The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c19.s1.138

c19.s1.138

Women; general condition in Vedic period, 406-10; in the age of the Brāhmaṇas and Upanishads, 410-2; during *c.* 500 B. C. to *c.* 500 A. D., 420-8; during 500-1800 A. D., 428-35; why the position was better in earlier times, 412-5; why it deteriorated later, 392-3, 415-21; deprecatory passages about: partly views of disappointed men, 383-5, 410; partly merely cynical, 385; and partly deliberately written to blacken women's character, 385-6; their fallacy exposed, 385-8; patronising attitude towards, causes of, 401-3, 438; why treatment and attitude must change, 438-9; women as chattel in India and West, 252-4; as religiously impure during menses, 229-31; deterioration in the character of, causes, 392-3; women as embodiment of good fortune, 382; not an impediment in religion, 232-3; not to be killed, 380-2; good treatment recommended of, 382-3; as custodians of culture and religion, 28-9, 244-6, 250-1, 434, 436-7; and Śūdra status, 12, 19, 234, 241-3, 381, 393, 429, 433, 436, attitude towards captured or ravished women, 367-74; towards women going astray, 375-7, 435, 443; some grievances of, common with men, 437; some extenuating circumstances, 392-3, 436; in primitive society, 406-7; treatment of, as a test of civilisation, 1-2; careers for, 15, 212-3; and spinning, 26-7; economic position of, *see* under Proprietary rights; as poetesses, authors, teachers and doctors, 12, 15-6, 19-21.