Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.237

c7.237

Apart from the one passage cited by Professor Sharma from the *Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā* to show that the women had ceased to attend the *sabhā*, we have found another passage in the same text which confirms that conclusion.⁵ Moreover, there is yet another verse in the *Atharva Veda* which also shows that women were never members of the *sabhā*. In this hymn a woman is afraid she might lose her husband who speaks in the *sabhā*: “I [the wife] am speaking, not thou [the husband]; in the council indeed do thou speak; mayest thou be mine wholly; mayest thou not make mention of other women.”¹ This verse proves that women did not go to the *sabhā* and were afraid that they might be deprived of their husbands who were probably influential men in the council and coveted by other women. This evidence strengthens our interpretation of the word *sabhāvatī* as not referring to a “woman councillor,” and supports our view that women were not allowed to attend the *sabhā* during the entire Vedic period.² Such an inferior position of women is not surprising in the patriarchal society of the Vedic Aryans. In Greece and Rome as well, women did not attend the *boule* or the senate.