Sanatan Dharma has always been a wrongful victim of being allegedly patriarchal, especially when it comes to assignment of roles and responsibilities of husband and wife in managing their households.
.. However, if we analyse the supreme Sanatani knowledge enshrined in the divine Vedas and strive to comprehend the deeper meaning of the relevant mantras, the directives from the same contrast the above mindless allegation.
Let’s look into the following mantras from 8th Mandal, 33rd Sukta, 17th-19th Mantras of Rig Veda :-
1)Rig Veda 8.33.17 :-
Meaning and Purport : In any household, there is possibility that a capable husband may sometimes feel that he is unable to harmonise his thought process with his wife or is unable to convince her to bring their frames of mind together,..
.. even after using all his intellect and perseverance.
2.Rig Veda 8.33.18 :-
Meaning and Purport : Under above or similar circumstances, householders should acknowledge that though both husband and wife are entrusted with the responsibility of managing the household jointly,..
.. it is the husband only who on account of being physically stronger ‘USUALLY’ , should take up more amount of responsibility in running a home and be more generous while attending to his wife’s needs.
In this mantra, husband and wife have been compared metaphorically with two horses attached to a chariot. Like in a chariot, no two horses can be of exactly equal strength and the one who is relatively stronger bears more load than other,..
.. in households (chariots) too, the relatively stronger horse (husband, generally) should take up more responsibility in smooth running of the house, including meeting the needs of his wife.
3.Rig Veda 8.33.19 :-
Meaning and Purport : In continuation to the preceding mantra, it may be noted that though husband is physically stronger and accordingly should bear more responsibility,..
.. in the household based yagna, wife is the head ‘priest’, who is regarded as Brahma of this yagna. Thus, it is the duty of the wife, who like Brahma, should guide and enlighten her husband (who is like powerful Indra) in discharging his responsibilities in home.
However, wife should be humble enough while advising and asserting hers and household needs to her husband , and avoid being arrogant or too confrontational as far as possible.
At the end of the day, husband and wife (Indra and brahma) should put their best effort to synchronise their progress together like two legs of a person which should be in sync while transversing.
Thus, it’s quite evident that Rig Veda has taken quite a balanced and pragmatic approach while describing and defining the roles and responsibilities of a husband and wife, under normal circumstances.
There is neither any hint of patriarchy or hyper promotion of feminism like the present day mindless pseudo feminists do or ruthless patriarchs try to revive or implement according to Middle Age interpolated/anti Vedic smritis.
To conclude, let me reiterate that our Vedas have truly celebrated husband-Wife relationship in line with the Ardhanareeswara form of Shiva & Shakti. Thus, no patriarchy or undue favouritism to women in Vedic Sanatan Dharma.
Source:
Rig Veda, 8th Mandal,
Translation and commentary by Swami Dayananda Saraswati ji .
Published by Arya Prakashan.
Sulaiman, one of the first Arab merchants, who had undertaken multiple voyages to India and China during the first half of the ninth century, in his travel diary, ‘Akhbar Al-Sin wa’l Hind’ dated 851 AD, writes repeatedly about the following distinct..
.. code of conduct exercised by Indian warriors even in battles fought by them which according to him was quite ‘not warlike’, and was more humane than anybody else :-
#Thread on #Polyandry and rule of succession to thrones in some regions of South #India (Malabar, Calicut etc.), in #medieval ages, as observed by Persian ambassadors, Venetian merchants , Genoese explorer, Chinese travelers and French monks etc. #women#history#bharat
A) Abdur Razzak (ambassador of Timur’s son, Mirza Shah Rukh, to the Vijayanagar court in 1442) recorded the following practise of Polyandry in Calicut :-
...Amongst them there is a class of men, with whom it is the practice for one woman to have a great number of husbands, each of whom undertakes a special duty and fulfils it.
#Thread on some intriguing, politically incorrect, yet historically correct facts from the annals of Medieval Indian #History under #Islamic rule, which hopefully will contribute in awakening the ‘hyper secular’ Hindus from decades of slumber. #India#Lovejihad#Slavery#Hindu
Fact No. 1:
Relentless business of capturing Hindus, enslaving then and forcefully converting them to Islam, in every inhuman possible way, was a favourite sport of every ‘pious’ Islamic ruler or noble in Medieval India, starting from rule of Ghaznis,..
.. Ghoris Till Slave Dynasty and Mughals in north and Bahmanis, Nizams, Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan in South. This gradually led to the growth of Muslim Population in India.
As observed by Prof KS Lal in his well researched book, ‘Muslim Slave System in Medieval India’, while Muslim chronicles have adequately and proudly recorded the strength of Hindus (or infidels as mentioned by them) killed and enslaved after every campaign and raid,..
.. they have maintained pin drop silence on the level of humiliation and suffering of the Hindu captives and slaves in Islamic households.
#Thread on ‘nakedness in native clothing’ in certain regions of South India as recorded by European travellers,merchants & Persian ambassador in 1200-1500 CE before advent of Islamic/Christian/Victorian morality in societies :- #History#India#Bharat#Naked#Culture#SouthIndia
A)John of Monte Corvino, one of the first Christian Monks who spent considerable time in South India preaching, observed dressing style of men and women in certain regions of Indian peninsula during 12-13th century CE:-
“They (Men and women) are not, strictly speaking, black, but of an olive colour, and exceedingly well formed both women and men. They go barefoot and naked, except that they wear a cloth round the loins, and boys and girls up to eight years of age wear nothing whatever,..
This one is concerned to the anatomy of females which according to them are not suitable for chanting of Vedic hymns. Trads/tradcells (inspired by their Gurus) claim chanting of Vedic mantra affects the reproductive organs of women,..
.. by burning their uterus over period of time, while in case of men their organ remains intact !