page_title: Women in Hinduism
section_title: The epics
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Hinduism / The epics
caption_attribution_description: English: "Shakuntala looking back to glimpse Dushyanta" മലയാളം: ദർഭമുന കൊണ്ട ശകുന്തള
context_page_description: Hindu texts present diverse and conflicting views on the position of women, ranging from feminine leadership as the highest goddess, to limiting gender roles. The Devi Sukta hymn of Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, declares the feminine energy as the essence of the universe, the one who creates all matter and consciousness, the eternal and infinite, the metaphysical and empirical reality, the soul, of everything. The woman is celebrated as the most powerful and the empowering force in some Hindu Upanishads, Sastras and Puranas, particularly the Devi Upanishad, Devi Mahatmya and Devi-Bhagavata Purana.
  Ancient and medieval era Hindu texts present a diverse picture of duties and rights of women in Hinduism. The texts recognize eight kinds of marriage, ranging from father finding a marriage partner for his daughter and seeking her consent, to the bride and groom finding each other without parental participation. Scholars state that Vedic-era Hindu texts and records left by travelers to ancient and medieval India suggest that ancient and early medieval Hindu society did not practice Dowry or Sati.
context_section_description: In the two Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the role of women is mixed. The main female character in the Mahabharata, Draupadi is married to all the five Pandavas, thus has five husbands. She is insulted by Duryodhana, one of the triggers for the great war. In the Ramayana composed in the second half of 1st millennium BCE, Sita is respected, honored and seen as inseparable beloved but presented as a homemaker, the ideal wife and partner to Rama. In the Hindu tradition, a majority of women's oral retellings of the Ramayana depict autonomy as the rule rather than the exception, but states Sugirtharajah, these versions are of recent origins.
  The Epics are stories, but carry precepts of dharma embedded them, suggesting perceived notions about women in Hinduism at the time the Epics were composed. The Mahabharata, in Book 1, for example, states,
  No man, even in anger, should ever do anything that is disagreeable to his wife;
  for happiness, joy, virtue and everything depend on the wife.
  Wife is the sacred soil in which the husband is born again,
  even the Rishis cannot create men without women.
  — Adi Parva, Mahabharata Book, 1.74.50-51
  The Anushasana Parva of the Hindu epic Mahabharata has several chapters dedicated to the discussion about duties and right of women. It gives a mixed picture. In chapter 11, the goddess of wealth and prosperity Lakshmi asserts, that she lives in those women who are truthful, sincere, modest, organized, devoted to their husband and children, health conscious, patient and kind to guests. The goddess asserts she does not reside in woman who is sinful, unclean, always disagreeing with her husband, has no patience or fortitude, is lazy, quarrelsome with her neighbors and relatives.
  In chapter 47, as Yudhishthira seeks guidance on Dharma from Bhishma, the Anushasana Parva compares the value of daughter to a son, as follows,
  The daughter, O king, has been ordained in the scriptures to be equal to the son.
  — Bhishma, Anushasana Parva, Mahabharata 13.47.26
  In Udyoga Parva of Mahabharata, states misogynists and bigots are sinners.
  "Assertion of one's own superiority, the avaricious [lolupa], those who are unable to tolerate the slightest insult, the bad tempered, the fickle, those who neglect the protecting of those who seek it. One who thinks only of his own sexual satisfaction, the bigoted, the arrogant, one who gives and then regrets it, one who’s parsimonious, one who admires power/wealth and pleasure, and the misogynist these are the 13 types of sinners. " (M.B.Udyoga Parva 43:18,19)
  The duties of women are again recited in Chapter 146, as a conversation between god Shiva and his wife goddess Uma, where Shiva asks what are the duties of women. Uma (Parvati) proceeds to meet all the rivers, who are all goddesses that nourish and create fertile valleys. Uma suggests that the duties of women include being of a good disposition, endued with sweet speech, sweet conduct, and sweet features. For a woman, claims Uma, her husband is her god, her husband is her friend, and her husband is her high refuge. A woman's duties include physical and emotional nourishment, reverence and fulfillment of her husband and her children. Their happiness is her happiness, she observes the same vows as those that are observed by her husband, her duty is to be cheerful even when her husband or her children are angry, be there for them in adversity or sickness, is regarded as truly righteous in her conduct. Beyond her husband and family, her duty is to be cheerful of heart and humble with friends and relatives, do the best she can for friends and guests. Her family life and her home is her heaven, tells goddess Parvati to Shiva.
  Anushasana Parva has served as a source for modern era texts on women in Hinduism. For example, Tryambakayajvan of Thanjavur, in the 18th-century CE, published Strīdharmapaddhati (sometimes referred to as Stri Dharma Paddhati, or "Guide for a Dharmic Woman"). Tryambaka, according to Julia Leslie, selectively extracts verses from many chapters of Anushasana Parva. He selectively extracts verses from o
caption: The Mahabharata is a legendary Hindu epic reflecting the social beliefs and culture in ancient India. In its first book, Dushmanta asks Sakuntala (above) to marry him for love, in Gandharva-style marriage, without the consent of their parents.[22] The texts also describes seven other forms of marriage, and when they were appropriate or inappropriate.[22]
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.20", "Image DateTime": "2020:09:07 18:59:43", "Image ExifOffset": "136", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "156", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "256", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "262", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7956", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}