The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.93

c8.93

It is no wonder that under such circumstances unreasonable demands should have been made on wives. The husband may be self-willed, he may be even vicious; the wife must nevertheless worship him as a god³. Such husbands of course may not have been many; what is surprising and painful is that they should have got some advocates even among Smṛiti writers. The impudence with which ludicrously absurd stories are sometimes narrated in later literature to illustrate the life of the ideal wife, who followed the above gospel, is indeed astonishing. Anasūyā was a very obedient wife and an ideal *pativratā*, says the *Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa* At her husband's bidding she once proceeded to carry him on her own shoulders to the house of a dancing girl. On the way the love-lorn husband kicked an angry sage, who was passing near him, and the latter forthwith cursed him to die before the sunrise. Anasūyā proceeded to render the curse inoperative by prohibiting the sun from rising. The luminary could not of course disobey the command of a *pativratā*. The earth was plunged into darkness and gods got alarmed and intervened. They eventually succeeded in pacifying the angry sage, who was then induced to take back his curse.