Every year in March I try to read some book significant to feminism (8th March is the International Women’s Day). To make my reading more interesting I try out different ideas. For instance, last year I read Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours together. The Hours has used the characters and narrative points from Mrs. Dalloway. Both have feminism as the central theme.
This year I have been trying to read more books written by Indian writers on fringe topics, more specifically books dealing with feminism, homosexuality etc.
I follow this interesting Facebook page titled Rare Book Society of India. They share many rare books of India to be read freely online or for downloading the pdf file. I had found one particular book shared by them to be specially interesting. It is this book “Women in Rgveda”.
We have been brainwashed since decades or maybe centuries how our ancestors were backward. And how women have been always exploited in ancient India. On the other hand in our mythologies, we read the women had the right to choose their husbands and also the sexual partners (out of wedlock). Do our mythological tales lie? It is very difficult to know the truth given that Indians were not good at recording history.
This book by Bhagwat Saran Upadhya gave me some glimmer of hope about knowing something about women in ancient India. The book seems legit, given the forward is written by the great scholar of Vedic system Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. The first edition of the book was published in the year 1933. This is the second and revised edition, published in the year 1941.
As chronicler of history, Vedas are not considered to be absolutely faithful. Still, they are quite reliable as intellectual companion to their contemporary time period.
I have used here the spellings used in the book.
There are 10 chapters in the book.
The Rgvedic expression — ‘the wife is the home’(Jaye- dastam) — shows how domestic life and sentiment centred round the woman.
1. THE TRANSCENDENT WOMAN
In this chapter he discusses about some important goddesses mentioned in Rgvada.
Aditi
First in importance among the goddesses is Aditi typifying motherhood.
She is the most important goddess in Rgveda. She is depicted as the mother (few times as sister and daughter) of the mighties such as Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, the Rudras, the Adityas, Indra, kings. Since she is described as the one taking tender care hence her role is interchanged some time among mother, sister, and daughter. But she is mostly the mother and the Aditya name implies son of Aditi.
The word Aditi literally signifies ‘unbinding,’ ‘freedom,’ ‘boundlessness’ and is derived from the word diti, ‘binding’ from da, ‘to bind.’
Aditi and her son Varuna are invoked to release men from their guilt or sin. As the protector and caregiver of the whole world her forms include the nature, light, cow. She is not given any specific physical features in Rgveda. She is mentioned in 80 hymns but mostly in relation to Aditya.
She continued to be known as the mother of Devas (gods) in puranas (mythologies).
Diti
She is the counterpart and antithesis of Aditi. She is mentioned thrice in Rgveda, twice out of those with reference to Aditi.
In literature of later period (puranas etc) she is depicted as the mother of Daityas or Asuras (demons).
Prthivi
Prthivi literally means earth and the goddess is given all attributes of earth. She has motherly traits like Aditi. She is supposed to be the wife of Dyava (heaven). She is mentioned more than 100 times while only once on its own. Majorly she is mentioned in company of heaven. Dyava-Prthivi are father and mother of the living beings. They are the creators and also caregivers.
Sita
The Earth is further praised under the names of various agricultural deities such as Ksetra (land) and Sita (furrow). In later literature Sita appears as the wife of Indra (god of rain) and in the epic Ramayana she is the wife of Rama (another name of Indra). In the epic she is the daughter of Prthivi and appears when her foster father ploughs a land.
Usa
Usa literally means dawn. According to the writer Usa is the most charming and graceful goddess in Rgveda. Her name occurs 300 times and 20 hymns are devoted exclusively to her. She is daughter of the sky. Like the mistress of the house she wakes up first and then she wakes up all living beings and sends them to their pursuits. She dispels darkness and evil dreams. She is an ancient goddess who has it seems taken birth again and again. She appears in the early morning in a chariot pulled by cows (I can see the parallel with sun god, who drives a chariot pulled by horses). She is depicted as wife or mother of sun in different places.
Usa is generally associated with cattle of a household. She is mentioned with reference to Ratri (night) in many places. She is the sister of Ratri.
Ratri
She is invoked in a single hymn.
Goddesses behave as sages make them do.
Ratri is styled as her sister. She is not depicted as something dark and evil. She gives rest to all living beings.
Both sisters are generally addressed together as a dual. Some time they have been mentioned as sister-wives nursing a single child, the nature. Two sisters with same objective only their colours are different.
Surya
She is the light of sun which brightens the Soma (moon). Sun is the father and Soma is her husband. She is the ideal Aryan bride. Prayers associated with her wedding are used in Hindu weddings even today.
In some places the Asvins, the twin gods of the morning and evening-twilight, are mentioned as her two husbands. She is some time called Asvini.
Indrani
She also goes by the name Saci Paulomi. She is consort of Indra. She reigns the household and source of her husband’s power. She sounds like wife of a rich and powerful family in India.
Vac
She is the daughter of Ambhrna and was initially conceived Vac as the goddess presiding over speech. She utters one of the most powerful hymns of the Rgveda, depicting herself as the most fundamental power of the universe. This hymn lays the foundation of Saktaism.
Vac is the energy behind creation, management, and annihilation. No god can do any of these actions without her.
Ila
She is the first teacher of men on sacrifice (it is not used in the sense of killing a creature but in the sense of Ahuti in Yajna or to simply put as a ritual where fire is worshipped). She was the first high priestess.
As feeder of Agni (while worshipping fire food etc are offered to it) she is his mother. In later literature she is depicted as the daughter of Manu.
Sarasvati
She is frequently associated with her namesake river. But she has an independent identity apart from the river. She is the goddess of wisdom, imagination, fine art, and inventions. Today she still is associated with fine art, music, dance, and wisdom.
Bharati
She is the ‘poetical union of gesture and voice’. There is mention of a similar goddess named Mahi. The writer feels maybe both goddesses are the same one with two names.
Ila, Sarasvati, and Bharati are together referred as the Apri triad.
Hotra
She is supposed to be the female counterpart of Agni. I could not understand what the writer wants to express. I comprehend Hotra is personification of the invocation to Agni while another goddess named Varutri is somehow associated with the process too.
Saranyu
Saranyu is the daughter of Tvasta. Her husband is Vivasvan. She is the mother of the primeval twins, Yaraa and Yamr. Some identify her with Usa but the writer disagrees.
Sinivali, Raka, and Gungu
These three goddesses are associated with fertility or more specifically aiding birth of children, as the writer has described. I am guessing he does not mean the procedure of birth but the fulfilment of wish to have children. He calls them lunar goddesses. I don’t know what is the meaning of that.
Sunrta, Purandhi, Dhisna
They are the goddesses of riches and plenty.
Asumati
She is implored to prolong life, and to grant strength and nourishment.
Nirrti
She presides over decay, disease, dissolution and death. The “presides” implies she has to be kept satisfied or she can inflict disease.
There some goddesses referred in Rgveda who are only personification of abstract ideas.
Sraddha – faith associated with prayers/offerings to god, Anumati – the personified favour of the gods, Aramati – personified devotion and piety, Dampati – personified precreation (linguistically, today dampati means a married couple)
Prani
She is another mother goddess representing the mottled storm-cloud. She is the mother of the Maruts.
Aranyani
Aranyani is the benevolent goddess of the woods and vegetation.
Varunani Agnyani
They are respectively the wives of Varuna and Agni.
Rivers
Rivers are referred as mother goddess (still today). Many hymns are devoted to various river goddesses out of them most prolific is Sarasvati river (which does not exist today).
Apsaras
These are celestial women supposed to be great at music, dance, and other arts. Their description is similar to courtesan women. In Rgveda they treated at par with goddesses and are associated with water. Their lovers are Gandharas. One apsara is mentioned by name, and later in Mahabharata etc too – Urvashi.
Generally the goddesses in Rgveda are kind, caring, and affectionate like real life women are supposed to be. Also goddesses are never mentioned independently. They are always mentioned with reference to a male god (as his mother, sister, daughter etc). Overall any phenomenon felt like feminine was turned into a goddess in Rgveda.
2. The Maiden
Although sons were desired (not unlike today) but daughters when born were shown affection and care. They were not murdered (female infanticide) as prevalent in the contemporary society of some other countries. There was no discrimination in terms of available food and other resources to girl child. There was no restrictions on the girls in terms of education, dresses to be worn, or to go out and “hang out” with the opposite gender.
A maiden’s duty in household:
A young girl was called duhitr. The etymology of her name indicates her principal duty in the Rgvedic family, that is, milking of cows. She basically tended the cows of the family. Apart from milking them, she prepared clarified butter and curds from the milk.
She did the sewing, embroidering and weaving works of the household.
They carried water in jars from wells to home.
An important task of the daughter is to watch the standing crops of the family fields.
Rights over property:
A daughter is given gifts of jewelleries during her wedding. She has complete rights over them. But it is not clear if she has any right over her other dowries like land and cows. And also in case she becomes a widow there is no mention of her inheritance from her husband’s properties. In case she does not get married she has full rights to stay in her parents’ place. Her brothers can’t evict her.
Freedom:
The daughter had no restriction in going out or choosing a husband etc. But in all her actions were “supervised” by her parents and brother. I don’t know what word to use here. It is sort of nudging towards the suitable path. This is some form of parenting we do now for our teenage daughters – just few nudges and stating our views without being absolutely strict about those. Only difference is in today’s teenage girl parenting the brother is not involved in any way.
My thought:
Whenever I heard anyone demeaning women by saying they are too materialistic as they have been obsessed about jewelleries. I had always argued they behave like that because those pieces are the only wealth they legally have ownership on. I instinctively knew this always and here it is proved as a fact from Rgveda! Fortunately for us times and legal rights have changed.
3. Marriage
The relationship between man and woman was not always institutionalised. It is not clear when marriage was introduced in the history. In Mahabharata there are mentions of about a prior time when, open relationships without any long term commitments had existed. In Indus Civilisation there has been no conclusive finding on marital relationship. But in Pyramid building times, in ancient Egypt, marriage was established. Rgvedic period comes after Pyramids.
In Rgvedic time marriage was not only an established institution, but it was also of utmost essence. Marriage was essential for increasing the size of population of the tribe and protection of a family name. Wife is essential for home management when husband is away in doing his job. Also for each religious activity wife’s presence is essential (remember the gold idol of Sita from Ramayana?).
The system of choosing husband during Rgveda time sounds like a Jane Austen book. The maidens go to balls, only in their case those are called Samanas. And also unlike Austenian balls there were no physical presence of chaperons.
The writer has returned again and again to Samanas with reference to many different points. To sum up the information given in the book on Samanas:
It is like a bar in modern time USA, only this was not a particular store but an area. Something like a night bazar maybe. Girls and boys with their friends roamed around whole night while drinking (apparently by both sexes), dancing, and general merry making. The boys approached girls and some time the other way around. Most probably there were pre-marital and extra marital relationships. There were also nautch girls looking for costumers.
This had ceased in latter period for some time and had again started. Emperor Ashoka put a stop to this tradition once and for all, branding it immoral. Another bad deed by the Chandashoka.
Like mentioned above there were nudges from parents in the direction of the right boy. The mother decked up the daughter to look good in Samanas. Her parents and brother kept eyes on the boys approaching her or the boy she spent time with.
Once the girl fell in love with a boy, or chose a boy to be her husband, the boy must be approved by the family. The family did not assess the boy in terms of caste, creed etc but only in terms of his family’s status and wealth.
This is sounding so much like the marriage fixing of today’s Indian upper middle class. Parents could not be bothered with finding a groom for their daughter. They approve the boy chosen by their daughter if they like his job, family status etc. I am afraid, unlike the Rgvedic period, here caste and creed are significant factors (although not always).
Marriageable age:
There is no mention of child marriage in Rgveda. Using various hymns as evidence the writer has shown at the time of marriage the girl had to be a fully grown Juvati (young girl). She should be ready immediately after wedding to take over the husband’s house hold management and to consummate the marriage.
Inter-caste marriage:
Caste was not a fixed concept during Rgvedic age hence inter-caste marriages were the norm. It was a natural phenomenon so the poets of Rgveda did not see any need to record it. Writer has shown instances of many famous characters, to show marriages between Brahmins and Kshatriyas. It seems marriages of other castes occurred with Vaisyas and Sudras were also.
There were non-Aryans. In this context, writer has only mentioned about Dasas. Dasa literally means servant but the writer has mentioned them as slaves. Marital relationship with Dasas were not so common. But there were extra-marital relationships.
A rich wife in dowry brings lots of dasis (female dasas) to her husband. They are also called Badhus, which literally translates to brides. In many cases they became the concubine of the husband. A concubine don’t enjoy equal status as the wife but they have higher status than the normal Dasis. Once the concubine becomes mother of the husband’s child, especially a male child, her status escalates. In Rgvedic society the children of concubine are considered to be the legal heirs. Many important people were Dasi-Putra (son of a Dasi). Dasis did not only come as dowry. The warrior class men acquired Dasis in wars too.
Similarly, there were instances of affairs between married women and the Dasas of the house hold. In cases where the husband is impotent, it was legitimate for the wife to sleep with Dasa for her satisfaction as well as for getting pregnant. In many cases, after death of the husband, the widow remarried their Dasa.
It can be seen in every age human emotion has been complex and layered. It can’t be bound by conventions of the society.
Post marriage status of women:
As mentioned above the women in Rgvedic age were supposed to take over the household management immediately after marriage. They ruled over the servants and other employees of the household. They managed the household. They guided every other member of the household in their task and schedules. In Rgved they were described as the empress of the household. Compare this with the modern Indian bride. Immediately after wedding they are supposed to become glorified maid in their husband’s household. Her mother-in-law manages the household. She has all the power. The new bride is only the main maid. One thing I want to add here, this happens in most cases while there are large number of exceptions.
Kinds of Marriages:
The following terms are taken from Manu Smriti. The kinds of marriages existed in Rgveda though.
Asura-Brahma – when an unsuitable (below station) man buys a woman giving money (Stree dhan) to marry
Prajapatya – the Hindu wedding system still prevalent today where the bride’s father gives her away with proper rituals. Here dowry is essential. It was a gift for the daughter then but gradually it has turned into a monster.
Svayamvara – among many suitors the girl chooses freely her husband. Once she chooses the wedding happens in Prajapatya system.
Gandharva – a secret wedding or maybe no wedding only a physical relationship, which has to be legitimitised later by a public announcement or a Prajapatya wedding.
Raksasa – kidnapping or consensual elopement
Then the writer has written in detail about Surya’s wedding to describe the rituals of those days.
4. Marriage — Its Features, Customs and Usages
Widow remarriage:
There were no instances of Sati system in Rgvedic period. The widow did not have to burn to death in their husband’s pyre. There was no mention of it. Writer has used indirect evidence to prove his point. Main evidence was the existence of widows in the society. The widows were generally elderly because young widows were remarried immediately after the husband’s death.
The widow was decked up as a new bride and had to lay near the husband’s pyre. Then a ritual was committed which imply the widow had to take out the dead lover from her heart and choose life. After the ritual the widow used to get up and get remarried.
Most probably the remarriage did not occur with the same fanfare as the first one and also there was no dowry. As mentioned above the widows some time married their Dasas. But most of the time they married their husband’s brother. If the brother is not available then some kin of the husband.
Niyoga:
When husband was impotent or not available the wife sleeps with others to have children. This is known as Niyoga. Here the example is Pandu’s wives.
Monogamy:
Polygamy was a luxury afforded only by the kings and their priests. Monogamy was practiced by most.
Polyandry:
This was not a common phenomenon Rgveda. The writer has used other sources and indirect evidences to establish some cases of polyandry. There are few beings such as Asvins, Alvins, Maruts, Visvedevas; who are always mentioned collectively. As if they are of the same soul with different bodies. In many places can be seen Asvins have the same wife, Surya. So also in case of the other beings mentioned here.
In Mahabharata I came across this narration about how polyandry was if not common, at least not unheard of in ancient India. Sage Uddalaka’s son Shwetaketu puts a stop to it. I am guessing to protect the inheritances through patriarchal lineage. This had happened before Mahabharata but in Mahabharata we see many instances where the women have multiple partners and husbands. Draupadi had five husbands everyone knows. When she was in exile and worked as Sairendri (companion) to a queen, she told her she had five husbands. The queen was not scandalised. She took it naturally.
So, it shows polyandry was not something unheard of. According to the writer in Tibet it was practiced. Pandu lived there for a while. Today also in Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh it is practiced. This place is near to Tibet and they claim to be descendants of Pandavas.
Incestuous marriages
In the time of the Rgveda the Aryans were a small tribe so it was natural many ended up marrying their cousins or kins. But of direct incest there was only handful of instances in Rgveda
– the dialogue between the twins, Yama and Yami. Yami wanted to marry Yama but Yama said it was not possible. In olden days it was possible but not now. Some historians feel this dialogue proves Rgveda has originated from Egypt as in Egypt brother and sister were getting married and maybe Yama was referring those days.
– Usa might be Sun’s daughter, whom he chases like a lover
Here too writer has used other sources and indirect evidences. Especially, he has used Buddhist texts. It seems according to Buddhist texts every married couple is brother and sister including Rama and Sita.
5. The Wife and Mother
This chapter is mostly repetition and expansion of things already discussed in previous chapter.
Few special points worth mentioning:
Unlike the Dasis, wife is not strictly considered the property of the husband but there are few instances when gamblers have gambled away their wives, a la Yudhistira.
Woman can independently perform offerings along the priests to gods in Vedic rituals on behalf of her household.
The marriages originated in love mostly as mentioned above. There was tender relationship between husband and wife.
6. Adornment
Male and Female wore almost the similar clothing. Women were not very strict about covering their bosoms.
A number of articles of dress have been mentioned, namely Adhivasa (outer loose flowing garment), Vasa (kind of dupatta), Sic (pallu of Vasa), Sumulya, Drapi (close fitted vest, used by male mostly), and Pesas (might be a kind of ghaghra).
Mostly the cloths were made from mostly wool and some maybe from cotton. The cloths were white mostly but many were of different hues. Weaving and stitching were known. Expensive cloths were woven using gold threads along wool or cotton.
Both male and female were fond of accessories. They used earrings, anklet etc. There is no evidence of anyone using nose accessories. From the descriptions of their anklets the writer has conjectured they did not wear any sandal.
Women loved to keep long hair. They oiled their hair and made plaits. They are fond of perfumes too. Used it liberally especially for seduction purpose. Women brought beds in their dowry like recent time. They used one of those to sleep and another to recline.
In prior period maybe everyone wore animal skin. In Rgvedic period the ascetics (Rishis) living in the forest and their families still wore skin pieces.
7. Education
Young girls get education like their male counterpart. Because they needed education for their future role as the empress of their husband’s household, oversee farming, and to participate in Vedic offerings.
The subjects the Rigvedic girls might have studied:
Languages, Literature, Poetry, Drama, Tradition, Folklores, Mythology, The fine arts, Music, Dancing, The military science, and Military training
Important female scholars of Rgvedic period
Ghosa, Lopamudra, Apala, Visvavara, Romasa, Surya, Vasukara’s wife, Gaupayana’s mother, Indrani, Indra’s mothers, Juhu, Sraddha, Sarparajni, Mamata, Yami, Urvasi
Important female warriors of Rgvedic period
Vispala , Mudgalani
The writer has mentioned the achievements of each of these scholars and warriors in few lines.
8. Liberty
This chapter expanded the freedom women enjoyed in every field, which are already mentioned in previous chapters.
9. Morality
This chapter rehashes the subjects of free interaction between men and women and the pre-marital and extra-marital relationships. Most relationships, it would appear, got accepted by the society sooner or later. But still there were many relationships, which were out of the society’s acceptance range. There were children left to die to hide such relationships. One incident comes to mind here, Kunti putting new born Karna in a river.
Jara
There is frequent use of the term “Jara”, which implies unsuitable or secret paramour. According some writers including this one the Rgvedic women “enjoyed too much freedom to be morally sound”. Should I roll my eyes or say “he was product of another time”?
Anyway it is conjectured that in those time every married woman had a Jara. Indra was frequently a Jara. I think, most of the times the women claimed their Jara is Indra and thus Indra got the bad rap of being rapey kind of seducer.
Aryans fought with armies which had many lady soldiers. It was not considered immoral to fight against women.
10. Summary
As the name suggests writer has summed up the book in this chapter. Along that he has written a commentary on the contemporary state of women. It has to be understood, the writer wrote the book in 1930s and then revised it in 1940s. The women were in a much much worse condition compared to the Rgvedic age. They did not have any rights nor liberty. The writer has stated the dismal picture and has hoped things would look up in future for women. I think we have come a long way since 1940s. We are in fact better off than Rgvedic women in many aspects. For instance, we own property now!
The book has a detailed bibliography, which would be extremely helpful to researchers of this field.
MY TWO PENNIES
This book is extremely informative. It is mind blowing the amount of research the writer must have done. Unlike other old timey writer, he is quite easy to read.
I have a big issue though. The writer strongly believed in the Aryan invasion theory. To repeat myself, Should I roll my eyes or say “he was product of another time”?
I am no authority on history, but he wrote the book in 1930s when many of the Indus cvilisation sites were yet to be discovered. And DNA analysis and forensic science have to yet to CSI out of everything. Of course, till now nothing is conclusive but at least we know Aryan invasion theory is not conclusive.
The writer has backed all theories by evidences yet his believe in Aryan invasion was so unflinching that he has not bothered to prove it. There is no mention of another land anywhere in Rgveda, only of a prior time. Why there is no hymns remembering “home”? or of a journey?
I feel this Aryan invasion theory is plain racism. Because the central idea is only the Europeans are capable of creating nice things or being able for superior intellectual activities. The writer suffered from indoctrination. In his own words
These local inhabitants of India, called the snub-nosed Dasas and Dasyus, short-statured and dark, and living under the amenities of a distinctly superior material civilization, later met their stalwart adversaries, the Aryans, tall, fair and hand- some, who were destined to drive them out from their mansions and palaces.
The people Aryans used as servants or fought with do not sound like part of a sophisticated urban race, as we have come to know about the Indus Civilisation.
Is there nothing in Rgveda about Homosexual women? I had hoped there would be some allusion to it at least.
Food for thought: Since according to the writer most women did not cover their upper body, the sculptors of old temples most of the time, have depicted normal everyday women instead of making a statement by making topless ladies.
The writer keeps on reminding these people had come from cold region so their whole lifestyle is based on that. Then why the women were topless? Was it common in cold regions?
Finally I want to add, this year Holi and Women’s Day fell on the same day. In ancient India, Holi was a spring festival celebrating free love proving the freedom of women in those days.
Musings 
[…] marriage had been the only instance of an aberration. Last year I read an interesting book named Women in Rgveda. There are few cases of polyandry in it […]