The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s1.17

c7.s1.17

It is interesting to note that marriage was made obligatory for girls in contemporary Persia as well. Matrimony however was not regarded there as necessary for the spiritual salvation of men. 'For a woman there is no offspring except by intercourse with a man and no lineage proceeds from her. But for a man without a wife, when he shall recite the Avesta as it is mentioned in the Vendīdād, there may be a lineage which proceeds onwards to the future existence.' (*Pahlvi Texts*, Part I, pp. 322-3). In India also students were regarded as the spiritual children of their teachers, and women teachers had practically disappeared from the scene by the beginning of the Christian era. But women’s incapacity to leave behind a spiritual lineage has not been advanced as an argument for making marriage obligatory for them.