The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c12.s1.11

c12.s1.11

When discipline became slack and unworthy persons began to be admitted into monasteries and nunneries, the tone of moral life deteriorated. It hastened the process of the downfall of Buddhism. Later Hinduism took a lesson from what it saw in Buddhist monasteries and nunneries and declared women to be ineligible for renunciation (Saṁnyāsa). It maintained that not renunciation but due discharge of family responsibilities was the most sacred duty of women¹. Nuns therefore have disappeared from Hinduism during the last 1500 years.