Role of 'Vedas' in Degradation of Status of Women in India
It is generally said that the state of development of a society can be judged from the status a woman occupies in it. A woman performs a number of roles in the family, community and the wider social system. Her status in the society is determined by her composite status depending upon her various positions and roles. The role that a society assigns to woman in real life determines the extent and level of her participation in the social, economic, cultural and political processes which in turn shapes the demographic portrait of a country.
The status of women of Vedic era began to decline with time. Gender inequality started creeping into the society. Slowly women's status degraded to such an extent that they were not given the freedom, which was available to even Sudras (lowest caste of ancient Hindu society). They had been discriminated against in all walks of life, accentuating social, economic and cultural inequalities. The sex-based discrimination deprives them of exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all spheres of life. They were debarred from religious practices. As Vedic age progressed, the status of women became worst. And till the time of Smirits (religious scripture of Hindus) the condition became so bad that women were not allowed free access to education they were given education related to just domestic purposes.
This blog is quite lengthy. I apologize for writing such a prolix article, but I could not help it. No matter how much I tried, I could not shorten further. It had to be lengthy, for there is so much to tell. To begin with, let us start with the unfairness of Hindu religion towards women.
A host of factors are responsible for this sorry state of affairs, including the religious. In India, the religious factor has been of utmost importance in determining the status of women since it exerts powerful influence on the thought, culture and behavior of the people. However, the main factor that has been responsible for underutilization of full women power potential in India is the impact of the Hindu religious precepts and tradition that shape the thought, attitudes and behavior of more than four-fifths of the population.
Basically, out present attitude towards women streams from our religious scriptures which refer to women as contempt. Our oldest scriptures are ‘Vedas’ which contain highly objectionable and condemnable passages concerning women. ‘Sati pratha’ (custom of burning the widow with the body of her husband), ‘Dasi Pratha’ (keeping the slave girls), ‘Niyog Pratha’ (ancient Aryan custom of childless widow or women having sexual intercourse with a man other than husband to beget child), were among cruel customs responsible for the plight of the women.
Place of Women in the Hindu Society
In the book “Genocide of Women in Hinduism” by Sita Agarwal, the author ventures to say; “We all are well acquainted with the propaganda of ‘Hindu fundamentalists’ that the customs of sati, dowry, female infanticide and all other social suppression of women in India is the result of `social degeneration', 'corruption', or still worse, `foreign Christian or Muslim influence'. This is all one big lie designed to fool women. The reasons are far more deep-rooted, and are fully the result of Brahmin male conspiracies. The real reason for the sad state of Indian women is the continuation of the Vedicand Vaishnava reli- gions, collectively referred to as Brahminism or `astika' - Hinduism. These religions clearly and unambiguously justify and prescribe the crushing of women to the status of sub-humans. Rather than being due to some kind of `corruption', the ghastly practices of sati, female infanticide, dowry and related acts are actually enforced by Vedic and Hindu scriptures. Although this may sound like some Christian or Muslim propaganda, it is not. I have backed up my research with quotations fromVedic and Vaishnava scr- iptures, and have shown that these religions, and nothing else, are the main culprits behind the most anti-woman system the world has ever seen. Far from being `enlightened' and `progressive', Brahmanism is in fact the very fountain of the evils of sati, female infanticide, devadasismand dowry.”
Ms Sita Agarwal, further writes in the book : “The result of my research is far-reaching. Instead of wasting time attacking trivialities, the Hindu religion itself must be attacked by Indian feminism. If Indian women are to become free, it is this faith that must tackled, and nothing else. No other religion, not even Islam or Christianity, burns its women, or slaughters one-tenth of all women each generation except Hinduism. Indeed, Brahminism is nothing but the legitimized genocide of women. In this book I have performed calculations showing how Brahminist men, and not Communists or Nazis, have been responsible for the greatest genocide (namely that of women) in the history of the world. The worst holocaust in human history was not that of the Jews or Africans, but was that inflicted on women by Brahmins. A significant part of this holocaust occurred in India during thousands of years of Brahmanic tyranny.”
It is a sad comment that from time immemorial in India women have been denied the freedom and opportunity to develop as full-fledged individuals. They have been debarred from making their proper contribution to social and economic advancement as their development has been held in check due to various cultural, social and historical factors. The religious factor has contributed in a significant way in creating bias against them and in keeping them in a state of backwardness. In most Indian religious systems, women have been considered an impediment in the religious path leading to salvation or given only a secondary place in the conduct of religious life and institutions. They have not even been considered worthy of attaining the highest religious goal-salvation. The Digambara sect of Jainism maintains that women cannot obtain moksha. They cannot becom siddhas. The very fact that God has created them as women deprived them of entering into heaven or attaining any salvation. They must be reborn as men to get release from the cycle of birth and death. In this way even God is made to practice discrimination against women. . Buddha, too forsake family life for his nirvana. Buddhist monks are required by their religious discipline to remain sanyasis. Similarly Ramanuj, the chief exponent ofVaisnavism, held women and Sudras to be sin-born and refused to admit them as a Vaishnava.
In Sikh scriptures, the role of woman is known from 1500 AD. Guru Nanak Dev condemned the man-made notion of the inferiority of women, and protested against their long subjugation. Guru Nanak was the first reformer in India, who revolted against the injustice done to women in Hindu society since times immemorial. Under the teachings of Guru Nanak, Indian women broke the shackles of slavery. He fought for the liberation of women in the sixteenth century whereas the movement for the emancipation of women was started in Europe in the 19th century. I shall dwell on it separately in a blog, covering‘The Role and Status of Women in the Sikh Society’.
According to Dr. Upinder Jit Kaur , another research scholar, says (in her papers published by Punjabi University, Patiala, & article in Sikh Review) the position of women in Hinduism is no better as is clear from followings ten points:-
1. In Hinduism fate of women has been hanging in between that of Durga and Devdasi, closer to Devdasi than to Durga. 2. For a long time, because of high valuation placed on the ideal of sanyasa in Hinduism, women were despised as the source of worldliness. They were regarded as the "torch lighting the way to hell". They were held in low esteem. They were regarded a living picture of lust and greed. They were considered to be a bad influence on men, a positive hindrance in their spiritual journey. Sant Kabir asked men to shun the company of women as 'Kabira tin ki kya gat jo nit nari kai sang'. She was looked down upon as a potential temptress. Sant Tulsidas, the revered Hindu poet and author of Ram Charit Manas, placed woman at part with a Sudra and animal when he said, 'Dhol gavar Sudar pasu nari, teeno tarran key adhikari". The Yogis stressed the need of renouncing worldly life and renouncing women for the attainment of salvation. Yogi Gorakh Nath called women ‘baghani’, a she-wolf who robbed man of his youthful vigour. Yogis take vow to remain celibates for ever.
3. Sankra Deva, another Vaisnava sain- t of the fourteenth century, commented, "of all the terrible aspirations of the world, women's is the ugliest. A slight side glance of her's captivates even the hearts of celebrated sages. Her sight destroys prayer, penance and meditation. Knowing this, the wise keep away from the company of women." Women were thus dishonored and viewed lowly by the Hindu society. 4 It were the religious beliefs that finally culminated in the formation of social attitudes despising women. Nathism, Vaisnavism and some other sects of Hinduism spurned the householder's life. They were for monasticism and celibacy. Chandogya and Mun- daka Upanishads recommendedsanyasa and brahm- ncharya for the realization of God.
5. Women were to be shunned for they were regarded as a source of sin, vice or dishonor to man. The condition of woman was no better than that of the downtrodden Sudra. She was considered an unhealthy influence on man, and, therefore, relegated to the cultural backwaters. In India, woman was reduced to the status of slave ever since the establishment of Brahman's dominance and enforcement of Manu's code. It is true that during the Vedic period, women commanded respect, and no religious or social work was considered to be completer without the active support of one's wife. Women had the right to education and knowledge. Boys and girls used to get their education together. Even among the authors of the Vedas, there were said to be twenty-two women. Women like Gargi and Maitreyi we- re revered as seers. But Manusmriti, the Veda of the Brahmanical revival, laid down the fundamental and outrageous doctrine of woman's perpetual subjection. Says Manu, "In childhood, a female must be subject to her father; in youth to her husband; when her lord is dead, to her son: a woman must never be independent"?
6. The position of women in Hindu society was governed by rules and regulations laid down by Manu.And it seems that there was a deliberate attempt in the dharam shastra of Manu to lower the rank of women. A woman was considered inferior to man in all respects. The natural affectionate relationship between husband and wife was marred by the degraded and inferior position in which woman was placed. A woman was required to worship her husband as God whatever his failings. According to Manu, "Though destitute of virtue or seeking pleasure (elsewhere), or devoid of good qualities (yet) a husband must be constantly worshipped as a God by a faithful wife."
7. She was not to grumble or show any disrespect in any manner. On the other hand, the husband was fully empowered to take action against the erring wife. "She who shows disrespect to (a husband) who is addicted to (some evil) passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be deserted for three months (and be) deprived of her ornaments and the furniture. She who drinks spirituous liquor, is of bad conduct, rebellious, diseased, mischievous or wasteful, may at any time be superseded". 8. The husband was authorized to supersede his wife even on much less serious grounds. "A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year, she whose children (all) die in the tenth, she who bears only daughters in the eleventh, but she who is quarrel some without delay".
9. The poor wife was made to bear all the insults and humiliations and degradation with stoic calmness. If she made any protest, she was beaten with a rope or a split bamboo and humiliated. She had no rights. She was no match to her husband. Commenting on the sad plight of women, R.C. Majumdar says, "The poor wife was expected to follow her husband even in death by burning herself alive, but the husband, "having given sacred fires to his wife who dies before him, may marry again, and again kindle the fires". Strangest of all, women who once even composed Vedic hymnas, were not allowed to study the Vedas and perform sacrificial rites."
10. Women were thus condemned to a life of permanent degradation and misery. They were required to observe strict ‘purdah’ and confined to the four walls of the house. Their mobility was constrained. They were denied access to education and got caught in the whirlpool of ignorance. A woman had no identity of her own. Marriage became her only career and goal in life. Child-marriages came to be practiced. They became the rule rather than the exception because it was considered obligatory for parents to marry off their daughters before they attained the age of puberty. In the case of husband's death a woman could not marry as widow remarriage was strictly prohibited by Manu. So child-widows became a familiar phenomenon who had to go through a hell of life and bear various atrocities. In the case of married women barrenness was considered sinful. The birth of a son was the most desired thing. It led to frequent pregnancies and poor health of women. The birth of a female child was a sign of misfortune, so female infanticide came to be practiced. A female child was not even entitled to the basic human right to live in the world. Similarly, a woman had no right to live after the death of her husband. So sati-widow cremation was practiced. It was only the birth of a male child that improved the position of a woman in her family and society. The iniquitous barrier which the Hindu society had raised between man and woman drained the strength and liveliness of social and domestic life. The stifling environment obstructed development of a woman's mental and intellectuals faculties, shortened her life, and in turn sapped the strength and vitality of domestic and national life.
Please Note: The book “Genocide of Women in Hinduism” by Sita Agarwal (referred in the blog), the author has written in memory of her late sister, who as per the author died as a result of the inherently anti-woman religion of barbarian Hinduism. The book is divided in to seven chapters, and contents of each chapter are adequately substantiated by quoting references of ‘ Vedas’ and other Hindu scriptures in support of author’s averments. I intend covering relevant extracts of following chapters subsequently:
Chapter 1-Vedic Obliteration of Girls
Chapter 2-Aryan Hindu Annihilation of Women
Chapter 3-Inhuman Persecution of Women in Brahmanism
Chapter 4-Severe Restrictions Enforced upon Women
Chapter 5-Sati - Brahmin Annihilation of Widows
Chapter 6- Hindu Scriptural Sanction for Crushing of women
Chapter 7- Hindu Gods’ Subjugation of women