Sexism in Hinduism

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Women and Védas

(The following translations of Védas are primarily based on works of Sayanacharya, Max Mueller and Ralph T. H. Griffith. There are alternate translations of Védas as well) and were found at the Speaking Tree

The Védas are the oldest writings of the Hindu religion.

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Rigveda – Wikipedia 

O Ritwiz! The Indrā who with King Rjishva slayed pregnant wives of the dark demon; to that reverend Indrā offer your prayers and cereals. (RigVeda 1:101:1)

A further passage in RigVéda gives the first reference to the objectification of women.

Swanay offered me ten chariots with white horses wherein young women were seated. (RigVeda 1:126:3)

The same women who were Goddesses and worshiped were also sent in form of offerings to Brahman presumably without their consent. In another verse that defines the property rights of the women in a family, the text lays down that the women are not a shareholder in property (However there are other texts who give property rights to women). – Speaking Tree

The son does not share his property with his sister, He just offers her in marriage so that she can carry the child of her husband. If parents bear both daughter and son, then out of them the son performs the sacred ceremony of Pind-dān (the offerings of rice balls during mortem ceremonies) and the daughter begets the dresses and ornaments. (RigVéda 3:31:2)

The disturbing part is their exclusion from the procedure of Pind-dān, wherein the departed soul unifies with his forefathers, a must happen ritual for the attainment of moksha. This small conjecture tilted the scale in favour of a male child and has since then contributed (unofficially) in the thousands of female infanticides over the ages. – Speaking Tree

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Ultimately and most irritatingly one of the verses observes

Indrā had said, “The woman mind cannot be disciplined; she has very little intelligence.” ( RigVéda 8:33:17)

What is the basis of such a rancid generalization is yet beyond my comprehension. Védas are very ancient texts and it is very much possible that the original insinuations of Védic verses may have been polluted by the deficiencies in sruti (passing the word by listening) or metamorphosis in the language. One Védanga, called Nirukta (meaning the derived explanation) gives guidance on how to study Védas. Some translations of RigVéda based on alternate Nirukta interpretation derive different meanings of the verses above. Nonetheless, the obvious meanings under which these Nirukta innuendos were hidden do concrete the claim that the idea of violence and injustice against a woman was not totally unknown. – Speaking Tree

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The Women in Purāṇs

“The Purāṇs are post-Vedic texts, which contain ancient interpretations of the universe, life, synthesis and other metaphysical quests in form of narratives. They also have annals of ancient dynasties, guiding anecdotes and stories which can form a directive for life. It must be noted that most of them place women at a very high pedestal, but there are some mentions of atrocities and injustice meted out to women and there are some much unwarranted conjectures about the womenfolk. The most quoted parable of Ahalyā and deceit of Indra appears in Padma Purāṇa (And famously inRamayana). Ahalyā, which means the eternal virgin, was the most beautiful lady on earth. She was wedded to sage Gautam. Her beauty was a cause of great lust to Devas, in particular, Indra. One night Indra conspired to announce the onset of dawn before the actual time. Sage Gautam assuming that it was morning went out of the home for his daily ablutions, when the lustful Indra took the form of Sage Gautam and tricked Ahalyā into sexual intercourse. When Gautam found this, he cursed Indra with impotency and Ahalyā with perpetual petrification. This was an incidence of rape. Apart from being just a historical data point it also asks some subtle questions. Why was Ahalyā punished in the first place? How was Gautam entitled to punish Ahalyā, if at all? References note that Gautam realized his mistake and prescribed the appartition of Rama to be her ultimate liberator. The texts nowhere mention any punishment given to the bane-happy sage for petrifying a woman who is considered to be one of the five most venerable ladies of Hindu religion.” “Brahmanda Purāṇa mentions one incidence of marital sexual violence, wherein the father of KingVaikhaanasa of Champak Nagar was suffering in hell as he had violated his wife during her menstrual cycle. Then Parvata Muni, the best of all sages, closed his eyes and meditated on the king’s past, present and future. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and said, ‘Your father is suffering the results of committing a great sin, and I have discovered what it is. In his previous life, he quarreled with his wife and forcibly enjoyed her sexually during her menstrual period. She tried to protest and resist his advances and even yelled out, “Someone please save me! Please, O husband, do not interrupt my monthly period in this way!” Still, he did not stop or leave her alone. It is on account of this grievous sin that your father now has fallen into such a hellish condition of suffering. (Brahmanda Purāṇa) Thus, not only treachery and trickery into rape as happened in the case of Ahalyā, but domestic violence even in ruling classes were present in the earliest days. There are instances in other Purāṇs which either pronounce servitude of women towards their husbands or family, denounce their embellishments or seize their right to denial. A particularly denigrating attitude is towards a menstruating woman as she is deemed impious and untouchable. Some such examples are: Those women, who prepare food during the last quarter of the night, suffer from infertility in future births. Those women, who do not sweep their home in the evening, remain unmarried and are bereft of wealth in future births. Such women also lose their wealth, lifespan and reputation. (Markandeya Purāṇ) Women wear hairpins in their hair. As if this alone were not enough, they refuse to obey their husbands (Kurma Purāṇ) Those women who do not serve their husbands should be expelled from the home for a period of twelve years and should not be helped in any way during the exile. Impurity resulted because of touching a woman in menses takes fast for three nights to get purified. (Narada Purāṇ) Garuda Purāṇ, the Hindu predecessor of Dante’s Divine Comedy which lays down the rules of a successful karmic life and rituals for the attainment of moksha and also describes the treatment of the departed soul based on his deeds fails the feminine by describing her birth itself a result of bad deeds in former lives. ‘I did not emaciate myself by monthly fasts by the course of the moon, nor by detailed observances. Owing to my bad deeds in former lives I got a woman’s body, which is a source of great misery.’  (Garuda Purāṇ -2.41)” – Speaking Tree

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Upanishads and Smritis

Upanishads are philosophical texts outlining some key tenets of Hindu texts. They literally mean sitting near, referred to the way they were recited to the young disciples by their guides. Another interpretation says that they “sit near” the Védas. Unlike Védas and Upanishads which are Shruti (meaning-as heard), smritis are memorized traditions or historical data. Purāṇs are also sometimes counted as smritis. The most controversial of the Upanishads is the repeatedly quoted Brhadārankyaka Upanishad, which appears to promote rape. Without a doubt, a woman who has changed her clothes at the end of her menstrual period is the most auspicious of women. When she has changed, then, one should approach that splendid woman and invite her to have sex. Should she refuse to consent, he should bribe her. If she still refuses, he should beat her with a stick or with his fists and overpower her, saying: “I take away the splendor from you with my virility and splendor” (Brhadārankyaka Upanishad 6.4.9, 21). This verse has been voraciously defended and contested by theologians each giving their own interpretations, some blaming loss in translation and other citing metaphorical interpretations. But this is how it stands. The idea of blaming women for inciting the lust in men is also not unknown. In continuous passages (18-22) of Yajnvalakya Upanishad, it goes on to establish women as caskets of all evils and the epicenter of lust. Having (attractive) tresses and putting on collyrium, women, difficult to touch but pleasing to the eyes are (verily) the flames of the fire of sin and they burn men as though they were straw. Women pleasing and cruel, are the fuel for the hell-fires, that inflame even at a distance and though juicy (loveable) are devoid of moisture (flavour). Silly women are the nets spread by the hunter called Cupid to entangle the bodies of men in the form of birds. Woman is the bait stuck in the fish-hook at the string of evil propensity to catch men in the form of fish that are in the pond of worldly life and that are active in the mud of the mind. Enough of women to me, forever, who are the strong caskets (to preserve) all gems of evil and are the chains of misery. ManuSmriti, another much criticized canon of Hindu way of life also alludes to some discriminatory edicts on the place and status of women in society. It is just sad to see that our sacred tradition and culture was built on some guiding principle which arrest the independence of woman and leave her as a subject of a male member of the family irrespective of her age. – Speaking Tree

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5.147. By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house.

5.148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.

5.149. She must not seek to separate herself from her father, husband, or sons; by leaving them she would make both (her own and her husband’s) families contemptible.

5.151. Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with the father’s permission, she shall obey as long as he lives, and when he is dead, she must not insult (his memory).

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ManuSmriti (Chapter -5)

Sadly the ManuSmriti goes on to even declare that women are not fit for independence and they have irresistible inclinations towards evil. Needless to say like the evils of Varna system, the evils of dependence of womenfolk seeped deep in to society, much due to such dystopian allusions Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence. Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on two families. – Speaking Tree

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ManuSmriti (Chapter -9)

The two famous epics of ancient India, Ramayana and Mahabharata also portray a mixed image of women. The feminism was worshiped but was still at mercy of society. In Ramayana, Rama crosses the sea to save his wife Sita, whom he subjects to agni-pariksha (a purity check by fire) which she passes but later banishes her due to doubts of some of his subjects. The case of sexual equality takes a jolt, as Rama is never subjected to any such test. Capturing someone else’s wife also doesn’t seem uncommon, with Ravan stealing Sita andBali capturing his brother’s wife Ruma. Mahabharata portrays the gloomier situation of women, as Draupadi is first put into an irony of a marriage, then subjected to be a bet on the silly game of dice by her alleged ‘protectors’ and finally subjected to being stripped in front of a spineless court full of her elders. – Speaking Tree

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Rituals and Traditions

There are protocols and there are best practices. Society seldom differentiates between the two. The gap between “must” and “should” is even thinner when it comes to religious rituals and traditions. Most of the traditions were singular instances of chastity or ethereal compassion, but were adopted and showcased by the champions of society as ways of reaching the peaks of dharma. One of such examples is Sati. Sati gets it first mention in Padma Purāṇ, in the story of Vrinda, the wife of Jalandhar, who was tricked away from her fidelity towards her husband by Vishnu, whence her husband was killed. Vrinda cursed Vishnu that he will also weep in search of his wife (which he does as Rama) and takes the funeral pyre with her husband. (She subsequently reincarnates as Tulsi plant). Other instances of Sati in scriptures are the story of Vasudeva’swives Rohini, Devaki, Bhadraa and Madira taking the funeral pyre with him. Madri, the other wife of Pandu, the father of Pandavas also became sati with her husband. Apart from one convoluted passage in Rig-Veda Indian scriptures nowhere seem to suggest Sati, but the women who performed it are exalted in glory. Another stifling tradition is the abstinence and persecution of widows. Some texts, specify that Brahman born to a remarried woman is not charitable.  Others prescribe abstinent lives for widows. Garuda Purāṇcelebrates the death of a woman who deceases before her husband or sons. All these contribute to inauspiciousness of the widows in our culture. Devadasis and dowry are other such traditions that seeped into the fibres of the society. – Speaking Tree

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Surely, a woman who has changed her clothes at the end of her menstrual period is the most auspicious of women. When she has changed her clothes at the end of her menstrual period, therefore, one should approach that splendid woman and invite her to have sex. Should she refuse to consent, he should bribe her. If she still refuses, he should beat her with a stick or with his fists and overpower her, saying: “I take away the splendor from you with my virility and splendor (6.4.9,21).

Good looks do not matter to them, nor do they care about youth; ‘A man!’ they say, and enjoy sex with him, whether he is good-looking or ugly. By running after men like whores, by their fickle minds, and by their natural lack of affection these women are unfaithful to their husbands even when they are zealously guarded here. Knowing that their very own nature is like this, as it was born at the creation by the Lord of Creatures (Prajapati), a man should make the utmost effort to guard them. The bed and the seat, jewelry, lust, anger, crookedness, a malicious nature, and bad conduct are what Manu assigned to women. There is no ritual with Vedic verses for women; this is a firmly established point of law. For women, who have no virile strength, and no Vedic verses, are falsehood; this is well established. Manusmrti 9:14-18.

Men must make their women dependent day and night, and keep under their own control those who are attached to sensory objects. Her father guards her in childhood, her husband guards her in youth, and her sons guard her in old age. A woman is not fit for independence. — Manusmrti 9:2-4.

The mind of woman cannot be disciplined; she has very little intelligence.’ — Rig Veda 8.33.33-34.

A woman who has been unchaste should worship Siva in his calm aspect, Siva who is Kama. Then she should summon a Brahmin and give herself to him, thinking, and ‘This is Kama who has come for the sake of sexual pleasure.’ And whatever the Brahmin wishes, the sensuous woman should do. For thirteen months she should honor in this way any Brahmin who comes to the house for the sake of sexual pleasures, and there is no immorality in this for noble ladies or prostitutes.” — Matsya Purana 70:40-60; cf. Mahabharata III:2:23.

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Manusmriti – The Laws of Manu

The Manusmriti is an ancient Vedic book that contained verses that outlined the way people and society should conduct itself, both towards religious duties and general aspects of life. It was a revered and important text and its origin is estimated to date back to 500 BC.

The following are translated versus that pertain to the roles and treatment of women:

5.148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.

5.149. She must not seek to separate herself from her father, husband, or sons; by leaving them she would make both (her own and her husband’s) families contemptible.

5.150. She must always be cheerful, clever in (the management of her) household affairs, careful in cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure.

5.151. Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with the father’s permission, she shall obey as long as he lives, and when he is dead, she must not insult (his memory).

5.152. For the sake of procuring good fortune to (brides), the recitation of benedictory texts (svastyayana), and the sacrifice to the Lord of creatures (Pragapati) are used at weddings; (but) the betrothal (by the father or guardian) is the cause of (the husband’s) dominion (over his wife).

5.154. Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere), or devoid of good qualities, (yet) a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife.

5.155. No sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be performed by women apart (from their husbands); if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that (reason alone) be exalted in heaven.

5.156. A faithful wife, who desires to dwell (after death) with her husband, must never do anything that might displease him who took her hand, whether he be alive or dead.

5.157. At her pleasure let her emaciate her body by (living on) pure flowers, roots, and fruit; but she must never even mention the name of another man after her husband has died.

5.158. Until death let her be patient (of hardships), self-controlled, and chaste, and strive (to fulfill) that most excellent duty which (is prescribed) for wives who have one husband only.

5.160. A virtuous wife who after the death of her husband constantly remains chaste, reaches heaven, though she has no son, just like those chaste men.

5.161. But a woman who from a desire to have offspring violates her duty towards her (deceased) husband, brings on herself disgrace in this world and loses her place with her husband (in heaven).

5.162. Offspring begotten by another man is here not (considered lawful), nor (does offspring begotten) on another man’s wife (belong to the begetter), nor is a second husband anywhere prescribed for virtuous women.

5.163. She who cohabits with a man of higher caste, forsaking her own husband who belongs to a lower one, will become contemptible in this world and is called a remarried woman (parapurva).

5.164. By violating her duty towards her husband, a wife is disgraced in this world, (after death) she enters the womb of a jackal and is tormented by diseases (the punishment of) her sin.

5.165. She who, controlling her thoughts, words, and deeds, never slights her lord, resides (after death) with her husband (in heaven), and is called a virtuous (wife).

5.166. In reward of such conduct, a female who controls her thoughts, speech, and actions, gains in this (life)highest renown, and in the next (world) a place near her husband.

5.167. A twice-born man, versed in the sacred law, shall burn a wife of an equal caste who conducts herself thus and dies before him, with (the sacred fires used for) the Agnihotra, and with the sacrificial implements.

5.168. Having thus, at the funeral, given the sacred fires to his wife who dies before him, he may marry again,and again kindle (the fires).

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Bhagvad Gita

From Chapter 1, Text 40 (or 40 and 41):

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translation: “When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krsna, the women of the family become corrupt, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrsni, comes unwanted progeny.”

Edwin Arnold translation: “And- rites neglected, piety extinct-Enters impiety upon that home; Its women grow unwomaned, whence there spring Mad passions, and the mingling-up of castes.”

Ramanand Prasad translation: “And when immorality prevails, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupted; when women are corrupted, social problems arise.”

Sri Aurobindo translation: “Owing to the predominance of lawlessness, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt; women corrupted, O Varshneya, the confusion of the Varnas arises.”

W.Q. Judge translation: “From the influence of impiety the females of a family grow vicious, and from women that are become vicious are born the spurious caste called Varna-Sankara”

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From Chapter 9, Text 32 and 33:

“Those who take shelter in Me, though they are of lower birth women, merchants and workers can attain the supreme destination.” How much more this is so of the righteous Brahmanas, the devotees, and the saintly kings. Therefore, having come to this temporary, miserable world, engage in loving service unto Me.”

If you read these two verses, Lord Krishna clearly suggests women are considered of lower birth and that God-realization is easy for those who not women, merchants or workers. The lower castes are part of a four-segmented system which Lord Krishna clarifies in (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Text 13) Brahmins (priesthood), Kshatriyas (nobles, warrior or rulers), Vaishyas (merchants and professional class) and Shudras (workers: artisans and laborers). The last two merchants or workers but especially workers where the fourth and lowest of the traditional social classes, of India. Shudras are not permitted to perform the upanayana, the initiatory rite into the study of the Vedas (earliest sacred literature of India). The Shudra social class includes a wide spectrum of endogamous status groups with dominant, landowning groups at one end of the scale and near-untouchables at the other. These variations derive from the belief that certain behavior patterns and occupations are polluting, a concept that gave rise to a distinction between “clean” and “unclean” Shudra groups; for example, washers, tanners, shoemakers, sweepers, and scavengers were once relegated to the status of untouchable. Ref

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