Saturday, August 22, 2015

# K-Drama # Rupavahini Drama

Janahithakami Rajiniya and the matriarchy…




A matriarchy is a system within which the women hold the positions of power as oppose to a patriarchy where men hold positions of power. Within a matriarchy women are higher up in the social hierarchy than men and hold important positions within the country. This method is commonly seen among elephants where the older female leads and provides security for the herd. So simply speaking, it is the exact opposite of   our current system which is patriarchal.

Queen Seondeok aka Janahithakami Rajiniya a Korean Drama shown on MBC and presently airing on Sri Lanka Rupavahini is a perfect example of a matriarchy. In Janahithakami Rajiniya the country of Silla is solely run by women at one stage of its history (Note that Silla is one of the kingdoms of Korea before all three kingdoms united to be Joseon). In Janahithakami Rajiniya the nation is run by a Queen. Of Course she has men to guard and support her on some issues but other than that she has all the power to do what ever she wants. Moreover Queen Seondeok is trained as an army personal or a Nangdo and was part of the Hawarangs (the elite army of Silla). So she was a martial artist and was very capable of defending herself.

At one point Seondeok’s father, the King asks her to get married so that he could give his throne to her husband. Seondeok refuses this and claims that she will take the throne as Queen Seondeok.  Of course this is a decision which is opposed by all the nobles but at the end of the day Bidam, Kim Yushin and Kim Alcheon join together to make Seondeok the Queen. So this is a very feminist story as women are being empowered.

Yes and now we come to the villain. Most dramas would choose a man as the main villain however in Janahithakami Rajiniya the main villainous is Mishil. Mishil is a Hawarang and is the beholder of the seal. She has so much power that King Jinji and later King Jinpyeong (Seondeok’s father) were under her control. Not only this, she had many lovers and she used them for political gain. While she remained as a concubine to the King’s she had relationships with Sejong and Seolwon. Both these men were of high positions in Silla. Sejong was the Prime Minister and the 6th leader of the Hawarang warriors and he was her husband.   Seolwon is Mishil’s lover; he is the Defense Minister and the 7th leader of the Hawarang. Mishil had children with both these men and they were also Hawarang leaders or commanders. So through this she was able to gain power.


Something to note is that even though Mishil gave birth to these children she never looked after them. Their fathers were the ones who looked after and raised the children. I personally think this is very feminist and the equality of the genders is nice to watch. Even though Mishil is a villainous she is a character to admire. She being a woman never gave up, she never thought otherwise and she had so much power as a woman. She was never controlled by men; rather she controlled all the men.

Even Queen Seondeok never fell before a man; she never once thought that she will never survive without a man.  She even gave up her love for Bidam for her country. She gave up on him when he started a war to dethrone her because a woman was not fit to control Silla. Of course there was a huge misunderstanding but yet this shows how strong Seondeok /Deokman was as a women. Silla therefore is a prime example of a matriarchy and a very inspirational one.  

 The fact that this whole story is based on a real life person   Seondeok of Silla is even more inspirational.  After all we are suffering in a patriarchal society in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka women are usually not given equal status and are continuously discriminated within society a prime example here is the Wariyapola girl’s incident. So I hope the matriarchy shown in Janahithakami Rajiniya and its strong female characters will inspire women all around Sri Lanka.




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