The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c12.15

c12.15

Normally, religious prayers and sacrifices were offered jointly by the husband and the wife. There are several references to couples waxing old in their joint worship of gods². The wife used to take an active and real part in family sacrifices. Like the husband, she too had to perform a special *upanayana* on the occasion of some sacrifices. She had her own hut in the sacrificial compound, and also her own cow to provide her with sacred milk during the sacrifice (*Ś. Br.*, X, 2, 3, 1; XIV, 3, 1, 35). In the early Vedic period, the duty of chanting musically the Sāma songs seems to have been usually performed by the wife³; later on it came to be entrusted to a special class of male priests called Udgātṛis. The wife used to pound the sacrificial rice, give bath to the animal that was to be immolated and lay in bricks, when the altar was to be built (*Ś. Br.*, VI, 5, 3, 1; III, 8, 2, 1-6). She participated with her husband in the preparation of the offering, the consecration of the fire, the offering of the oblations and the concluding ceremonies. She herself had to recite some formulæ. It is true that sometimes these had to be dictated to her¹, but the case was probably the same with her husband also with reference to the prayers in many of the sacrifices. Women's participation in Vedic sacrifices was thus a real and not a formal one; they enjoyed the same religious privileges as their husbands.