Contradictory views have been expressed concerning the social status of Hindu woman; on the one hand she is said to be deserving of worship and respect, and on the other we are told in the laws of Manu that “Father protects her in childhood, husband in youth, and sons in old age; a woman does not deserve to remain free.” That contradiction in recent times has sometime been overcome when we see Indian women like Mrs. Indira Gandhi performing the leading role of directing State affairs, but that, however, does not alter their position as epitomized in Hindu Scriptures.
Two views of women came into being by the time of the formation of the Mahabharata and have remained side by side in India. One is the view that Sita is the ideal woman : the pure and obedient wife of Rama. According to their view, a woman is never impure. She is essential for the man’s proper performance of his religious duties, and sexual ecstary is paradigmatic of the man-god relationship. The other view is manifested in Draupadi, the vigorous wife of the five Pandava brothers. According to this view, a wife stands in the way of her husband’s liberation since she constantly tempts him to desert his religious duties. Marriage, according to this second view, is a conflict between feminine lust and male dharma. Therefore a woman as a constant threat to man’s salvation must never be independent; she must always be controlled by father, husband, brothers, brothers-in-law, and sons. For example, in the Mahabharata the beautiful Tapati upon receiving a marriage proposal from a king replies, “O King, I am not the mistress of my own self ! Know that I am a maiden under the control of my father. If you really entertain an affection for me, demand me of my father ……………… I am not the mistress of my body. Therefore, O best of kings, I do not approach you. Women are never independent ………If my father bestows me upon you, then, O King, I shall be thy obedient wife.”
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Hindu woman is not allowed to learn, read and touch “Vedas” (Holy Book) |
Some Hindu sects have maintained that liberation is impossible for a woman, and others hold that a woman has no god other than her husband : “The husband is the wife’s god, and he is her refuge. Indeed, there is no other refuge for her.” The two views of women have never been reconciled. One of Gandhi’s legacies was a puritanical view of sex, but other Hindus have held a vastly different view: They take resort to Kama (hedonic satisfaction) which is one of the four goals of Hindu life. Kama alone all refers to the pleasures of sex. The Kama Sutras of Vatsyayana, a work of 4th century A.D., contain full directions for sexual love with amazing lists. However, many of the directions are intended more for the wooing of a young bride than for illicit love.
According to the Dharma Shastras, marriage is primarily for the begetting of offspring, but it also is required for the performing of proper worship of the gods. Marriage is a contract between families. Therefore, the question of the happiness of the couple most immediately involved is secondary. According to study of the Hindu family conducted by a Westerner in urban Bangalore the emotional attachment of the mother-son relationship was discovered to be almost eight times greater than that of the husband wife relationship.
Marriage is a sacred obligation for orthodox Hindu men and women. In the Vedic period, marriage between an adult man and woman was not rare, but the code of Manu prescribed the age of the husband and wife as thirty and twelve, or twenty-four and eight, respectively; later texts encouraged a younger age for marriage. Marriage across caste lines is not acceptable, even though ancient scriptures permitted men to marry women of lower classes. In recent years, cross-caste marriages are legally permitted, but they cause difficulties socially. Also, the marriage of widows, which was practised in ancient times, was prohibited in the code of Manu. The custom of widow-burning was often rationalised on the ground that a widow’s lot was so miserable that she would rather be dead. It took the combined effort of modern Hindu reformers and the British Government to outlaw the custom of widow-burning. The Hindu tradition allows divorce on various grounds, but divorce has not been practised very widely in India. Polygamy is sanctioned but the monogamous principle is violated only when the first marriage does not produce offspring. There are exceptions, of course, but in general the husband does not take a second wife if his first wife can fulfil the performance of religious obligations and also can bear children especially sons. An exaggerated emphasis on the importance of the adult male child often causes tensions and conflicts within the family.
Hindu Women is not allowed to hear, read and told “Vedas” (Holy Book)
Typical of Hindu law books are the Dharma Shastras, composed as collection of rules of life by legalist-minded priests about 200 B.C. Among them most prominent is the code of Manu which prescriles for each individual a long list of sacramental rites for each significant episode of life. It lays down the Hindu principle regarding women thus:
“In childhood, a female must be subjected to her father, in youth to her husband and when her lord is dead, to her sons; a woman must never be independent. A husband must constantly be worshipped as a god by a faithful wife. She must on the death of her husband allow herself to be burnt alive on the same funeral pyre.”
(The last part of this quotation refers to the well-known custom of Suttee, once widely practised in Hindu India).
In Hinduism, woman is not allowed to hear, read and touch the ‘Vedas’.
Orthodox Hindus are not familiar with divorce. Neither husband nor wife is allowed to divorce each other. Now one can imagine the miserable condition of woman who is severely oppressed by her husband or whose husband has become worthless or unable to maintain the family.
In Hinduism, there is no share of wealth for woman. Some of the doctrines of Hinduism regarding woman are as follows:
(1) “Woman can never be free – all power shall be vested in husband’s hand.”
(2) “Woman is not eligible for being freed.”
(3) “Woman can never do anything at her own will.”
(4) “After the death of husband, woman should remain as ever a widow.”
(5) “Pride, anger, vexation are the specialties of woman. Falsehood is her habit.”
(6) “Advice should not be taken from woman, even woman should not be nearabout in the course of consultation.”
(7) “Woman is the fifth fire of ‘shastras’.”
(8) “Luck, hell , flood and poisonous snake – none of these is more harmful than woman.”
(9) “There ever exist eight faults in woman, e.g., disobedience, lying, cleverness, deception, fear, foolishness, coarseness, and cruelty. Don’t teach the wife and ‘Sudras’…….”
