ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: POSITION OF WOMEN

IN ANCIENT INDIA

Submitted by: Tripti Sanghi

Submitted to: Dr. Chandni Sengupta
Batch: BA LLB 2022
Section: E
Date of submission: 9 December 2022

1|Page
INTRODUCTION

The Indian cultural tradition begins with the Vedas. It is

generally believed that the Vedic period is spread over from
300 BC to 600 B.C. Some general observations and broad
generalization can only be made regarding the status of women
during this vast period. The position and status of women did
not remain constant through the period it changed with the
changing time. There was gradual deterioration in her status
and position and the ancient Indian society was found wanting
in establishing the footing equality of men with women there
was greater erosion in her status and position in medieval
modern period. Which prompted Swami Vivekananda to make
the following forceful observation, “That country and that
nation which do not respect women have never become great
nor will ever be in future. The principle reason why your race is
E x p la in e d In T h e T h re e P e rio d

so much degraded is that you have no respect for these living

T h e P o siti o n O f W o m e n Is

images of Shakti.”

Early Vedic

Later Vedic

Post Vedic

2|Page
POSITION OF WOMEN IN EARLY VEDIC
PERIOD

(i) Freedom Enjoyed By Women:

The degree of freedom given to women to take part in
public activities indicates the nature of the status
enjoyed by women during the Vedic period. Women
never observed “purdah”. They enjoyed freedom. They
enjoyed freedom in selecting their male partner. They
could educate themselves Widows were permitted to
remarry. Divorce was however not permissible to them.
Even men did not have the right to divorce their wives.
Women were given complete freedom in family matters
and were treated as “Ardhanginis”.

(ii) Equal Educational opportunities for women:

Daughters were never ill-treated although male children
were preferred to female children. They also received
education like boys and went through the
“Brahmacharya” discipline including the “Upanayana”
ritual. Women studied the Vedic literature like men and
some of them like Lopamudra, Ghosa and Sikata-
Nivavari figure among the authors of the vedic hymns.
Many girls in well-to-do families used to be given a fair
amount of education down to about B.C 300.

(iii) Position of Women in Matters Relating to

Marriage and Family Affairs:

3|Page
Marriage in the Vedic period was considered a social and
religious duty and united the couple on an equal looting.
Women had the right to remain spinsters throughout
their life. Marriage was not forcibly imposed on them
Child marriages were unknown. Girls were given in
marriage only after puberty that too after completing
their education women had the right to select their life-
partners.

Often there were also love marriages called “Gandharva

vivaha”. Monogamy was the form of marriage during the
Vedic days. Re-marriage of widows was allowed. These
are a number of references to custom of “Niyoga” where
a brother or the nearest relative of a deceased husband
could marry the widow with the permission of the
elders.

Niyoga was mostly practiced to obtain a child for

continuing the family tradition. Rig-Veda recognized the
right of a spinster to inherit her father’s property. The
practice of “Sati” is nowhere mentioned in the Rig-Veda.
The practice of taking dowry was there but it was only
symbolic. It had not emerged as a social evil.

In family matters, though the custom and tradition

invested the husband with greater powers in the
management of the household, still in many respects
they were regarded as equal of their husbands. Both
husband and wife were regarded as the joint heads of the
household. The wife was however expected to be

4|Page
obedient to the husband helping him in the performance
of his duties including the religious ones.

(iv) Economic Production and

occupational Freedom:
Vedic women had economic freedom. Some women were
engaged in teaching work. Home was the place of
production. Spinning and weaving of clothes were done
at home. Women also helped their husbands in
agricultural purists.

(v) Property Rights and Inheritance:

Women rights were very much limited in inheriting
property. A married daughter had no share in her
father’s property but each spinster was entitled to one-
fourth share of patrimony received by her brothers.
Women had control over gifts and property etc. received
by a woman at the time of marriage but the bulk of the
family property was under the control and management
of the patriarch.

As a wife, a woman had no direct share in her husband’s

property. However, a forsaken wife was entitled to 1/3rd
of her husband’s wealth. A widow was expected to lead
an ascetic life and had no share in her husband’s
property. Thus it could be generalized that the social
situation was not in favour of women possessing
property and yet protection was given to them as
daughters and wives.

5|Page
(vi) Role in the Religious Field:
In the religious field, wife enjoyed full rights and
regularly participated in religious ceremonies with her
husband. Religious ceremonies and sacrifices were
performed jointly by the husband and the wife. Women
even participated actively in religious discourses. There
was no bar for women to read or study any of our sacred
literature.

Role of Women in Public Life:

Women could shine as debaters in public assemblies.
They usually occupied a prominent place in social
gatherings but they were denied entry, into the “Sabhas”
because these places besides being used for taking
political decisions were also used for gambling, drinking
and such others purposes. Women’s participation in
public meetings and debates, however, became less and
less common in later Vedic period.

It may thus be concluded that in Vedic India, women did

not enjoy an inferior status rather they occupied an
honourable place. They had ample rights in the social
and the religious fields and limited rights in the
economic and the political fields. They were not treated
as inferior or subordinate but equal to men.

6|Page
POSITION OF WOMEN DURING THE LATER
VEDIC PERIOD

During the later Vedic period the status of women

gradually declined and underwent a major change. The
girls were deprived of formal education Daughters were
regarded as second class citizens. Freedom of women
was curtailed. Sons were given more weightage than
daughters Girls were prevented from learning the Vedas
and becoming Brahmacharinis.

Manu, the law giver of Indian society gave the statement

that women have to be under father during childhood,
under her husband during youth and under her son
during old age”. At no stage shall she deserve freedom.
However he balanced this with the statement that a
society in which the woman was not honoured would be
condemned to damnation.

Due to the various restrictions imposed on the freedom

of women some problems started creeping in. In the
social fields, pre-puberty marriage came to be practiced,
widow remarriage was prohibited, husband was given
the status of God for a woman, education was totally
denied to woman, custom of ‘Sati’ became increasingly
prevalent, purdah system came into vogue and practice
of polygyny came to be tolerated.

In the economic field a woman was totally denied a

share in her husband’s property by maintaining that a

7|Page
wife and a slave cannot own property. In the religious
field, she was forbidden to offer sacrifices and prayers,
practise penance and undertake pilgrimages.

WOMEN IN THE BUDDHIST PERIOD

The status of women improved a little during the
Buddhist period though there was no tremendous
change. Some of the rigidities and restrictions imposed
by the caste system were relaxed. Buddha preached
equality and he tried to improve the cultural,
educational and religious statuses of women. During the
benevolent rule of the famous Buddhist kings such as
Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka, Sri Harsha and others,
women regained a part of their lost freedom and status
due to the relatively broadminded Buddhist philosophy.

Women were not only confined to domestic work but

also they could resort to an educational career if they so
desired. In the religious field women came to occupy a
distinctly superior place. Women were permitted to
become “Sanyasis”. Many women took a leading role in
Buddhist monastic-life, women had their sangha called
the Bhikshuni Sangha, which was guided buy the same
rules and regulations as these of the monks. The sangha
opened to them avenues of cultural activities and social
service and ample opportunities for public life. Their
political and economic status however remained
unchanged.

8|Page
STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE POST VEDIC
PERIOD

The Post Vedic period (Period between 500 A. D to 1500

A.D) proved to be highly disappointing for the Indian
women, for their status further deteriorated during this
period. Muslim invasion of India changed the direction
of Indian history. The influx of foreign invaders and the
Brahmanical iron laws were main causes for such
degradation.

As far as a woman was concerned, her freedom was

curtailed, knowledge of not only the scriptures but even
letters was denied to her and her status was reduced to
that of an appendage on man. Caste laws dominated the
entire social life widow remarriage and levirate’s were
disallowed. Women could not inherit property. Girls
were treated more as burdens or liabilities than as
assets.

Moreover the status of women reduced to the status of

slaves during the post Vedic period. The women faced
many problems such as child marriage purdah system,
practice of Sati etc. Throughout the post Vedic period,
the status of women went on declining.

However, during the 14th and 15th centuries, the social

situation had undergone some change Ramanujacharya
organised the first Bhakti Movement during this period

9|Page
which introduced new trends in the social and the
religious life of women in India. The great saints like
Chaitanya, Nanak, Kabir and others fought for the rights
of women to religious worship. Really the Bhakti
Movement unlocked the gate of religious freedom to
women. As a result of this freedom, they secured certain
social freedom also. The purdah system was abolished
women could go out of their families to attend
pravachanas, Krirtans, Bhajans, and so on.

The system “Grihashram” of Bhakti Movement did not

permit saints to take to sanyas without the consent of
wife. This condition gave some important right to
women. The saints of the Bhakti Movement encouraged
women to read religious books and to educate
themselves.

Thus the Bhakti movement gave a new life to women but this
movement did not bring any change in the economic structure
of the society and hence women continued to hold low status in
the society’. The revival of ‘Sati’ the prohibition of remarriage,
the spread of “Purdah” and the greater prevalence of polygamy
made her position very bad. Thus there was a vast gap between
the status of woman in the early Vedic period and that in the
Post Vedic period and onwards.

10 | P a g e
CONCLUSION
During Vedic Period

 Freedom:
1. Women were treated on par with men. There was no
discrimination at home.
2. Women were allowed to be part of public activities. They
were given authority in familial matters.
3. Widow remarriage was not a taboo. The practice of
‘Niyoga’ was very common. Under this, a brother or any
close relative of the deceased husband could marry the
widow so as to continue the legacy of the family.
4. A woman could inherit the property of her parents.
According to the Rig Veda, even a spinster was allowed to
do so. Despite this, men were mostly in charge of the
property. A woman, though, had the sole rights over
‘Stridhana’, the property and gifts that she gets during the
marriage.
5. Women had economic freedom. They mostly worked at
home and were involved in spinning, weaving or other
allied activities. Some women took up teaching as well
while the others assisted their husbands in agriculture.
6. They could take part in religious rituals and had no
obstacles when it came to reading literature.

 Education:
1. Education of women was allowed, and there was
considerable equality between men and women.
2. Girls could study, just like boys, in the ‘Brahmacharya’
ashram. The ritual of ‘Upanayana’ was also done to girls in
this period.
3. They studied Vedic scripts and a few women like Ghosa,
Lopamudra and Sikata-Nivavari even penned a few
hymns.
 Marriage:
1. Women were allowed to remain as spinsters their entire
lives.

11 | P a g e
 2. Marriage was done only after girls attained puberty and
also completed their education. There was no reference of
child marriages found anywhere. 
3. Dowry was existent but not as a social evil.
4. Love marriages were present and were referred to as
‘Gandharva vivahas’.
5. A woman was called the ‘Ardhangini’, and there were no
provisions for divorce both for men as well as women. 

 Decision making and Politics:

1. Both the wife and the husband were the heads of the
family. But the woman was to be obedient, ideally, and
help her husband fulfil all his duties.
2. They were given a great deal of freedom. There was no
purdah (veil) system in place. Women could choose their
partners by themselves.
3. Women could attend public gatherings and debate. They
were, however, not allowed to go into Sabhas (assemblies)
since these places were used by men for recreational
purposes such as drinking.

Post-Vedic Period:

1. Role in religious ceremonies began getting limited. Due to

priests coming into the picture, women had a lesser part in
these rituals.
2. Women’s status began degrading. The evil practise of Sati
wasn’t prevalent though.
3. The concept of ‘Pativratha’ was highly celebrated. Though
polyandry wasn’t provided for, men could still practice
polygamy.
4. In the Epic period, there was the emergence of the
‘Devadasi system’ which would torment women for
centuries to come.
5. Women could still work to keep their economic
independence intact.

12 | P a g e
 6. In the Post-Vedic period, many social evils began coming
in. Sati was seen as an indication of purity and chastity of
women. Women’s freedom was taken away, and the age
for marriage of girls was drastically lowered.
7. A woman couldn’t claim rights over her father’s property,
and this was applicable only when she had no brothers,
and this was most improbable.
8. Women’s position was degraded to that of a Shudra. There
were many norms, which if violated, would mean she was
in for trouble. She was believed to not be able to take care
of herself and be independent. She was, hence, subject to a
great deal of protection from her father and brothers
before marriage and by her husband and sons post
marriage.

Dharmashastras and Manusmriti:

These two scriptures made the lives of women worse. Most

importantly, they imposed restrictions on the education of girls.
The Dharmashastras elevated husbands to the position of ‘God’
and mentioned it that women existed just for the sake of giving
birth to offspring. Hence, it justified that men could marry any
number of women as they pleased. Women were expected to
make many sacrifices and take care of the male members of the
family. Motherhood was considered very important for a
woman, but she was only supposed to give birth to sons. The
purdah system came into being. Also, widow remarriage was
made a taboo. Manusmriti provided extensively for the
oppression and exploitation of women. They were not allowed
to take part in any religious events and could not practice
penance. Women were supposed to satiate the desires of their
husbands, and it was believed that this was what they were born
for. Women could neither inherit the property from her parents
no could she claim her husband’s. This completely made her
dependent on the males in her family. She was not allowed to
do anything independently, and this was explicitly stated in
Manusmriti.The equality in status that women enjoyed

13 | P a g e
alongside men during the Rig Vedic period was short-lived and
then onwards, she was treated as a second-class citizen. The
society never sympathized with her for the evils she was
subjected to and never tried to make her life better. This change
in her status in the society is due to a number of factors, of
which a few are the imposition of such norms by the Brahmins,
by the inflexible caste system, lack of education, foreign
invasions and the existence of joint families.

14 | P a g e
SOURCES
 https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/women/status-of-
women-in-ancient-india/47636
 https://pscnotes.in/status-of-women-in-ancient-india/
 Class Notes

15 | P a g e