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The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c11.s2: Careers for Women

The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c11.s2

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English

Careers for Women

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We have seen above that for a long time there was no Purda in Hindu society and women used to receive education of a fairly advanced type. Let us see now whether they could follow any careers, if urged by a natural inclination or forced by adverse circumstances.

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Three or four lines were open to women. The teaching career was the most common. This is quite clear from the coining of a separate word to distinguish a lady teacher from a teacher’s wife. The latter was by courtesy called ‘Āchāryāṇī,’ but if a woman was herself a teacher, she was to be designated ‘Āchāryā.’ As we have already shown, some of these lady teachers would specialise even in abstruse and difficult branches like theology and philosophy. Lady teachers teaching grammar, poetry and literature must have been more common. It is not improbable that among their pupils, occasionaly there may have been male students as well. Some of the lady teachers were remarkable for their eloquence and depth.

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Women were admitted into Buddhism and Jainism as nuns and were allowed to preach. Some of them like Dhammadinnā developed into remarkably eloquent and successful preachers, as can be inferred from the unstinted encomium showered upon them by the Buddha.

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Medical career was selected by some women. Among the works translated into Arabic in the 8th century A. D. there was one on midwifery written by a Hindu lady, whose name appears as Rūsā in the Arabic garb. Lady doctors in the past, like those in the modern age, seem to be usually specialising in midwifery. It is, however, difficult to make an exact estimate about their number in society. Even at present there are several lady doctors in moffusil treating patients on Ayurvedic lines. Their number in the past could not have been a negligible one.

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In the realm of business we find that women had no disabilities. They do not figure in the list of persons declared incompetent for entering into a valid contract. Women in lower classes and commercial and industrial circles used to take an active part in carrying on the business transactions of their families. They could even pledge their husbands' credit and enter into contracts on their behalf (*Yāj.* II, 47; *Vishṇu*, VI, 31). We have unfortunately no evidence to show what part ladies in higher circles used to take in the business of their families. Probably, then as now, they lagged behind their humbler sisters.

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We have seen in Chapter I that music was cultivated by ladies in cultured families since very early times. Ladies, who could sing or dance, were much admired. Was then music open as a career to ladies in respectable families? The asnwer is probably in the negative. We nowhere come across respectable ladies as music teachers. Girls in royal and rich families were usually coached either by male musicians or by dancing girls. It may be further pointed out that when early marriages came into vogue, it was not possible for ladies in cultured families to get the necessary proficiency in music before their marriage. Music as a career was not possible after the marriage owing to the progressively stringent ideas about decorum and seclusion.

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This state of affairs led to a sad result. The cultivation and propagation of music and dancing came to be confined to the class of professional singing girls. Men, who had an aesthetic taste and a love for music, could not find delight in the company of their own wives. They were driven to the company of women of questionable character, much to the detriment of the happiness of their families. This helped the spread of concubinage and lowered the moral tone of society.

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The numerical strength of the class of singing girls was fairly strong. Throughout her history India has been studded with small princes and princelings, who have been accustomed to extend a liberal patronage to singers and dancers. In the royal courts of the ancient and medieval periods a large number of singing girls were engaged as *chauri* bearers, betel carriers, fan servants, etc. Besides the nominal duties indicated by their names, most of these women used to sing, dance and even stage dramas at the court. Dancing girls were also employed as spies by the Secret Service Department.

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When temples of Hindu gods came to be built and endowed on a magnificent scale, some people began to feel in course of time that there should be singing girls attached to shrines to play music on the occasion of the different services and worships of the day. The custom of the association of dancing girls with temples is unknown to Jātaka literature. It is not mentioned by Greek writers, and the *Arthaśāstra*, which describes in detail the life and duties of dancing girls, is silent about it (II, 27). The custom, however, had come into vogue by about the 3rd century A. D.; for Kālidāsa refers to dancing girls present in Mahākāla temple of Ujjayinī at the time of the evening worship (*Meghadūta*, I, 35). Several Purāṇas also recommend that arrangements should be made to enlist the services of singing girls to provide vocal and instrumental music at the time of divine services. These singing girls were usually prostitutes, and we are pained to find that some of the Purāṇas should have gone to the extent of recommending the purchase of beautiful girls for their dedication to temples¹. One Purāṇa goes to the extent of saying that the best way to win Sūryaloka is to dedicate a bevy of prostitutes to a solar temple².

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¹ क्रीता देवाय दातव्या धीरेणाक्लिष्टकर्मणा । कल्पकालं भवेत्स्वर्गो नृपो वासौ महाधनी ॥ *Padmapurāṇa*, Srishṭikhaṇḍa, 52, 97.

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² वेश्याकदम्बं यस्तु दद्यात्सूर्याय भक्तितः । स गच्छेत्परमं स्थानं यत्र तिष्ठति भानुमान् ॥ *Bhavishyapurāṇa.*, I. 93, 67.

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This custom probably became quite common in the 6th century A. D., when most of the Prurāṇas, containing a reference to it, seem to have been composed. In the 7th century Yuan Chwang saw numerous singing girls in the temple of the Sun at Multan. The *Rājātaraṅgiṇī* attests to the existence of this custom in Kashmir from about the 8th century A. D. The famous temple of Somanātha is said to have employed 500 dancing girls in order to provide music before the deity continuously throughout the day and night. Several inscriptions from south India prove the association of dancing girls with temple service from about the 9th century A. D. When king Rājarāja built his famous temple at Tanjore in the 10th century A. D., he deemed it necessary to provide for temple service no less than 400 dancing girls, each one of whom was given a piece of land for her maintenance.

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The introduction of dancing girls in temples tended to lower their moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some people began to visit shrines not so much to pay their respects to deities, as to carry on their love intrigues with the singing girls employed there. To judge from a reference in the *Kuṭṭinīmatam*, we have to conclude that sometimes this used to happen even in the famous temple of Viśvanātha at Benares¹. The custom, when introduced, was therefore vehemently opposed by all the champions of social purity like Brahmanas and ascetics. Alberuni refers to this opposition and says that it proved of no avail, because the custom was championed by kings and members of the aristocracy (II, p. 157). A 10th century inscription from Rajaputana confirms the statement of Alberuni. It records the express instructions of a chieftain to his descendants that if the arrangement that he had made about the services of dancing girls at different temples was interfered with by ascetics and Brahmanas, they should be at once stopped (*E. I.*, XI, p. 28). It is therefore clear from this record that the opposition of the majority of the Brahmanas and puritanical thinkers to the association of dancing girls with temples was so strong down to the 10th century that even kings were afraid that their arrangements may fail owing to the success of the puritanical crusade. It is thus clear that the Purāṇas, which recommend the employment of dancing girls in temples, represent the view of a minority of the Brahmana community, which in its zeal to provide pomp and splendour at temple service, failed to realise the natural effects of the new practice on the moral and spiritual atmosphere of divine shrines. All the moral and religious leaders of the community, however, fought against this innovation. Their opposition, however, proved of no avail. The royal support eventually succeeded in making the custom general and popular.

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¹ Vv. 743-755.

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The modern Hindu public opinion is deadly opposed to the association of dancing girls with temple service. The dedication of girls to temples has been legally prohibited in Madras Presidency, and there is no doubt that other provinces will follow suit in the near future. The relative inactivity of their legislatures is really due to the custom being practically unknown in their jurisdiction.

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Before concluding this 'section it is necessary to point out that the association of dancing girls with temples was fairly common in several countries in ancient time. In Egypt temples of Osiris and Isis were crowded with dancing girls. At Corinth in Greece thousands of women used to dedicate themselves to Venus and sell their bodies for the benefit of the temple. The custom was prevalent among the Hebrews and Babylonions as well.

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