The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s2.7

c17.s2.7

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.