I have seen that Hindu stories, shlokas and myths are full of praises for parents. It makes sense that most rules were made by elder people, their rituals were designed to discipline those who are weak or could not resist those in power.
However, toxic parenting must have been present in the past and surely there could be something about evil parents in some Hindu myths or shlokas? Consider parents who are narcissist, control-freaks, irresponsible, or just plain unqualified to raise kids in a healthy manner. How could one say that such parents are equivalent to gods? Parents who treat their children as their possessions and not independent beings should not receive the same praises, should they? There are enough parents who constantly put down and actively try to harm their own children. How could one say that such parents are saintly beings? How does the act of being a parent by simply giving birth and doing the bare minimum that everyone does makes someone equivalent to gods? Almost everybody in the world would be godly by that definition.
Prahlad and his family (Hiranyakashyap, Kayadhu, and Holika) comes to mind. Could someone point me to shlokas and examples talking about the evils of megalomaniac and narcissist individuals who were terrible parents?
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