Newton, Bucket List & Bhagawatha

After the Upanishads & the Bhagavadgita, the Srimad Bhagavatham is the most authoritative of the Hindu scriptures. It was supposedly composed by Vyasa & taught to his son Suka. Suka narrated it to King Parikshit under special circumstances.

King Parikshit, while hunting, saw a meditating Sage Samika. Being thirsty, the king asked for water. The absorbed sage didn't reply. This perceived neglect enraged the king, who picked up a dead snake lying nearby, hung it round the sage's neck & went away. The sage's son Sringi, returning saw the indignity to his father, & learning the reason, cursed the King Parikshit to die of snake bite in a week. Here one can see the king's karma catching up with him. It can also be viewed as a generalised aspect of Newton's third law, which states that action & reaction are equal & opposite.

The king also came to know of the curse, & thought of a Bucket List of only one item, listening about the glories of God. (Here it may be mentioned in passing that Thomas a Kempis, William Law, Julian of Norwich & Rabia of Basra among others also had the same one item Bucket List.)  He approached Suka & asked for guidance, who recited Srimad Bhagavatham to him. It contains stories of Lord Krishna's life, other related Stories & most importantly, Krishna's last message to his disciple Uddhava, known as "Uddhava Gita", an advanced spiritual text.

As the recitation came to an end, the allotted week also ended, & despite all precautions, a snake entered & bit the King, completing the cycle of Karma.

Manu Smriti & Koran on Women - A brief comparison

Manu Smriti, whatever might have been the time of composition, had become a standard text of Hinduism in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Koran was supposed to be revealed to the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) around 7th Century of the Common Era.

But there are some similarities in the outlook towards women in both texts, which are listed below: 

Men must make their women dependent, as they are not fit for independence. They should be guarded by their father in childhood, by the husband in youth & by the sons in old age. (Manu)

Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other & they spend their wealth to maintain them.

Good women are obedient. (Koran)

There is no difference between the goddesses of good fortune who live in houses & women who are the lamps of their houses, worthy of reverence & greatly blessed. (Manu)

Those who defame honourable but careless believing women shall be cursed in this world & the next. (Koran)

Women will have a share in what (property) their parents or kin leave. (Koran)

The remarriage of widows is not mentioned in the marriage rules of the Vedas. (Manu)

Muslims who die leaving wives behind shall bequeath their widows a year's maintenance without causing them to leave their homes; but if they leave of their own accord, they may pursue any course of action deemed fit. (Koran)

Even if a man has married a woman according to the rules, he may reject her if she is ill, corrupted or married with something concealed. (Manu)

If a woman fear ill-treatment or desertion on the part of her husband, it shall be no offence for them to seek a mutual agreement. (Koran)

A wife who drinks (spirits), is dishonest, rebellious, ill, violent or a spendthrift can be superseded at any time. (Manu)

Brothers & Sisters in iniquity

In literature, many instances of brothers & sisters instead of correcting, aiding each other in iniquity are observed, probably owing to their shared DNA.

In Virata Parva of Mahabharatha, Queen Sudeshna, wife of King Virata, instead of advising her brother Kichaka against his philandering, aids him & even puts pressure on Draupadi (who was serving her in disguise as Sairandhri) to accede to his wishes, resulting in the death of Kichaka.

In Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina", the adulterous behaviour of the title character, which led to her tragic death, was mirrored in the behaviour of her brother Prince Oblonsky, who himself was not a faithful husband, causing immeasurable problems to his  family.

In Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", the siblings Henry & Mary Crawford, try to fool around the affections of the "made for each other" couple of Edmund Bertram & Fanny Price. Henry, true to his nature, elopes with a married woman. When Mary, defends him to Edmund, saying if Fanny had married him, he would not have done it, Edmund's eyes are fully opened to Mary's insidious behaviour, leading to his discarding her, & uniting with his true love Fanny.