Women in Bharat (India) were always empowered. They remained empowered from Vedic times to the present time. They were well educated. A sculpture in a village temple in Jalasangi shows a woman writing a letter. The temple belongs to the Chalukyas who ruled thousands of years ago in Karnataka.  Many such sculptures prove that women were highly educated and knew reading and writing from ancient times.

Shakuntala wrote a letter to Dushyanta in Kalidasa’s play, Shakuntalam. She was brought up in an ashram. In Kalidasa’s epic poem Meghadut, the Yaksha sends a letter to his wife who obviously knew how to read! It is a sad fact that women’s subjugation in Bharat started with the Muslim and Christian invasion. Hence my opinion is that the status of women in any society depends on the mentality of the men in that society!

During the times of the British there was a deliberate attempt by the missionaries to degrade the status of women in Bharat by quoting falsely from the ancient scripture known as Manusmriti. Maharishi Manu wrote his initial scripture entirely in accordance with the Vedas.

So let us have a look at the picture of women from the Vedic times. The women of Bharat enjoyed the highest status that has ever been accorded to any woman in the world during the Vedic times. The Vedas always put women on a high pedestal. This is very easy to see from the fact that the Sanatana Dharma is the only religion that worships God in the form of a woman!! Our women gods are given as much honour as our male gods. In fact in the names of the divine couples like Lakshmi/Narayana, Gouri/Shankara, Radha/Krishna, you will notice that the name of the female counterpart always precedes the male! Is it possible that such a religion can ever degrade a woman?

Starting from the Vedic period women in Bharat have been given the highest level of respect and freedom.  They were encouraged and given full opportunity to reach their highest potential. Women seers like Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra etc had reached an exalted state of spiritual realisation and were not only respected but venerated. They were called Brahmavadinis or the knowers of Brahman. Women stood for the foundation of moral development and were a decisive force in ancient Hindu society. They enjoyed equal status with men. They were educated and allowed to train in the art of warfare if they chose. Rig Veda mentions the warrior queen Vishpala who is trained in the art of warfare. She lost a leg in battle but was quite undaunted. She put on an iron leg and resumed fighting!

Throughout history, Hindu society has seen many female rulers, such as Rudramadevi, Rani Ahalyabai Holkar, Jhansi ki Rani etc. and saints like Andal, Meera Bai, philosophers, such as Gargi and Maitreyi, and female practitioners and conductors of Vedic rituals.

One thing we must understand is that the status of women was lowered all over the world only due to the character of the men of those times. Men in the Vedic times (1500 -1200 BCE) however were highly spiritual as well as wise. Hence we find that the Vedas speak very highly of women. Out of the vast number of Vedic rishis we find twenty-seven rishikas or female rishis who were given the status of Brahmajnanis. Out of the many that are mentioned four stand out. These are Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra and Ghosha.

Gargi

The kings of Mithila, Sita’s country were famed for their wisdom and dispassion. Janaka, the king of Mithila had many great scholars in his kingdom. Out of these nine of them were known as “Navaratnas” or the nine gems. One out of these nine was the great female scholar known as Gargi, daughter of Rishi Vachaknu. She was a Brahmavadini or knower of the Brahman. The king wanted to select one amongst all his scholars who was the greatest. So he organised a Brahmayajna. The prize was 1,000 cows with 10 grams of gold hanging from their horns. The most noted scholar amongst them was the sage Yajnavalkya who was known for his wisdom and sanctity.  Eight scholars challenged him to a debate out of which Gargi was the only woman. Her debate with him is recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

Gargi had mastered the Vedas at a very young age and her knowledge was unrivalled by most of the men of that time. Her philosophical views are given in the Chandogya Upanishad and she had even made a great contribution to the construction of the Rig Veda.

During the debate that had been organised by King Janaka, Gargi questioned Yajnavalkya on the physical environment but after he satisfied her on all these matters she asked him about the nature of Brahman. It is a long treatise but the gist as given by Yajnavalkya is given below.

“This Reality, O Gargi, is unseen but IT is the seer, is unheard but IT is the hearer, is unthinkable but IT is the thinker, is unknown but IT is the knower. There is no seer but He, there is no hearer but He, there is no thinker but He, and there is no knower but He. In Akshara (the eternal), verily, O Gargi, the universe is woven, warp and woof.”

Gargi saluted him and agreed with him. She is supposed to have realised the truth of this and that is why she was given the name Brahmavadini (knower of Brahman).

Maitreyi

Maitreyi was the daughter of Mitra Rishi and the niece of Gargi. She was also born in Mithila. She was taught all the shastras by her father at an early age and reached a high state of spirituality. She wanted to marry the great sage Yajnavalkya for she felt that he would be able to help her in her search for the ultimate Truth. But he was already married to a devout woman called Katyayini by whom he had three sons. Seeing the high spiritual qualifications of Maitreyi and her desire to marry her husband to further her spiritual pursuits, Katyayini agreed. It is said that Maitreyi enhanced Yajnavalkya’s spiritual stature. She composed ten of the thousand hymns in the Rig Veda.

After going through grahastashrama (householder’s life) it was common in those days to take to sannyasa (the life of a recluse). Yajnavalkya decided to leave the world and go to the forest to do tapas. He called both his wives and told them that he would partition his wealth equally between them. The dialogue between Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya is famous and is found in the 2nd and 4th chapters of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. She asked him to tell her the reason for which he was prepared to give up all worldly possessions. Obviously he had found something greater than material wealth, so she begged him to give her that precious jewel rather than wealth and physical well-being. He was filled with admiration for her and gave her knowledge of the Supreme Brahman and advised her to seek That since That alone was the source of all bliss. Maitreyi attained the highest state after this and paved the way for all women to attain moksha.

The basic difference between Gargi and Maitreyi is that Gargi was an intellectual who was interested only in jnana marga, the connection between the cosmos, God and the human being. Maitreyi’s questions were on both jnana and bhakti.

Lopamudra

Lopamudra is also known as Kaushitaki and Varaprada. She is supposed to have been created by the sage Agastya out of the most beautiful parts of certain animals like deer etc. The king of Vidharba adopted her and later gave her back in marriage to Agastya who was an austere rishi and refused to have any relationship with her. She is supposed to have written certain hymns in the Rig Veda begging for her husband’s love. This made Agastya realise his duty to her and they eventually had a son called Dridhasyu who became a poet.

She was a rishika in her own right and contributed many hymns to the Rig Veda. This Veda gives the long discourses she had with her husband Agastya that make us realise the sharpness of her intellect. She visualised the “panchadasi mantra” of the Shakta tradition.  She is supposed to have spread the fame of the Lalitha Sahasranama (1000 names of the divine mother), along with Agastya who had learnt the hymn from Hayagriva who is an avatara of Lord Vishnu.

Ghosha

Another rishika that emerges from the Vedas as being incomparable is Ghosha, granddaughter of Dirghatamas and daughter of Kakshivat both of who wrote the hymns on the Ashvini Kumaras who are the divine physicians. She has written two hymns in the 10th book eulogising the Ashvins. Actually she suffered from an incurable disease, probably leprosy and was unmarried. In one of her hymns she implores the divine physicians (Asvini Kumaras) to cure her and allow her to experience wedded life. They are supposed to have blessed her and she was cured of the dreaded disease.

When we look at the hymns of the Rig Veda we find a very important Sukta called the Devi Suktam which declares the feminine energy as the essence of the universe, the one who creates all matter out of the metaphysical reality of the Brahman that is filled with consciousness (prajnana ghanam).

The Indologist Bryant states:

“Hinduism has the strongest presence of the divine feminine among all major world religions from ancient times to the present. The goddess is viewed as central in Shakti and Shaiva traditions. Matriarchal theology is quite prevalent in Sanskritic traditions and even now there are numerous Hindu communities that are matriarchal in nature.”

When we come to the Puranas we find that feminine power is extolled as the most powerful and empowering force particularly in the Devi Mahatmaya, Devi Upanishad, and Devi Bhagavatam.

Even in our Itihasas (epics) we find the entire story to be interwoven with the lives of various women. Of course Sita and Draupadi are the women protagonists of Ramayana and Mahabharata. They were both very strong women. Despite all attempts to stop her from going, Sita insisted that she would accompany her husband to the forest. There are many incidents where she argues and even advises Rama on certain topics.

The figure of Draupadi of course dominates the story of the Mahabharata. Without her there would have been no epic. But there are a number of other women in these epics that are portrayed as being very strong. Look at Kunti and Gandhari the dowager queens of the epic. How strong were they? What about Subhadra and Uttara? If the latter had not had absolute trust in Krishna and run to him when the Brahmastra sent by Ashwattama was chasing her, the whole line of the Pandavas would have perished.

If we look at the Ramayana we find a host of extremely powerful women. Without Kaikeyi and Mandara, the epic would not have taken the form it has taken. Lakshmana’s mother Sumitra’s advice to her son is really amazing. She did not even try to stop him from following Rama. She told him to regard Rama as his father, Sita as his mother and the whole forest as Ayodhya! When we look at Lakshmana’s wife Urmila again we cannot help but admire the way she handled the whole situation. She did not beg to be taken but she decided to stay back and look after his parents as he wanted her to do. Mandodari, the wife of Ravana again is a great woman. Such strength and conviction! The same applies to Tara, the wife of Baali. Both of them gave such good advice to their husbands which if they had followed they would not have been led to their death!

We see the epics through the eyes of the men and that is why the greatness and the strength of the women in the epics do not strike us. But none of them were weak women nor were they dominated by their husbands. They all had very strong minds of their own and they were not thwarted by their menfolk! This is the important thing, the men of that period allowed their women to express their feelings and follow their own opinions!

Now let see what Manusmriti has to say about the status of women. Maharishi Manu’s views on women are most noble as will be seen from the quotations given below. When we see people misquoting him as being against women you can be sure that they are from the adulterated and interpolated portions of this ancient text for which Maharishi Manu is not responsible. Many interpolations have been put into the original text. Here we will be giving a few sentences that clearly show his high opinion of women.

This is why when a bride comes to her husband’s home she is treated like Lakshmi, the goddess of all prosperity.

Thus we see that Maharishi Manu in no way decries women. These are only a few examples from his text. There are hundreds more in which he shows how deeply he is concerned with the way a woman should be treated.

For some devious reason misinterpretation and misuse of Manusmriti has been going on for years, mainly done by Christian missionaries who wanted to prove that women were degraded in Hindu society.

On the contrary all through our history we find that women were put on a high pedestal. To come to the present day, the constitution of India gives equal rights to women - the right to vote, right to equality etc. In fact Article 15 clause 3 empowers the state for making special provisions in favour of women and children.

Bharat Mata ki Jai