The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c6.13

c6.13

As a natural consequence of the above circumstances, in the literature belonging to the later periods of Hindu civilisation passages about the undesirability of the birth of daughters become more numerous. In the Brāhmaṇa literature there is a solitary passage observing that while the son is the hope of the family, the daughter is a source of trouble to it¹. A similar idea occurs in the Mahābhārata also². The Rāmāyaṇa tells us that when Sītā came of age and her marriage had to be arranged, her father's anxiety became as intense as that of a poor man who suddenly loses all his little money. The epic goes on to observe that a daughter's father, even if occupying a position as exalted as that of the king of gods, has to put up with insults not only from his equals but also from his inferiors³. Even when he succeeds in making a very