It is myth that Women held very important position in ancient Indian society. Today I have come up with some proofs that show that in ancient India, life of women was pathetic and they had very low status in the society. We have many evidences of suppression and ill-treatment of women in Ancient Indo-Aryan society. Most of the problems like Child Marriages, Dowry system, Bride-Burning; No rights in their paternal property, Mass Wife-Burning (Jauhar) and Widow-Burning (Sati) have their roots in ancient India.
Female infanticide — The father of daughter was supposed to give huge dowries to the boy’s family and this system was also recommended by the Vedas. Hence a girl was seen as a burden. The woman who gave birth to a daughter was ashamed. Husbands were not supposed to have intercourse with a wife who bore only daughters. Hence infanticide arose as a convenient way of getting rid of the burden called daughter. Holy Aryan texts say:
“Tasmat striyam jatam parasyanti ut pumamsam haranti“
It means, Hence they reject a female child when born, and take up a male.”
Child marriage was common in ancient India due to the custom of dowry and to avoid scandals. Old Hindu mythology books including vedas prescribe that the best partner for a man in one-third his age.
” A man, aged thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases him, or a man of twenty-four a girl of eight years of age; if (the performance of) his duties would otherwise be impeded, he must marry sooner.” [Manu Smriti]
Wife-Burning — An Aryan husband could at any time accuse his wife of infidelity. In case the wife protests her innocence, the council of village elders would then order an ordeal by fire. The accused wife would be required to pass through a blazing flame. Not just death, but any signs of burns would be taken as a sign of guilt and the wife would then have to undergo the penalty for infidelity. Adultery carries the death sentence in Aryan law, so either way she would have to pay with her life for her husband’s or elders’ mere suspicions. The ideal role model for this custom was Sita, Ram’s wife. She was required by her spouse, the `ideal husband’ of the `Hindus’, to pass through the fire ordeal after her return from Sri Lanka.
Jauhar — It refers to the practice of the mass burning of all the wives and daughters in an entire town/district to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemies. Often the husbands forced their unwilling spouses, sometimes the women practiced it themselves, encouraged by the elders. It is merely a variant of sati, since it occurred in anticipation of the women’s widowhood.
Sati — The Aryans, upon their invasion of India ca. 1500 B.C. introduced the horrific custom of sati, ie. the burning of a woman after the death of her husband. When performed singly it is referred to as sati, when performed en masse by all the women and daughters of a town in anticipation of their widowhood (eg. when the men were to fight a battle against all odds), it is known as jauhar. It is sanctioned by their most sacred texts, and was practiced from the fall of the Semito-Dravidian Indus Valley civilization to the modern age.
Old Texts and quotes supporting Sati ::
“Let these women, whose husbands are worthy and are living, enter the house with ghee (applied) as corrylium ( to their eyes). Let these wives first step into the pyre, tearless without any affliction and well adorned.” [Rig Veda]
“It is proper for a woman, after her husband’s death to burn herself in the fire with his copse; every woman who thus burns herself shall remain in paradise with her husband 35,000,000 years by destiny.”
On her husband’s death, the widow should observe celibacy or should ascend the funeral pyre after him. [Vishnu Puran]
” The 8 queens of Krishna, who have been named, with Rukmini at their head, embraced the body of Hari, and entered the funeral fire. Revati also embracing the corpse of Ram, entered the blazing pile, which was cool to her, happy in contact with her lord. Hearing these events, Ugrasena and Anakadundubhi, with Devaki and Rohini, committed themselves to the flames.” [Vishnu Puran]
Methods of punishing women in Ancient India ::
Cutting off the ears and nose of wives — Aryan husbands cut off the ears and nose of their wives if they left the house without their prior permission. The Ramayana and Lord Ram practiced the cutting off of women’s noses for minor offences, thereby providing divine sanction for the custom. Shurpanakha was a Dravidian lady who fell in love with Ram. She proposed to him, but he directed her to his brother Laxman. He cut off her ears and nose for this crime.
Death Penalty — The death penalty was prescribed for Aryan women guilty of infidelity. Manu Smrti says “When a woman deceives her husband (with another man), then the king should ensure that she be torn apart by dogs in a public place and the evil man should be burnt in a bed of red-hot iron’. Infidelity to husband was considered a grave sin and it was believed that such women went to hell. The husband had the power to curse the wife who was disloyal to him. Thus the sage Gautama cursed his wife Ahalya for sleeping with Indra though through no fault of her own. During the Maurya period, if a woman was found guilty of a carnal crime her generative organs were cut off and she was ultimately sentenced to death.
Other Restrictions ::
- No Property Rights — Women and Sudras in ancient India have no property rights.
- Dressing — Aryan women had to wear a face-veil when going out. They were not supposed to entertain strangers.
- Not allowed to Sleep alone — Ancient women were not allowed to sleep alone. During the absence of her husband, she was supposed to sleep with one of her female relatives.
- No Education for women — Women and Sudras were declared to be unfit for study of the Vedas.
Interesting ‘compilation’. While I am not casting a doubt on what you are talking about, much of which may be correct, though not all.
I have certain reservations regarding your approach to this apparent piece of ‘research’.
Below are a few of my preliminary observations:
1. You have begun with an assumption that people think that women held a very important position in India. This may not be true. The source of this assumption is not clear.
2. Ancient India is a very broad range, generally accepted as Indus Valley Civilization to AD 1300, encompassing 3800 years at the least. This period saw numerous changes in anything and everything. This article attempts to brush off/ generalize ancient India into one realm.
3. Ancient India has also been reduced to the early Aryan period, which is not correct.
4. Certain texts have been cited, however citation is incomplete and improper. One cannot cite large texts like Rigveda in their entirety. Please inform the reader about the position of the quoted text in the entire text.
5. Drawing on my earlier argument of ancient India not being a stationary and short period in time, it is important to know the likely and generally accepted dates when the texts were written/created/modified. For instance, a Vishnu Puran comes after centuries of the Rigveda. You can’t place both in the same boat.
6. Texts do give an idea, however it is generally accepted that they had been written by people with influence. You can’t take them literally. That’s why archaeology assumes prime importance. You can’t talk about things based on a few texts alone.
7. Last but not the least, ancient India wasn’t just about the Aryan religion or Brahmanism, which many incorrectly assume to be Hinduism as we understand the word today. It was also about Jainism, Buddhism and later Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shakt sects etc. It was also about Charvaka. Not to forget it was also about the Deccan and the peninsula, which were not strongholds of Aryans to begin with. And it was about an assimilation which a few centuries hence ensured that no one could actually call her/him an Aryan and be correct about that…
Hence, it’s my request to not take things at face value. Kindly base what you say on solid research and knowledge, rather than belief (even if your belief is certainly correct), if you have set out to ‘prove’ something.
Roshan
Good Morning Sir,
i want to state that this is very good subject.which you had been adressed .sir i want more on this topic.because this topic is very intresting,and i want more……….
thanking you
rohit kumar
dear & respected abhishek ji
there are certain points about your post that i would like to clarify…
1) female infenticide – no comments (although i myself don’t approv of this custom i find it quiet incredible that our vedas should support it)
2) child marriage – no comments (though i would like to think that this be a matter of personal judgment )
but yet again it is rather hard to imagine why a man must marry a girl 1/3 his age.
3)wife-burning – all things that happen, happen for a reason.
Shri Ram asked Maa Sita to pass through the burning blazes due to some reason.
It is believed that since shri ram was the lord vishnu himself, hence he knew what was about to happen (that is the abduction of maa sita by the evil lord ravana) but since the whole idea of that Avtar was a) to show the humans the ways of maryada & b) to rid the world of excesses of asuras; for this purpose a reason had to be created in order for ravana to get in a fight with ram. hence the abduction of sita was in-evitable. so lord ram decided to entrust his beloved sita to the security of agni dev and instead used her clone to bait ravana.
after the war had been fought and ravana defeated he only reclaimed his original wife from the agni dev.
He never for once doubted her or not-loved her for his whole life (as is evident from other facts).
But people who seek the half truths saw this act and decided to further their own mischievous and shady plans by useing the same as an excuse. but for this, the act itself cannot be blamed anymore or less than any life saving drug which when used wisely can save lives and when un-judiciously used may kill with same efficiency.
4) jauhar & sati – Now this is one thing which has always made me wonder..
In old days the mughals used to attack our cities with thier huge and unified armies.
due to whatever reasons our small and fractured kingdoms decided to fight their own battles and wars.
In those days when the going used to really get tough and the odds were mounted high against the said kingdom; the women folk (who completely understood thier vulnerabilities) willing chose death or suicide rather than face rape and humiliation at the hands of thier enemies.
it is purly a decision borne out of self respect and self preservence.
There is nothing holy or religious about the whole thing.
even in times of peace (the male member being the sole-bread earner of the family) a widow may choose to end her own life rather than face the cruel and oppertunist world alone.
even in todays world we see people commiting suicide for far smaller reasons. one example being students commiting suicide when they do not get expected results in exams. now tell me what is so holy or unholy about that? If you ask women today their choice between rape and death many would still chose death so you see it is rather a personal thing than a religious act.
5) cuting of nose and ears – I dont know for sure if it was a rule of thumb to cut womenfolk’s nose and ears or not but laxman’s act had a reason. it was meant to instigate ravana into taking a panga with lord ram so that his tyranny could be ended.
6) Death Penalty for adultery – Though i am principaly against capital punishment i may dearsay that some crimes are and will remain worthy of it. Again as i am not an expert at the old ways but my personal opinion is that breaking a spouse’s trust is the worst form of cruelty a person might show. and it is directed against a person who has placed his/her complete trust in you. ( i mean if you cant trust your spouse who can you really trust; think about it for a moment sir, put yourself in the aggrieved party’s shoes and only then can you comprehend the pain it may cause.) Having said that i would also like to clarify that this holds true for both man & women.
7) property rights and dowry – As with everything else things have been so distored by vested intrested people that they have lost thier original usages.
These two issues which have now become the icons of woman exploitation are a master stroke of social genius according to me.
imagine this-
There are two siblings “A” & “B”
they live at the same house, play the same games and usually enjoy all other things together. and then they become mature and of employable age.
It is mutually and amicably decided that “A” would live with his parents and look after them (in their old age), manage the family business and basically run the family as a unit.
And “B” has to shift away from the residence (for sake of convinience lets say he has to move to another town). Now what should a prudent family head do? If I be asked i would say that the family should give “B” his full and all share in the family fortune then and there so as not to cause a dispute in the future. and hence by extension of the same rule that “B” after getting his full and just share would not be entitled to any family fortune after that..
Now lets substitute these siblings with real people
“A” being the son
“B” being the daughter
now tell me sir where is anything wrong in it.
in order for us to call any custom good or bad we need to comprehend the logic behind the same.
8) Dressing – Though i may not be able to understand it fully but one thing that i have noticed it is that all religions be it hindutava, islaam, christianity or jewish; they all have a common platform on this. they all share in their beliefs that women should use viel of one way or the other. and if people living in total ignorance of each other decide on one thing then that issue should not be outrightly labeled as absurd but it’s pro & cons must be discussed in detail in order to arrive at a logical conclusion.
9)not sleeping alone – no comments
10) women education – Sir as with dowry and paternal property rights of girl-child this is another issue which though considered as a symbol of women exploitation; must have started off as something else. but over the ages it has lost it’s original logic and has been distorted into something alien.
Now a days our Modern Education system has identified that mere bookish knowledge will only produce babu’s and not productive citizens and hence we have decided to impart useful and extra curricular skills to our children for them to become better humans and earning members of our society. in my school days i used to have a subject SUPW (socially useful productive work) and those of you from my era would agree that we used to laugh @ it. While me being from an only boys school had things like typing etc it is known that girls schools of our time did actually teach coocking and sewing to their students. Sir is it not possible that this same thing started off thousands of years ago and later it became so highly specialized division of labour that we errornously decided that bookish education (in principle itself) was un-important or useless for the girl child.This would bring us to another burning women lib issue of today i.e. why should it be the womenfolk who should cook and sew and the menfolk who earn the bread. In ancient times the only way to earn was either agriculture or trade. both of which reqired rigorous physical strength. and as nature has it men were chosen to serve the women eternally by working and labouring.
Sir the only point that i have been trying to make here is
It is not a prudent thing to label anything as right or wrong as it is the usage and not the principle that may be at fault.
a very live example would be
4-2×10/20+12-1=???
some people might say the answer is 12 but of course that is wrong.
now if we calculate the above sum by normal multiplication etc we may arrive @ a wrong answer
but if we analyse the sum and use the correct bodmas formula we cannot go wrong. the answer would be 14.
I am sorry to take so much of your valuable time
regards
Ashish Kumar Gupta
Delhi
India
Half knowledge is always dangerous to self and more than that to others who listen to or read about it. You have picked up small things from vedas and books and quoted what was written( if that is correct) but you have not gone behind the words and understood the real meaning(bhav) of the stuff wirtten. I think rather than writing these half baked stories and misinterpreting quotes without proper facts and strong references you should not go on propogate these fundas on net(if that is what u want to do). You need to focus on real issues present right now affecting Indians in India rather than pulling old stuff from the graves and go ga ga about it. It is very easy to go and sit in cushy environment in any western country and write this kind of stuff but very difficult to actually to do something for your country or countrymen facing the problem staying with in the country. I can go on and write a lot of things but I just don’t wan’t to, I think you should be a part of constructive journalism and of the positive wave to face and address the issues rather writing meaningless stories with no positive effect. Every society has had and still has it’s problems and underdogs. We need to correct them.
This is nothing but just nonsense. try, try, and try but the maze you are weaving here will fall and the truth will be triumphant. false translation, have any knowledge of sanskrut? or trying to be prey to you know it better. Regards.
What an irrepressible lie! Just quoting some lines of your choice does not prove your point. ‘Hinduism’ is ‘at its core’ the holiest and purest of all religions. May truth bless you.
All those ancient customs were brutal, I personally love life, and a woman was the one that give me life, so I did respect her all my life, if I want children, I need a woman to give them life and look after them while I work and supply all they need to live happy, and regardless of what God sent me, (boy or girl) I will protect them both the same. I am thankfull to God to be in this era, where we can make this decisions and not the brutal customs(that I am sure some are still happening) that were practiced in those places, and in those times.
Just watch this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SVh5I5d4Ts
we were Bharatiya and we were great,
Now we are Indians, are we great…
1. First of all,”aryan-dravidian theory” is comletely wrong ,and these theories are proposed by half-learnt wicked british indologists like Max Muller for the purpose of achieving the policy of “divide and rule” successfully.
Then it was propagated by congress led nehru-indira govts thus ironically estabilshing in history text books till today.What we read in history text books are only 50% true,sadly,vote-bank politics being responsible.The world’s most ancient,detailed literature is Rig-Veda which never mentions of an invasion.All indians are genetically of the same race,which in later times got varied skin colour of people due to living conditions and climate.
2. In Vedic times, dharmic philosophy was followed,according to which women shoudld always be chaste,should never be lusted by a person other than her husband,nor should she.The meaning of rape was never known to any men in the ancient times,because they were brought up in such a way that requires boys to be celibates till atleast 25 years of age.(before grihastha)There were no war crimes in ancient india for the same reasons above.The rules were-‘war was between two armies alone.Never between civilians.If soldiers of country “A” manage to destroy all that of “B”,then “A” can proclaim victory and add territory of “B” to its own.But never should they harm the civilians or women of “B”.because it was against war-dharma. Even lustfully looking at a woman other than your wife was a great crime,because they were supposed to be treated as sisters. Prostitution was present but was illegal,and women involved were loooked down with contempt.
All these ideas of rape, child marriage,sati,dowry,veil,etc came after muslim and mongol invasions and true vedic culture was forgotten.
Lastly, i mention tat i’m not a historian,but have read lots and lots of books in library and made comparisons,ultimately getting realization.
Please don’t defame INDIA on account of your unauthouised facts arising out of frustration and prejudice towards a particular religion,caste or some hypothetical race.,and sometimes due to your meaningless hatred towards sanskrit, vedas and hinduism.
Please enjoy reading the vedas,puranas and epics of our country which no other has ever been to produce or have a parallel with, because these are not man made to be this perfect, but divine.
I am astonished to see the one sided view of author.
Ancient India is a vast period.
In the most ancient scriptures…in the vedas and vedanta it was clearly stated that other than body there is no difference between men and women as both are spirits…which are actually expression of bramhan itself.Each man and woman are actually the bramhan who is under illussion of an identity and the world.The person who knows the truth understands the fact that everything is the expression of the conscious…and therefore the male or female are mere virtual identities to us. It was also said that each spirit who have not yet known the truth is repeatedly incarnated…therefore each person has both male and female sides.
Knowing this fact laid the base of their effort of a stable society and thus they fixed roles of people and caste was made.The caste was according to occupation and it was later turned by birth.However one of a caste could move into other caste through the action of person…and this was examplified through the scriptures.(Biswakarma,Satyacam).
Regarding women there were female sages. Apala,Maitreyee, Gargi were female sages. They were at par with the males and had participated in debates sponsored by kings.
Regarding women Patanjali wrote that unless women are happy…all spiritual works are in vein and where women are happy only there the gods delight.
As the fundamental theory of brahman was accepted the gods were considered as different aspects or expressions of brahman.
It is very important to note that the status to the gods and godesses in Hindu beliefs and scriptures are equal.
The godess durga and kali are considered the maha shakti…the summation of all energy in the universe.While lord shiva is denoted as mahakaal that is the time itself. The energy takes form within time to form and dissolve the universe.
This spiritual talk was necessary to show that women were considered as symbol of shakti.Therefore the verses said to respect them akin to worship.
The suffix goddess was and still is added to women for this.
(……)devi like that.
The manu samhita and all other texts were written later.
The swami vivekananda said that the shifting of free individuals taking up roles in society to caste by birth, and the detoriation of wonens status in later years and during invasion was the cause of detoriation of hinduism later.
He also said that lot of bad ideas were in the manu samhita and others which were unscientific and must be thrown out.
He scolded directly thoses people in his time who wanted to get their daughters married at 8 to 12.
The ideal age for marriage for both men and women according to him was 30 years so that they can fulfill their goals before setting up families.
However he stated this that we need to make changes to the religion to the needs like the manu etc did as we are no less than them.They were humans and they can be wrong in how the society should work.
There were notable female rulers and some lead army in India.
The status of women in India largely depended on their caste like their male counterparts.
Brahmin women were into litaratures…while Warrior class trained in weaponery…like that.
However the status of women detoriated in middle age but that was due to deviation from ancient teachings.
Sorry for the errors that occurred due to typing from mobile and all.
1.Biswakarma should be replaced by Biswamitra.
2.Lots of typos occurred due to typing from mobile.
Anybody needing more info should consult wikipedia.
Swami Vivekananda said that there was lots of good and bad in the past.We will have to take all goods from it.
The power of India is assimilation and a dynamic culture. For thousands of years we developed our ideas and assimilated others ideas…traditions into ours.It is a continuous process and currently western culture is being assimilated.The good things will again be integrated in Indian culture and traditions.
The swami Vivekananda said that future India will be thousand times more glorious than ancient. I agree with him.
As for womens status in India it is definitelt rising.
India has a much better tradition of respect towards women and therefore equality (that is already awknowledged to us)will be much easily established here.
USA is still to have a woman president.If they had it it will be news as womens rights achievement.
We have had woman prime minister and president.It was not a womans rights news much.It was natural.Nobody …no men felt like how could a woman rule. The cause is we already know in our heart that they are equal to men.
Its a matter of time we crumble the violences and problems of women.
I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry at the writer of this article who is trying his best to become an social activist or he is just trying to become an writer . It could be possible he is not Indian at all.I never seen such an hate monger, ignorant author in my life.
What his agenda? Is he some kind of paid agent of foreign agency who wants to break India, defame India or trying to collect money to build Dalitstan in India?
Ancient women of India lead Inspiration life for modern India as well for the world. Half knowledge of this writer is deadly dangerous for civilized society. India history has been distorted by many western historians in order to get popular as well our own Indian historians followed to please the Brits.People like this author like to make money by spreading lies and half truths. Have he read about Ahilya Holkar?Her rule came to signify justice and wisdom. Its a shame that you know nothing about Ancient Women of India as well about Hinduism. This Article reminding me of those fools and ignorant who thinks Hindus Gods are based on Mythology like Greek Mythology, Who think Hinduism is all about Idol Worshiping .. Hindu Does not worship Idles. We call Murti No idles.some people thrive on one side negativity. In Ancient Time Women were the head of house hold, she was the one who used to decide if she wants to live with her husband or not so infidelity punishment never been mentioned . Do some more research and read about Parsar Rishi. One Piece of advice don’t make fool of urself with your half knowledge, first learn to read, write and comprehend then spreading your hatred for Santan Dharma, OK or just simply go get a life. Get a Knowledge about Sawami Vivekandanand .Do You know who he is ? Do You know what he stood for? Have You ever read about Adi Shankra Charya? Have you Read about Advaita Philosophy? Hinduism gives more independence to women than any religion, nation in the world. How I know becoz I am a woman of India.Indian women have fought in the wars and got due credit in the World History . Long Live Sanatan Dharm.
Dear sir I support all u said.You are completely right that women in ancient india were not given equal rights. As a matter of fact they STILL ARE NOT.And u hindu people who gave long long comments above.You r wrong with your explanations.I won’t say that your religion is wrong or something because thats your own personal choice to make but I am very very sorry to say that your hindu religion have no rights for women.
You r totally right sir, women in ancient india were not given equal rights as men. As a matter of fact they STILL R NOT given the proper rights even now in present day india and r treated badly.the explanations that u hindu gave above r wrong.i won’t say your religion is bad or something because its your own personal choice to choose what religion to follow but i’m very very very………………sorry to say that your hindu religion is based on inequality, caste system of dividing human in different groups and has -0 rights for women.
This is written by a filthy jihadi muslim. All the verses are fake. The Rig Veda doesn’t say anything about SATI. Infact no Hindu text says anything about Sati. Jauhar is suicide. Hindu women used to jump into fire by themselves to avoid capture from dirty muslim Kings.
i don’t care keep removing my coments but i’ll say again your stupid indian religion has no rights for women.
TUM LOOG BAVAKUFF HO, BHALA BUTON KI BHI KOI PUJA KARTA HA. WO TU KHUD NON-LIVING THINGS HOTAN HAAN, JO BOL BHI NAHI SAKTAN
first of all mr., muslims are not filthy and every muslim is not a jahadi. second of all is that every verse is correct you hindu guys have no rights for women you hit them, sell them, rape them and even kill them but i’m not talking about all of you people but surly talking about the aryan hindu whatever religion
first of all, i feel pity for the writer.
the problem is hinduism is so ancient that you really can not define the life of indian women like this. if i go by whatever i have read till this date, most of the things the writer quoted are actually happened after the mughals invaded India. child marriages, sati, jauhar. these muslims came in India and for sake of saving women from these filthy muslims hindus had no choice but to marry off their daughters at an early age, widows practice sati in order to save themselves from the fear of rape etc. In ancient India the dressing of women was very similar to men with no pardah system and they were free to choose their husbands which ofcourse changed in due course of uncountable centuries. pls get youself corrected with the wisdom of our ancient text which clearly mentions how well off the women were in ancient times. and mind you there is a diffrence of centuries between ancient and medevial times.
secondly, pls do not write such articles to gather attention of people who wish to bully our ancient of all religion i.e. existence
thirdly, for visitors who are showing there anti – hindusim emotions. get yourself corrected by looking around in your own religion. i believe you guys are lucky to be in good families (my own assumption) that you dont know the situation of muslim women, i pity on you.
thank you for your attention
Thank you for the references as to where from all these social customs originated. Are we supposed to believe that Manusmriti was written to protect the women from Muslim rulers? Is someone trying to hide their wicked minds, I wonder. What is funny is not that we have not shunned these laws but instead of reading them as an uncultured social practices when the humans were still uncivilised, we still take cues from what these ancient texts say. Where is individual freedom that we talk about today, mentioned?
lord mani distorted the pre vedic culture, i believe he was an imperialist ruler. his origins of some evil race possibly.
First of all you should look yourself.
Any one who do not know about themselves
Properly ,whether they are humans or simply a mob should not allowed to come and pass a comment about things 1000 Years before their own exhiestance .When you yourself remained covered under black
Cloths for more then 1300 years ,and treated as slaves.
In recant time a final nail
hammerd in your coffins in Pakistan,that
a husband can beat all his 4 sex slaves is
as per the law of the religion.
Can anyone answer this fact that the law of blampssy
Only applied to kill women’s in a ligal way
Under bright light .You yourself passing throughout a slavery , thus no meaning in
Pointing fingers towards things well before
a mob culture.
This post and this attitude DOESN’T solve anything.
If any one wants to write some thing about Vedas, rights of women, Sudras, immediately there will be 1000nds of protest telling that half backed acknowledge, with out the knowledge of Sanscrit, ours is the unparalleled literature given by God/divine. How a God can divide people when he considers all his creations.How one will be allowed to sit in AC and profess his duty and others work in through days for others belly. Why this system is continuing in India only. Even still worst system prevailed in Japan with similar 4 caste system, where it has gone in Japan, now as Hindus we cross samundhar (prohibited by Smiritis/vedas) to fetch dollars in lakhs. A society with graded inequality will never improve in any fronts. The face value of our country with 1000nds of caste fighting leads nowhere. Hindus should know to love each other. If any thing wrong in any script let us accept and correct. We have already corrected Mahabharat from 26000 version or so to now one lakh version-largest in the world. Women were treated/equaled as Sudras, it was a fact, why to say no no no, they were words of divine origin we should not challenge. When it suits to earn we ignore the ban on crossing samundhar and go to other countries for dollars. This is called double role by us. But one thing is sure, in Japan the top on the caste system who were only 300 families in 1800s wrote to the king to change the social system and were ready to compromise their perks and privileges for the sake of the progress of the country. Whereas, in India can we expect such a daring step for uniting Indians as Indians, who will bell the cat. Our religion taught us to have a group of people to serve the haves for menial work. We cannot clean our own toilets, we need a caste for that. Whereas, if we go to USA/UK we are ready to do sweeping /cleaning labs for dollars. In India we are proud to have a caste for the job.
U don’t have any right to say anything about Hinduism cast,and it’s true that in ancient India women has no right but also in Muslim cast women has no right .
HAMME BAWKUFF KAHNE SE PAHLE KHUD KO DEKH LO.
Women ko burkhe ke pichhe hi rahne diya jata hi .
I don’t consider myself enlightened as you guys, because i have not read any of the scriptures or not highly qualified. But i would like to put forward my opinion that if women from the beginning were protected or denied doing activities, that was out of love and concern. For example, women should be in veil when outside because women was considered delicate and beautiful . But with times, the same expression was passed to a man who treated the women to be in veil and stay inside thinking he is superior and egoistic. I do not think any custom or any religion started or was made on the basis of negativity.
Dignity for women is not limited to the eyes of men of religion. I have seen men who care and respect not only women of their own but every women who are hindu, muslim, christan. I live here in India where I had the opportunity to interact with all religions. And in the same way i had the chance to meet people who are so negative and we have such people in all sects in our society.
So please let us try to differentiate only on the basis of good and bad, evil and pure and negativity and positivity. All of us are born out of one source and will be back to the same source.
I don’t like non-hindus writing such half knowledge things about Indian women. What about Muslims women ??? Even in present day world Muslims women are treated badly…pls don’t try to destroy Hindus n their culture where we have so many goddesses being worshipped by men ..
Ridiculous article by a non hindu with a Hindu name
This is completely inaccurate. Women were given good status and treated suprisingly well in India. This article is untrue. Women were given lots of status and respect in India. All these horrible things were done by Muslim invaders.
That’s offensive and rude. People have their own religious beliefs. Only the people who believe in a certain religion can truly understand it. I am not pointing fingers at your religion and you shouldn’t point fingers at mine.
This article not at all have any authenticity. It’s all bogus, it seems that writer need to read scriptures and other text before writing on such a sensitive matter…plz go and get learn about the ancient women life then write blog with proper substance. It’s advisable not involve or express ur hatred in name of posting this type of bogus article