Honour

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Honour is an honorific word signifying a person’s or country’s achievement that elevates the stature of an individual or country, commanding respect of people in general. Honour is a fulfilment of the human spirit. The average individual is most often a reflexive pragmatist unless he is a dud waiting for things to happen to him. He searches for the needs of the self and is satisfied without assertive survival.  But a man who believes in his inner spirit aspires for glory, heroism, creativity. He makes life more than a package of living. He may be an Arjuna or an Achilles or even a Ravan with an urging soul to dominate, conquer and confidently earn respect of the common man. He always leads and never is led compromising his self-esteem. The soul may also enter a reflective state of being where ideas, metaphors, rhythms can invent truths not perceived by the laity. He may also renounce, sacrifice his energies to serve people with compassion. Compassion too is a great soul value. These souls earn and achieve a state of honour which is not palpable. It is an abstract social value which endows the soul with pride, a sense of non-arrogant superiority not displayed or proclaimed but a state of worthiness much more valuable than money, power or visible assets. Honour is a social perception of a name, a reputation.

Some people achieve honour by their soul force striving for it by pursuing qualities of excellence; some inherit it vicariously by their birth into a family. For example, the children of celebrated families of King’s or other respectable institutions. Some others have greatness thrust on them, again vicariously by chance or circumstantial gimmicks. But honour is a state of divinity which a mortal attains by his deeds - courage, compassion or sacrifice.  Those rich and powerful men who think they are honourable are self elevated morons. Shakespeare’s Falstaff (Henry IV part 1) says:

                   What is honour? A word. What is that word honour? What is that honour? Air!

                    A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died a’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No.

                    Doth he hear it? No. ‘Tis insensible then? Yea, to the dead.... honour is a mere

                    scutcheon...

Since it is dangerous to disagree with Shakespeare who is definitely more endurably honourable than most men of honour, I accept with humility. But Falstaff is definitely not my embodiment of honour, for he does not make people proud of him. Honour is that value which makes people feel elevated by the achievements of an individual. A man who lives for others and/ or gives a sense of relief, solace, pride, safety, joy and such like values to a large section of people deserves the honorific of honourable man.

When a person is self assertive, however exalted his heroic honour may be we hesitate to accept such heroes. Victories over human hearts are more honourable than the heroic exploits of war heroes. Achilles and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are not men of honour. A man of honour is always humble, for his honour stems from people’s acceptance of his greatness. Honour does not exist in a socio- cultural vacuum. Honour is always bestowed by society: it cannot be claimed like an average man claiming credit for killing a snake. But can you kill or commit suicide in the name of honour? Often men of glory kill themselves when their unconscious follies come to light. Othello, definitely a man of heroic honour, falls victim to his baser self manifested in jealousy. When he realizes his blunder, he kills himself. Antony too kills himself but his stature does not lift up by suicide. Cleopatra dramatizes her own reckoning, thereby enhancing her innate honour. But when parents kill their sons or daughters for love affairs or inter- religious marriages, in the name of honour, doubts crop in the mind about honour.

Is honour a caste or religious value? If a son or daughter marries a person of another caste or faith, how is one’s honour tarnished? The Khap Panchayats in India pronounce death penalty on love defectors without hesitation and parents obey in the name of honour. Raped women often kill themselves as ditched women do, for honour. But honour is not associated with chastity which is important in itself. Violation of a woman definitely injures female pride but I do not think honour is violated. Sita dies for honour which she had earned, after she was abandoned by Ram, by her determined existence of purity. But that is not true of Amba or the rape victims. When the politicians demand respect for their honour and prestige we feel like laughing for except a few politicians whose souls glow with sage like flame for mankind, the others are rooted in self. One attains honour after a lifetime of work dedicated to human welfare or mass enlightenment. Let us not, therefore, cheapen it by using it in the manner in which we use the word beautiful.