ABSTRACT
What we have seen so far of Hindu beliefs and practices in religious, ethical and social contexts leaves little opportunity for expecting women to have much room for self-determination. It is not that all leaders of Hindu thought have been misogynic or neglectful of women. As we have seen in Chapter 2, the Hindu faith consistently locates femininity at the centre of its explanation of existence and makes the adoration of female divinities an essential part of religious life and of the quest for spiritual liberation. In Chapter 3 we have noted how controversy has raged deep and long on every conceivable issue relating to women, from their biological constitution and their moral make-up to their place in society and their rights. We have further noted the high regard in which scholarly women were held in the early phases of Hindu society. None of this, however, has arrested Hindu women’s slide into powerlessness (in step, it is fair to point out, with women everywhere) till very recent times, signalled particularly by women’s confinement within the home in domestic roles.
