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The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s4: The Future

The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s4

Language
English

The Future

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The detailed survey of the position of women that we have made in this work would be of considerable use to us in understanding and solving most of the problems that confront us today. Women began to lose all along the line the moment their education began to be neglected. Early marriages naturally came into vogue when there was nothing to keep girls engaged after the age of 9 or 10. Uneducated brides of very young age naturally ceased to have any voice in the settlement of their marriages and began to be treated in a condescending manner by their husbands, who did not find them their proper companions either in tastes or in attainments. It is true that in spite of their illiteracy and inexperience many Hindu women possessed remarkable wisdom and capacity and could manage their home affairs efficiently, even in times of stress and difficulties. It cannot be however denied that the percentage of such women would have been much greater, if female education had not been discontinued by our society. Luckily there is at present no necessity to emphasise upon the need and advantage of female education in our community. Society has now taken to it seriously in towns and cities and rural areas will follow suit in course of time, as the standard of living of our population and the resources of Provincial Governments improve. As far as the nature of female education is concerned, we have discussed it already (*ante*, pp. 30-3), and pointed out that it should be a course specially intended for women, calculated to promote a harmonious development of their reason and emotion, enabling them at the same time to become earning members of the family either as part-time or whole time workers in case of need. The step taken by Prof. D. K. Karve in founding a special University for women was a step in the right direction. More schools and colleges must be founded, teaching courses specially intended for women.

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When girls of 17 or 18, equipped with proper education, enter matrimony, they cannot but be treated with instinctive respect and consideration by all the society around. Family responsibility, and not inherent incapacity, would be the normal cause of their not being earning members of their families; they would therefore receive the same respect that is instinctively given to the bread-winner. Their practical attainments would add to the beauty of their households, lead to economy in its expenditure and promote sound education of the children of the family. This would surely ensure for them an equality of status with their husbands in all cultured families. Knowing that a woman equipped with the above education can earn her living and support her family, if necessary, society would cease to regard her as a parasite; nor would she allow to be looked upon with an air of condescension. Economic value, actual or potential, excercises considerable influence upon the status of a class. The dominating position of man has been largely due to his being the chief earning member of the family. The observation of a Sanskrit dramatist that a man becomes a woman when he is economically dependent upon her, and vice versa, is true to a very gretat extent¹.

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¹ मयि द्रव्यपरिक्षीणे स्त्रीद्रव्येणानुकंपितः । अर्थतः पुरुषो नारी या नारी सार्थतः पुमान् ॥ *Chārudatta* of Bhāsa, Act III, v. 17.

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In the sphere of marriage and marital relations, some reforms are necessary very urgently. It is now high time for Hindu society to give up polygamy altogether. It is of course true that the number of persons who have recourse to polygamy is very small, but it must be reduced to a zero. The Nagar Brahmanas have already given it up. Some noble souls like the present Maharaja of Mysore, Sir Krishna Raja Wodeyar, and the present chief of Ichchalkaranji, Srimant Babasaheb Ghorpade, have set glorious examples by refusing to contract a second marriage, even when no heir to the hereditary throne could be obtained from the first marriage. Such noble examples and the strength of the enlightened public opinion are undoubtedly working in the desired direction. Polygamy is becoming rarer day by day. But it is now high time for the legislature to intervene in the matter. If complete abolition of polygamy is immediately impracticable, a legislation ought to be at once passed rendering court's permission necessary for contracting a second marriage during the life time of the first wife. The courts should be authorised to grant this permission, only if the first wife is found to be imbecile, barren or incurably deceased. There is no doubt that the legal recognition of polygamy is working an untold harm to a not negligible number of women, who are often superseded by their husbands, especially in uncultured classes. We must now stop this evil. The legislation suggested above would be quite in keeping with the spirit of our culture, which intended to allow the second marriage only in exceptional cases.

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It is now high time for us to insist both in the East and the West that there should be no double standard of morality in sexual matters; husbands should be required to remain as faithful to their marriage vows as wives. Any transgression in this respect on the part of the husband should meet with instantaneous and severe social opprobrium. Unfortunately nature’s partiality to man renders it very difficult to detect his transgressions even when numerous; a single lapse of woman, on the other hand, is often betrayed by its consequences.

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Marriage should continue to be regarded as a religious bond, normally indissoluble in this life. This world however is an imperfect one, and so would be also its most sacred ties sometimes. We must therefore frankly recognise that cases may sometimes occur, where religion will have to dissolve the tie it had once created. The conditions of divorce will have to be very stringent, but its necessity in modern times will have to be recognised. There are several cases in Hindu society of women being completely forsaken by their husbands, who are compelled to lead a forlorn life of virtual widowhood. They cannot remarry, because their first marriage tie cannot be dissolved. If, however, they change their religion and become Christians or Muslims, they can dissolve their existing marriage and enter into a new wedlock. Should we penalise these unfortunate women for their fidelity to Hinduism by refusing them permission for divorce and remarriage? We have seen already that ancient Dharmaśāstra writers definitely permit dirvorce under certain circumstances. We would therefore be not going against the spirit of our culture by allowing divorce, in case a wife is completely abandoned by her husband. To allow divorce on wider grounds like cruelty, insanity, etc., would be neither advisable nor desirable for women.

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It is urgently necessary for Hindu society to change its angle of vision towards women, who have been criminally assaulted or who have temporarily gone astray owing to a mistake or duress. During the last one thousand years we have been very cruel to such women, and have, as a consequence, driven them either to a life of permanent sin and shame or to the folds of other proselyting religions. We must immediately bring ourselves in line with the enlightened viewpoint of our much maligned Smṛiti writers, who had recognised that the phrase, 'It is human to err,' was as much applicable to women as to men, and have recommended that women, who have been overpowered or misled, should be readmitted to their families and society after a suitable penance. Justice, fairplay and the interests of the community as a whole demand that we should try our best and enable such unfortunate women to start their life afresh in an honorable manner.

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Widow remarriage has been already legalised, but the number of widows taking advantage of the legislation is still very small. Widows who spend their remaining life cherishing the memory of their late husbands and devoting themselves to the service of their family, society and country will continue to be revered by society. We should encourage and honour all those, who are genuinely anxious to lead such a life. It cannot be, however, gainsaid that the dread of social opprobrium is still preventing a large number of young widows from marrying cation and marriage of the sister. The proper remedy to improve the economic position of women would be, not to give them a share in the patrimony, but to enlarge their rights in their husbands' property. Since times immemorial, Hindu culture has been pointing out that the wife is the joint owner of the property along with her husband. It is now high time that we should give full effect to this theory. It should be open for a wife to claim a full one half share of the family property, if the court concludes that she has been unjustly treated by her husband and compelled to live separately. If there are any children of the marriage, the wife's share in such cases should be recognised to be equal to that of a son. A legislation to this effect will be in perfect harmony with the traditions of our culture, and serve as a powerful deterrent even to self-willed husbands from ill treating their wives, or contracting a second marriage, or following a vicious course of life.

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A deed of transfer of immoveable property should require the joint consent and signature of the husband and the wife. This is necessary in order to prevent a vicious or spendthrift husband from ruining his wife by selling away her share in the family property. The law passed in 1937 has secured to the widow her husband's full share in the joint family property. She is, however, still a limited heir. Time has now come to grant women with some minimum educational qualifications full rights of ownership in their inheritance. Why should not the lady principal of a college possess a right which is conceded by law to her most illiterate peon?

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Women have already obtained political rights and privileges, more or less coextensive with those of men. They will figure more prominently in public life when there is a wider spread of education and a further improvement in the economic condition of society.

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The few changes that are suggested above are not in any way against the spirit of our culture. This point has been made quite clear in the course of this work. That our code of social and socio-religious rules and regulations has never been a fixed and rigid one must have become quite clear to the reader of the preceding pages, which show how our customs and institutions have been changing from age to age under the influence of new ideals and environments. This conclusion is forced upon us not only by a study of the history of institutions, but also by a survey of the views of the Smṛiti literature about the sources of our Dharma. It has been definitely laid down by a number of authorities that along with Śrutis and Smṛitis, *sadāchāra* or accepted good usages also constitute an important source of Dharma¹. It is no doubt true that *sadāchāra* is regarded as less authoritative than Śrutis and Smṛitis; but this was only in theory. In practice it excercised an influence as great as that of the latter. As a matter of fact Smṛitis themselves are nothing but *sadāchāra* codified in black and white. There used to be a body of learned and pious Pandits, who used to survey the situation from time to time and guide the society by their opinions as to the advisability or suitability of some of the new changes that were being felt to be necessary under changed circumstances. The considered opinions of such Pandit associations (*parishads*) used to be eventually incorporated in new Smṛitis, which used to be known after the names of their presidents. Smṛitis like those of Devala, Bṛihaspati or Kātyāyana and later works like the *Mitāksharā* and the *Dāyabhāga*, which proposed important new changes in the then established old practices, were really due to the activities of such learned bodies (*Paṇḍita-parishads*).

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¹ वेदः स्मृतिः सदाचारः स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मनः । एतच्चतुर्विधं प्राहुः साक्षाद्धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ॥ *Manu*, II, 12.

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It is further important to note that even orthodox Smṛiti writers like Manu have recognised that a time might come when their rules would become obsolete, and have therefore declared that if any rules framed by them are found to be not conducive to the welfare of society, or against the spirit of the age, they should be unhesitatingly abrogated or modified¹. As a matter of fact they themselves have done so in many cases. The Vedas, for instance, were definitely opposed to women’s rights of inheritance; later Smṛitis nevertheless managed to get them recognised. The Vedic age had permitted Niyoga; Smṛitis, however, openly carried a righteous and successful crusade against the custom. Marriage by capture and purchase was approved by the earlier age; Dharmaśāstra writers vehemently condemned both the practices. The main reason for this pro-reform attitude of our Dharmaśāstra writers in these matters was that they had realised that circumstances had changed and therefore customs and institutions must follow suit. We must in our own turn recognise that times have changed, old ideals of extreme asceticism have ceased to appeal, the age of authority has gone and is succeeded by an era of rationalism and equality. We must therefore readjust the position of women to the new situation by introducing the changes suggested above. If this is done, the capacity, efficiency and happiness of Hindu women (and therefore of Hindu men also) will increase, and as a consequence, our community will be enabled to take its rightful place in the comity of nations and make important contributions to the progress and happiness of mankind.

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¹ परित्यजेदर्थकामौ यौ स्यातां धर्मवर्जितौ । धर्ममप्यसुखोदर्कं लोकविद्विष्टमेव च ॥ *Manu*, IV, 176.

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॥ ॐ तत्सद्ब्रह्मार्पणमस्तु ॥

Cites (6)