Women Under Polygamy/Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII
HINDU WOMEN AND THE SACRED BOOKS
The position of women in all countries is largely determined by the teaching of the prevailing faith. In the monogamous Christian nations, the social and marital status of women is due chiefly to the precepts of St. Paul and the ascetic Fathers. Hindu women owe their position principally to the elaborate counsels and rules laid down by Vishnu and Manu. Indian sacred writings abound with the most explicit commands upon the relations of the sexes.
Manu fears woman as all men fear an overwhelming fascination. He desires that she should be justly and kindly treated. The necessity for her protection is constantly urged upon men. "Dependence" is a word that arouses revolt in the breasts of those earnest European claimants for women's rights, who write, and lecture, and agitate. But the Hindu woman likes to be protected.
Thus speaks Manu:—
"Day and night women must be kept in dependence by the males of their families, and if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under control."
"Her father protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age. A woman is never fit for independence."
"He who carefully guards his wife, preserves the purity of his offspring, virtuous conduct, his family, himself, and his means of acquiring merit."
"No man can completely guard women by force; but they can be guarded by the employment of the following expedients: Let the husband employ his wife in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in keeping everything clean, in the fulfilment of religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils."
"Drinking spirituous liquor, associating with wicked people, separation from husband, rambling abroad, sleeping at unseasonable hours, and dwelling in other men's houses, are the six causes of the ruin of women."
"When creating them Manu allotted to women a love of their bed, of their seat, and of ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct."
The following laws relate to the separation of the married:—
"For one year let a husband bear with a wife who hates him, but after the lapse of a year let him deprive her of her property and cease to cohabit with her."
"She who shows disrespect to a husband, who is addicted to some evil passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be deserted for three months and be deprived of her ornaments and furniture."
"But she who shows aversion towards a mad or outcast husband, a eunuch, one destitute of manly strength, or one afflicted with such disease as punish crimes, shall neither be cast off nor be deprived of her property."
In "The Institutes of Vishnu" there are a number of clauses relating to marriage. A man is forbidden to marry a woman of a lower caste. No woman having six fingers can be married, nor one having lost one of her limbs.
There is a curious prohibition against marriage with a woman of decidedly red hair. Light, or golden, hair is, of course, extremely uncommon among the dark- skinned races. The blonde is not fitted to survive in very hot countries, nor, it is said, in highly-civilised states. A distrust of persons with red hair is fairly common in many countries. Certain specific physiological, moral, and mental characteristics are supposed to accompany red hair. Generally-speaking, red hair is not admired by the uneducated classes, but it is sometimes highly attractive to men of the artistic type.
It would seem, from the proscription against marrying red-haired women, that an ancient prejudice existed in India regarding the hair so much admired by many of the old Italian painters.
The Hindu prefers the woman "robed in the long night of her deep hair." He looks upon red hair as abnormal among the women of his race, and the abnormal is often dreaded and disliked in other countries besides India. As the Hindus admire soft and silky hair, we can, in part, trace here the prejudice against auburn hair, which is usually dry and coarse to the touch.
Finally, Vishnu forbids marriage with a woman who "talks idly."
The stigma of virginity must be removed as soon as possible after a girl attains to the function of womanhood. If no man chooses her within three months, she is at liberty to make her choice.
We will now survey some of "The Duties of a Woman," according to Vishnu.
To live in harmony with her husband.
To show reverence (by embracing their feet and such-like attentions) to her mother-in-law, father-in-law, to Gurus (such as elders), to divinities, and to guests.
To keep household articles (such as the winnowing basket and the rest) in good array.
To maintain saving habits.
To be careful with her pestle and mortar and other domestic utensils.
Not to practise incantations with roots, or other kinds of witchcraft.
To observe auspicious customs.
Not to decorate herself with ornaments, or to partake of amusements, while her husband is absent from home.
Not to resort to the houses of strangers during the absence of her husband.
Not to stand near the doorway or by the windows of her house.
Not to act by herself in any matter.
To remain subject, in her infancy, to her father; in her youth to her husband; and in her old age to her sons. After the death of her husband to preserve her chastity, or to ascend the pile after him.
No sacrifice, no penance, and no feasting allowed to women apart from their husbands; to pay obedience to her lord is the only means for a woman to obtain bliss in heaven.
A woman who keeps a fast or performs a penance in the lifetime of her lord, deprives her husband of his life, and will go to hell.
"She is the best of women whose garments are pure. Therefore let him approach a woman whose garments are pure, and whose fame is pure, and address her."
"If she do not give in, let him, as he likes, bribe her with presents. And if she then do not give in, let him, as he likes, beat her with a stick, or with his hand overcome her, saying: 'With my manly strength and glory I take away thy glory,' and thus she becomes unglorious."
"If she gives in, he says: 'With manly strength and glory I give thee glory,' and then they both become glorious."
Are these ordinances obeyed to the letter? We may decide that some laxity is as permissible to the Hindu women who reads Vishnu's "Institutes," as to her British sister who is acquainted with the Pauline Epistles. It is fairly evident, from all that we hear of the present position of the women of India, that neither Manu or Vishnu are invariably accepted quite literally.
In most of the extracts that I have given, from the "Laws of Manu" and "The Institutes of Vishnu," the bias seems undoubtedly to the advantage of men. But elsewhere in these pages I have quoted passages from Hindu literature which reveal rather less of the patriarchal spirit. And I am sure that Dr. Coomaraswamy would tell me that no clause in these codes militates directly against the highest interests of women.
Woman everywhere, even in polyandrous tribes, is a subject of inhibitions, restrictions, and customs arising from her sex and her great office as mother. In England, as Tennyson wrote, she is "cramped under worse than South Sea isle taboo." Is woman more "cramped" in our Indian Empire? The answer must be that, in some respects, women enjoy a better social and family standing in India than they do amongst ourselves.
"Seclusion," which is so repugnant to the Western woman's mind, is very different from the isolation of women in England. It is a seclusion in an atmosphere of love, conjugal and parental. The lot of the English single woman is frequently one of loveless seclusion. Numberless are the unmarried women of our own country who live in unavowed revolt against the deprivation of love. For every Hindu woman there is a husband, and, in most marriages, a strong and abiding love.