The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s6.4

c2.s6.4

But in talking of woman we are, so to speak, confounding, from the later point of view, three different beings. The inherent complexity of woman's nature is aggravated in India by the social accident of her relation to men; and we find here, for all social considerations, as great a difference between woman and woman caused by marriage as between man and man caused by caste. This difference is heightened by the fact that women also (though, in less degree than men) were separated by the caste-regulations. But inside the pale of one caste we have always to distinguish sharply between woman, wife, and widow. The first had no value. The second was of exaggerated importance. Again, the widow was a being socially apart from both girl and wife. It is only under these rubrics that we can study the condition of woman at all. For woman in general is but chattel, and receives only the respect due from a sensible man to potentially valuable property.