Vedic Women

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Women in Hinduism

By S. Kalyanaraman

 

Panini's distinction between acarya (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.

 

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 were wiped out

because he abducted Sita. Veda Vyasa's Mahabharata 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 Kannagi's 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 acarya (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 debated 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 civilisation, 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."

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