Women in the situations of ancient India?
During Vedic times, women so inclined wore the sacred thread and were taught the holy mantras of the Vedas. Some were brahmavadinis, women who devoted their lives to scriptural study, expounded the Vedas and wrote some of the Vedic hymns. Women of the kshatriya (warrior) caste received martial arts coaching and arms training.
The Vedas, Upanishads and other scriptures give numerous examples of women philosophers, politicians, teachers, administrators and saints. The Rig Veda says, “The wife and husband, being the equal halves of one substance, are equal in every respect; therefore, both should join and take equal parts in all works, religious and secular.” The Upanishads clearly declare that we individual souls are neither male nor female. Hinduism teaches that each of us passes through many lives, both male and female. It further teaches the law of karma, which informs us that what we do to others will in turn be done to us — and that ahimsa, non-hurtfulness, must be the guiding precept of our lives. Thus, Hinduism gives no justification for the mistreatment of others, whether on the basis of gender or for any other reason. (In the actual lives of adherents, of course — as in any religion — “results may vary.”)
Comparing the general position of women in our scriptures with those of any other faith, we will immediately discover their elevated status in Hinduism. The Semitic faiths, by comparison, associated women with evil and mortality. The Old Testament says, “And a man will choose…any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman…Sin began with a woman, and thanks to her we all must die” (Ecclesiasticus, 25:18, 19 & 33). The New Testament, too, is partial to men: “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 11:7). “And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner” (1 Timothy 2:14).
In Hinduism, girls are revered as forms of Goddess Lakshmi. Boys are not correspondingly revered as forms of Rama or Krishna. In the Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali and other communities, girls are not supposed to touch the feet of their parents; instead, on occasions like Navaratri, everyone — including parents — touch the feet of the girls.
We can inquire, in what major religion besides Hinduism do people worship the Supreme Being as Goddess? While the Western religions are male-centric, the largest pilgrimage site in North India (and second largest in the entire country) is Vaishno Devi. Throughout the country — north, south, east and west — one can see pilgrimage places centered around the shrines of various forms of the Goddess — Durga, Parvati, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswati, etc. The Shakta Hindus consider the Mother Goddess to be the Supreme Creator; and even Vaishnavites and Saivites, who worship Lord Vishnu or Lord Siva as the Supreme Deity, affirm that God cannot be approached except through His Shakti.
Hinduism gives no justification for the mistreatment of others, whether on the basis of gender or for any other reason.
Hindu scriptures are of two classes. Sruti is revealed scripture — the Vedas and the Upanishads. The smriti comprise lesser scriptural texts, composed by human beings — the Itihasas, Puranas and Dharmashastras. Within smriti, the Itihasas (the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata) are the most important and authoritative. By the time those were written (the “epic period” of India’s history), the position of women had deteriorated considerably, although there still existed women called brahmavadinis, who devoted their lives to study and spiritual meditation and who participated in the philosophical discussions.
“India’s customs regarding women were severely impacted by the centuries of invasions and foreign occupation, when the careful protection of Hindu women became essential.
