The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c16.32

c16.32

After about the 9th century A.D. lapses of women began to be treated with greater sternness. The earlier authorities, which had permitted the readmission of women who had casually gone astray, were taken to be referring to the cases of mental and not physical adultery⁴. This was an altogether unjustifiable procedure, as the context and wording of the passages concerned clearly show. A few medieval thinkers like Mādhavāchārya¹ continued to advocate a humane treatment of women, who had happened to go astray for a while; they realised that to drive out such women from their homes was to compel them to lead a life of sin and shame for ever. Society, however, would not follow their lead and began to insist upon a much higher standard of sex morality in the case of women, than what it was prepared to tolerate in the case of men. A single lapse came to be regarded as fatal for the woman, while even a moral wreck was to be revered as God by his dutiful wife. This last statement is no doubt hyperbolic and is not to be literally interpreted. Nevertheless, it clearly shows that lapses of men were very leniently treated, while women had no chance if they had committed a single mistake. This was highly inequitable, and it has made reclamation work next to impossible at present. Hundreds of women, who once in a while become guilty of misdemeanour, are being eternally lost to Hindu society, because it refuses to treat them with human sympathy. This again has led to a considerable swelling of the non-Hindu and low class population in India. We must once more begin to follow the liberal lead of Vasishṭha, who has recommended the acceptance of such women, provided they show genuine repentance.