The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c12.9

c12.9

Apart from the periods of menstruation and confinement women were not regarded as impure by religion. It is true that a ceremony to purify the wife before her participation in sacrifices has been enjoined (*Ś. Br.*, V, 2, 1, 8-10); we cannot, however, attach much importance to it, for a similar purification has been prescribed for men also (*T. Br.*, 1, 3, 7). In the Vedic age women enjoyed all the religious rights and privileges, which men possessed. In Chapter I we have seen that women used to receive Vedic education. Some of them were even the authors of Vedic hymns (*ante*, pp. 11-12). They therefore could recite Vedic hymns as a matter of course.