AP World History Week 12 Gender in World History
Answers will vary. However, each completed assignment must include the following information.
Directions: Read the reading and answer the questions. The file is in PDF format.
Women in Early Indian History
1. Until more recently, most historians of the Vedic Indian Period (1500 to 700 BCE) believed that women had an average social standing, and were not necessarily mistreated. More recently, however, historians have questioned this assumption about women’s social standing. Historians cite the lack of mentioning women, or the way women were treated in the Vedas as the reason for their concern. Religious historian O’Flaherty cites some concern about sexual rejection of the female by the male as portrayed in some of the Aryan hymns. Women were treated less fairly in Hinduism when compared to Jainism. Jainism allowed women to pursue the monastic lifestyle, a privilege that was denied to them in Hinduism. The Jainism sects, however, conflicted over whether a woman could attain moksha. One of the Hindu Vedas describes the rape of Usha, goddess of dawn and light, by the warrior god Indra; which shifted the focus of cosmologies from female-dominated to male. Later in the Vedic period, women in India were treated the same as sudras, the lowest of the four castes. They were not permitted to wear sacred thread and often weren’t allowed to participate in sacrifices. Also during this period, men often took non-Aryan wives, who were not allowed to take part in sacrifices due to their social standing. This practice slowly took hold in not allowing any women to participate in religious sacrifices. All of these factors cause some historians to question whether original beliefs about women in Hinduism are true. Under Buddhism, women were allowed to become nuns; the Buddha established nunneries, which allowed women to pursue the monastic lifestyle. Nuns, however, were not equal to monks in social standing. Buddhist nuns taught dharma and often wrote books. Buddhist laywomen were more honored than the nuns and many of them built stupas to house Buddhist relics.
2. In the Mauryan epic, Arthasastra, women were said to have had the right to own stridhan. Stridhan was a gift given to a woman by her parents at the time of her marriage; it was usually jewelry but could also be immovable property. The Arthasastra describes eight different types of marriage, from the most prestigious to the least honorable. One allowed widows to remarry, however it was at the expense of the property inherited from her dead husband. The Arthasastra also portrays women as active participants in the Indian economy, some worked in factories while others as dancers, attendants, etc. The Mahabharata is a collection of over 100,000 verses and tells stories about war and peace. This epic contains hundreds of persons with multiple main, strong female characters. One main female character named Draupadi, is depicted as beautiful, highly educated, and is even permitted to choose her own husband, an unusual practice in India at the time. Draupadi has a bold personality; however she remains modest. Most of the other female characters in the Mahabharata are shown as typical, submissive women from the period. Many of the stories of the Mahabharata that include women, tell of women being put through trials and hard times; yet these women never seem to be able to succeed in winning trust or being accepted by the men of the culture. In the example of Sati, she isn't accepted as innocent even after passing the trial by fire. In fact, she is forced back into exile by the people who had originally accused her.
3. The Laws of Manu restricted the property rights of women by tying women to the patriarchal system, thus women could no longer inherit property. These laws state that a woman is to be obedient to the man in her life; whether it is her father, husband or son. A widow is to remain chaste after her husband dies, risking the world beyond if she does not do so. The Laws of Manu say that women can own no property, must serve her husband regardless of how she is treated and is not entitled to independence. The Laws of Manu give the man the right to marry much younger women, citing that a man of 24 can marry a girl of 8. The Laws of Manu allow child marriages, physical isolation of women and sati. These laws were an attempt by the Brahman caste to impose their dominance over women. The Laws of Manu also show a deepening fear of the males of India about their inheritance rights, by passing these laws they reestablished men as the dominant sex in India.
4. In Vedic tradition, Sati was viewed by the Aryans as a goddess; the wife of Lord Siva. It is said that Sati burns herself to death because she insulted her husband. This tale leads to the word “sati” being used to describe the practice of self-immolation. Sati is often used to describe a widow, who was so devoted to her husband, that she burns herself to death on his funeral pyre. Sati may also have been used as a means for widows to escape desperate financial situations or the harsh life defined for the widow at this time. Sati is no longer permitted by law.
5. The Gupta-period literature encouraged submissiveness, chastity, and sometimes sati for women; however their stories portrayed women in a much better way, as the ultimate principle of the universe. The Gupta's include three powerful goddesses in their epics. The Mother Goodness, or Devi, protects and cares for her followers. Durga is created by male gods to destroy a demon which the male gods could not destroy on their own. Kali, the black goddess, is seen as a follower of Siva and wears a necklace of skulls while licking up blood, and representing death and disorder. These goddesses represent male fear of female dominance, and were meant to show what would happen if women were to have power in society. Despite the preconceptions given to us by the Gupta stories, some historians believe that women shared an equal role in worship and teaching Hinduism.