Tribute to the Women

An ideal wife is portrayed in Sanskrit as:

"रूपेशु लक्ष्मी,
कार्येशु मंत्री,
कर्मेशु दासी,
भोज्येशु माता,
शयनेशु रम्भा,
क्षमया धरित्री"

A woman should have the looks, be a wise counsel, a devout servant, should provide like a mother, be a seductress and have patience like Mother Earth, all bundled in one. Many personae indeed! But what about the ideal husband?

I recently read an article about the plight of women in today's society. It made me cringe. And I launched the herculean task of attaining answers to loads of questions whizzing in my mind like bumble-bees. Here's what I unearthed.

I was enthralled to know that in Ancient India, women were considered far more superior to men, a culture whose only words for strength and power were "Shakthi". A woman is depicted as the Creator, Conserver as well as Destroyer of Evil. Literary evidence suggests that kings and towns were destroyed because a single woman was wronged by the state. For example, Valmiki's Ramayana teaches us that Ravana and his entire clan was wiped out because he abducted Sita. Veda Vyasa's Mahabharatha teaches us that all the Kauravas were killed because they humiliated Draupadi in public. Elango Adigal's Sillapathigaram teaches us Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas was burnt because Pandyan Nedunchezhiyan mistakenly killed her husband on theft charges.

Women were treated equal as far as education and religion was concerned. They could also receive the sacred thread and could read and practice the Vedas. Women enjoyed far greater freedom in the Vedic period than in later India. She had more to say in the choice of her mate than the forms of marriage might suggest. She appeared freely at feasts and dances, and joined with men in religious sacrifice. She could study, and like Gargi, engage in philosophical disputation. If she was left a widow there were no restrictions upon her remarriage.

Education for girls was regarded as quite important. While Brahmin girls were taught Vedic wisdom, girls of the Kshatriya community were taught the use of the bow and arrow. The Barhut sculptures represent skillful horsewomen in the army. Patanjali mentions the spear bearers (saktikis). Megasthenes speaks of Chandragupta's bodyguard of Amazonian women. Kautilya mentions women archers (striganaih dhanvibhih). In houses as well as in the forest Universities of India, boys and girls were educated together. Atreyi studied under Valmiki along with Lava and Kusha, the sons of Rama.

Thousands of years later, when our country is on the threshold of being called a Super Power, the "Shakthi" of yesteryear is in a predicament. Be it house, office or society in general, the respect for women has reduced drastically. Because she is a woman, she has to make unusual attempts to succeed. If she fails, no one will say "She doesn't have what it takes". They will say, "Women don't have what it takes".

The history of every country is carved by the hand of man, while the hope and love of humanity, is born of a woman's soul.