h o m e

w o m e n    i n    h i n d u i s m

c o n t e n t s

In ancient India, women occupied a very important position, 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.'' All male power comes from the feminine. Literary evidence suggests that kings and towns were destroyed because a single woman was wronged by the state. For example, Valmiki's Ramayana teaches us that Ravana and his entire clan was wiped out because he abducted Sita. Veda Vyasa's Mahabharatha teaches us that all the Kauravas were killed because they humiliated Draupadi in public. Elango Adigal's Sillapathigaram teaches us Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas was burnt because Pandyan Nedunchezhiyan mistakenly killed her husband on theft charges. 

In Vedic times women and men were equal as far as education and religion was concerned. Women participated in the public sacrifices alongside men. One text mentions a female rishi Visvara. Some Vedic hymns, are attributed 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. Panini's distinction between arcarya (a lady teacher) and acaryani (a teacher's wife), and upadhyaya (a woman preceptor) and upadhyayani ( a preceptor's wife) indicates that women at that time could not only be students but also teachers of sacred lore. He mentions the names of several noteworthy women scholars of the past such as Kathi, Kalapi, and Bahvici. The Upanishads refer to several women philosophers, who disputed with their male colleagues such as Vacaknavi, who challenged Yajnavalkya. The Rig Veda also refers to women engaged in warfare. One queen Bispala is mentioned, and even as late a witness as Megasthenes (fifth century B.C. E.) mentions heavily armed women guards protecting Chandragupta's palace. 

Louis Jaccoliot, the celebrated French author of the Bible in India: Hindoo Origin of Hebrew and Christian Revelation said: "India of the Vedas entertained a respect for women amounting to worship; a fact which we seem little to suspect in Europe when we accuse the extreme East of having denied the dignity of woman, and of having only made her an instrument of pleasure and of passive obedience." He also said: "What! here is a civilization, which you cannot deny to be older than your own, which places the woman on a level with the man and gives her an equal place in the family and in society."

Introduction
Veneration of Women in Vedic India
Sati, the much-highlighted face of Hinduism
Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime
Women as Purohita - priests
Famous Women of Ancient and Modern India

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Introduction

Recent incidents of sati and rash of "dowry murders" have made headlines not only in India, but all around the world, and have focused attention to women's issues in India. In the wake of the discussion it emerged that Indian women's problems are not only problems of Hindu women or problems caused by traditional Hinduism.  Media paints India as a dangerous place. But if statistics can be trusted, a study by Hindus Against the Abuse of Women presented at the Second International Conference on Bride Burning and Dowry Deaths in India puts USA in the lead of familial femicide. It says USA murders of women committed by "intimate relations" are 15 per year per million population. Too often the underbelly of the West is not reported in their media. Whereas, the English media in India makes a living out of pouring hate and bile on India and her culture. (Refer to Killings of new, expectant mothers mount in USA - Many pregnant women like them have been slain in Maryland and Mississippi, in California and Kansas, in Ohio and Illinois. A year-long examination by The Washington Post of death-record data in states across the country documents the killings of 1,367 pregnant women and new mothers since 1990. This is only part of the national toll). The rate in Pakistan is 6.44 per million. India's is 6.25 per million. The study says excessive need for control and greed may be the underlying causes, not cultural or religious factors. India recently passed a law making husbands and in-laws guilty until proven otherwise if a bride dies within the first year of marriage. Since then, the rate of women killed by intimate relations dropped by more than 50%. Tiny Switzerland is home to a mere 7.2 million people. It is extremely rich, modern, industrialised and democratic with excellent health care and a 100 per cent literacy rate. So why has this proud nation with its fiercely democratic traditions failed to curb violence against women? Which is why the statistics for wife beating are about the same in the developed and the developing world. It is fallacious to think that there is a link between democracy, prosperity, education levels and domestic violence," counters Elizabeth Rod-Grangé, a Swiss sociologist and activist with Solidarité Femme, a women's rights group that runs shelters for battered women in Geneva. According to the report, one in every three women suffers violence in her lifetime. The statistics in Europe are as appalling as anywhere else. In France, six women die each month at the hands of men who profess to love them.  

In Britain, one woman is killed by a partner every three days, one woman in four experiences domestic violence and attacks on partners account for a quarter of all violent crime. Despite media campaigns and shocking statistics, domestic violence continues to be one of Europe's most under-reported crimes.  
Watch the movie - The Magdalene Sisters (2002) treatment of "wayward women" run by the by Catholic Church in Ireland in 1964.

According to the Amnesty report, one in every three women suffers violence in her lifetime. The statistics in Europe are as appalling as anywhere else. In France, six women die each month at the hands of men who profess to love them. In Spain, some 100 women are killed each year by abusive spouses or boyfriends with over 30,000 complaints of severe physical violence, while in Switzerland, one of the wealthiest countries in Europe where "direct democracy" rules supreme, the number of women who suffer physical and psychological abuse tops 20 per cent. In France, the subject became front-page news after the film actress, Marie Trintrignant, was beaten to death by her lover, singer Bertrand Cantat.

In Europe - Women earn less than men in all 27 European Union countries, according to a recent European Commission report. In 2005, the “pay gap” was 15% across the European Union. (source: Rich man, Poor Woman - economist.com). 

Refer to Western Women - Liberated or Exploited in a materialistic society? - The system demands that their bodies are exploited for advertising purposes. Refer to Anorexia and Eating Disorders.

Dowry practice plagues Christian community in India - The practice of dowry, normally prevalent among the Hindus, is now making its presence in the Christian community as well. In fact, despite a high literacy rate, Kerala continues to be one of the epicenters of dowry practice in the country. While the Church is aware of this practice, its leaders say there is little they can do about it. Far from being a solemn ceremony, marriages have now become an occasion to flaunt wealth and social status. And in a consumer state like Kerala it seems just everyone wants to shell out as much as he can on marriages.

(source: Hinduism Today http://www.hinduismtoday.com/1997/9/ and Violence against Women and Domestic violence in Switzerland - hindu.com and Women, a battered section of society in Europe - hindu.com and Dowry practice plagues Christian community in India.

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Hindu religion has been occasionally criticized as encouraging inequality between men and women, towards the detriment of Hindu women. This inaccurate presumption again arises when people combine social and religious issues. 

10th century Nayika standing underneath a tree attended by her companions, while she put the finishing touches to her toilet. In her left hand she holds a mirror, while adjusting her coiffure with her right.

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India's femininity and sexual ambiguity, is the very antithesis of Western virility. 

Prudery was quite unknown to ancient Indian artists, who had no conception of ‘the sins of the flesh’ with which Western civilization is  so preoccupied even today.

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According to Guy Sorman, visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford and the leader of new liberalism in France, writes: idea of feminism and ecology came from the 1968 movement, from the meeting between India and the West. He says: "There is hardly anything in European thought to predispose the West to reject virility, the respect for authority, the mastery over nature. India too has a warrior (khastriya) tradition of virility as exemplified in the Mahabharata, only it is secondary. First, comes the veneration of thousands of goddesses - for the Indians, India is above all Mother India.  

India's femininity and sexual ambiguity, is the very antithesis of Western virility."

(source: The Genius of India - By Guy Sorman  ('Le Genie de l'Inde') Macmillan India Ltd. 2001. ISBN 0333 93600 0  p. 197). 

The Hindu Goddess became the subject of very serious and intense study by many white women in the 1970s when they revolted against the male centric Abrahamic religions. Today, the Hindu Goddess is often used to enhance the historical narrative of Mother Mary or to reinterpret European Goddesses such as Sophia, Diana, etc. Furthermore, Gloria Steinem, one of the pioneers of the women's liberation movement in the US, spent two years in India in the 1960s, and after her return to the US she helped to launch the feminist movement. She writes in her autobiography that it was her experiences with women's empowerment groups in India that inspired her later work in the US.

Yet, Western scholars and their Indian chelas have started to demonize the Hindu Goddess as vulgar, as a symbol of sexual oppression of Hindu women, and as a cause of violence by upper castes.

(source: Myth of Hindu Sameness -  By Rajiv Malhotra - sulekha.com).

Testifying to the quiet continuance of an ancient tradition, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous watercolor Mother India in 1906, as a beautiful, ascetic goddess clad in pale saffron. This dreamy image became the artistic icon for the Indian nation during the struggle for independence. Bankim Chandra’s unforgettable song Vande Mataram inspired countless patriots to their martyrdom and still stirs, in everybody’s heart devotion to the motherland visualized as Devi.

(source: Devi in Indian Arts - By Utpal K. Banerjee  Tour India April 2001).  

And more, an increasing number of both theologians and lay-persons alike are beginning to see nature as being distinctly feminine in essence – a fact that Sanatana Dharma and Yoga philosophy has known and taught for over 5000 years. The Earth is not a static dead rock floating in space that exists solely for man's economic purposes. The Earth was not created by God to be partitioned into artificial geographic regions, over which men will then foolishly war with one another. Rather, she is a living being, a mother, a woman, a Goddess, whom we are to love, respect and nurture - as she so patiently nurtures us. In the Hindu tradition, Mother Earth even has a name: Bhu-devi. In Sanatana Dharma, the dual issues of respecting the ways of nature and respecting women are ultimately inseparable concerns. 

Goddess Bhudevi, bronze - The consort of Lord Vishnu. She personifies the Earth.

To worship the Goddess is to honor the Earth and all the creatures. In the Vedic literatures mother Earth is personified as the Goddess Bhumi, or Prithvi. She is the abundant mother who showers her mercy oh her children. 

The Earth was not created by God to be partitioned into artificial geographic regions, over which men will then foolishly war with one another. Rather, she is a living being, a mother, a woman, a Goddess, whom we are to love, respect and nurture - as she so patiently nurtures us. In the Hindu tradition, Mother Earth even has a name: Bhu-devi. 

The female aspect of the Creator has been excluded by a world that has focused exclusively on the male dominated religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Such respect for the feminine has not been as readily visible in the history of the Western world, unfortunately. 

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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Such respect for the feminine has not been as readily visible in the history of the Western world, unfortunately. The documented treatment of women in the Western religions has been a truly horrendous record - to state the situation quite lightly. The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have not had anywhere near the same abundant degree of women in leadership throughout their respective histories. Indeed, in Abrahamic religious institutions, the norm historically has been to actively and systematically bar women from any and all positions of authority. To this day, for example, women are barred from the priesthood, and any other important position of real authority, in the Roman Catholic Church. There are no women priests, no women monsignors, no women bishops, no women archbishops, no women cardinals, no women Popes. Thousands of wise and independent women healers and herbalists were burnt at the stake by the church during the post-Classical Dark Ages.

(source: Sanatana Dharma as a Liberating Force for Women - By Frank Gaetano Morales - sulekha.com). For Treatment of Women in Abrahamic faith, refer to Women in Christianity and Islam and Mormonism. Refer to Women's Inferior Status in the Bible. Also refer to Public whipping of women in United Kingdom - the whipping of females was not abolished until 1817.

Recently Chicago radio and TV talk-show, Tony Brown  has made remarks like "A woman in the India is never free." (refer to Hindu-bashing Chicago Radio and TV talk show airs). Perhaps Mr. Brown should read 200 verses in the Bible that denigrate women Insults to women in the Bible and Why Women And The Bible Don’t Mix.  According to Ed Viswanathan author of Am I a Hindu?:  "It is pertinent to remember that St. Paul wrote in the Bible, women cannot be leaders and cannot talk in church. That is why Catholics will never have a woman priest. This country (USA) will take very many years for a woman or a black to become president, where as India already had a women prime minister." St. Paul says: “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” [1 Corinthians 14:33-36]."  Refer to Christianity Versus Women  By Julia Hernandez and Al Seckel - Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)  wrote: "God created Adam Lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled it all. Women  should remain at home, sit still, keep house and bear children. And if a woman  grows weary and, at last, dies from childbearing, it matters not.  Let her die from bearing; she is there to do it." [9, p. 923].

(source: India Tribune - By Ed Viswanathan author of Am I a Hindu?). Refer to Christian Pastor had sex with daughters - Sydney Morning Herald. Refer to Female Victims of Clergy Abuse - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.  Refer to Christianity and Women's Rights  and Christianity and its Persecution of supposed Witches - heretication.info).  

Note: The Vatican has ruled out all forms of feminist theology of the liturgy in Catholicism, saying that God must always be recognised as "Our Father". Feminist theology is a movement, generally in Christianity to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of their religion from a feminist perspective. Reinterpretation of male-dominated imagery and language about God is one of the important aspects of feminist theology. Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote the latest ruling, has been a strong opponent of feminism in the Catholic Church. From Day One of its existence, Christianity was activated as a Patriarchal form of Ideology. Patriarchy has been the bulwark of Christianity. It is a legalized form of crime against Woman.

Refer to Vatican- Excommunication for female priests - The Vatican insisted Friday that it is properly following Christian tradition by excluding females from the priesthood as it issued a new warning that women taking part in ordinations will be excommunicated.

(source: God is Man Not Woman Reaffirms Vatican! - Deccan Chronicle 5/17/08). Watch the movie - The Magdalene Sisters (2002) treatment of "wayward women" run by the by Catholic Church in Ireland in 1964.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) American suffragist was tireless in her criticism of the Bible, decrying their denigration of women. She wrote:

" I know of no other book that so fully teach the subjection and degradation of women." (Women Without Superstition).

and

"The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation." (Treasury of Women's Quotations).

(source: Famous Dead Nontheists). Refer to Love & Sex in the Bible - History Channel (Part 3 of 5) .  Refer to Examine God's sexism in the Bible - godisimaginary.com and to article on Iranian-born founder Mina Ahadi.

Annie Besant (1847-1933) British Theosophist. She was an active socialist on the executive committee of the Fabian Society along with George Bernard Shaw. George Bernard Shaw regarded her the "greatest woman public speaker of her time." 

She was a prominent leader of India's freedom movement, member of the Indian National Congress, and of the Theosophical Society. Dr. Annie Besant was a housewife, a propagator of atheism, a trade unionist, a feminist leader and a Fabian Socialist. She has observed:

“For centuries the leaders of Christian thought spoke of women as a necessary evil, and the greatest saints of the Church are those who despise women the most.”

(source: What Some Famous People Have Said About Christianity). For Cruelty inflicted by Christianity - Watch Constantine's Sword movie - By Oren Jacoby. Refer to Documentaries - The Holy Inquisition – History Channel and Secret Files of the Inquisition – PBS. Watch video - Church's Inquisition -Torturing Those Who Disagreed (1 of 6).  Refer to Love & Sex in the Bible - History Channel (Part 3 of 5) .  Refer to Index of Forbidden Books and Mexican Inquisition.

Father Leo Booth

“There would be no need for the women's movement if the church and Bible hadn't abused them.”

(source: Things that they don't tell you about Christianity).

Refer to The Status of Women in the Bible and early Christianity - religioustolerance.org and Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave in the USA. Refer to Picture of slave 1806 by John Gabriel Stedman - britishlibrary.com

Helen Ellerbe a researcher, writer, and public speaker, has observed in her book, that: 

"Orthodox Christians held women responsible for all sin. As the Bible Apocrypha states: "Of woman came the beginning of sin/ And thanks to her, we all must die.' St. Augustine, the much celebrated Father of the Church, thought that sex was intrinsically evil. Denying human free will and condemning sexual pleasure made it easier to control and contain people.  Christian history is replete with condemnations of human sexuality. The witch hunts also demonstrated great fear of female sexuality. The word “witch” comes from the old English wicce and wicca, meaning the male and female participants in the ancient pagan tradition which holds masculine, feminine and earthly aspects of God in great reverence. Hence, sexual desire was considered ungodly.  Christian philosopher, Boethius, who wrote in The Consolation of Philosophy, "Woman is a temple built upon a sewer." The 13th century  St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that God had made a mistake in creating woman: Lutherans at Wittenberg debated whether women were really human beings at all. Orthodox Christians held women responsible for all sin. As the Bible's Apocrypha states: "Of woman came the beginning of sin/ And thanks to her, we all must die." The witch hunts were an eruption of orthodox Christianity's vilification of women, "the weaker vessel" in St. Peter's words. The second century St Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman." And Lutherans at Wittenberg debated whether woman were really human beings at all. Orthodox Christians held women responsible for all sin. The Church father Tertullian also explained why women deserve their status as despised and inferior human beings." Pope John XXII formalized the persecution of witchcraft in 1320 when he authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcery." Witch hunt were justified in those contexts with reference to the Bible's prescription: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Exodus 22:18).  "The Burning Times" is an English term referring to the time of the Great European Witchhunts (1450-1750). Also sometimes referred to as Women's Holocaust. Refer to Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible.  Refer to Women - The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party.

(source: The Dark Side of Christian History - By Helen Ellerbe  Morningstar Books July 1995 ISBN 0964487349  p. 115 - 121). Also refer to Women: China from Inside - pbs.org.

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Francois Gautier (1950 - ) Paris-born has lived in India for 30 years, is a political analyst for Le Figaro, one of France's largest circulation newspaper, remarks: 

"Countries such as France or the United States, who are often preaching India on "women's rights" never had a woman as their top leader (President), whereas India had Indira Gandhi ruling with an iron hand for nearly twenty years; and proportionately they have less MP's than India, which is considering earmarking 33 % of seats in Parliament for women, a revolution in human history!" 

Thus in India - and it is true that it is often a paradox, as women, because of later Muslim influences, have often been relegated to the background - the feminine concept is a symbol of dynamic realization. She is the eternal Mother, who is all Wisdom, all Compassion, all Force, Beauty and Perfection. It is in this way that since the dawn of times, Hindus have venerated the feminine element under its different manifestations. Mahalaxshmi, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, Maheshwari - and even India is feminine: "Mother India." 

(source: Arise O' India - By Francois Gautier - Har Anand publisher  ISBN: 81-241-0518-9  p.11-13). For more on Francois Gautier refer to chapter Quotes221_250).

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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Veneration of Women in Vedic India

Will Durant (1885-1981) American historian says: 

"Women enjoyed far greater freedom in the Vedic period than in later India. She had more to say in the choice of her mate than the forms of marriage might suggest. She appeared freely at feasts and dances, and joined with men in religious sacrifice. She could study, and like Gargi, engage in philosophical disputation. If she was left a widow there were no restrictions upon her remarriage."

(source:  Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage - By Will Durant MJF Books.1935 p. 401). For more on Will Durant refer to chapter Quotes1_20 and Hindu Art).

Louis Jaccoliot (1837-1890) who worked in French India as a government official and was at one time President of the Court in Chandranagar, translated numerous Vedic hymns and the celebrated author of the Bible in India: Hindoo Origin of Hebrew and Christian Revelation said: 

"India of the Vedas entertained a respect for women amounting to worship; a fact which we seem little to suspect in Europe when we accuse the extreme East of having denied the dignity of woman, and of having only made her an instrument of pleasure and of passive obedience." He also said: "What! here is a civilization, which you cannot deny to be older than your own, which places the woman on a level with the man and gives her an equal place in the family and in society."

(source: India And Her People - By Swami Abhedananda - p. 253).

Goddess Saraswati known as Ben-ten in Japan.

Goddess Saraswati is the embodiment of the mighty Saraswati River of the Vedas. 

For Japanese Saraswati, refer to chapter on Glimpses XVII

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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In religious matters, Hindus have elevated women to the level of divinity. One of the things most misconstrued about India and Hinduism is that it's a male-dominated society and religion.  It is not. 

It is a culture whose only words for strength and power are feminine -- "shakti'' means "power'' and "strength.'' All male power comes from the feminine. The Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) are all powerless without their female counterparts. 

Devi, in the words of Romain Rolland, French Nobel laureate, professor of the history of music at the Sorbonne and thinker, is the Great Goddess, the invisible, the immanent, who gathers to her golden arms the multiform, multicolored - Unity. This echoes the sixth century Devi-Mahatraya prayer to her: By you this universe is borne, by you this world is created. By you it is protected, O Devi: By you it is consumed at the end. You are the Supreme Knowledge, as well as ignorance, intellect and contemplation...

Indian Historian Romesh C  Dutt ( ? ) writes: 

"Women were held in higher respect in India than in other ancient countries, and the Epics and old literature of India assign a higher position to them than the epics and literature of ancient Greece. Hindu women enjoyed some rights of property from the Vedic Age, took a share in social and religious rites, and were sometimes distinguished by their learning. The absolute seclusion of women in India was unknown in ancient times."

(source: The Civilization of India -  By R. C. Dutt  p 21-22).

India of the Vedas entertained a respect for women amounting to worship.

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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Women and the Divine Word

"Profound thought was the pillow of her couch,
Vision was the unguent for her eyes.
Her wealth was the earth and Heaven,
When Surya (the sun-like resplendent bride) went to meet her husband.
Her mind was the bridal chariot,
And sky was the canopy of that chariot.
Orbs of light were the two steers that pulled the chariot,
When Surya proceeded to her husband’s home!"

The close connection of women with divine revelation in Hinduism may be judged from the fact that of the 407 Sages associated with the revelation of Rig Veda, 21 are women.

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Professor H. H. Wilson ( ? )  says: "And it may be confidently asserted that in no nation of antiquity were women held in so much esteem as amongst the Hindus."

In Ancient India, however, they not only possessed equality of opportunities with men, but enjoyed certain rights and privileges not claimed by the male sex. The chivalrous treatment of women by Hindus is well known to all who know anything of Hindu society.

"Strike not even with a blossom a wife guilty of a hundred faults," says a Hindu sage, "a sentiment so delicate," says Colonel James Tod "that Rignald-de-Born, the prince of troubadors, never uttered any more refined."

(source: Hindu Superiority - By Har Bilas Sarda Publisher: Scottish Mission Industries. 1917 p. 93).

Louis Jaccoliot (1837-1890) who worked in French India as a government official and was at one time President of the Court in Chandranagar, translated numerous Vedic hymns and the celebrated author of the Bible in India has observed:

"Besides, what antiquity wholly overlooked, but what we cannot too much admire in India, is its respect for women, almost amounting to worship. 

This extract from Manu (shloka 55) will not be read without surprise: 

“Women should be nurtured with every, tenderness and attention by their fathers, their brothers, their husband, and their brother-in-law, if they desire great prosperity.” 

“Where women live in affliction, the family soon becomes extinct, but when they are loved and respected, and cherished with tenderness, the family grows and prospers in all circumstances.” 

"This veneration of women produced in India an epoch of adventurous chivalry during which we find the heroes of Hindoo poems accomplishing high deeds, which reduce all the exploits of Amadis, knights of the Round Table, and the Paladins of the Middle Ages, to mere child’s play.” 

(source: Bible in India: Hindoo Origin of Hebrew and Christian Revelation - By Louis Jacolliot  p - 40-41 Panini Office Bahadurganj. Allahabad 1916). For more on Louis Jacolliot refer to chapter Qutoes61_80).

The history of the most of the known civilizations show that the further back we go into antiquity, the more unsatisfactory is found to be the general position of women. Hindu civilization is unique in this respect, for here we find a surprising exception to the general rule. The further back we go, the more satisfactory is found to be the position of women in more spheres than one; and the field of education is most noteworthy among them. There is ample and convincing evidence to show that women were regarded as perfectly eligible for the privilege of studying the Vedic literature and performing the sacrifices enjoined in it down to about 200 B.C. This need not surprise us, for some of the hymns of the Rig Veda are the compositions of rishnis or poetesses. Some twenty different hymns were composed by poetesses. Visvara, Sikaata, Nivavari, Ghosha, Romasa, Lopamudra, Apala and Urvasi are the names of some of them. Man could perform the Vedic sacrifices only if he had his wife by his side. 

(source: Education in Ancient India - By A. S. Altekar  p. 207-209 Nand Kishore & Bros. Varanasi.1965).

Knowledge, intelligence, rhythm and harmony are all essential ingredients for any creative activity. These aspects are personified in Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning, Music and Fine Arts. Without the grace of Saraswati, or Saraswati-Kataksham, as it is called, Brahma cannot do a worthwhile job as the Creator. Any maintenance activity needs plenty of resources, mainly fiscal resources. So Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, is an essential companion to Vishnu.

Just three shlokas which are commonly recited during daily prayers are enough to show the status of the three Goddesses. A shloka on Saraswati contains the following line: Yaa Brahma Achyuta Sankara Prabhrudibihi Devaissadaa Poojithaa, which means, 'Saraswati who is always worshipped by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and other Gods'.

And Shakti is the fundamental strength of the feminine that infuses all life and is viewed as a goddess. Shakti is the divine feminine power found in everything. 

Goddess Durga and Mahisha, the buffalo demon.

In Hinduism, all power, shakti, is female. Shakti is the fundamental strength of the feminine that infuses all life and is viewed as a goddess. Shakti is the divine feminine power found in everything. 

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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In Hinduism, all power, shakti, is female. So, the female represents the totality of the power, and the male is imaged as the agent of the female. Also, in Hinduism, the sun is female and the moon is male; he is born of her, dies into her, and is born of her again every month. Shiva, this great power, is the moon god. Parvati, his consort, is the sun power. And although the worship in the masculine-oriented action systems in India is directly to Shiva, it's to the goddess Kali, that the worship finally goes. 

So that, actually, in India, Kali is the great divinity. .....the Hindu goddess Kali...is shown standing on the prostrate form of the god Shiva, her spouse. She brandishes the sword of death, i.e., spiritual discipline. The blood-dripping human head tells the devotee that "he that loseth his life for her sake shall find it." The gestures of "fear not" and "bestowing boon" teach that she protects her children, that the pairs of opposites of the universal agony are not what they seem, and that for one centered in eternity the phantasmagoria of temporal "goods" and "evil" is but a reflex of the mind-as the goddess, herself, though apparently trampling down the god, is actually his blissful dream.            

The Goddess
gives birth to forms
and kills forms.   

The Vedic pantheon includes a substantial number of female goddesses. There are beautiful hymns to Usha, the dawn, imagined as an alluring young woman:

Usha, the dawn, is often invoked, and is the subject of some of the most beautiful hymns that are to be found in the lyrical poetry of any ancient nation. 

Beautous daughter of the sky!
Hold they ruddy light on high,
Grant us wealth and grant us day,
Bring us food and morning's ray.
White-robed goddess of the morning sky,
Bring us light, let night's deep shadows fly.

This light, most radiant of lights, has come; this gracious one who illumines all things is born. As night is removed by the rising sun, so is this the birthplace of the dawn....We behold her, daughter of the sky, youthful, robed in white, driving forth the darkness. Princess of limitless treasure, shine down upon us throughout the day." - Rig Veda I. 113.

"We gaze upon her as she comes
The shining daughter of the sky
The mighty darkness she uncovers,
And light she makes, the pleasant one that we see."

" Dawn on us with prosperity, O Usha, daughter of the sky,
Dawn with great glory, goodness, lady of the light, dawn thou with riches, bounteous one....
O Usha, graciously answer our songs of praise with bounty and 
with brilliant light.......grant us a dwelling wide and free from foes..........."

Usha! (Dawn) Hail, Beautous daughter of the sky!

(source: The Splendour That Was 'Ind'  - By K T Shah).

Refer to the chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

***

Of the hymns to other deities, the hymns to those to Usha, the Dawn, are especially beautiful. Some of the loveliest nature poetry of this period is dedicated to her, depicted as a young maiden who comes to mankind in the special characteristics of the dawn. Dawn bring a feeling of hope and refreshment, of entering into the activity of the universe. 

Hindus hold rivers in great reverence. The rivers are female divinities, food and life bestowing mothers. As such, they are prominent among the popular divinities represented in the works of art of the classical period. The most holy of rivers, the best known and most honored, is the Ganga or Ganges. She is personified as Goddess Ganga. The river rises from an ice bed, 13,800 feet above the sea level in the Garhwal Himalayas.

One of the most important of all Vedic hymns, the so-called Devisukta, is addressed to Vak (speech, revelation), the goddess who is described as the companion of all the other gods, as the instrument that makes ritual efficacious: "I am the queen, the gatherer-up of treasures..." It is not unimportant, that Earth (prithvi) is considered female, the goddess who bears the mountains and who brings forth vegetation.

***

The Union of Man and Woman  

She is Language, he is Thought
She is Prudence, he is Law
He is Reason; she is Sense
She is Duty; he is Right
He is Will; she is Wish
He is Pity; she is Gift
He is Song; she is Note
She is Fuel; he is Fire
She is Glory; he is Sun
She is Motion; he is Wind
He is Owner; she is Wealth
He is Battle ; she is Might
He is Lamp; she is Light
He is Day; she is Night
He is Justice; she is Pity
He is Channel; she is River
She is Beauty; he is Strength
She is Body; he is Soul

                         - The Wisdom of The Vishnu Purana

Gargi and Maitreyi

Women, who once enjoyed an honored position and are found in the Upanishads conversing freely with men upon the highest philosophical topics. Seventeen of the seers to whom the hymns of the Rig Veda were revealed were women — rishikas and brahmavadinis. 

Women were held in higher respect in India than in other ancient countries, and the Epics and old literature of India assign a higher position to them than the epics and literature of ancient Greece.

***

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. The Barhut sculptures represent skilful horsewomen in the army. Patanjali mentions the spearbearers (saktikis). Megasthenes speaks of Chandragupta's bodyguard of Amazonian women. Kautilya mentions women archers (striganaih dhanvibhih). In houses as well as in the forest Universities of India, boys and girls were educated together. Atreyi studied under Valmiki along with Lava and Kusa, the sons of Rama. Fine arts like music, dancing and painting was specially encouraged in the case of girls. 

Girls had upanayana performed for them and carried out the sandhya rites.  A young daughter who has observed brahmacarya should be married to a bridegroom who is learned like her." (Yajur Veda VIII.1). Seclusion of women was unknown in the Vedic times. Young girls led free lives and had a decisive voice in the selection of their husbands. On festive occasions and at tournaments (samana) girls appeared in all their gaiety. Women had a share in the property of the father, and they were sometimes allowed to remain unmarried, with their parents and brothers. The Atharva Veda refers to daughters remaining with their parents until the end of their lives. A part of the ancestral property is given to them as dowry, which becomes their own property, and is called stridhana in later writings. "Home is not what is made of wood and stone; but where a wife is, there is the home." (sanskrit: na grham kasthapasanair dayita yatra tad grham - Nitimanjari, 68)

(source: Religion and Society – By S. Radhakrishnan ASIN 8172231636 p. 140-149).

It is significant to note that only Hindus worship God in the form of Divine Mother. In Hinduism the deities for knowledge, learning and material wealth are female and not male. The past social inconsistencies and injustices that did not arise from Hindu scriptures, but from humans who failed to correctly incorporate the teachings of the scriptures, such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, into their social philosophy. 

This concept of the spiritual equality of souls naturally influenced the status of women on an individual and social level.

"Where women are honored there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honored no sacred rite yields rewards," declares Manu Smriti (III.56) a text on social conduct. 

"Women must be honored and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands and brothers-in-law, who desire their own welfare." (Manu Smriti III, 55)

" Where the female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes;  but  that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers." (Manu Smriti III, 57). 

"The houses on which female relations, not being duly honored, pronounce a curse, perish completely as if destroyed by magic." (Manu Smriti III, 58)

" Hence men who seek their own welfare, should always honor women on holidays and festivals with gifts of ornaments, clothes, and dainty food."  (Manu Smriti III, 59)

In an old Shakta hymn it is said - Striyah devah, Striyah pranah "Women are Devas, women are life itself."

(source: Bharata Shakti - By Sir John Woodroffe p. 95).

"If a husband dies, a wife may marry another husband. 

"If a husband deserts his wife, she may marry another." (Manu, chapter IX, verse 77).

(source: Hindu Superiority - By Har Bilas Sarda p. 95).

In the Vedas, she is invited into the family 'as a river enters the sea' and 'to rule there along with her husband, as a queen, over the other members of the family. (source:  Atharva Veda xiv. i. 43-44).

Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1860-1888) Indologist and head of the Oxford's Boden Chair, wrote: "Indian wives often possess greater influence than wives of Europeans." He is not a true Hindu who does not regard a woman's body as sacred as the temple of God. He is an outcast who touches a woman's body with irreverence, hatred or anger." 

"A woman's body," says Manu the law giver, "must not be struck hard, even with a flower, because it is sacred." It is for this reason that the Hindus do not allow capital punishment for women.

The idea of equality was most forcibly expressed in the Rig Veda (Book 5, hymn 61. verse 8). The commentator explains this passage thus: "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 work, religious and secular." No other Scripture of the world have ever given to the woman such equality with the man as the Vedas of the Hindus. The Old Testament, the Zend-Avesta and others, have made woman the scapegoat for all the crimes committed by man. The Old Testament, in describing the creation of woman and the fall of man, has established the idea that woman was created for man's pleasure; consequently her duty was to obey him implicitly. It makes her an instrument in the hands of Satan for the temptation and fall of the holy man with whom she was first enjoying the felicity of paradise.

In the Vaishnava tradition, which is the most prevalent Hindu tradition today, God is worshipped as ‘Vishnu’ (all pervading) together with ‘Shri’,  who is also addressed variously as ‘Lakshmi’ (deity of wealth, splendor, prosperity). They incarnate together, and their incarnations, namely that of Rama and Sita respectively, and so on, are also worshipped as a couple. Perhaps a good idea of the simultaneous and equal reverence that Hindus have for the feminine and the masculine aspects of Divinity may be gauged from the following quotation –Sage Parashar said:  

“O Maitreya! Always a companion of Vishnu and the Mother of this Universe,
Devi Lakshmi is eternal. Vishnu is omnipresent, so is She.
If She is speech, Vishnu is the object of description.
Vishnu is the Law, and She is the Policy.
Lord Vishnu is knowledge, she is intelligence.
He is Dharma, She is good karma.
If Vishnu is the Creator, She is the Creation (that abides eternally with Him).
He is the mountain, She is Earth.
He is the virtue of contentment, She is the every satisfying.
If Lord Vishnu is desire, She is the object of desire.
He is the sacred Vedic ritual, she is the priestly fee…” 

It is important to note that when God is worshipped as ‘Divine Couple’ by Hindus, the name of the feminine typically precedes that of masculine. For instance, we say that we are worshipping ‘Sita-Ram’, ‘Radhe-Shyam’, ‘Uma-Mahesh’ or ‘Shri Vishnu’ and so on.

The 126th hymn of the first book of the Rig Veda was revealed by a Hindu woman whose name was Romasha; the 179 hymn of the same book was by Lopamudra, another inspired Hindu woman. There are a dozen name of woman revealers of the Vedic wisdom, such as Visvavara, Shashvati, Gargi, Maitreyi, Apala, Ghosha, and Aditi, who instructed Indra, one of the Devas, in the higher knowledge of Brahman, the Universal Spirit. Everyone of them lived the ideal life of spirituality, being untouched by the things of the world. They are called in Sanskrit Brahmavadinis, the speakers and revealers of Brahman. 

When Sankaracharya, the great commentator of the Vedanta, was discussing this philosophy with another philosopher, a Hindu lady, well versed in all the Scriptures, was requested to act as umpire. It is the special injuction of the Vedas that no married man shall perform any religious rite, ceremony, or sacrifice without being joined in by his wife; the wife is considered a partaker and partner in the spiritual life of her husband; she is called, in Sanskrit, Sahadharmini, "spiritual helpmate." This idea is very old, as old as the Hindu nation.

In the whole religious history of the world a second Sita will not be found. Her life was unique. She is worshipped as an Incarnation of God. India is the only country where prevails a belief that God incarnates in the form of a woman as well as in that of a man. In the Mahabharata we read the account of Sulabha, the great woman Yogi, who came to the court of King Janaka and showed wonderful powers and wisdom, which she had acquired through the practice of Yoga. This shows that women were allowed to practice Yoga. As in religion, Hindu woman of ancient times enjoyed equal rights and privileges with men, so in secular matters she had equal share and equal power with them. From the Vedic age women in India have had the same right to possess property as men; they could go to the courts of justice, plead their own cases, and ask for the protection of the law. Those who have read the famous Hindu drama called Shakuntala, know that Shakuntala pleaded her own case and claimed her rights in the court of King Dushyanata. Similar instance are mentioned in the 10th book of the Rig Veda. As early as 2000 B.C. Hindu women were allowed to go to the battle fields to fight against enemies. Sarama, one of the most powerful women of her day, was sent by her husband in search of robbers. She discovered their hiding place and then destroyed them. 

(source: India And Her People - By Swami Abhedananda - p. 255 -267).

Please refer to Women In Hindu Dharma - A Tribute.  A brief compilation done by Vishal Agarwal for the Hindu Students Society of the University of Minnesota.

Women were honored in ancient India. That is why when even today when Hindus refer to the avatar Rama and his wife Sita, as Sita-Ram and Radha-Krishna. 

Women must be honored and adorned by their father, brothers, husbands, and brother-in-law who desire great good fortune. Where women, verily are honored, there the gods rejoice; where, however, they are not honored, there all sacred rites prove fruitless. Where the female relations live in grief -- that family soon perishes completely; where, however, they do not suffer from any grievance -- that family always prospers. .. 

Her father protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth, her sons protect her in old age. The father who does not give away his daughter in marriage at the proper time is censurable; censurable is the husband who does not approach his wife in due season; and after the husband is dead, the son, verily is censurable, who does not protect his mother. Even against the slightest provocations should women be particularly guarded; for unguarded they would bring grief to both the families.

Regarding this as the highest dharma of all four castes, husbands, though weak, must strive to protect their wives. His own offspring, character, family, self, and dharma does one protect when he protects his wife scrupulously. . . The husband should engage his wife in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in cleanliness, in dharma, in cooking food for the family, and in looking after the necessities of the household. . . .

Women destined to bear children, enjoying great good fortune, deserving of worship, the resplendent lights of homes on the one hand and divinities of good luck who reside in the houses on the other -- between these there is no difference whatsoever.

The Taittiriya Upanishad teaches, "Matridevo bhava" - "Let your mother be god to you."

Refer to the chapters on Symbolism in Hinduism and Hindu Scriptures.

***

Motherhood is considered the greatest glory of Hindu women. The Taittiriya Upanishad teaches, "Matridevo bhava" - "Let your mother be god to you."

Hindu tradition recognizes mother and motherhood as even superior to heaven. The epic Mahabharata says, "While a father is superior to ten Brahmin priests well-versed in the Vedas, a mother is superior to ten such fathers, or the entire world."

Hinduism offers some intriguing and unique examples of strong women in the form of Goddesses.  Two thousand years ago Saint Tiruvalluvar observed: "What does a man lack if his wife is worthy? And what does he possess if she is lacking worth?" There is more respect in the East for women and for their role in society.

To instill such high ideals in humankind, Indian ancestors created a plethora of goddesses who enjoyed equal status with their husbands. The concept of Ardhanareeshwarar, where God is depicted as half-man and half-woman, is a concrete example to support this argument. In many philosophical texts God is referred to a Tat, meaning It and that God is beyond gender. And, one would find a comparable Goddess for each God. Further, we know for a fact that ancient India was permissive; women could have multiple husbands, widows could remarry, divorce was permitted for incompatibility or when estranged.

The article, Vedic Sociology by Dr. B. G. Sudha in the Chinmaya Mission publication Our Vedic Heritage throws considerable light on this aspect. To quote Dr. Sudha:

"There are a number of women who are considered as the seers of mantras, like Saraswati, Goshaa, Vishvavaaraa, Apaalaa, Urvashi, Indrani, and so on. It is said that Dhrutavati, the daughter of Rishi Shandilya, spent her whole life in the study of the Vedas. Likewise, another girl, Srutavati, the daughter of Sage Bharadvaja, also devoted her life to the study of the Vedas. 

The names of Gargi and Maitreyi are too well known as great scholars of Vedic lore… We have statements like, "This hymn must be recited by the wife,” in the Sroutasutras, which clearly endorse the eligibility of women to the study of the Vedas. The Ramayana describes the performance of Sandhya and Havana by Kausalya and Seetha. The wife was a regular participant in the sacrificial offerings of the husband. (Rig Veda I-122-2; 131-3; III-53-4-6; X-86-10 etc). Gobhila Gruhya Sutras state that the wife should be educated to be able to take part in sacrifices. (Gobhila Gr. S. I-3)."

Yagnavalkya with Gargi and Maitreyi

***

Woman in the role of wife occupies a position of pre-eminence in ancient Hindu tradition. The Hindus from the Vedic times believed in dual worship, Radha with Lord Krishna and Sita with Lord Rama. In this dual worship, the names of Radha and Sita get precedence over the names of their companions Krishna and Rama. This happens to be true of Goddess Saraswati and her husband Lord Brahma. Lord Shiva appears united in a single body with Shakti, his spouse; he at the right side and she at the left, in a manifestation known as Ardhnarishwar, the half-man, half-woman incarnation of God. Each of the three principal Gods — Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Protector and Shiva the Destroyer — in the Hindu pantheon, is accompanied by a Shakti, which is both his female double and his power of manifestation.

The Rig Veda too places woman on a high pedestal of sublimity: Yatr nariyastu poojayante ramante tatr devah, where woman is worshipped, Gods preside there.

Women, who once enjoyed an honored position and are found in the Upanishads conversing freely with men upon the highest philosophical topics, had become virtual slaves in the joint family. With the expansion of Vedic religion in Northern India and possibly also under the impacts of threats from the outside, a definition of the place of women in the Aryan society took place, which amounted to increasing restriction of their independence and a clear preponderance of patriarchal rule. What has been described so far as "Vedic law for women" was largely the tradition followed in North India, the Aryavarta, the Hindu heartland, South India, and to some extent also Bengal and Assam, preserved elements of pre-Vedic matriarchy. In certain South Indian castes the line of inheritance is from mother to (eldest) daughter, and marriage is a "visiting" relationship. Naturally, women were more independence and free in every respect.  

Ladies did not lead a secluded life like that of their descendants in later times. Several hymns of the Rig Veda were composed by female Rishis (sages). Young ladies of the time had a voice in their marriage. "the woman who is of gentle birth and of graceful form," so runs a verse in the Rig Veda, "selects among many of her loved one as her husband."  Numerous case of Svayamvara, that is, of ladies selecting their own husbands, are mentioned in the Mahabharata and other works. There is sufficient evidence to show, that widow marriage was allowed, and that the right of Sati was unknown in the Vedic period. 

"Rise up woman," so runs a text of the Rig Veda (X, 18.8) "thou art lying by one whose life is gone, come to the world of the living, away from thy husband, and become the wife of him who holds thy hand and is willing to marry thee."

(source: Civilization Through The Ages - By P. N. Bose p. 126-127).

Similar views are echoed by Radha Kumud Mukherjee in his article Women In Ancient India from the book Women Of India (Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi-110001, 1990). He says:

"Every hymn of the Rigveda is attributed to a rishi. Though the majority of these hymns were the work of male rishis, the Rigveda contains hymns which were revealed by women seers also. The latter were called rishikas and brahmavadinis... "

The brahmavadinis were products of educational discipline of brahmacharya, for which women were also eligible. The Rigveda (v, 7, 9) refers to young maidens completing their education as brahmacharinis and then gaining husbands… Rig Veda. iii (55, 16) mentions unmarried learned and young daughters who should be married to learned bridegrooms.  

(For more on women's education refer to chapter on Education in Ancient India).

Sir John Woodroffe aka Arthur Avalon (1865-1936) the well known scholar, Advocate-General of Bengal and sometime Legal Member of the Government of India. He served with competence for eighteen years and in 1915 officiated as Chief Justice. has written: 

"Woman was to the Hebrews an inferior being. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton says in Woman’s Bible “The canon and civil law, Church and State alike taught that woman was made after man, of man and for man, an inferior being, subject to man.” 

St Paul and the Christian fathers approved her inferiority and subjection. Their disdain for her and their contempt for marriage are known. St. Augustine asks himself why She was created at all. She is the “root of all evil” created from a rib of Adam’s body not from a part of his soul.” 

In the feudal legislation of Europe woman sank lower and lower. As William Edward Hartpole Lecky says “woman sank to a lower legal position than she had ever occupied under Paganism. Ernest Legouve says (Histoire Morale des Femmes p. 183) that “under the feudal regime conjugal morals return to brutality.” Mrs. Cady Stanton gives a summary (History of Women’s Suffrage iii, p. 290) of the English Common Law which, basing itself on the alleged inferiority of woman, deprived her of the control of her person and property and made her morally and economically dependent on her husband.  

On the contrary many beautiful sayings are found which give honor to woman, marriage, and motherhood, and Hindu law recognizes her rights of property (Stridhan). I