out of the house by a brāhmaṇa, who was intoxicated. He was declaring that he needs a woman for satiation of his sexual urge and he is therefore taking away this woman with him. “Why don’t you stop this man?” — Śvetaketu asked his father. His father said — “Under what law can I stop him? The law in our society gives a man right to take any woman for the satiation of his sexual urge.” Śvetaketu said — “I raise my voice of I dissent against such law. Henceforth no man will forcefully take any woman.”