Status of women
Since ancient times women were thought to be a symbol of love , compassion,forgiveness,coyly and power .They were given due respect .They were expected to be of strong character and were always supposed to be married in superior races ,so that they can learn good things from superior people and their virtues could not be misentertained by the mean people.They were always protected first because they were well known for their importance in establishing the pillars of the society.
The women at that time assumed their husbands like the God and the men gave their wives due respect assuming them a form of Godess .Each one has respect for each other .
As the state of women is declining gradually, it all could be thought of as misinterpretation of those dirty minds who are theirselves transgressors .Leaving the way of the truth aside ,they just for their own interests, want their all wrong to be accepted .They say that they are male and there every decisions should be accepted .In Hindu religion the status of women was never so crippling as it is growing now ,if you are Hindu and belong to Hindustan always remember "Ardhanaarishwar form " of lord Shiva .When God have given equal space to women then who are the men .Nature never discriminates .If a women is absent ,a man can never be born .If there is no man ,a women can not be born .Now say who is less ? A man cannot have more properties than Lord Shiva ...then who gives right to them to abuse women .A women ,if doing wrong ..she needs to be stopped first .Even if she is doing wrong ..she is not on the path of Dharma ,only then she needs to be punished .Rather now a days I am seeing the adultresses are the happiest women while the women who are sacrificing their lives for happiness of their families ,their surroundigs ,their countries are being tortured most....God knows at which path everything is heading .
A shloka from Manusmriti says :
Though Manusmriti has many strict rules for women , it also clarifies that women if are not adultresses they should be treated very carefully .It tells that
"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)
"If a husband deserts his wife, she may marry another." (Manu, chapter IX, verse 77).
The Upnishads and the Rig Veda also describe the status of women at that time .The Upnishads state that these women (Visvavara, Shashvati, Gargi, Maitreyi, Apala, Ghosha, and Aditi ) conversed freely with the men on the highest philosophical topics .Rig Veda hymns were revealed to Brahmavadinis and Rishikas who discussed hymns with the Indra .They instructed knowledge of Brahma to Him .Seventeen of the seers to whom the hymns of the Rig Veda were revealed were women - rishikas and brahmavadinis.
They were Romasa, Lopamudra, Apata, Kadru, Vishvavara, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Jarita, Shraddha-Kamayani, Urvashi, Sharnga, Yami, Indrani, Savitri and Devayani.
The Sama Veda mentions another four: Nodha (or Purvarchchika), Akrishtabhasha, Shikatanivavari (or Utararchchika) and Ganpayana.
Yajurveda VIII . 1 - "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."
Nitimanjari 68 " na grham kasthapasanair dayita yatra tad grham " .
Meaning "Home is not what is made of wood and stone; but where a wife is, there is the home."
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."
Clolonel James Tod studied ancient hindu books and said " A Hindu Sage says "Strike not even with a blossom a wife guilty of a hundred faults," .
The idea of equality was most forcibly expressed in the Rig Veda (Book 5, hymn 61. verse 8). "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."
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 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."
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.
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.
The great grammarian, Patanjali, author of that monumental masterpiece known as Mahabhashya, uses the formation sakthiki to indicate a female bearer of a spear [iv, 1, 15(6)]. In this connection, we are reminded of the Amazonian bodyguard of armed women employed in his palace by the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, as described by Megasthenes, the Greek Ambassador to his Court. Similarly, Kautilya in his Arthasastra, which is also taken to be a document of Mauryan history, refers to women soldiers armed with bows and arrows…
In ancient India, Hindu women did not veil their faces rather they enjoyed considerable amount of freedom in society. But repeated attacks on Hindu India by foreigners through centuries changed the situation. During such aggressions, and also when India was under foreign occupation, the honor and chastity of women often became the casualties. There have been numerous cases when Hindu women killed themselves (The Sati pratha ,and the Zauhar )rather than yield to indignities inflicted by the aggressors. As a result, Hindu society, became more protective about its women. The freedom of women was curtailed. To protect themselves Hindu women started to cover their faces with veils and started to stay home. Their participation in social events was greatly restricted.After Mohammadens conquered India ,they treated Indian women very bady so they preffered death ,and voluantrily sought it .
"The position of women in ancient India was free and emancipated, and women were well educated and respected members of society. A wife shared all her husband's privileges and was his companion and help-mate in his activities." The position of women was far better than in other countries of ancient times. How else could it be in a culture which placed the Mother before the Father in priority for reverence? Matr devo bhava - was the first Upanisadic exhortation to the young. So far as we know, Hinduism is the only religion whose symbolism places the Feminine on a par with the Masculine in the profound concept of Siva-Sakti culminating in the image of Ardharnari-Isvara. The Hindu has honored his country as his Motherland - Bharat Mata and his nationalism has grown up from the seed Mantra - Vande Mataram.
