The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c13.5

c13.5

In India too in very early times women were regarded as chattel. They were given away as gifts in the Vedic age, as would appear from several hymns, which glorify the gifts of generous donors². In the Mahābhārata we find Dhṛitarāshṭra proposing to give a hundred female slaves to Kṛishṇa as a token of his regard for him¹ (V, 86, 8). The husband was deemed to have a natural proprietary right in the wife. It is on this undisputed assumption that Dharma proceeds to stake his wife Draupadī in the gambling hall. It may be further pointed out that even this proud and haughty queen does not think of disputing this right of her husband, when she is dragged to the court of Dhṛitarāshṭra. She does not at all maintain that she has not lost her freedom because the husband has no right to sell or stake away his wife. She only wants to know whether her husband was a free man, when he had staked her². In the Ṛigveda also in the famous gambling hymn, we find the wife being staked away by the husband (X, 34).