History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.394

v2.c24.s1.394

But gradually the position of women became worse and worse. In the Dharmasūtras and Manu woman is assigned a position of dependence and even women of higher classes came to be looked upon as equal to śūdras so far as Vedic study and several other matters were concerned. Gaut. 18. 1, Vas. Dh. S. VI. 1, Baud. Dh. S. II. 2. 45 and Manu IX. 3 say that women have no independence and in all stages depend upon men. We have seen (at p. 265) also that all the saṁskāras (except marriage) were performed in the case of girls without Vedic mantras. Though according to the Pūrvamīmāṁsā the husband and wife were to perform Vedic sacrifices together (Jaimini VI. 1. 17-21) still women⁸⁹⁶ were only associated with their husbands and all the actions to be done by the sacrificer (yajamāna) were to be done only by the husband except where the texts expressly requested the wife to do certain things such as examining the ājya or repeating certain mantras (VI. 1. 24). Jaimini says that the husband and wife were not equal and Śabara explains that the yajamāna is a male and is learned, while the patnī is a woman and has no vidyā. Medhātithi⁸⁹⁷ on Manu II. 49 raises the interesting question why brahmacārins when begging for alms used a Sanskrit formula (bhavati bhikṣāṃ dehi) which language ladies do not know. He replies that women can understand that vernacular words which they use being similar to Sanskrit words must be derived from them and that these few well-known Sanskrit words they can easily grasp. Besides even in Vedic times there was a tendency as in many other countries to make sarcastic references to women. The Ṛgveda⁸⁹⁸ VIII. 33. 17 says "Even Indra said 'the mind of woman cannot be controlled; and also her intellect (or power) is slight'"; in Ṛg. X. 95. 15 ⁸⁹⁹ 'there is no truth in the friendship of women; they have the hearts of hyaenas'. The Śat. Br. XIV. 1. 1. 3 exhorts a person studying the Madhu-vidyā not to look at 'woman, śūdra, the dog and the black bird that are all untruth'. In Manu II. 213-214, Anuśāsanaparva chap. 19. 91-94, chap. 38 and 39 there is severe condemnation of woman. Such ideas, and ideas about pollution and the early marriage of girls are probably responsible for the great lack of literacy among women in medieval and modern times.