History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.89

v2.c28.s2.89

In the midst of this dark picture and undeserved condemnation of woman there is one very bright spot, viz. the high eulogy of and the reverence for the mother in all smṛti works. Gaut. (II. 56) first says that the ācārya (one's teacher of the Veda) is the highest among *gurus*, while some teachers hold that the mother is the highest. The Āp. Dh. S. I. 10. 28. 9 prescribes that a son must always serve his mother even if she has been an outcast (for some great sin), since the mother undertakes for her son numerous (troublesome) actions. Baud. Dh. S. (II. 2. 48) requires the son to maintain his mother, even though an outcast, without speaking to her. Vas. Dh. S. 13. 47 says 'a father who is an outcast may be abandoned, but a mother (though *patita*) is never an outcast to the son.'¹³⁵⁵ 'The ācārya exceeds by his greatness ten upādhyāyas, the father exceeds a hundred ācāryas, a mother exceeds a thousand fathers' says Manu II. 145 (= Vas. Dh. S. 13.48). Śaṅkha-Likhita¹³⁵⁶ give a very salutary piece of advice 'the son should not take sides (in a quarrel) between his father and mother: indeed he may (if he chooses) speak on the side of the mother alone, since the mother bore him (in her womb) and nourished him; the son, while living, would never be free from the debt he owes to his mother except by the performance of the Sautrāmaṇi sacrifice.' Yāj. I. 35 holds that the mother is superior to the guru, ācārya and upādhyāya. The Anuśāsana parva¹³⁵⁷ (105. 14-16) says that 'the mother excels in her greatness ten fathers or even the whole earth; there is no *guru* like the mother.' Śāntiparva chap. 267 contains a very high eulogy of the mother. Atri 151 says that there is no *guru* higher than the mother. The great Pāṇḍava heroes pay the highest honour to their mother Kuntī. The Ādiparva chap. 37 says that one may avert the consequences of all curses, but a mother's curse can never be averted¹³⁵⁸.