Women In India And The Golden Age.docx

Dhara Moray Dr. Viraj Shah Indian Society Through Ages HIST101 11 November, 2017. Women and the ‘Golden Age’ Abstract- There are numerous methods to study and understand a civilizationarchaeological data, scripts from that period about the social system, polity, trade, and administration. One of the keys to understanding a civilization, its limitations, and its advancements is to study the position of women in that period. The thesis of this paper is to understand the position of women in the early and later Vedic period. The reasons to study this are- when we understand whether women were given the right to education we understand the gender play, progress in fine arts depended a lot on how many facilities were given to women. Furthermore, the laws of marriage and ritualistic customs showcase if women were thought as war prizes and slaves or important better halves of the society and the sex laws enable us to understand the ethical setup of the society. The rights a woman was given in her household tells the extent of control a man exercised over her and the amount of empathy a society has could be understood by its acceptance of widows. The study of their dresses and ornaments help us understand changing customs, wealth of the society and developments in trade. The expanse of freedom given to a woman to be an active part of the society gives a fair idea of its administration “and enables us to understand how far it had realized the difficult truth that women too have a contribution of their own to its development and progress” (A. S. Altekar 1-3)

Though the study of history is necessary, it is very often problematic as well. There is no one fixed history. We depend heavily on all the scriptures, data, resources and archaeological evidence from that period to pen down the history. There can be various interpretations of a single text. The scripts or any data found may not correlate with that period or quality of life.

All historians are a product of their times which leads to different

interpretations and different ways to look at the past. The only way to analyze and understand the position of women in early and later Vedic period is through the study of the only available text from that period – The Vedas. Vedic history is roughly divided into early Vedic history and the later Vedic history. The early Vedic literature has references to the Rig Veda Samhita which were the family books. The literature of later Vedic period includes books 1, 8, 9 and 10 or Rig Vedic Samitha, the Samithas of the Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda (Singh 184) ‘Women’ as a whole term cannot be deconstructed without further breaking it down into rank, class, occupation, and age. The hierarchal chain held the Rajan (king) at the top while the dasi (female slave) at the bottom. Since the Vedas were written by and for the upper-class Brahmanas and the kshatriyas, there are no accounts of what happened to the dasi nor are there any account of rights for them. Older writing focused completely on the elite women.

The birth of a son was glorified and celebrated whereas, the birth a daughter was frowned upon. But, after birth the daughter naturally received parental love and attention but, there was a clear indication of gender differentiation. There are very few positive aspects of the life of a woman. (1) we find in mythological world Usas' mother had nicely decorated her daughter before she set out for her day's journey :

susarhkãsã mãtrmrsteva yosã ãvis tanvan krnuse drše kam (RV I. 123. 11 ab.) 'Fair as a bride embellished by her mother thou showest forth thy form that all may see it.' (tr. Griffith, p. 85) ( Chakravarty 179-180) (2) AV. XVIII. 1.53 : “tvasta duhitre vahatum krnoti tenedarh višvam bhuvanam sameti” TaiBr. II. 3. 10.1-3 “reveals through an interesting story candid, close and sweet relation between father and daughter. The story in brief is as follows : Prajãpati had a daughter Sítã by name. She wanted to get Soma as her husband. Soma, however, was in love with Šraddha, Prajäpati's other daughter. Helpless Sita approached her father. After having paid homage to her father she put to him her problem and begged a solution thereof. Prajãpati fathomed the process of solution of her daughter's problem. He turned her face to a very attractive one following ritualistic processes. Sítã approached Soma and fully conquered him. The story reveals that in the age of Brãhmanas a daughter did not hesitate to approach her father seeking solution of problem arisen out of her love for.” (Chakravarty 180-181) But, the negative side of position of women in the period definitely outweighed the positive. Positive or negative it remains a fact, that women were seen as a commodity and slave than humans.

“While Närada had been explainning to the sonless king Harišcandra the necessity of son in a man's life he specified the status of a wife, a son and a daughter in the following words “ (AitBr. VII. 13) : sakhã ha jãyã krpanam ha duhitã jyotir ha putrah parame vyoman 'A wife is a comrade, a daugher a misery , and a son a light in the highest heaven.' (tr. Keith, HOS 25, p. 300) (Chakravarty 182) So no matter what the position of a man was in the society, even if he was a king a daughter was a source of misery for him. Gestation rites called pumsavana were done to ensure birth of a son. Atharva Veda consisted of charms to convert a female foetus into male

The Brihadarankya Upanishad (6.4.17) talks mentions a ritual for a learned daughter. Education was prevelant in the brahminical class for both men and women. The importance of a girl’s education is stressed in Atharva Veda, which states – “ The success of a woman in her married life depends upon her training, during the Brahmacharya” Brahmacharya was one of the four ashramas. It is described as the first 25 years of a person’s life during which one acquires knowledege, skills that are required for one’s chosen profession are mastered and one has to practice celibacy. The other were the Grehashta Ashrama, Vanaprastha Ashrama and sansaya Ashrama . Girls were also entitled to receive Upanayana (the sacred thread), which signifies one’s entry into brahmacharya ashram which entitles one to study the Vedas. Women were also allowed to perform religios rites under the instructions of her guru. ( Kumbhare 3)

But women were not allowed to perfor rites in their own rights and ususally participated in rites with her husband. ( Singh 193) Girls also received training and education in fine arts such as painting and dancing the example of this being the famous painter, Chitralekha. There is also mention of unmarried woman like Ghosha - A Rig Vedic seer. ( Kumbhare 4). Though it was certainly frowned up most of the time for a woman to not have a male dominant power in her life. The Atharva Veda describes spinsterhood as the greatest curse for women (Singh 205). The hymns attributed to women are almost nothing in the Rig Veda which are only about 12-15 from over 1000 hymns so is the number of women sages. Nor are there any Women priests in the Rig Veda. This also suggests that though education was prevelant it was not always for the women. (Singh 193). We also have to note that women which were educated belonged only to the upper-caste Brahminical society. There are no evidences of child marriage in the rig vedas. It was certainely a later tradition. A woman was allowed to choose her husband. There are referances to occasional festivals known as the Samanas which arranged for girls and boys to meet. The Rig Veda describes the Samana as :“Wives and maidens attire themselves in gay robes and set fourth to the joyous fest; youths and maidens hasten to the meadow where the forest and field are clothed in fresh foliage to take part in dance. Cymbals sound and seizing each other lads and damsels gaily move around” (Kumbhare 8) But in the later vedic period, the condition of women started to deteorate. Her sexuality was seen as threat. The process of Niyoga ‘which was the privilege of affinal male kinsmen indicates that control over female sexuality- was firmly established.’ Niyoga was done under the directions of the elders of the community and no laws of chastity were applied. When the

Vedic period advanced to a pastoral period the role of an upper-class women was confined only to that of reproduction. Whether the women had a say in this nor not is not known and the dasis were not even in the discussion of creation of such systems. There is seen a need to guard women. She is often viewed as a temptress who is given to her sexual desires and will not care who the man is before engaging in sexual activity with him. The ‘Satapaiha Brahmana’“expresses the fear that the wife might go to other me” (SBI 3.1.21J) (Chakravarti 581). In marriage hymn in Atharva Veda (14.1-2) “the priest is assigned a prominent role in neutralizing the dangerous potential of the bride and ensuring her incorporation into her new home” Women clearly had to confine to docile roles. Shataptha Brahmana (10.5.2.9) states that “ A good woman is one who pleases her husband, delivers male childen, and never talks back to her husband.” (Singh 205) “ A degree of tension between men and women may be discerned even in the Rig Vedic literature where the relationship between the gods and goddesses is often depicted as hostile. There are references also to suggest that women must be rendered powerless by ensuring that they do not gain in strength and are obedient to men and follow them [Roy 1987: 23-30]” (Chakravarti 581) Women were not a part of the administration in any form and it was condemned in Maitrayani Samhita (4.7.4) by saying- “Men go to the assembly, not women”. A dasi was seen as a commodity and was a slave for labour and sexual gratification. Not much is known of her as she was not considered in anything. Her life and death were of no importance. Through all of this it was essential a woman depended on a male for everything. In childhood her father, in marriage her husband and in widowhood her son. Though, nationalists regard The Vedic Age the ‘Golden Age,’ it is not completely true for women. It is true, she

enjoyed certain liberties than what a woman enjoys today but in no ways was she free. But, more oppression or less oppression, it is still oppression. The Vedas has paved the way by laying down rules of how a society and its women should function. These laws are still followed. Terrible customs like child marriage and sati ( abolished in 1829) were added later. It is our responsibility, to understand the difference between right and wrong and not blindly follow religious guidelines which would lead to suppression of any human.

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