Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Women in Hinduism

Firstly, past must be judged by the morals and ethics of that time and not by the current standards, the old principles might well be questioned today but their validity at that particular moment of time was regarded as self-evident.

and secondly, there is no absolute morality and ethics, they need to be viewed relatively across communities of the particular time.
   

Women and Religion :

With development of emotions and intellect we formulated moral and ethics over thousands of years. Women’s role in society was to look after household and take care of family, outside work that included politics, religion, war, commerce, etc was left to males. There would have been few exceptions to these general rules and it were mostly the women of high class or someone with exceptional ability who could enter man’s domain. Ethics and morals were formulated by males with minimal inputs from females.

I will discuss the position of Women in developed societies : 1. Pre-Christian West 2. Post-Christian West 3. Hinduism (Islam is ignored for obvious reasons): 

1.   Women in Pre-Christian West :

The earliest written code in Human history is ‘Hammurabi Law Code’ of eighteenth century BCE in Babylon. The laws can be summed up as follows :

  1. Social order was more important than individual rights
  2. Women’s sexuality should be sacrificed to ensure legitimacy
  3. A family’s wealth should be administered by the husband/father
  4. Women, especially widows and divorcees, needed society’s help
Women’s sexuality belonged exclusively to her husband, and any interference therewith had to be punished as much as any other serious theft. 

http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/hammurabilawcode.htm

First millennium BC saw rise of Greek, Roman and Jewish societies in west. Detailed write-up on status of women in these societies before the Christian ear can be read at  http://www.womenpriests.org/classic/tetlow1.asp

Some of the excerpts from it are as follows :

“Sons were valued more than daughters”

“The primary duty of women in ancient Athens was to marry and to bear legitimate children so that their family unit might continue.”
“Attic literature of the period generally portrayed women as inferior and of dull and unpleasant character. It was thought that women should not be educated since that would make them more dangerous to men”

Plato : “In general women were expected to obey men. Even in the Republic, Plato noted that the place of woman was within the confines of her home.”

“Aristotle had an even lower view of women than his teacher. He believed that inequality between men and women was based upon the law of nature. Man is superior, woman inferior. Husbands and fathers should rule over their wives and daughters. Only men were thought capable of philosophy and the virtues. The role of women was obedience and silence. It has been suggested that the writings of Aristotle CODIFIED the general social practice and mores of Athens during the classical period.”

“There was a saying in ancient Greece, at various times attributed to Thales, Socrates and Plato, in which man thanked the gods that he was not uncivilized, a slave, or a woman”

“If sexual relations were considered evil, it was because contact with women was believed contaminating, not contact with men”

“Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, was an influential Roman woman who was HONORED because, as a widow with twelve children, she refused an offer of marriage from a hellenistic prince in fidelity to the memory of her late husband.”

“Widows who committed suicide upon the DEATH of their husbands were greatly HONORED.”

“Daughters were not given individual names. They were called by the feminine form of the name of their father. If there were more than one daughter, they were numbered. Infanticide, especially of girl babies, was practiced.”


Judiasm :

“In general women in the Old Testament were legally the property of men. This condition is characteristic of patriarchal societies. Before marriage the girl was the property of her father. After marriage a woman became the property of her husband. Widows were placed under the authority of their fathers, sons or brothers-in-law. polygamy was common. Women were considered objects of property among the spoils of war.”

“According to the Torah, women were impure during times of menstruation and childbirth. They were impure twice as long after the birth of a daughter as after the birth of a son. Any contact with women at such times rendered a man ritually unclean. Women also were thought to contaminate any object they touched.”

“Even within the synagogue women were kept at a distance and seated in an area segregated from the men.”

“Women were described not only as evil temptresses, but also as witches and nymphomaniacs. They were further caricatured as greedy, vain, lazy and frivolous. Rabbinic society was for the most part monagamous, but polygamy was still permitted to men. Divorce was compulsory if a wife was childless for ten years. Male children were viewed as preferable to female children. Every morning each Jewish man prayed in thanksgiving to God that he had been created a man and not a woman.”

“Legally they were still considered the property of men. Their testimony was not accepted as evidence in court.”

“Philo was a hellenistic Jewish philosopher living in first century Alexandria. He resisted the influence of his Egyptian environment and viewed women as inferior and evil creatures. Their proper place was in seclusion and in subordination to men, ruled by father or husband. He believed that man was led by reason and woman by sensuality. Influenced by the spirit-matter dichotomy of neo-platonism, he viewed sex, which involved contact with matter, as evil. Spiritual man, according to Philo, did well to avoid contact with sensual woman.”

“The woman, says the Law, is in all things inferior to the man. Let her accordingly be submissive, not for her humiliation, but that she may be directed; for the authority has been given by God to the man.”
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Sacrificing daughters is a custom that goes back to the Ancient Greeks - Agamemnon's sacrifice was written up by Homer in his epics, and it does reflect upon a custom practiced long before Homer himself. If we go by current theory that considers the Homeric epics an Iron Age rendition of oral Bronze Age traditions, then the oppression and brutal treatment of women goes even further back into human history.


2.     Women in Post Christian West :

Orthodox Christians held women responsible for all sin. As the Bible Apocrypha states: "Of woman came the beginning of sin/ and thanks to her, we all must die.”  St. Augustine, the much celebrated Father of the Church, thought that sex was intrinsically evil. Denying human free will and condemning sexual pleasure made it easier to control and contain people.  Christian history is replete with condemnations of human sexuality.

The witch hunts were an eruption of orthodox Christianity's vilification of women, "the weaker vessel" in St. Peter's words. The witch hunts also demonstrated great fear of female sexuality. The word “witch” comes from the old English wicce and wicca, meaning the male and female participants in the ancient pagan tradition which holds masculine, feminine and earthly aspects of God in great reverence. Hence, sexual desire was considered ungodly. Pope John XXII formalized the persecution of witchcraft in 1320 when he authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcery." Witch hunt were justified in those contexts with reference to the Bible's prescription: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Exodus 22:18).  "The Burning Times" is an English term referring to the time of the Great European Witchhunts (1450-1750). Also sometimes referred to as Women's Holocaust.

Christian philosopher, Boethius, who wrote in “The Consolation of Philosophy”, "Woman is a temple built upon a sewer." The 13th century  St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that God had made a mistake in creating woman: Lutherans at Wittenberg debated whether women were really human beings at all. Orthodox Christians held women responsible for all sin.

The second century St Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman." And Lutherans at Wittenberg debated whether woman were really human beings at all. The Church father Tertullian also explained why women deserve their status as despised and inferior human beings. 

(source: The Dark Side of Christian History - By Helen Ellerbe Morningstar Books July 1995 p. 115 - 121).

Even the reformer Martin Luthar has to say this :  "God created Adam Lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled it all. Women should remain at home, sit still, keep house and bear children. And if a woman grows weary and, at last, dies from childbearing, it matters not.  Let her die from bearing; she is there to do it."

3.     Women in Hinduism :

The sticks to beat the condition of women in Hinduism are a) Sati b) Dowry c) Dev Dasi d) Status in religion e) Manu’s derogatory references

Let us examine these one by one :

a)   Sati :

The Rg-Veda contains a famous passage mentioning Sati – and preventing it. The eighth richa (X 18.8) (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10018.htm) specifically commands a Hindu widow to return alive to her home - “Rise, come unto the world of life, O woman: come, he is lifeless by whose side thou liest. Wifehood with this thy husband was thy portion, who took thy hand and wooed thee as a lover” and H. H. Wilson translates the same verse "Rise woman, and go to the world of living beings; come, this man near whom you sleep is lifeless; you have enjoyed this state of being the wife of your husband, the suitor who took you by the hand."

So the most revered and oldest religious text of Hinduism actually commands a Hindu widow to return to the world of living beings. Also, this very richa confers upon her full right on the house of her deceased husband (apne putradi aur ghar).  

This Vedic testimony proves two things: (1) Sati already existed since pre-Vedic times and (2) it was disapproved of by the mainstream Hindu tradition.

Gautama Buddha, who castigated customs of animal sacrifice and other customs where pain was inflicted, is entirely silent on burning of women alive. From which we can conclude that Sati might have been present in rare cases and not yet become popular as it did in later years.

More details can be read at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)#Altekar.27s_chronology


Was Sati a voluntary tradition ?

The Greek historian Nikolaos Damaskenos (Paradoxon Ethnikon Synagoge, Fragm. 143), who wrote toward the end of the first century B.C., explicitly states in his “Paradoxical Customs” that “when the Hindus die, they cause to be burned with them the most devoted one of their wives; and there is great rivalry on the part of the wives themselves, as well as of their friends, each striving to gain the day”. 

Cicero(Tusculanae Disputationes, 5. 27, 78) also breaks forth in his “Tusculan Disputations” with an impassioned utterance against this ‘barbarous’ Hindu custom, stating that “when the husband dies, the wives dispute as to which of them loved him most (for polygamy is customary among them), and she that gains the day is escorted in triumph by her household and is placed by the side of her husband on the pyre, while the unsuccessful wife withdraws in dejection”.

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/tag/thracian-sati/

“A description of sati appears in the Greek 1st-century BC historian Diodorus Siculus's account of the war fought in Iran between two of Alexander the Great's generals, Eumenes of Cardia and Antigonus Monophthalmus. In 317 BC Eumenes' cosmopolitan army defeated that of Antigonus in the Battle of Paraitakene. Among the fallen was one Ceteus, the commander of Eumenes' Indian soldiers. Diodorus writes that Ceteus had been followed on campaign by his two wives, at his funeral the two wives competed for the honour of joining their husband on the pyre. After the older wife was found to be pregnant, Eumenes' generals ruled in favour of the younger. She was led to the pyre crowned in garlands to the hymns of her kinsfolk. The whole army then marched three times around the pyre before it was lit. According to Diodorus the practice of sati started because Indians married for love, unlike the Greeks who favoured marriages arranged by the parents. When inevitably many of these love marriages turned sour, the woman would often poison the husband and find a new lover. To end these murders, a law was therefore instituted that the widow should either join her husband in death or live in perpetual widowhood.[17] Modern historians believe Diodorus' source for this episode was the eyewitness account of the now lost historian Hieronymus of Cardia. Hieronymus' explanation of the origin of sati appears to be his own composite, created from a variety of Indian traditions and practices to form a moral lesson upholding traditional Greek values.[18]”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)#Origins_and_comparisons

Even the often quoted Sati in Mahabharata of Madri was voluntary, where she fights with the other wife of Pandu – Kunti – to commit Sati.

First hand account of Britisher officer William Sleeman in early 19th centaury records 4 sati incidents – out of which 3 were voluntary. Of the one incident of which he was an eye witness – he himself persuaded the widow with threats and allurements but had to give-up and allowed her to perform sati on her insistence (story worth reading) :


This is what he writes : “I must do the family the justice to say that they all exerted themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose, and had she lived she would assuredly have been cherished and honoured as the first female member of the whole house. There is no people in the world among whom parents are more loved, honoured, and obeyed than among the Hindoos; and the grandmother is always more honoured than the mother. No queen upon her throne could ever have been approached with more reverence by her subjects than was this old lady by all the members of her family as she sat upon a naked rock in the bed of the river, with only a red rag upon her head and a single-white sheet over her shoulders.”

In some cases, families forced widows to commit Sati under pressure from altered British inheritance laws. But still, it were Hindus themselves who misused a hoary Hindu practice. They even cited a skewed reading of the Rg-Vedic verse in support of Sati, a classic case of the pliability of “tradition”.

Ashish Nandy (a Christian) writes: “The last “large-scale epidemic of sati” (in Westernizing Bengal of the early 19th century, where new British inheritance laws turned a surviving daughter-in-law into a pecuniary rival) was a “logical culmination of rational, secular cost-calculation against the background in traditional values….if anything, modern values, not traditional ones, were to blame.” Indeed, “the epidemic was a feature of exactly the part of the society – the Westernizing, culturally uprooted, urban and semi-urban Indians – that was most dismissive towards the rest of society as a bastion of superstition and activism.” 


Was Sati only confined to Hindus?

“In the 1886 published Hobson-Jobson, Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell mention the practice of Suttee (sati) as an early custom of Russians near Volga, tribes of Thracians in southeast Europe, and some tribes of Tonga and Fiji islands.[19] Yule and Burnell also compiled a few dozen excerpts of historical descriptions of sati, the first being of Ceteus (or Keteus) mentioned above in 317 BC, and then a few before the 9th century AD, where the widow of a king had the choice to burn with him or abstain. Most of the compiled list on sati, by Yule and Burnell, date from 1200 AD through the 1870s AD”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)#Origins_and_comparisons

In Roman Empire - “Widows who committed suicide upon the DEATH of their husbands were greatly HONORED.”

As a general rule, it was more frequent in societies where women had honour to uphold, whereas societies where women were treated as household commodities (like the Greeks) did not know the practice at all. Variations on Sati, with harem wives and servants following their kings into death, are recorded in ancient Egypt, ancient China, Mongolia (where the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism put an end to it) and other societies. 

The Hindu warrior caste, at least in some areas, upheld the practice until the collective Sati of several of Shivaji Bhonsle’s and of Ranjit Singh’s wives. Sati was observed within Sikh aristocracy. For example, when the founder of the Sikh Empire Ranjit Singh died in 1839, four of his proper wives and seven of his concubines committed themselves to sati. Two wives committed sati when Sikh King Kharak Singh died, and five women joined the funeral pyre of Maharaja Basant Singh. When Raja Suchet Singh died in 1844, 310 women committed sati. Sikh theology does not support the Sati practice, however, as is evidenced by the criticism of the practice by the 3rd Sikh Guru Guru Amar Das (1479–1554).

Only a tiny minority of the Hindus, and even of the caste most famous for it, the Rajputs, ever committed Sati, but the practice had and largely still has a much wider constituency of supporters.

Temples are erected for the women who committed it, where their heroism and loyalty is venerated: the Satisthal-s (now rebaptized as Shaktisthal-s, since Roop Kanwar’s Sati triggered a prohibition on the glorification of Sati). In South India, these women are commemorated with standing stones or Satikal-s, while men who have died while defending their villages get their Virakal-s, “hero stones”. So, whereas few women ever committed Sati, those who saw and venerated the heroism of it, were many.

Secondly, Hindu scripture largely frowns on it but accepts it for the warrior caste. A good but also difficult point in Hindu ethics is its relativity: depending on caste, age group and circumstances, the rules may differ. Caste autonomy is also recognized, and the decision of the caste Panchayat (council) effectively overruled anything written in the so-called law books. For instance, Brahmins wrote law books sternly condemning abortion, yet pre- and postnatal abortion was rife in some castes. The current problem of female feticide is based on this “Hindu” tradition, yet is clearly forbidden by the equally Hindu law books. So, Sati also had a place in the Hindu commonwealth even if it was forbidden for most people.

Hindus, however, much in contrast with Muslims, can effect reform starting below, through a change in mentality. Even the law books, deemed a hotbed of unchanging orthodoxy, explicitly lay down that reform is permissible, esp. if effected by those familiar with the spirit of the law books, who judge that in new circumstances it is better served by a new concretization. Hindus have spontaneously adapted much better to modernity. With some prodding from the secular state, but mainly be an evolution in mentalities, Sati is becoming a quaint memory. The conviction that for a widow, there is life after the death of her husband, is becoming generalized even among the castes where self-immolation was customary. 

http://koenraadelst.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-sati-strategy-review-of-meenakshi.html

Over the centuries, relatives have been murdering relatives for property. This will continue in the coming centuries too. Greed is human nature. If greedy people incite a widow to commit suicide on the pyre of her husband, let us not say or believe that widow burning is sanctified by the Rigveda or by Hinduism.


b). Dowry :  

The Hindu custom of dowry has long been blamed for the murder of wives and female infants in India. Veena Oldenburg’s seminal book, “Dowry Murder”, gives details on how the British encouraged the Indians to dish out cases of atrocities that could then be blamed on the native cultures. They systematically compiled these anecdotes, mostly unsubstantiated and often exaggerated and one-sided. This became a justification to enact laws that downgraded the rights of common citizens. She argues that these killings are neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture or caste system that encourages violence against women. Rather, such killings can be traced directly to the influences of the British colonial era.  

The book shows how the dowry extortions that have become so common in middle-class today, were actually started when women’s traditional property rights were taken away by the British through convoluted logic. In the Pre-Colonial period, dowry was an institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to establish their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of the massive economic and societal upheaval brought on by British rule, women's entitlements to the precious resources obtained from land were erased and their control of the system diminished, ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives.

Taking us on a journey into the colonial Punjab, she skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to indict them for interpreting these crimes against women as the inherent defects of Hindu caste culture. The British, publicized their "civilizing mission" and blamed the caste system in order to cover up the devastation their own agrarian policies had wrought on the Indian countryside.


The Christian scholar, J. N. Farquhar wrote in his book Modern Religious Movements in 1914, that “the evil seems to be largely a result of the progress of Western education.” He adds an example of a girl in Calcutta who committed suicide “to release her father from the impasse.” The first dowry deaths in the 19th century were indeed suicides by daughters who tried to spare their fathers the huge debts, and this was in the most anglicized communities.

c)    Dev Dasi :
In South India, a devadasi is a girl "dedicated" to worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication takes place in a ceremony which is similar in some ways to marriage. Originally, in addition to taking care of the temple and performing rituals, these women learned and practiced traditional dance forms like Bharatanatyam, Odissi,  and other classical Indian artistic traditions and enjoyed a high social status as dance and music were essential part of temple worship.

Traditionally devadasis had a high status in society. After marrying wealthy patrons, they spent their time honing their skills instead of becoming a housewife. They had children from their husbands who were also taught their skills of music or dance. Often their patrons had another wife who served them as housewife.

The popularity of devadasis seems to have reached its pinnacle around 10th and 11th century CE. The rise and fall in the status of devadasis can be seen to be running parallel to the rise and fall of Hindu temples. The destruction of temples by Islamic invaders started from the northwestern borders of the country and spread through the whole of the country. Thereafter the status of the temples fell very quickly in North India and slowly in South India. As the temples became poorer and lost their patron kings, and in some cases were destroyed, the devadasis were forced into a life of poverty, misery, and, in many cases, prostitution.

Pioneers like Madam H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical movement, had undertaken an extensive tour of South India and propagated the revival of devadasi institutions and the associated art of Bharatanatyam. They gained support from some sections of the native elite by their public denouncement of western Christian morality and materialism. In 1882, the Theosophical Society of India had set up its headquarters in Adyar, Chennai with the set goal of working towards the restoration of India's ancient glory in art, science, and philosophy. As a result of this effort, a great exponent Rukmini Devi Arundale was able to resurrect the lost art of Bharatanatyam.  A rich devadasi from Bangalore Nagarathnamma revived the practice of singing in temples, which resulted in emergence of female trinity of Carnatic music — D K Pattammal, M L Vasanthakumari and M S Subbulakshmi — at the Aradhana, it was because of the groundwork done by Nagarathnamma.

More read on Devdasi : http://www.pragyata.com/mag/devadasi-the-fallen-idol-41#disqus_thread
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devadasi

d)    Status in religion :

Hinduism recognizes both the masculine and feminine attributes of the Divine, and that without honoring the feminine aspects, one cannot claim to know God in entirety. So we also have many male-female divine-duos like Radha-Krishna, Sita-Rama, Uma-Mahesh, and Lakshmi-Narayan, where the female form is usually addressed first.

This concept is carried further to its logical climax in the form of Ardhanaareeswara, formed by the fusion of Shiva and Shakti in one body, each occupying one half of the body, denoting that one is incomplete without the other.

In Hinduism, all power, Shakti, is female. Shakti is the fundamental strength of the feminine that infuses all life and is viewed as a goddess. Shakti is the divine feminine power found in everything. 

Hindu tradition recognizes mother and motherhood as even superior to heaven. The epic Mahabharata says, "While a father is superior to ten Brahmin priests well-versed in the Vedas, a mother is superior to ten such fathers, or the entire world."

Yajur Veda (14.2.71) states “I am this man, that dame are you; I am the psalm and you the verse. I am the heaven and you the earth. So will we dwell together here, parents of children yet to be.

 Rig Veda verse (5.61.6) –“Many-a-times woman is more firm and better than the man who shuns away from Gods and does not offer sacrifices (yajna).”

The Rig Veda too places woman on a high pedestal of sublimity: Yatr nariyastu poojayante ramante tatr devah, where woman is worshipped, Gods preside there.

Atharva Veda (14.1.64): “Let the man offer Vedic prayers in front of her, behind her, at your centre and at her ends. By doing so, let God’s inviolable grace illuminate her home with good fortune and dignity.” 

Similarly, Rig Veda (3.53.4) clearly asks every husband to be accompanied by his wife during the Yajna ceremony.

There is not single evidence in the Vedic history to show that a noble king (Arya) married a woman without her consent.

Atharva Veda (14.2.60) warns every householder that if a daughter weeps in a house, then it is a bad omen and that all the positive karma will burn up. Here is the exact translation of the verse: “If in your house your daughter has wept with disheveled locks, then you are committing sin as a result of her grief.”

Matr devo bhava – Mother is God - was the first Upanisadic exhortation to the young.


Education and Scholars : 

There were a class of women called brahmavadinis who remained unmarried and spent their lives in study and ritual. There is clear distinction between arcarya (a lady teacher) and acaryani (a teacher's wife), and upadhyaya (a woman preceptor) and upadhyayani ( a preceptor's wife) indicating that women at that time could not only be students but also teachers of sacred texts.

The close connection of women with divine revelation in Hinduism may be judged from the fact that of the 407 Sages associated with the revelation of Rig Veda, 21 are women.

Seventeen of these seers (rishikasand brahmavadinis ) to whom the hymns of the Rig Veda were revealed were : 

Romasa, Lopamudra, Apata, Kadru, Vishvavara, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Jarita, Shraddha-Kamayani, Urvashi, Sharnga, Yami, Indrani, Savitri and Devayani. 

The Sama Veda mentions another four: Nodha (or Purvarchchika), Akrishtabhasha, Shikatanivavari (or Utararchchika) and Ganpayana.

The separate dialogue between sage Yājñavalkya and Maitreyi  (his wife) and Gargi (an independent scholar / debater) forms the very basis of Hindu philosophy (Advita philosophy) of quest of ‘self’.  The terms like ‘Neti-Neti’ – ‘neither this, nor that’  and “aham brahmāsmi” - "I am Brahman", or "I am Divine"   are the result of that dialogue / debate.

Education for girls was regarded as quite important. While Brahmin girls were taught Vedic wisdom, girls of the Ksatriya community were taught the use of the bow and arrow. The Barhut sculptures represent skilful horsewomen in the army. Patanjali mentions the spearbearers (saktikis). Megasthenes speaks of Chandragupta's bodyguard of Amazonian women. Kautilya mentions women archers (striganaih dhanvibhih). In houses as well as in the forest Universities of India, boys and girls were educated together. Atreyi studied under Valmiki along with Lava and Kusa, the sons of Rama. Fine arts like music, dancing and painting was specially encouraged in the case of girls. 

Homosexuality :

There is no condemnation of homosexuality in Hindu scripture. Specific mention is made in the Kama Sutra (4th century AD).  Lesbians are referred to assvarini, women known for their independence, who refuse husbands and have relations in their own homes.

e)   Manu’s derogatory references :

The most maligned of the Hindu sages -Manu -has following negative things to say about women :
1. “Swabhav ev narinam …..” – 2/213. It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world; for that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females.
2. “Avidvam samlam………..” – 2/214. Women, true to their class character, are capable of leading astray men in this world, not only a fool but even a learned and wise man. Both become slaves of desire.
3. “Matra swastra ………..” – 2/215. Wise people should avoid sitting alone with one’s mother, daughter or sister. Since carnal desire is always strong, it can lead to temptation.
4. “Naudwahay……………..” – 3/8. One should not marry women who has have reddish hair, redundant  parts of the body [such as six fingers], one who is often sick, one without hair or having excessive hair and one who has red eyes.
5. “Nraksh vraksh ………..” – 3/9. One should not marry women whose names are similar to constellations,  trees, rivers, those from a low caste, mountains, birds, snakes, slaves or those whose names inspires terror.
6. “Yasto na bhavet ….. …..” – 3/10. Wise men should not marry women who do not have a brother and whose parents are not socially well known.
7. “Uchayangh…………….” – 3/11. Wise men should marry only women who are free from bodily defects, with beautiful names, grace/gait like an elephant, moderate hair on the head and body, soft limbs and small teeth.
8. “Shudr-aiv bharya………” – 3/12.Brahman men can marry Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaish and even Shudra women but Shudra men can marry only Shudra women.
9. “Na Brahman kshatriya..” – 3/14. Although Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaish men have been allowed inter-caste marriages, even in distress they should not marry Shudra women.
10. “Heenjati striyam……..” – 3/15. When twice born [dwij=Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaish] men in their folly marry low caste Shudra women, they are responsible for the degradation of their whole family. Accordingly, their children adopt all the demerits of the Shudra caste.
11. “Shudram shaynam……” – 3/17. A Brahman who marries a Shudra woman, degrades himself and his whole family  ,becomes morally degenerated , loses Brahman status and his children too attain status  of shudra.
12. “Daiv pitrya………………” – 3/18. The offerings made by such a person at the time of established rituals are neither accepted by God nor by the departed soul; guests also refuse to have meals with him and he is bound to go to hell after death.
13. “Chandalash ……………” – 3/240. Food offered and served to Brahman after Shradh ritual should not be seen by a chandal, a pig, a cock,a dog, and a menstruating women.
14. “Na ashniyat…………….” – 4/43. A Brahman, true defender of his class, should not have his meals in the company of his wife  and even avoid looking at her. Furthermore, he should not look towards her when she is having her meals or when she sneezes/yawns.
15. “Na ajyanti……………….” – 4/44. A Brahman in order to preserve his energy and intellect, must not look at women who applies collyrium to her eyes, one who is massaging her nude body or one who is delivering a child.
16. “Mrshyanti…………….” – 4/217. One should not accept meals from a woman who has extra marital relations; nor from a family exclusively dominated/managed by women or a family whose 10 days of impurity because of death have not passed.
17. “Balya va………………….” – 5/150. A female child, young woman or old woman is not supposed to work independently even at her place of residence.
18. “Balye pitorvashay…….” – 5/151. Girls are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, women must be under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son as widows. In no circumstances is she allowed to assert herself independently.
19. “Asheela  kamvrto………” – 5/157. Men may be lacking virtue, be sexual perverts, immoral and devoid of any good qualities, and yet women must constantly worship and serve their husbands.
20. “Na ast strinam………..” – 5/158. Women have no divine right to perform any religious ritual, nor make vows or observe a fast. Her only duty is to obey and please her husband and she will for that reason alone be exalted in heaven.
21. “Kamam to………………” – 5/160. At her pleasure [after the death of her husband], let her emaciate her body by living only on pure flowers, roots of vegetables and fruits. She must not even mention the name of any other men after her husband has died.
22. “Vyabhacharay…………” – 5/167. Any women violating duty and code of conduct towards her husband, is disgraced and becomes a patient of leprosy. After death, she enters womb of Jackal.
23. “Kanyam bhajanti……..” – 8/364. In case women enjoy sex with a man from a higher caste, the act is not punishable. But on the contrary, if women enjoy sex with lower caste men, she is to be punished and kept in isolation.
24. “Utmam sevmansto…….” – 8/365. In case a man from a lower caste enjoys sex with a woman from a higher caste, the person in question is to be awarded the death sentence. And if a person satisfies his carnal desire with women of his own caste, he should be asked to pay compensation to the women’s faith.
25. “Ya to kanya…………….” – 8/369. In case a woman tears the membrane [hymen] of her Vagina, she shall instantly have her head shaved or two fingers cut off and made to ride on Donkey.
26. “Bhartaram…………….” – 8/370. In case a women, proud of the greatness of her excellence or her relatives, violates her duty towards her husband, the King shall arrange to have her thrown before dogs at a public place.
27. “Pita rakhshati……….” – 9/3. Since women are not capable of living independently, she is to be kept under the custody of her father as child, under her husband as a woman and under her son as widow.
28. “Imam hi sarw………..” – 9/6. It is the duty of all husbands to exert total control over their wives. Even physically weak husbands must strive to control their wives.
29. “Pati bharyam ……….” – 9/8. The husband, after the conception of his wife, becomes the embryo and is born again of her. This explains why women are called Jaya.
30. “Panam durjan………” – 9/13. Consuming liquor, association with wicked persons, separation from her husband, rambling around, sleeping for unreasonable hours and dwelling -are six demerits of women.
31. “Naita rupam……………” – 9/14. Such women are not loyal and have extra marital relations with men without consideration for their age.
32. “Poonshchalya…………” – 9/15. Because of their passion for men, immutable temper and natural heartlessness, they are not loyal to their husbands.
33. “Na asti strinam………” – 9/18. While performing namkarm and jatkarm, Vedic mantras are not to be recited by women, because women are lacking in strength and knowledge of Vedic texts. Women are impure and represent falsehood.
34. “Devra…sapinda………” – 9/58. On failure to produce offspring with her husband, she may obtain offspring by cohabitation with her brother-in-law [devar] or with some other relative [sapinda] on her in-law’s side.
35. “Vidwayam…………….” – 9/60. He who is appointed to cohabit with a widow shall approach her at night, be anointed  with clarified butter and silently beget one son, but by no means a second one.
36. “Yatha vidy……………..” – 9/70. In accordance with established law, the sister-in-law [bhabhi] must be clad in white garments; with pure intent her brother-in-law [devar] will cohabitate with her until she conceives.
37. “Ati kramay……………” – 9/77. Any women who disobey orders of her lethargic, alcoholic and diseased husband shall be deserted for three months and be deprived of her ornaments.
38. “Vandyashtamay…….” – 9/80. A barren wife may be superseded in the 8th year; she whose children die may be superseded in the 10th year and she who bears only daughters may be superseded in the 11th year;  but she who is quarrelsome may be superseded without delay.
39. “Trinsha……………….” – 9/93. In case of any problem in performing religious rites, males between the age of 24 and 30 should marry a female between the age of 8 and 12.
40. “Yambrahmansto…….” – 9/177. In case a Brahman man marries Shudra woman, their son will be called ‘Parshav’ or ‘Shudra’ because his social existence is like a dead body.

A lot of the above verses are harmless and whatever negative is there in the other verses is quite similar to the life of women in Greek, Roman and Jewish Society (mentioned above – in pre-Christian West).

One should always take the wholesome view of the Manu’s thoughts. Here are some of the positives that he mentions about women :

Women are given preference ahead of others.

3/56. Where women are honoured, there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honoured, no sacred rite yields rewards.
9/26. Those wives or striyah who bears children, who secure many blessings, who are worthy of worship and who irradiate (their) dwellings by prosperity, there is no difference between them and goddesses of fortune.
2/ 138. Way must be made for a man in a carriage, for one who is above ninety years old, for one diseased, for the carrier of a burden, for a woman, for a Snataka(educated), for the king, and for a bridegroom.
3/114. Without hesitation he may give food, even before his guests, to the following persons, (viz.) to newly-married women, to infants, to the sick, and to pregnant women.
Women are ranked important in family.
3/60. In that family, where the husband is pleased with his wife and the wife with her husband, happiness will assuredly be lasting.
3/62. If the wife is radiant with happiness, the whole house is heaven; but if she is destitute of happiness, all will appear hell.
3/59. Hence men, who seek (their own) welfare, should always honour women on holidays and festivals with (gifts of) ornaments, clothes, and (dainty) food.
3/55. Women must be honoured and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire (their own) welfare.
9/13. Drinking (spirituous liquor), associating with wicked people, separation from the husband, rambling abroad, sleeping (at unseasonable hours), and dwelling in other men’s houses, are the six causes of the ruin of women.
If women are not happy in family that family is perished.
3/57. Where the female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes; but that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers.
3/58. The houses, on which female relations, not being duly honoured, pronounce a curse, perish completely, as if destroyed by magic.
Women are the source of happiness in a family.
9/28. Offspring’s, the due performance on religious rites, faithful service, highest conjugal happiness and heavenly bliss for the ancestors and oneself, depend on one’s wife alone.
Never quarrel with your wife.
4/180. With his father and his mother, with female relatives, with a brother, with his son and his wife, with his daughter and with his servants, let him not have quarrels.
No one should leave their wives.
8/389. Neither a mother, nor a father, nor a wife, nor a son shall be cast off; he who casts them off, unless guilty of a crime causing loss of caste, shall be fined six hundred (panas).
Son and daughter are equal as per Manu smriti.
9/130. A son is even (as) oneself, (such) a daughter is equal to a son; how can another (heir) take the estate, while such (an appointed daughter who is even) oneself, lives?
9/131. But whatever may be the separate property of the mother, that is the share of the unmarried daughter alone; and the son of an (appointed) daughter shall take the whole estate of (his maternal grandfather) who leaves no son.
9/192. But when the mother has died, all the uterine brothers and the uterine sisters shall equally divide the mother’s estate.
9/212. His uterine brothers, having assembled together, shall equally divide it, and those brothers who were reunited (with him) and the uterine sisters.
Remarriage allowed in Manu smriti.
9/176. If she be (still) a virgin, or one who returned (to her first husband) after leaving him, she is worthy to again perform with her second (or first deserted) husband the (nuptial) ceremony.
Women should beget husband of her choice and good qualities.
9/90. Three years let a damsel wait, though she is marriageable; but after that time let her choose for herself a bridegroom of her choice.
9/89. (But) the maiden, though marriageable, should rather stop in (the father’s) house until death, than that he should ever give her to a man destitute of good qualities.
Care of alone women prescribed by government in Manu smriti and any one depending on women is consider as sinner.
8/28. In like manner care must be taken of barren women, of those who have no sons, of those whose family is extinct, of wives and widows faithful to their lords, and of women afflicted with diseases.
8/29. A righteous king must punish like thieves those relatives who appropriate the property of such females during their lifetime.
3/52. But those (male) relations, who, in their folly, live on the separate property of women, (e.g. appropriate) the beasts of burden, carriages, and clothes of women, commit sin and will sink into hell.
Hard punishment for crime against womanhood
8/367. But if any man through insolence forcibly contaminates a maiden, two of his fingers shall be instantly cut off, and he shall pay a fine of six hundred (panas).
8/323. For stealing men of noble family and especially women and the most precious gems, (the offender) deserves corporal (or capital) punishment.
8/352. Men who commit adultery with the wives of others, the king shall cause to be marked by punishments which cause terror, and afterwards banish.
9/232. Forgers of royal edicts, those who corrupt his ministers, those who slay women, infants, or Brahmanas, and those who serve his enemies, the king shall put to death.
Lastly all religious rituals are ordered by Manu to not to complete without wife.
9/96. To be mothers were women created, and to be fathers men; religious rites, therefore, are ordained in the Veda to be performed (by the husband) together with the wife.
Women are advised not to live alone in view of danger.
4/149. She must not seek to separate herself from her father, husband, or sons; by leaving them she would make both (her own and her husband’s) families contemptible



Manu says, “There is one set of dharma for men in the kritayuga; a different set for each of tretayuga, dvapara and kaliyugas; the dharma change according to the change of yuga. “The Hindu (i.e Sanatana Dharma) view makes room for essential changes. There must be no violent break with social heredity, and yet the new stresses, conflicts and confusions will have to be faced and overcome; while the truths of spirit are permanent the rules change from age to age”.

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/the-legal-system-in-ancient-india-1391-1.html

Moreover Manu’s Laws were never codified law of Hindus ie no Hindu King in history had enacted laws as per Manu Smiriti. Hindus always made laws through debate and discussion without invoking God  and changed their laws as per the requirement to time (Al Beruni’s Indica)

Britishers while wanting to enact the laws for locals were looking out for Law Codes – for muslims they found sharia while there was nothing for hindus. Hindus had a loose concept of law which varied from place to place and with time to time.  In order to codify Hindu laws they resuscitated Manu Smiriti which was just one of the books written by a sage and was never a Law Book of any Hindu ruler. Moreover  there were other Law Books written by other sages.

 “William Jones for example, in his role as Supreme Court Judge in India, initiated a project to translate the Dharmanastras in the misguided belief that this represented the law of the Hindus, in order to circumvent what he saw as the ‘culpable bias’ of the native pandits. In taking the Dharmaidstras as a binding law-book, Jones manifests the Judaeo-Christian paradigm within which he conceived of religion, and the attempt to apply such a book universally reflects Jones’ ‘textual imperialism.’52 The problem with taking the Dharmaastras as pan-Indian in application is that the texts themselves were representative of a priestly elite (the brahmana castes), and not of Hindus in toto.

Thus, even within these texts, there was no notion of a unified, Hindu community, but rather an acknowledgement of a plurality of local, occupational and caste contexts in which different customs or rules applied.53 It was thus in this manner that society was made to conform to ancient dharmaSastra texts, in spite of those texts’ insistence that they were overridden by local and group custom. It eventually allowed Anglicist administrators to manipulate the porous boundary between religion as defined by texts and customs they wished to ban.54 ”

This is from ‘Orientalism and the Modern Myth of “Hinduism”‘ by Richard King
http://faculty.smcm.edu/jwschroeder/Web/ASIA3501/Religion_and_Violence_in_Asia_files/6.MythofHinduism.pdf


And how did Hindus acted once they got the political power after 1000 years :
a)  Sati was banned and so is its glorification ie sati temples cannot be built
b)  Dowry : Indian laws are so stringent on dowry that in reality it is now males who are the real victims of dowry laws.
c)   Dev Dasi – It is banned.
d)  Religious Status : Females that too from backward communities are being initiated into priesthood. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hindu-temple-to-have-women-backward-caste-priests/articleshow/34952184.cms - interesting thing is that there is no opposition from any quarter of the society.
e)  Laws : Hindu gave equal status to women in the first decade after independence – polygamy was banned, Hindu females get equal share in their parent’s property.

Personal observation :

What better way to know the things than to observe it in one’s own fraternity. I am witness to 4 generations of women in my family and surroundings : Grandmother, mother, wife and daughter (similar is the story of almost all females in the environment in which I grew and live).

Grandmother : illiterate, docile always had a ‘duppta’ / ‘chador’ on her head (never seen her without one) – no make-up, very modestly dressed.

Mother : Higher Secondary Pass out, assertive, was a teacher – father made her left the job to take care of us - kids. No ‘chador’ on her head (except during prayer time) – dressing modestly – (Indian clothes – salwar/ kameeze and saris) and have never trimmed her hair – never been to a parlor.

Wife : PhD, Sr. Professor, No ‘chador’ – trims her hair, wears jeans, tops along with Indian salwar/ kameeze and saris, – is quite independent.

Daughter : still school going; but does not like Indian clothes – will argue to prove her point of view, fiercely independent – have her own plans for life.

The traits mentioned above were / are same across respective generations in the same class that I move in. In each generation, the restriction on females and their behavior was due to societical customs and never religious.  God or any other religious scripture or quote from texts was never bought in discussion by anyone when discussing female behavior or changing norms of society.

The change in female’s attitude is solely due to changing societical norms – meaning Hindusim has nothing to do with restriction and behavior of females – it is always customs / culture of the time.

I give another personal example : One of my Paternal aunts was very beautiful (I saw her in old age – and she had tremendous grace) when young. My grandparents kept her constantly in ‘chador’ not showing her face to any stranger and she was not allowed to step out of home, she was married early and even her husband had imposed similar restrictions on her. I was told the reason for this by my other aunts (5 of them) -who were relatively free- that Kings (there were several - as principalities were small) of that time (1930s-40s) used to abduct beautiful females to keep them in their harem. King’s informants were always on a look-out to spot beauties to get King’s favour. Raja of Patalia had acquired 365 queens in such manner. Aunt’s daughters who were equally beautiful but had a normal upbringing of those times – since threat of abduction by kings subsided.

Another example is that most Hindu women in villages still cover their heads by ‘chador’ or ‘ghungat’ ie cover their face entirely by ‘chador’. Again this has nothing to do with Hinduism – it is a social norm carried forward due to threat posed earlier to females by Kings or Islamic raiders. Proof of this can be found in South India where there was no or very minimal conquest by Islamic invaders – females do not cover their heads by any chador – in fact even in temples women are not allowed to cover their heads unlike in north india where most females cover their heads while visiting temples.
In summary – whatever Hindu restrictions were imposed on hindu women were due to the customs of that time and their position too is changing as per times – religion is just not a factor. Another example : a young hindu couple (my tenet) whom I meet daily are in live-in relationship – and there is no opposition to them from any quarter.

Hinduism and Sex :
If we are to form the one sentence reason for women’s oppression – it is ‘Mans desire to control female sexual parts – which are shameful.’ (In arabic ‘Aurat’ means vagina that is shameful and hence should be covered)  Male animals do not want to control sexual parts of females and have no shame – that is why they are free. Even among tribal people – they don’t have much taboos associated with sex or shame and hence females are free and equal.

Now Hinduism is a religion that has philosophized sex, it has equated sex with gods and it is not a dirty or shameful act. Various sexual encounters between gods are depicted like any other incident. Myth of creation of various species is also depicted as sexual act of Bhrama with Shatarupa - http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/deities/brahma.shtml   

Any temple would have Lingam that represents Shiva and Shakti in copulating position. Figures at Khujorao Temple depicts Sexual acts – then there is Kama Sutra, Tantra, etc.

Pleasure of senses  (Kama) is one of the four important aims of life (others being artha, dharma and moksha).

Prudery was quite unknown to ancient Indian artists, who had no conception of ‘the sins of the flesh’ with which Western civilization is  so preoccupied even today.

Even there is flexibility in marriage – Eight types of marriages are allowed – one of which is where a man and women elope or do not involve anyone else to get married in secret (gandharva vivah).

In conclusion : The history of the most of the known civilizations show that the further back we go into antiquity, the more unsatisfactory is the general position of women. Hindu civilization is unique in this respect, for here we find a surprising exception to the general rule. The further back we go, the more satisfactory we find the position of women in more spheres than one.

For more pointed accusation on Women in Hinduism visit : http://www.islam-watch.org/AbulKasem/women_in_hinduism.htm



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