International Women’s Day 2018: Women Empowerment – A Hindu Perspective
– Dr. Swati Chakraborty
Historically, the female life cycle in Hinduism has been different from that of males. In the ancient, medieval and most of the modern eras, females have followed a three-stage pattern. Today, the roles of women in Hindu society are changing with dimension of the world. Increasingly, the life pattern of females resembles the stages of life for males. The elementary ideologies governing the roles of girls and women in Hindu history were set forth in the Laws of Manu. This ancient code specified that women must be honored and bejeweled by their fathers, brothers, husbands and brothers-in-law who desired their own welfare.
“Where women are honored, there the gods are pleased. Where they are not honored, no sacred rite yields rewards.”
In ancient India, women occupied a very essential status, in fact a superior position to, men. It is a culture whose only words for strength and power are feminine –“Shakti” means “power’” and “strength.’” Education for girls was regarded as quite important. While Brahmin girls were taught Vedic wisdom, girls of the Ksatriya community were taught the use of the bow and arrow. In Vedic times women and men were equal as far as education and religion was concerned. Women participated in the public affairs alongside men. One text mentions a female rishi Visvara. Some Vedic hymns, are ascribed to women such as Apala, the daughter of Atri; Ghosa, the daughter of Kaksivant or Indrani, the wife of Indra. Apparently in early Vedic times women also received the sacred thread and could study the Vedas. The Haritasmrti mentions a class of women called brahmavadinis who remained unmarried and spent their lives in study and ritual. On the brighter side, Hindus worship many female deities, as aspects of Mother Goddess and consorts of male Gods. “Hindu have venerated the feminine element under its different manifestations: Mahalaxmi, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, Maheshwari – and even India as country isfeminine: “Mother India.”
In some communities in the past, upon the death of their husbands women performed sati and self-immolated themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. This practice is currently banned. Others, who lost their husbands, lived in seclusion or under the care of their sons or close relations. In either case, the life of a widow was a life of severe hardship. In practice, most women led miserable lives as servants to their husbands. In the past, until the independence, Hindu men had the freedom to marry more than one wife or keep mistresses. Bias in Hindu law books such as Manu Smriti is unabashedly male-centric. They do suggest that women should not be harassed and the homes in which women suffered would be without peace and happiness.In the same vein, they prescribe many restrictive conditions for women and curtail their freedom. In general, Hindu women from the lower castes enjoyed much greater freedom than the women in the households of higher castes. Many girls were married off at an early age to relatively older men and the life of such women when they reached puberty was full of hardship.
In the medieval period, the Mughal rulers who came to power subsequently and established their domain far and wide in the subcontinent, except for some parts in the south, were not much different from the previous Muslim rulers in their attitude towards the native rulers whom they killed quite mercilessly and forced a great number of people to convert to Islam. The condition of Hindu women was deliberately decreased in this era. During the medieval age, Hinduism witnessed a great and silent revival through the rise of Bhakti movement. Bhakti or devotion to a particular God became the central theme of many social and religious reform movements of this period with great example of Meera Bai. The rise of Bhakti was very timely and momentous in the religious history of Hinduism because it not only protected the religion from degeneration but also enabled the masses to participate in it.
The situation is gradually changing. It is difficult to draw generalizations about the status of present day Hindu women because the society is complex. In general, life in cities is much different from life in the rural areas in respect to religious belief. Those who live abroad live in different conditions than those who live in the country. Yet, we have ample indications that women are still subject to many restrictions and disabilities in rural areas as well as urban areas. The financial independence of women and the education levels of the family play an important role in this regard. In every aspect women from Hindu society is performing admirable work with educational enlightenment and empowerment.
References:
- Francois Gautier. 2008. A New History of India. HarAnand Publications: India. p. 1 – 18
- http://www.hinduwebsite.com/history/hinduhistory2.asp
- http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_women.asp
- http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Women_in_Hinduism.htm
- https://hinduismexposed.wordpress.com/women-in-hinduism/
- http://hinduismbeliefs.blogspot.in/2008/12/role-of-women-in-hinduism.html
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