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The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17: Chapter XII. Retrospect and Prospect

The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17

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English

Contents

Chapter XII. Retrospect and Prospect

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We have now finished the task of describing the history and vicissitudes of the status and condition of women in the course of the long history of Hindu civilisation. We saw how the position, powers, status and disabilities of the daughter, the wife and the widow went on changing in course of time. Women once enjoyed considerable freedom and privileges in the spheres of family, religion and public life; but as centuries rolled on, the situation went on changing adversely. On the other hand we found that the proprietary rights went on gradually expanding in spite of the growing tendency to regard women as unfit for independence.

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The method we have so far followed was the vertical one; we isolated each topic, custom or institution and treated its history and development from age to age. This must have enabled the reader to perceive clearly the evolution of the different stages in the development of different ideas, customs and institutions. The method, however, has one defect; it does not enable the reader to get a comprehensive and detailed picture of any one period as whole. He will have to consult the different chapters of the work afresh if, for instance, he desires to have a synthetic picture of the position of women as a whole, either in the Vedic or in the Upanishadic period. It is therefore necessary and desirable to follow the horizontal method of narration as well, and proceed to delineate the position of women as a whole in the different epochs of our long history. This will enable the reader to have a full picture of each period and find out how far the position as a whole went on improving or deteriorating¹. It will be also possible to discuss here the general causes responsible for the changes at a greater length and in a more connected manner than was so far possible to do in the preceding chapters.

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¹ References te original authorities are, as a rule, not given in this chapter, as it is based upon conclusions already proved in the preceding pages.

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It will be convenient to divide the period we have to survey into four divisions :—

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1. The Age of the Vedas, from *c.* 2500 to *c.* 1500 b. c.
2. The Age of the later Saṁhitās, Brāhmaṇas and Upanishads, *c.* 1500 b. c., to *c.* 500 b. c.
3. The Age of the Sūtras, Epics and early Smṛitis, *c.* 500 b. c. to *c.* 500 a. d.
4. The Age of later Smṛitis, Commentators and Digest writers, *c.* 500 a. d. to *c.* 1800 a. d.

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The periods of the last two epochs are chronologically definite ; those of the first two are, however, rather vague, and there is as yet no unanimity about their precise duration. The limits suggested for them above are, however, the most probable ones, and are usually accepted by the majority of scholars.

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For the purposes of the proposed survey, period by period, it is unfortunately not possible to divide the history into smaller and more numerous periods. The data at our disposal are too scanty for the purpose. The difficulty is further increased by our inability to know the precise dates of many of our authorities. Some of the works are further composite ones; there can be, for instance, no doubt that the present Mahābhārata and Manusmṛiti contain ideas popular in epochs, which were separated from each other by more than half a millennium. The period-wise survey is therefore beset with considerable difficulties, but has to be nevertheless attempted for the general reader in the interest of clarity.

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THE VEDIC AGE : *c.* 2500 B. C. TO 1500 B. C.

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Our readers know already that the position of women in the Vedic age was far from being analogous to what it usually is in early uncivilised societies. In communities that have not yet emerged from barbarism, there hardly exist any checks on the tyranny of man over woman. Ill-usage, underfeeding and overworking are pushed to the greatest limit, compatible with the preservation of the race. Women are divorced, abandoned, sold or killed at the mere whim of men. They have to carry about children, and also serve as beasts of burden, when the tribe moves from one place to another. The treatment thus meted out to them need not cause any surprise; in primitive life the muscle was an indispensable element in success and the man was stronger in it than the woman. He fought with the animals and enemies to protect women and children; he chased the big game to feed the family. Physical prowess, bodily vigour and muscular strength thus naturally established man's permanent superiority over woman, who besides lacking these qualities, was periodically in a most helpless condition a few weeks before and after her frequent confinements. Man had not yet developed sufficient culture and sensibility to make him feel and realise that women undergo these trials and tribulations for the sake of the race, and therefore deserve to be treated with utmost sympathy and consideration. It was taken for granted everywhere that women as such can have no rights and privileges. They were inherently inferior to men and therefore must be always subordinate to them. This was the case, for instance, in ancient Greece; as a writer has trenchantly put it, ‘There was no woman question at Athens because all women were as mere vegetables, and there was no woman question at Sparta because both men and women there were little better than animals¹.’ The archaic Roman law granted to the husband the power over the life and the limbs of the wife, and for many centuries matrons with several children continued to be under the tutelage of their male relations. In ancient Palestine the woman was a piece of property to be bought and sold.

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¹ Davies, *A short History of Women*, p. 172.

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The position which women occupied in Hindu society at the dawn of civilisation during the Vedic age is much better than what we ordinarily expect it to have been. There are no doubt a few indications to show that brides were sometimes sold in marriage or even carried away by force. But the better conscience of society had already begun to assert itself, and condemn these practices as unholy and unworthy. The ideal marriage of the Vedic period was a religious sacrament, which made the couple joint owners of the household. The old tradition that the wife was the property of the husband had not yet completely died down; the famous hymn about gambling in the Ṛigveda (X, 34) shows that sometimes confirmed gamblers would stake away their wives to their opponents. The advice given to the gambler in this hymn, however, shows that social conscience had already begun to disapprove this practice.

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On the whole the position of women was fairly satisfactory in the Vedic age. Ordinarily girls were no doubt less welcome than boys, but we must add that there were also some parents in society who would perform special religious rutuals for the good luck of getting learned and capable daughters. Girls were educated like boys and had to pass through a period of Brahmacharya. Many of them used to become distinguished poetesses, and the poems of some of them have been honoured by their inclusion in the canonical literature. The marriages of girls used to take place at a fairly advanced age, the normal time being the age of 16 or 17. Educated brides of this age had naturally an effective voice in the selection of their partners in life. Very often there were love marriages, which were later blessed by parents. There was no seclusion of women; they used to move freely in society, often even in the company of their lovers. In social and religious gatherings they occupied a prominent position. Women had an absolute equality with men in the eye of religion; they could perform sacrifices independently and were not regarded as an impediment in religious pursuits. Marriage in fact was a religious necessity to both the man and the woman; neither could reach heaven without being accompanied by his duly married consort. The position of the wife was an honoured one in the family. In theory she was the joint owner of the household with her husband, though in actual practice, she, was the subordinate partner. In rich and royal families polygamy prevailed to some extent, but ordinarily monogamy was the rule. If a wife had the misfortune to be widowed, she had not to ascend her husband's funeral pyre. The Satī custom was not in vogue at all; the widow could, if she liked, contract another marriage, either regularly or under the custom of Niyoga. The main disabilities from which women suffered in this age, as well as in the next one, were proprietary ones. They could hold or inherit no property. We also do not come across any queens reigning independently or as regents. Considering the general position of women as delineated above, these disabilities come as a great surprise to us, but a little reflection will show that they were natural and inevitable. The Aryans were gradually establishing their rule in a foreign country surrounded on all sides by an indigenous hostile population that considerably outnumbered them. Under such circumstances queens ruling in their own rights, or as regents, were naturally unknown. Landed property could be owned only by one who had the power to defend it against actual or potential rivals and enemies. Women were obviously unable to do this and so could hold no property. The transition from the communal to the family ownership of land was just taking place; the conception of the rights of the different members of the family, even when males, was yet to crystalise. Naturally therefore women, like many other male members of the family, were incapable of owning property; the patriarch was its sole owner and guardian.

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The position of women on the whole was fairly satisfactory. In the Vedic literature there are no doubt a few observations like ‘Women have a fickle mind,’ ‘Women can be easily won over by one who is handsome and can sing and dance well.’ They, however, reflect the light-hearted cynicism of some poets, and do not embody the considered views of the leaders of society. The community as a whole was showing proper concern and respect for women, allowing them considerable freedom in the different activities of the social and political life.

The Age of the Later Saṁhitās, Brāhmaṇas and Upanishads (c. 1500 to c. 500 B. C.)

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The changes which took place during this period in the position of women were gradual. Their proprietary rights continued to be unrecognised, the only exception being in favour of marriage gifts of moveable property. In the higher sections of society the Sacred Initiation (*upanayana*) of girls was common, and they subsequently used to go through a course of education. Some of them used to attain distinction in the realm of theology and philosophy, and a considerable number of women used to follow the teaching career. There was, however, a gradual decline in female education as the period advanced. The system of sending out girls to famous teachers or centres of education came to be discouraged; it was laid down that only near relations like the father, the brother or the uncle should teach them at home. Naturally therefore religious and secular training became possible only in the case of the girls of rich and cultured families. As a consequence there arose a tendency to curtail the religious rights and privileges of the average woman; many functions in the sacrifice, which formerly could be performed by the wife alone now came to be assigned to male substitutes. Some sacrifices like Rudrayāga and Sītāyāga continued to be performed by women alone, and when the husband was out, the service of the sacrificial fire continued to be entrusted to the wife. In cultured families women used to recite their Vedic prayers morning and evening, and perform sacrifices on their husbands' behalf, when they were otherwise preoccupied.

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The marriage age of the bride continued to be about 16. In practice, if not in theory, brides had some voice in the selection of their partners in life, and *svayaṁvara* was fairly common in Kshatriya circles. The marriage ideals and the mutual relations and rights of the parties continued to be more or less the same as they were in the earlier age. Divorce was permitted to the wife, though the permission was not extensively availed of. The Satī custom was altogether unknown, and the widow had the option of remarriage either with her brother-in-law or with an outsider. Naturally there was no tonsure of widows. Purda was altogether unknown, but women had ceased to attend public meetings.

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Before we proceed to delineate the picture of the condition of women in the next two periods, let us pause a while to consider the causes of this phenomenon of a relatively better condition and status of women in these early centuries, as compared to what it became in subsequent epochs. The reader has already seen in the foregoing pages how there took place a continuous and gradual deterioration in the position of women as a whole during the next two thousand years (*c.* 500 B. C., to *c.* 1500 A. D.). How are we to explain this phenomenon? Usually we find that the condition of women improves as society advances to modern times. How is it that there is an exception in the case of the position of women in Hindu civilisation?

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The relatively more satisfactory position of women in the two epochs we have just surveyed was due, partly to political and partly to religious causes. As a rule in a community, which is civilised and is moving in search of pastures fresh and new, women occupy an honorable position. Men are mostly engrossed in military or semi-military activities, and they have to rely to a very great degree on the help and co-operation of women in the normal spheres and activities of family life. Under such circumstances women can clearly and convincingly demonstrate to men that they are not parasites, but very useful members of society, whose co-operation is very valuable in securing prosperity in peace and victory in war. It is well known that the Great War worked as a miracle in winning over the most deadly opponents of women's franchise. In July 1914 even Liberal British statesmen would not think of giving franchise to women, although the latter had exhausted all constitutional and unconstitutional means of agitation for securing their objective. In November 1918 there was not a single member in the same old Parliament to oppose the proposal to enfranchise millions of women. The valuable part which women had played in the prosecution of the Great War had disarmed all opposition.

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It would appear that the general freedom and better status which women enjoyed in the Vedic age were largely due to men being engrossed in the work of conquest and consolidation. Women used to take an active part in agriculture, and the manufacture of cloth, bows, arrows and other war material. They were thus useful members of society, and could not be therefore treated with an air of patronage or contempt. The cheap or forced labour of the enslaved population was not yet available to the Aryans for the tasks mentioned above.

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It may be pointed out that women in the age of Homer (*c.* 1000 B. C.) occupied a much more honorable position in Greek society than they did in the days of Pericles (*c.* 500 B. C.). Causes were more or less similar. In the Homeric age women were productive and valuable members of society. They worked as hard as men, and managed the household without much co-operation from their male relations or slaves. The whole process of garment making was under their supervision in Greece, as it was in India. They brought water, they washed clothes, they cooked food. In the age of Pericles slavery had become an established institution and all manual work in the household was done by slaves. The wife lost nearly all her occupations. She became a parasite and society ceased to respect her.

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The exigencies of the political situation in the Vedic period were responsible for the abolition of the prehistoric Satī custom and the sanctioning of Niyoga and remarriage. Like Hitler and Mussolini, Vedic chiefs were anxious for heroes, more heroes, and still more heroes. The gospel they preached to the householder was not of eight sons of the later days, but of ten. The non-Aryans were probably outnumbering the Aryans, and they were anxious to have as strong and numerous an army as possible. Under these circumstances it would have been a suicidical policy to encourage the revival of the nearly dead custom of Satī or to prohibit widow remarriages. Society came to the definite conclusion that its vital interests demanded that the custom of Satī should be interdicted, and that widows should be allowed and encouraged to marry and mutliply the stock.

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Another factor responsible for the relatively satisfactory position of women was the influence of religion. Asceticism was at a discount in the Vedic age. Maidens and bachelors had no admission to heaven; gods accepted no oblations offered by the unmarried. It was essential to offer the ordained sacrifices to gods for procuring happiness and prosperity both here and hereafter, and they could be properly performed by the husband and the wife officiating together. Wife was not an impediment but an absolute necessity in the religious service. This circumstance naturally helped to raise her status. To enable her to discharge her religious duties properly, it was necessary to ordain that her *upanayana* should be duly performed; this ensured a proper training and education to girls. It required at least half a dozen years to complete the educational course; that naturally rendered early marriages impracticable. When girls were properly educated and married at the mature age of 16 or 17, a considerable regard had naturally to be shown to their own likes and dislikes at the time of the marriage. Love marriages were also inevitable when girls remained unmarried to that advanced age and were moving freely in society.

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It will be thus seen from the above discussion how down to about 500 B. C. the custom of Satī and child marriage did not exist to embitter the lot of the woman, how she was properly educated and given the same religious privileges as man, how she could have a voice in the settlement of her marriage and occupy an honoured position in the household, how she could move freely in family and society and take an intelligent part in public affairs, and how it was possible for her to take to a career, if urged by an inclination or a necessity.

The Age of the Sūtras, the Epics and the Early Smṛitis (c. 500 B. C. to c. 500 A. D.)

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The position of women deteriorated considerably in this period, and its causes may be conveniently discussed here. Some centuries before the beginning of this period, the Aryan rule had become well established over the greater part of India. The Aryan conquest of the indigenous population and its loose incorporation in the social structure of the victors as members of the fourth Śūdra class, had given rise to a huge population of a semi-servile status. We saw that the introduction of slavery revolutionised the position of women in the classical period of Greek history; they became parasites and lost the esteem of society. The same happened in India, when a definite semi-servile status came to be assigned to the Śūdra class within Hindu society, service of the Aryan conquerors being its only and definite duty. Women, however, did not suffer merely because they ceased to be productive members of society. A greater calamity awaited them from the presence of Śūdra women. In the earlier period of their expansion, the Aryans followed the traditions of ruthless warfare. Indra, we are told, trampled upon the Dasyus in their cave retreats. When, however, the Aryans reached the upper Gangetic plain, they found that the indigenous civilisation there was too deep-rooted to be completely wiped out by them. They had to remain content merely with imposing their sovereignty, very often merely a nominal one, over the original inhabitants, variously described as Dāsas, Śūdras, or Nāgas. When the two races proceeded to live together peacefully, inter-marriages became inevitable. In the age of the Ṛigveda, we do not come across any cases of Arya-Śūdra marriages. The Brāhamaṇas and the epics, however, supply ample evidence to show that the Aryan chiefs were freely marrying non-Aryan princesses in the later period. Arjuna married Uḍupī, a Nāga princess-regent. Bhīma married Hiḍimbā, a sister of a Rākshasa chief. The sage Kavasha, who plays an important part in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, was the son of a slave girl. These examples are only typical and would show that in the concluding half of the later Samhitā period (*c.* 1000 B. C. to *c.* 500 B. C.), the marriages of Aryan men with non-Aryan women were becoming common. It is important to note that the early Dharmaśāstra writers have no objection to an Aryan marrying a Śūdra woman, provided he had another Aryan wife; it is only later writers who proceed to interdict such a procedure with a great vehemence¹.

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¹ न ब्राह्मणक्षत्रिययोरापद्यपि हि तिष्ठतोः । कस्मिंश्चिदपि वृत्तान्ते शूद्रा भार्योपदिश्यते ॥ शूद्रावेदी पतत्यत्रेरुतथ्यतनयस्य च । शौनकस्य सुतोत्पत्त्या तदपत्यतया भृगोः ॥ *Manu*, III, 14,16.

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The introduction of the non-Aryan wife into the Aryan household is the key to the general deterioration of the position of women, that gradually and imperceptibly started at about 1000 B. C., and became quite marked in about 500 years. The non-Aryan wife with her ignorance of Sanskrit language and Hindu religion could obviously not enjoy the same religious privileges as the Aryan consort. Association with her must have tended to affect the purity of speech of the Aryan cowife as well. Very often the non-Aryan wife may have been the favourite one of her husband, who may have often attempted to associate her with his religious sacrifices in preference to her better educated but less loved Aryan cowife.

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This must have naturally led to grave mistakes and anomalies in the performance of the ritual, which must have shocked orthodox priests. The first remedy they must have thought of was to declare the non-Aryan wife to be unfit for association with her husband in religious rituals. ‘The black non-Aryan wife may be her husband’s associate in pleasure, but not in religious rituals’ say several authorities¹. But a mighty king, mad with love for his non-Aryan beloved, was not to be dictated to by a priesthood dependent upon him for its subsistence. He would insist upon having his own favourite wife by his side at the time of his sacrifices, no matter her race or caste.

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¹ द्विजस्य शूद्रा भार्या तुँ धर्मार्थं न क्वचिद्भवेत् । रत्यर्थमेव सा तस्य रागान्ध प्रकीर्त्तिता ॥ *Vishṇu*, ch. 26. कृष्णवर्णा या रामा रमणायेव न धर्माय । *V.D.S.*, *XVIII*, 17.

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How then was the situation to be retrieved? Eventually it was felt that the object could be gained by declaring the whole class of women to be ineligible for Vedic studies and religious duties. There would then be no question of rejecting admission to a non-Aryan wife and granting it to an Aryan one; all would be ineligible and none need be offended. It is Aitiśāyana who is seen advocating this view by about 200 B. C. It is however almost certain that he is merely a typical representative of a powerful school reaching back to a fairly great antiquity. It is not impossible that his school may be as old as 500 B. C., if not even earlier.

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The growing complexity of the Vedic sacrifices was another factor that tended to make the wife’s association in religious rituals a more and more formal affair in course of time. In the Vedic age, a young maiden would take a Soma stalk and proceed straight to offer it to Indra in a sacrifice performed by her all alone. In course of time the sacrifice became a very complex affair, and the slightest mistake in its performance or the recitation of its hymns and formulæ was regarded as frought with very grave consequences. It required a long training to get the necessary capacity to follow intelligently the minute details of the complicated sacrifice, and the average woman had not so much time to devote for the purpose. In the Vedic age she was married at about the age of 16 or 17; she could thus devote six or seven years to her Vedic studies before her marriage. During this period a girl could equip herself fairly well for her post-marriage participation in sacrifices, as the Vedic literature was then not extensive and could be studied as popular religious poetry. The sacrificial ritual was also simple. Towards the end of the period of the later Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas, a maiden could hardly hope to get a full and adequate knowledge necessary for the purpose, unless she remained unmarried till about the age of 22 or 24. This was an impracticable proposition for the average girl. There were new forces in society which were clamouring for early marriages. The Aryans had settled down in a rich and prosperous country and their political supremacy had become unquestioned. Naturally they took to an easy and luxurious life, and the marriageable age of boys and girls began to be lowered. In the Ṛigvedic age the father was anxious to have strong and numerous sons more for secular than for religious purposes; in the days of the later Saṁhitās, the son became a religious rather than a secular necessity. A man comes to this world, it was pointed out, saddled with a threefold debt; the most important one of these was the debt to the manes which could be liquidated only by the birth of a son. Why then not marry a girl as soon as she attains maturity and is in a position to present a son to her husband? Why wait for three or four years unnecessarily? It may be noted that when Kaṇva learns that his daughter had contracted a love marriage with Dushyanta, a passage later interpolated in the Mahābhārata, represents him as blaming himself rather than his daughter. He practically admits that it was his mistake not to have married his daughter earlier; so many months had passed away uselessly since the time she could have got a son¹.

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¹ ऋतवो बहवस्ते वै गता व्यर्थाः शुचिस्मिते । सार्थकं साम्प्रतं ह्येतन्न च पाप्मास्ति तेऽनघे ॥ I, 95,65.

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Owing to the different causes narrated above, at the beginning of this period (*c.* 500 B. C.), there arose a tendency to lower the marriageable age of girls, and as a consequence, to discourage their *upanayana* and education. Down to about the beginning of the Christian era, in cases of difficulty parents were permitted to keep their daughters unmarried to the age of 16 or 17, but it was emphasised that it would be advisable to get them married soon after the attainment of puberty. The view that women should not be at all allowed to participate in sacrifices was no doubt not accepted by society, but its vigorous advocacy by one school, along with the general lowering of the marriage age, tended to a growing and inevitable neglect of the Vedic education of girls. During the first half of this period a few maidens continued to specialise in Vedic studies and rituals, but the majority of girls used to go merely through the formality of *upanayana* just before the celebration of their marriage. It is doubtful whether they were in a position to recite their morning and evening prayers. At about 200 A. D., it was felt that this meaningless formality should be discontinued. It was declared that marraiage was the substitute for *upanayana* in the case of girls; they need not have any separate sacred initiation.

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*Upanayana* was usually performed at about the age of 9 or 10, and the same age now came to be regarded as the ideal time of marriage for girls. Towards the end of this period (*c.* 500 A. D.), parents could not usually keep their daughters unmarried after the age of 12.

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The discontinuance of *upanayana*, the neglect of education and the lowering of the marriage age produced disastrous consequences upon the position and status of women. Early marriage put an effective impediment in the higher education of girls. Brides being too young and inexperienced, ceased to have any effective voice in the settlement of their marriages. *Svayaṁvara* continued to be in vogue in Kshatriya circles, but it came to be condemned by Brahmanical writers. Love marriages became a thing of the past. Child wives with no education worth the name became the order of the day, and they could not naturally command respect from their husbands. Not infrequently parents had to marry their daughters in a hurry, lest the girls should attain puberty before their marriage. The matches arranged under such circumstances were often ill suited, and women were thus often compelled to spend their lives with unsuitable or unworthy partners. It is painful to find that Smṛiti writers should have come forward to preach the gospel that a wife should always revere her husband as God, even if he were a moral wreck.

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During the first half of this period widow remarriages and Niyoga continued to be permitted, but the volume of public opinion against these customs was increasing, and they came to be eventually interdicted at about 500 A. D. Marriage was regarded as a religious sacrament in the Vedic period also, and yet society was permitting divorce and remarriage in exceptional cases. During the period under review, marriage became an irrevocable union, irrevocable, however, only so far as the wife was concerned. The husband could discard his wife for the grave offence of not being sufficiently submissive. The wife however could not take a similar step and marry a second time, even if her husband had taken to vicious ways and completely abandoned her. This differential treatment was due to the simple fact that women were no longer able to effectively oppose these absurd theories and claims, most of them being uneducated and quite ignorant of their former status and privileges.

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The age of city or small states had gone, and the Hindu kingdoms in this period became fairly extensive. The splendour of royal courts naturally increased, and kings began to keep a much bigger harem than what was ever dreamt of in previous epochs. Their example was imitated by their numerous feudatories and rich subjects. This produced a very unfavourable consequence upon the condition and status of the vast majority of women of the upper classes, and it had its natural repercussions on the status of wives in ordinary families. The dictum, 'The wife ought to revere her husband as a god, even if he were vicious and void of any merit', was probably written with a particular reference to the unfortunate denizens of the harems in rich families; subsequently the advice came to be extended to the whole sex. One can hardly excuse Smṛiti writers for having enunciated this absurd and inequitable doctrine, though one can understand that their motive may have been partly to discourage a hasty tendency to sever the marital tie. They have, however, never dreamt of preaching a similar gospel to the husband; they permit him to discard his first wife on the most flimsy grounds.

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The growing harems of the mighty kings naturally made them jealous, and some of them sought to keep their wives in seclusion. The Purda system, however, was yet confined only to a very small section of the royal families; majority of kings did not care to adopt it.

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The period of 350 years between 200 B. C. and 150 A. D. was a very dark and dismal one for Northern India. The fertile plains of the Punjab and the Gangetic valley were subjected during this period to one foreign invasion after another. First came the Greeks, who under Demetrius and Menander (*c.* 190-150 B. C.) were able to penetrate right up to Oudh and Bihar. Then came the Scythians and the Parthians (*c.* 100 B. C. to 50 A. D.), whose frightful wars of conquest reduced Hindu population by one half, 25 percent. being killed and 25 percent. being enslaved and carried away¹. These barbarians were followed by the Kushāṇas, who succeeded in overrunning practically the whole of northern India by the middle of the 2nd century A. D. Political reverses, war atrocities and the decline of population and prosperity naturally produced a wave of despondency in society. It facilitated the spread of the ideal of renunciation (Saṁnyāsa), which though held before society by Upanishadic, Buddhist and Jain teachers, was meeting with stubborn opposition in Hindu community. Thus Kauṭilya prescribes a punishment for a person who would renounce the world before his old age, and without providing for his dependents². Early Dharmasūtra writers regarded renunciation as a positively anti-Vedic custom³. The despondency prevailing in society at about the beginning of the Christian era began to wear down the opposition to the Saṁnyāsa ideal. There is no doubt a good deal of truth in the observation of Bhīma at one place in the Mahābhārata that renunciation appeals only to those who are unsuccessful in life¹. Just as the renunciation philosophy of the Bhakti school appealed to Hindu society in medieval times owing to the political set-back which it had received at that time on account of the rise of Islam, so also the ascetic ideal of Upanishads, Jainism and Buddhism began to get a real hold over the social mind only at about the beginning of the Christian era owing to the prevailing wave of political and economic despondency.

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¹ चतुर्भागं तु शस्त्रेण नाशयिष्यन्ति प्राणिनाम् । शकाः शेषं हरिष्यन्ति चतुर्भागं स्वकं पुरम् । विनष्टे शकराज्ये तु शून्या पृथ्वी भविष्यति ॥ *Gargasaṁhitā, Yugapurāṇa*, vv. 54, 84.

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² पुत्रदारमप्रतिविधाय प्रव्रजतः पूर्वः साहसदण्डः । लुप्तव्यवायः प्रव्रजेत् । II, 1.

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³ त्रैविद्यवृद्धानां तु वेदाः प्रमाणमिति निष्ठा । तत्र यानि श्रूयन्ते व्रीहियवपश्वाज्यपयःकपालपत्नीसंबन्धकान्युच्चैर्नीचैः कार्यमिति तंविरुद्ध आचार अप्रमाणमिति मन्यन्ते । *A. D. S.*, II, 9, 9. ऐकाश्रम्यं त्वाचार्या अप्रजननत्वादितरेषाम् । *B. D. S.*, II, 6, 29.

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¹ श्रिया विहीनैर्धनैर्नास्तिकैः संप्रवर्तितम् । वेदवादस्य विज्ञानं सत्याभासमिवानृतम् ॥ XII, 10, 20.

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The new development affected the position of the widow adversely in various ways. It strengthened the hands of those who were opposed to Niyoga and widow remarriage. Both the customs therefore fell gradually into disrepute. Niyoga no doubt deserved to be stamped out, but not so the widow remarriage. It however could not escape a similar fate. It began to be argued that the world was a mirage, and its pleasures were mere snares. The fate was undoubtedly cruel to the widow in carrying away her husband. It had however given her a new opportunity to secure spiritual salvation. It is true that the Vedas have declared that a son was necessary for securing heaven; the childless widow, however, should not think of remarriage in order to get heaven through a son. She ought to aim at the higher ideal of salvation (*mukti*) and not at the lower one of heaven (*svarga*). The former can be best attained by leading a pure and chaste life, as was done by hundreds and thousands of monks and nuns, who had entered the Saṁnyāsa stage direct from the Brahmacharya, without passing through the married life¹. The widow should therefore never think of remarriage. This advice was, however, a onesided one; Smṛitis do not offer it to the widower. On the other hand, they permit him to remarry immediately after the death of the first wife, 'lest the sacred fires should remain unlit.'

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¹ अनेकानि सहस्राणि कुमारब्रह्मचारिणाम् । दिवं गतानि विप्राणाम कृत्वा कुलसंततिम् ॥ *Manu*, V. 159.

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A greater calamity that overtook the widow in this period was the revival of the Satī custom. In the beginning it was confined to the warrior class. It however began to spread wider in society in course of time, as the action of the Satī came to be regarded as a great religious sacrifice, which deserved to be imitated. A school of rationalists opposed the custom vehemently, pointing out its utter futility and stupidity. Its efforts partly checked the spread of the custom for a while.

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The only direction in which the position of women improved in this period was in the sphere of proprietary rights. Society had begun to discourage widow remarriages. As a consequence there began to arise a class of childless young widows. In the earlier period, practically speaking this class did not exist, as Niyoga and widow marriages were then in general vogue. Now when both these practices were prohibited, society had to devise an honorable means to enable the widow to maintain herself. She could of course live in the joint family and receive maintenance along with others; but this was not an advisable step in the transition period during which Niyoga was being gradually stamped out. Some writers have laid down that a woman should not be compelled to submit to Niyoga against her wish¹. It is clear that in uncultured families some of the male relations like the brother-in-law would occasionally force an unwilling widow to submit to their vicious wishes under the specious plea of Niyoga. The childless widow could be saved from this calamity by sanctioning her a life estate in her husband’s share, and by permitting her to stay separately.

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¹ नाकाम्या संनियोज्या स्यात् । *B. D. S.*, II, 1, 20.

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It thus came to happen that the proprietary rights, which were not recognised in the Vedic age when women were better educated and enjoyed greater freedom, came gradually to be recognised during this period. It is true that the doctrine of perpetual tutelage of women became popular at this time, and it should normally have proved fatal to the recognition and development of their proprietary rights. But men do not always seriously believe in the solemn theories they haughtily enunciate, nor do they care to draw all possible corollaries from them. Such was the case with the theory of women’s perpetual tutelage. Jurists felt no self-contradiction in declaring that women were unfit for independence, and yet investing them with new proprietary rights. They thought that sufficient regard would be shown to the theory of perpetual tutelage by laying down that women could enjoy only the income of their inheritance, but not dispose of its corpus.

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नाकामा संनियोज्या स्याद् अकामां तु योजयेत् ।
Yama in *SCS.*, p.225.

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It is further true that the tendency to regard women as fragile and of a weak moral fibre was getting stronger in this period. It was, however, only the woman in the abstract that was so regarded. In society, however, the woman in the abstract did not exist; there was the wife or the daughter or the mother, and for every one of them Hindu society felt very tenderly. The daughter and the wife had the father and the husband to provide for them, but there was no such guardian of natural affection to look after the childless widow. A school of jurists therefore arose at the beginning of the Christian era, which advocated that the widow should be recognised as an heir to her husband, if the latter had effected his separation before the time of his death. The new reform was, as usual, vehemently opposed by vested interests, but eventually it began to find greater and greater support in society.

The Age of Later Smṛitis, Commentators and Digest-Writers (c. 500 A. D. to c. 1800 A. D.)

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The only sphere in which the position of women improved in this age was the one of proprietary rights; otherwise she continued to lose all along the line. The right of the widow to inherit the share of her husband came to be eventually recognised all over the country by *c.* 1200 A. D. In Bengal the position was further improved by conceding her this right even when her husband had not separated from the joint family at the time of his death. The scope of the Strīdhana was further extended by the Mitāksharā school by including in it property acquired even by inheritance and partition. The widow's estate continued to be a limited one, but in some parts of south India she was allowed to gift it away for religious purposes without the consent of the reversioners.

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Proprietary rights apart, in all other spheres the position of women continued to deteriorate in this period. Most of the causes responsible for women's degradation during the last period continued to operate in this age also. The *upanayana* of women went completely out of vogue. From the theological point of view the woman therefore came naturally to be regarded as of the same status as the Śūdra. This inflicted an incalculable harm on their general status and prestige. The marriageable age of girls was lowered down still further. Towards the end of the former period, it was recommended that girls should be married just before the time of their puberty. It would appear that this did not exclude the possibility of a few negligent parents failing to marry their daughters before that time. To prevent this possibility it now came to be declared that a girl becomes mature (*ṛituprāptā*) not when menses appear at the age of 13 or 14, but at the age of 10 or 11, when some preliminary symptoms of impending puberty manifest themselves. The proper age for marriage was therefore 10. The age of 8, however, was regarded as the ideal one ; marriage in the case of girls corresponded to *upanayana* in the case of boys, and the proper age for the latter was 8. In Kshatriya families, however, girls continued to be married at about the age of 14 or 15. Widow marriages had become prohibited at this period. The Satī custom had become very common in the fighting classes. The Kshatriya father therefore did not think of marrying his daughter at a tender age, when there was always the possibility of his son-in-law dying before his beloved daughter had come of age in the interminable internecine warfare, that had become common at this time. Many Kshatriya ladies were often called upon to assume the reins of government as regents; so training in administrative duties and military excercises had to be given to them. This also necessitated the postponement of their marriage to a somewhat advanced age.

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In the case of non-Kshatriya girls, who were married at the age of 10 or 11, naturally no education worth the name could be imparted. Down to about 1200 a. d., daughters in rich families continued to receive some literary education through special teachers; a few of them used to distinguish themselves as poetesses and critics down to the 10th century a. d. But this tradition died down when the old aristocracy perished or declined in importance after the establishment of the Muslim rule. In ordinary families naturally girls now began to grow in ignorance; no education worth the name was possible before the age of 10 or 11, which had now become the usual marriageable age. At the advent of the British rule the literacy among women was confined only to the class of dancing girls; women in respectable families felt very uneasy if it was suspected that they were literate. Being generally illiterate and inexperienced, women naturally ceased to inspire respect, and the tendency to pass cynical observations about their weakness and worthlessness became more common.

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Brides of 8 or 9 could naturally have no voice in the settlement of their marriages; they could also become no proper companions to their husbands owing to their immense intellectual inferiority. Their position therefore *vis-a-vis* their husbands further deteriorated. The Christian theologians were declaring at this time that the husband was the head of the wife, as Christ was the head of the Church. Hindu Smṛitis advocated an exactly similar doctrine, and maintained that the husband was the wife's god and her only duty was to obey and serve him. The evil example of royal harems made polygamy more and more fashionable. Marital faithlessness on the part of the husband became more common owing to the custom of child marriage. Early marriage was naturally followed by early maternity, which increased the mortality among women between the ages of 14 and 22. Young widowers of 25 or 30 were naturally more eager to follow the rule of Manu, which permitted an immediate remarriage, than to emulate the example of Śrī-Rāmachandra, who declined to marry a second time. Widowers of 25 or 30, however, could get brides of 9 or 10 only. This enormous disparity between the ages of the two parties naturally helped the spread of concubinage in society. Its moral tone was affected, and it began to feel nothing objectionable in allowing dancing girls to sing and dance on holy occasions like those of *upanayana* and marriage, or at the time of the religious service in temples. The opposition of purists to this custom proved of no avail, and eventually the association of dancing girls with sacred Saṁskāras and temple worship became quite common in several parts of the country.

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Down to *c.* 500 a. d. permission was granted to child widows to remarry, though the widow marriage in general had come to be tabooed. This permission came to be gradually withdrawn durring this period. From about 1,000 a. d. no widow in a respectable family could remarry, whatever her age may have been at the time of her husband's death. In the beginning only widows in the higher sections of society suffered from this disability, but in course of time it came to be extended to those lower classes also, which were anxious to be considered respectable. The prohibition of widow remarriage came to be regarded as the most important criterion of the respectability of a class down to the beginning of the present century. The prejudice against the widow remarriage was so deep-rooted, that the permissive legislation passed in the matter in 1856 a. d., had no appreciable effect on the situation for more than half a century.

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We have shown above that at *c.* 500 a.d. the custom of Satī was meeting with considerable opposition from the thinking sections of our society. That opposition continued unabated for another 500 years, and the majority of Smṛitis went on averring that the custom amounted to a suicide and could bring no spiritual salvation. Eventually, however, owing to the growing appreciation of the ascetic ideals and practices, the custom of the Satī came to be surrounded with a halo and began to make a wider appeal. First it was confined to the fighting classes. Smṛiti writers and their commentators down to about the 11th century declare that it would be sinful for a Brahmana widow to burn herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. Gradually, however, Brahmanas also began to follow the custom, as they did not like to be excelled by Kshatriyas in the pursuit of ascetic practices. Widows now had a dismal prospect before them. They could not remarry. Some of them who were very young must have felt it to be no easy task to walk straight on the narrow and difficult path of strict chastity. They therefore very often preferred the terrible ordeal of the Satī to the tiresome life of the widow. Most of the widows who ascended the funeral pyres of their husbands did so quite voluntarily. Occasionally, however, an unwilling widow was burnt by her fiendish relatives, who were either afraid that she might eventually misbehave and bring disgrace to the family, or who wanted to appropriate for themselves her share in the family property. The recognition of the right of inheritance was thus not an unmixed blessing to the poor widow.

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The tonsure of the widow came into vogue by about the eighth century A.D. With the disappearance of Buddhism at this time, the prejudice against the custom gradually disappeared, and it was recommended to the widow as a kind of help and protection to her in her ascetic resolve and life.

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We have seen above that women were declared to be of the same status as that of the Śūdras, and so came to be gradually excluded from the study of and acquaintance with higher theology and philosophy.

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Women, however, are by nature more religious than men, and so a new type of religious literature was evolved to meet their needs and aspirations. This was the remodelled Pauranic literature. It enunciated the principles of Hinduism in a homely, easy and attractive manner, illustrating them with a number of edifying stories. Pious people made provision all over the country for the exposition of Purāṇas to public audiences. Women became very well grounded in the culture of the race by habitually listening to this literature. Faith, almost blind faith, was however held up for high admiration in Purāṇas. It was therefore well developed in women, to the detriment however of rationalism. It must be however noted that reason was at a discount at this period among males also both in India and Europe.

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We have seen above that the Purda custom was beginning to get a footing in a few royal families in the last period. There was, however, a staunch opposition to it down to the 12th century. Many royal ladies used to plainly tell their husbands that they would not stand the nonsense of the Purda. As a consequence the custom failed to become popular even among royal families down to about 1200 A. D. The advent of the Mahomadens, however, changed the situation. The customs and manners of the conquerors were imitated with as much zeal in the 13th as they were in the 19th century. In the beginning the Purda entered the families of feudatories and nobles, and then it gradually spread among higher classes in northern India. The Muslim influence was weak in the south and so the Purda found no general acceptance there. It got a footing only in a few ruling families.

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Rationalism has been at a discount with Hindu thinkers during the last more than one thousand years; this circumstance has been responsible for a very unfortunate change in society's angle of vision in a very important matter vitally affecting the well-being of women. Down to about 800 A. D. Smṛitis were emphatic in declaring that women, who were forcibly taken into captivity or dishonoured, should be admitted back to their families. Pseudo-puritanical notions distorted social vision in this matter soon after *c.* 1000 A. D. Hindu society began to show a surprising callousness to women, who had the misfortune of being carried away into captivity even for a very short time. An outsider like Alberuni could not understand the stupidity of our community in refusing to readmit men and women, who had been captured and converted by force. If one's hand gets soiled, he argues, one should proceed to cleanse and not to cut it. But Hindu society could not understand this very reasonable proposition. From *c.* 1,000 A. D. it refused to follow the lead of Smṛiti writers and declared that once a woman was converted or taken into captivity, nothing would justify her readmission to her old family and religion. This callous and unreasonable attitude has cost Hindu society very dearly. Had the women, who had been forcibly converted or captured, been readmitted into Hindu society, its population would certainly not have dwindled down today to 25 crores.

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