The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s1: The Age of the Later Saṁhitās, Brāhmaṇas and Upanishads (c. 1500 to c. 500 B. C.)
The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s1
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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.