In Maharshi Valmiki's Ramayan, Bharat's Oath to Ma Kaushalya protesting his innocence in the matter of her son's expulsion would belong to this category. The second is in the asservation (assertation) context. Bhima's oath, at the sight of the slighted Draupadi, to fix Dushashan is of this genre. Sapatha was used in ancient India in a duel context. Holders of Office had to take one at the Temple of Jupiter on a Jupiter Stone.Īs Sri Ram was in great remembrance on Oath Day, it is very interesting to examine how Sanatana Dharma approached this concept. The Book of Numbers (30.2) states "When a man vowed a vow unto the Lord or sweareth an Oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word."Īncient Rome also gave an Oath a place of importance. Sticking to the great Abrahamic Faith, the first example of an oath is found when Abraham gets his chief servant Elizer to swear one which would ensure that his son would not look at the House of Canaan for a mate and focus on his daughter instead. Something pretty much as the scholar EW Hopkin tells us about Hindu Dharma's use of the term "Sapatha" which doubles for "curse" as well as "oath", but more on that later.
The faithful, have being ravaged time and again in History and ultimately given their own homeland after the Holocaust, made this "NEVER AGAIN" a mantra that is both a reminder as well as a promise.
It makes its debut in the Old Testament with Genesis recording that "God would never again curse the ground because of Man". The concept of an "Oath" has theological moorings. Other than crediting our worthies with electrifying the most mundane part of legislative business of the House (admit right now when was the last time we were so worked up with an Oath Taking or for that matter even watched one), the less said the better about this sordid affair, where Ram was pitted against Rahim in the well of the House with an unsuspecting Bhim thrown in between! The nation (let's paraphrase and say people like us, as we can no longer claim to speak for the "nation") watched aghast at the spectacle that was passed off as an "Oath Taking Ceremony".
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