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 was wiped out because he abducted
Sita. Veda Vyasa’s Mahabharatha 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
her 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 arcarya (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
disputed 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 civilization, 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."
o Introduction
o Veneration of Women in Vedic India
o Sati, the much-highlighted face of Hinduism
o Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural
Crime
o Women as Purohita – priests
o Famous Women of Ancient and Modern India
