History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.74

v2.c28.s2.74

As against the high eulogy and considerate treatment of women a few passages unfavourable to women may be cited. We have already seen (p. 503) how woman was said to be 'falsehood' incarnate (Maitrāyaṇīya S. I. 10. 11). Ṛg. VIII. 33. 17 says 'the mind of woman is uncontrollable'; Ṛg. X. 95. 15 and Śatapatha XI. 5. 1. 9 declare 'there is no friendship with women and they have the hearts of hyænas' (addressed to Purūravas about Urvaśī); Ṛg. V. 30. 9 'women are the weapons and army of the dāsa'. The Tai. S. VI. 5. 8. 2¹³⁴³ says 'therefore women are without strength, take no dāya (portion) and speak more weakly than even a wretched man'. This passage (which really refers to women not being entitled to a portion of Soma drink) is relied upon by Baud. Dh. S. (II. 2. 53) and ¹³⁴⁴ by Manu IX. 18 for prescribing the entire dependence of women on men, for depriving them of a share on partition or inheritance and of the privilege of Vedic mantras. The Śat. Br. (S. B. E. vol. 44. p. 446) says that woman, śūdra, a dog and a crow embody untruth, sin and darkness (XIV. 1. 1. 31). The same Brāhmaṇa (IV. 4. 2. 13, S. B. E. vol. 26, p. 366) remarks 'the wives being smitten (with ghee-the thunderbolt) and unmanned neither rule over themselves nor over dāya (share of property)'¹³⁴⁵. Another passage of the Śatapatha (S. B. E. vol. 44, p. 300) says 'He thereby makes women to be dependent, whence women are sure to be attendant upon man' (XIII. 2. 2. 4). These passages establish that even in Vedic times women were often looked down upon, had no share in property and were dependent. The passages about the character of women contain no more than what male cynics and critics of all times and in all countries have attributed to women such as 'frailty, thy name is woman!'. In the Dharmaśāstra Literature the position of women became worse and worse as time went on, except as to rights of property. Gaut. 18. 1, Vas. Dh. S. V. 1 and 3, Manu V. 146-148 and IX. 2-3, Baud. Dh. S. II. 2. 50-52, Nārada (dāyabhāga 31)—all declare ¹³⁴⁶ that women are not independent, but dependent in all matters on men and that in childhood, after marriage and in old age they are to be guarded by the father, the husband and the son respectively. Manu (IX. 2-3) refers to *rakṣā* (i. e. protection against harm or calamity), while Manu V. 146-148 declare a woman's dependence even in all domestic matters at all stages of her life on some male. Nārada (dāyabhāga vv. 28-30) adds ¹³⁴⁷ 'when a widow is sonless, her husband's relatives are the controlling authority as regards her maintenance, the application (of the husband's property) and guarding her against harm; if there be no relative or *sapiṇḍas* of the husband, then a woman's father's family has control of her; the creator assigned dependence to women as women even of good family fall into ruin by independence'. It has been seen above (pp. 561-562) that a woman's only concern was to serve her husband, and that she could perform other observances or undertake fasts and pilgrimages only with her husband's permission. Vide Hemādri (Vrata-khaṇḍa, part i. p. 362 where several texts are quoted including Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa 16. 61).¹³⁴⁸