Diverse views on women and their roles exist within Hinduism.
Women in Hinduism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, sociology, the arts, education, and feminism. Ancient texts classify eight forms of marriage, ranked from recommended to condemned. The recommended forms involve a consensual relationship between a man and a woman, with the kind of ceremony required varying. The condemned forms involve the abduction of an insentient woman, though any resulting children were granted legal rights.Rajbali Pandey (1969), Hindu Sanskāras: Socio-religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, , pages 158-170 and Chapter VIII
Scholars state that Vedic-era Hindu texts did not mention dowry or sati, which likely became widespread in the second millennium AD. Throughout history, Hindu society has seen many female rulers, such as Rudramadevi, religious figures and saints, such as Andal, philosophers, such as Maitreyi, and female practitioners/conductors of Vedic Hindu rituals.
The status of women in Hinduism experienced a decline during the inter-imperial period, the Dharmasastras such laws of Manu imposed restrictions upon female sexuality and approved child brides.
Hinduism, states Bryant, has the strongest presence of the divine feminine among major world religions, from ancient times to the present. There are major goddess-centric Hindu traditions and denominations, such as Shaktism.David Kinsley (2005), Hindu goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions, University of California Press, , pages 6-17, 55-64Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., , pages 200-203 Numerous matriarchal Hindu communities exist.
Ancient texts
Vedic literature Verses of ancient texts show that Vedism expounds reverence for the feminine. Like of the 10th chapter of the Rigveda, the part that has long been included here, is one that asserts the feminine to be the supreme principle behind all of cosmos.
The following hymn is called Devi Sukta,
Upanishads The Devi Sukta ideas of the Rigveda are further developed in the relatively later composed Shakta Upanishads, states McDaniel, where the Devi asserts that she is Brahman, from her arise Prakṛti (matter) and Purusha (consciousness), she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn, and the feminine is thus all of the universe. She is presented as all the five elements, as well as all that is different from these elements, what is above, what is below, what is around, and thus the universe in its entirety. This philosophy is also found in the Tripuratapini Upanishad and the Bahvricha Upanishad.
The early Upanishads are, however, generally silent about women and men, and focus predominantly on gender-less Brahman and its relation to Atman (Soul, Self). There are occasional exceptions. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, composed about 800 BCE, for example, in the last chapter detailing the education of a student, include lessons for his Grihastha stage of life.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 534-539 There, the student is taught, that as a husband, he should cook rice for the wife, and they together eat the food in certain way depending on whether they wish for the birth of a daughter or a son, as follows,
Women are mentioned and are participants in the philosophical debates of the Upanishads, as well as scholars, teachers and priestesses during the Vedic and early Buddhist age.Ellison Findly (2004), Women, Religion, and Social Change (Editors: Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Ellison Banks Findly), State University of New York Press, , pages 37-58 Among women acknowledged in the Upanishads are Gargi and Maitreyi. In Sanskrit, the word āchāryā means a "female teacher" (versus āchārya meaning "teacher") and an āchāryini is a teacher's wife, indicating that some women were known as gurus.
Female characters appear in plays and epic poems. The 8th century poet, Bhavabhuti describes in his play, Uttararamacharita (verse 2–3), how the character, Atreyi, travelled to southern India where she studied the Vedas and Indian philosophy. In Madhava's Shankaradigvijaya, Shankara debates with the female philosopher, Ubhaya Bharati and in verses 9–63 it is mentioned that she was well versed in the Vedas. Tirukkoneri Dasyai, a 15th-century scholar, wrote a commentary on Nammalvar's Tiruvaayamoli, with reference to Vedic texts such as the Taittiriya Yajurveda.
The Hindu historical epics
In the two Hindu historical epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the role of women is multiple. The main female character in the Mahabharata, Draupadi is married to all the five Pandavas due to Kunti's directive to distribute without seeing what has been brought by Pandavas, thus had five husbands. She is insulted by Duryodhana, but Lord Krishna came to her rescue. This insult was one of the main reasons for the great war in restoring the honor of their woman. In the Ramayana, Sita is respected, honored, portrayed as wise and seen as inseparable from Rama and beloved but lived as a homemaker, the ideal wife and partner to Rama. While in the Adbhut Ramayana Sita is the most powerful and the destroyer of evil. In the Hindu dharma, women's oral readings of the Ramayana at home bring peace, happiness, good progeny, good health and relives family from bad luck and bad health. The Epics are divinely ordained to Rishis and seen thru divinely vision, and carry precepts of dharma embedded in them, suggesting perceived notions about women in Hinduism at the time the Epics were composed. The Mahabharata, in Book 1, for example, states,
The Anushasana Parva of the Hindu epic Mahabharata has several chapters dedicated to the discussion about duties and right of women. It gives a mixed picture. In chapter 11, the goddess of wealth and prosperity Lakshmi asserts, that she ( her divinity) lives in those women who are truthful, sincere, modest, organized, devoted to their husband and children, health conscious, patient and kind to parents, parent in laws and guests.Anushasana Parva The Mahabharata, Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, Chapter XI, pages 41-43 The goddess asserts she does not reside in woman who is sinful, unclean, always disagreeing with her husband, has no patience or fortitude, is lazy, quarrelsome with her neighbors and relatives.
In chapter 47, as Yudhishthira seeks guidance on Dharma from Bhishma, the Anushasana Parva compares the value of daughter to a son, as follows,
The duties of women are again recited in Chapter 146, as a conversation between god Shiva and his wife goddess Uma, where Shiva asks what are the duties of women. Devi Uma (Parvati) proceeds to meet all the rivers, who are all goddesses that nourish and create fertile valleys.Anushasana Parva The Mahabharata, Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, Chapter CXLVI, pages 667-672 Uma suggests that the duties of women include being of a good disposition, endued with sweet speech, sweet conduct, and sweet features, but at the same time be capable to sustain her own life( which can require being tough) if situation comes. For a woman, claims Uma, her husband is a God( and vice versa), her husband is her friend, and her husband is her high refuge(and vice versa). A woman's duties include physical and emotional nourishment, reverence and fulfillment of her husband and her children. Their happiness is her happiness, she observes the same vows as those that are observed by her husband, her duty is to be cheerful even when her husband or her children are angry, be there for them in adversity or sickness, is regarded as truly righteous in her conduct. Beyond her husband and family, her duty is to be cheerful of heart and humble with friends and relatives, do the best she can for friends and guests. Her family life and her home are equal to heaven, tells goddess Parvati to Shiva. Parvati adds at the end that if her husband is on his deathbed and asks her to do something, she should carry out his wishes under the codes of apāta dharma.
The Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata has served as a source for modern era texts on women in Hinduism. For example, Tryambakayajvan of Thanjavur, in the 18th century CE, published Strīdharmapaddhati (or "Guide for a Dharmic Woman"). Tryambaka, according to Julia Leslie,Tryambakayajvan (trans. Julia Leslie 1989), The Perfect Wife - Strīdharmapaddhati, Oxford University Press, selectively extracts verses from many chapters of Anushasana Parva. He selectively extracts verses from other books of the Mahabharata as well, and other ancient Indian texts, for Strīdharmapaddhati, choosing those he preferred, omitting verses from the Mahabharata that represent its characteristic style of presenting many voices and counter-arguments.Leslie, J. (1992), The significance of dress for the orthodox Hindu woman, in Dress and Gender: Making and Meaning (Editors: Ruth Barnes, Joanne B. Eicher), pages 198-213; Quote - "Strīdharmapaddhati represents a bizarre mixture of reality and utopia."
Shastras and Smritis
Scholars have questioned the authenticity of scriptural texts that offer insights into the role of women, as dozens of significantly different versions of the Smriti texts have been found. Patrick Olivelle for example, who is credited with a 2005 translation of Manusmriti published by the Oxford University Press, states the concerns in postmodern scholarship about the presumed authenticity and reliability of Manusmriti manuscripts. He writes (abridged),
Arthashastra, in chapter 1.21 describes women who had received military education and served to protect the king; the text also mentions female artisans, mendicants, and women who were wandering ascetics.Kautilya (3rd century BCE), Kautiliya Arthasastra Vol 2 (Translator: RP Kangle, 2014), Motilal Banarsidass, , page 51Patrick Olivelle (2013), King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya's Arthasastra, Oxford University Press, , pages 77-79, 96, 254-262, 392-396, 477-479 Arthashastra also describes the purpose of a woman in life to be providing a male heir for her husband's lineage.
One of the most studied about the position of women in medieval Hindu society has been a now contested Calcutta manuscript of Manusmriti. The text preaches chastity to widows such as in verses 5.158–5.160.Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, , pages 31-32, 108-123, 138-147 In verses 2.67–2.69 and 5.148–5.155, Manusmriti preaches that as a girl, she should respect and seek protection of her father, as a young woman her husband, and as a widow her son and should receive the same respect from them as well, and that a woman should always worship her husband as a god and vice-versa.Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, , pages 98, 146-147
In other verses, Manusmriti respects and safeguards women rights. Manusmriti in verses 3.55–3.56, for example, declares that "women must be honored and adorned", and "where women are revered, there the gods rejoice; but where they are not, no sacred rite bears any fruit".Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, , page 111Mācave P. "Hinduism, its contribution to science and civilisation." 1979. . "Yatra ... Where women are worshipped, there the Gods are delighted. But where they are not worshipped, all religious ceremonies become futile." Mahabharata 13 - 45.5 and Manu Smriti 3 - 56. Elsewhere, in verses 5.147–5.148, states Olivelle, the text declares, "a woman must never seek to live independently".Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, , page 146