Day: March 11, 2014

One of the charges leveled against Hinduism is that it treats women shabbily deny them respect and enslaves them.

Nothing can be farther from The Truth.

Hinduism is the oly Religion where the God is worshiped as a Unit in One,Ardhanareeswara.

Kalidasa exclaims that Lord Shiva and Parvati are like the ‘Word and its Meaning”

Abirami Bhattar in Tamil says,

‘Solloum Porulum ena Nadamaadum’

‘One as the word and its meaning’ Abirami Andhadai

Women are regarded as Mother and The Taittriya says first respect is for Mother,

Matru Devo Bhava.Great Rishis like Kathyayani,Gargi were women.

“”What differentiates the Hindu brilliance in logic and rational thought from its Hellenistic parallel is that Hindus were very aware of the intellect’s limitations. They understood that only the feminine intuitive mind was capable of grasping the deepest spiritual truths in powerful flashes on intuition.”

Some of them are.

• Gargi Vachaknavi – A female Rishi who challenged Yajnavalkya on questions relating to the human soul.
• Maitreyi.
• Lopamudra – Wife of Sage Agastya
• Andal – A 8th century Tamil saint-poet and one of the twelve Alvars.
• Karaikkal Ammeiyar – A 6th century Tamil saint-poet, one of the sixty three Nayanmars
• Mangayarkkarasiyar – A Pandya Queen, wife of King Nedumaranan, one of the sixty three Nayanmars
• Isaignaniyaar – A Tamil saint-poet, one of sixty three Nayanmars
• Avvaiyar – A Sangam period Tamil saint-poet, ethicist, social reformer.
• Akka Mahadevi – A prominent figure and Kannada poet of the 12th century Veerashaiva Bhakti movement.
• Mirabai – Hindu mystical poet and a devotee of Krishna whose bhajans are sung all over India.
• Lalleshwari – Hindu saint-poetess, and a mystic of the Kashmiri Shaivites.

“”A girl also should be brought up and educated with great effort and care.” (Mahanirvana Tantra); and “All forms of knowledge are aspects of Thee; and all women throughout the world are Thy forms.” (Devi Mahatmya)

 

Women, who so desired, could undergo the sacred thread ceremony or ‘Upanayana‘ (a sacrament to pursue Vedic studies), which is only meant for males even to this day. The mention of female scholars and sages of the Vedic age like Vac, Ambhrni, Romasa, Gargi, Khona in the Vedic lore corroborates this view. These highly intelligent and greatly learned women, who chose the path of Vedic studies, were called ‘brahmavadinis’, and women who opted out of education for married life were called ‘sadyovadhus’. Co-education seems to have existed in this period and both the sexes got equal attention from the teacher. Moreover, ladies from the Kshatriya caste received martial arts courses and arms training”

Wifehood in the Vedic Era

As in present, after marriage, the girl became a ‘grihini’ (wife) and was considered ‘ardhangini’ or one half of her husband’s being. Both of them constituted the ‘griha’ or home, and she was considered its ‘samrajni’ (queen or mistress) and had an equal share in the performance of religious rites.

Divorce, Remarriage & Widowhood

Divorce and remarriage of women were allowed under very special conditions. If a woman lost her husband, she was not forced to undergo the merciless practices that cropped up in later years. She was not compelled to tonsure her head, nor was she forced to wear red sari and commit ‘sahagamana’ or dying on the funeral pyre of the dead husband. If they chose to, they could live a life of a ‘sanyasin’ or hermit, after the husband passed away.

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Source.

http://hinduism.about.com/od/history/a/vedic_women.htm

http://www.ravitiwari.in/rtpaper1.pdf

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