Chapter I

Indian Women Through the Ages

 CHAPTER I

INDIAN WOMEN THROUGH THE AGES

One way to judge the state of a nation is to study the status of

its women. Indeed, the status of women represents the standard of

culture of any age. It is, therefore, necessary to trace this position

in the historical perspective. In the course of Indian history, from

pre-historic to modem times there were distinct stages of the rise

and fall in the status and role of women. The status enjoyed by the

Indian women cannot easily be assessed. The literature on Indian

history abounds with contradictory and conflicting views on the

status of women. It can properly be understood within the socio­

cultural condition of the society. According to Mehta, there is

recorded evidence to show that woman was not always without

rights nor was she constantly in subjection. There is however,

greater evidence to show that the contrary was equally true; for

many centuries her position continued to be one in which she did

not have either legal or social rights to make her independent of

the family into which she was bom or married.1 The changes that

have taken place in their position are a part of the process of

transformation of a traditional society.

27
 The history of the changing position and role of women in
India, as considered by the researcher, are given under five

categories, viz.,

1. Rig Vedic Period (2005 B.C. - 1500 B.C.)

2. Later Vedic Period (1500 B.C. - 500 B.C.)

3. Post Vedic Period (500 B.C. - 1100 A.D.)

4. Muslim Period (1100 A.D. - 1700 A.D.)

5. British Period (1700 A.D. - 1947 A.D.)

It may be noted that these periods often overlap and scholars differ

as to the exact dates.

Rig Vedic Period

Rig Vedic Aryans, the earliest Aryan settlers in India, were

semi-nomads. They did not have any great religious systems. They
had no notion of sacrificing the pleasures of this life for those of

the next world, nor did they have any clear ideas of life after death.

They found life on earth good and prayed Gods to grant them sons.
For such people women were no ornaments but co-partners in life

in its joys and sorrows.

The position of women in society can be judged by the way in

which the birth of a girl is received. None of the hymns of the Rig

28
Veda deprecate the birth of a daughter. The birth of a girl was not

inauspicious. The Rig Veda praises the father of many daughters.

Besides, it was recommended that ‘Matrika-Puja’ should take place

first; the ‘Kumari-Puja’ was to be performed at the end of all Vedic

rituals.2 Initiation of girls was common. Girls were educated like

boys.

Rig Vedic Aryans were patriarchal and a man had almost

absolute power over his wife and children. In spite of this the

position of the wife in Rig Vedic society was much higher than in

later times. Altekar argues, “The position which women occupied in

Hindu society at the dawn of civilization during the Vedic age is

much better than what we ordinarily expect it to have been.”3

There is almost a consensus of opinion among great scholars of

classical literature that during the age of the Rig Veda a woman’s

status was equivalent to that of man.

Women also took part in the intellectual and spiritual life of

the community. Sacrifices were performed and oblations offered to

the deities, jointly by the husband and wife. Some of the hymns

were composed by women. Many of them became distinguished

poetesses. Viswavara, Apala, Lopamudra, Ghosha, Indrani and

Sachi are mentioned among others as composers of hymns.4

29
 In the Rig Vedic age monogamy was the general rule. Polygamy

also existed, though rare. Marriage was not compulsory for women.

Marriage could not take place without the girl’s consent. M.N.

Joshi states, “The Surya Sukta in Rig Veda says that the bride’s

consent was also necessary for a marriage and once she went to

stay with her parents-in-law, her views were always treated with

respect.”® Child marriage was unknown. Women could grow old in

their parents’ houses without public censure. Ghosa, the woman

seer was unmarried and lived in her father’s house. In case a man

had an only daughter she was considered as good as a son and

was not given away in marriage to another household. Ordinarily, a

daughter did not have any right to hold, acquire or dispose of

property, but the unmarried daughter who stayed on in her

father’s house got a share of his property.6

Though the Hindus of the Vedic period had a patriarchal

society, the women in general did not suffer from disadvantages,

which are a characteristic of later periods. This is particularly true

of widows. Widows of this age were permitted to remariy. They

were not expected to remain single in memory of their dead

husbands. The widow being the member of the family of her

husband was married to her husband’s brother, which was better

than being ill treated as a widow. There are no references to sati or
burning of widows in the Rig Veda. The position of women during

30
the Vedic period is aptly summed up in the words of Shakuntala

Rao Shastri:

Woman was regarded with due respect in every

sphere of life and she was not subject to any of the

merciless laws of an unsympathetic society. Even

when she overstepped moral laws, she was judged

with sympathy. There was no discrimination

between the male and the female in the anger of the

gods.7

Later Vedic Period

There were gradual changes in the position of women in this

period. From Rig Vedic times to the later Vedic period it declined

perceptibly. The main reason for this was the development of

certain notions, which led to the belief that sons alone were

competent to redeem their parents from hell and daughters, were

incapable of performing this spiritual function. Woman was

considered important only as long as she was able to bear sons.

The Atharva Veda says that as for daughters, the gods were
requested to give them elsewhere.8 The universal desire was for

sons and the birth of a daughter was considered a misfortune.

Social condemnation was becoming very strict on erring women.

31
 The important branches of later Vedic literature were the

Atharva Veda, Brahmanas and Upanishads. The Brahmanas are

generally more unfavourable towards women. In these texts we

come across people who have started disposing of their unwanted

daughters in infancy. But the Atharva Veda is not as harsh as the

Brahmanas on women. Though the Atharva Veda does not favour

the birth of daughters, there is no mention of infanticide.9 The

Taitreya Samhita and Satapatha Brahmana rank women as

inferior to a bad man. Shakuntala Rao Shastri notes, “... the

Brahmanas reflect a transitional stage in the position of a woman;

owing to the growth of rituals and the development of social

institutions, the scope of a woman's life was gradually becoming

limited.”10 During the age of the Upanishads, women were not

debarred from the study of the Vedas. The celebrated Gargi and

Maitreyi lived during this period. Gargi engaged Yajnavalkya in a

spiritual discourse. Maitreyi, wife of Yajnavalkya , was more

interested in finding out the way to immortality than in domestic

pleasures.

Though sons were generally preferred the desire for having a

learned daughter was still there. Altekar points out:

The reasons why daughters were relatively less

unpopular in ancient India during the early centuries

are not difficult to understand. They could be

32
 initiated in Vedic studies and were entitled to offer

sacrifices to gods; the son was not absolutely

necessary for this purpose. The marriage of the

daughter was not a difficult problem; the daughter

herself often solved it. The dread of a possible

widowhood did not very much weigh upon the mind

of parents; for, [evirate and remarriage were allowed

by society and were fairly common.11

Thus the social and familial status of women was fairly satisfactory

during the Vedic period.

Post Vedic Period

During the post Vedic period there were perceptible changes in

the women’s status due to various reasons, among which the most
important was the denial of education to the girls. Girls were not

allowed to go to the centres of education. The desire to get a son to

provide for the future became quite intense and daughters came to

be looked upon as encumbrances. The social and familial status of

the daughter deteriorated in this period. The study of the Vedas

became the monopoly of men. Women also ceased to attend public

meetings.

Grihya Sutras provide a clear picture of women’s position in

the post Vedic period. The Sutra period started by about the sixth

33
century B.C. and continued till the rise and spread of Buddhism

under Asoka in the third century B. C. For the first time a definite

classification of the different types of marriage, prevalent among

the Indo Aryans, can be seen in Grihya Sutras. By the time of

Grihya Sutra period the marriage ceremony had developed into an

elaborate affair. Child marriage was still unknown. A married

woman could not inherit wealth nor have any right to the property

of her husband. All that she could own was some moveable

property in the ornaments and other things brought from her

parents’ house by way of dowry. The discontinuance of Upanayana,

the neglect of education and lowering of the marriage age and the

desire for a son produced disastrous consequences regarding the

position and status of women. Women came to be regarded as

being of the same status as the Sudra. During this period on the

one hand woman was being idealized and on the other she was

given a very degraded status.12 The status of women in the Grihya

Sutra period deteriorated still further from the later Vedic period.

During the Mauryan period a widow had the right to

remarriage but in this case she had no right to any property left by

her dead husband. And if she had any property in her possession

she had to surrender it to her relatives or children. Polygamy was

permitted but every time a man married he had to settle a certain

amount on the previous wife and pay an amount to the state.

34
Divorce was permitted in certain cases. Widow marriage was

permitted to all castes. The age of consent, according to Kautilya,

the minister of Chandragupta Maurya, was twelve for a girl and

sixteen for a boy. Early marriage was prevalent though not child

marriage. Sati was not to be seen generally among the Indo -

Aryans.

In the sixth century B.C. the Brahminical religion based on the

Vedas flourished in Northern India. Elaborate rituals and sacrifices

had been established. The caste system had become the most

important feature of Indian society. And the Brahmins had the

exclusive privilege of studying Vedic texts and performing

ceremonies for the benefit of all. Animal sacrifice was the main

basis of ritualistic religion and thousands of animals were daily

sacrificed for the pleasure of the Gods. The Upanishads

proclaimed, as P. Thomas states:

Religion for the common man for all practical

purposes meant merely the finding of cash needed

to pay the Brahmins for the various ceremonies a
man was expected to perform from his birth till
death: without the intercession of the Brahmins who

alone possessed the saving knowledge contained in

the Vedas, no man could hope to obtain salvation.13

35
 It is obvious that such a religion could not last long. The

appearance of Buddhism and Jainism brought some improvement

in the situation of women. Both Buddhism and Jainism were a

revolt against the Brahminical tyranny. The founders of both these

sects were Kshatriya princes who lived in the sixth century B.C.

The conversion of the Mauryan emperor Asoka to Buddhism and

his patronage and missionary spirit made this religion the most

important one not only in India but also in the whole of Asia.

The distinctive feature of Buddhism is its rejection of the

infallibility of the Vedas and the efficacy of sacrificial religion. The

Buddha did not consider that there was much virtue in producing

sons. To him it was not marrying and multiplying that marked the

higher man but rather self-control and celibacy. Neither the

Buddha nor his followers considered marriage as an inviolable

sacrament. It was a secular arrangement and either partner was

free to leave the home and take to religious life. The Buddha does

not seem to have had a very high opinion of women. At first he was

not even prepared to found an order for nuns. Ultimately he

allowed it on the persistent persuasion of Ananda, his favourite

disciple.

The Buddha’s rejection of the sacramental notion of marriage

had a benevolent effect on the position of Indian women. Widows
were allowed to remarry or join the nunnery. Sati was not known
36
at the time of the Buddha and never flourished among the

Buddhists. Only grown up girls were considered competent to

marry. P. Thomas analyses, “Buddhism and its secular notions of

marriage had held in check sati, child marriage and other

pernicious institutions of medieval Hinduism in all parts of India

and only after the disappearance of Buddhism from India was the

field left free for Brahminism to enforce these social evils.”14

Though women, as in all great religions, were considered inferior to

men in Buddhism, the position of Buddhist women was higher

than that of their Hindu sisters. While in later Hinduism a woman

had no individuality of her own, Buddhism recognized the

individuality and independence of women.

As there were women in early Vedic period that composed

hymns in praise of deities, in Buddhism the Theris or elder ladies

compiled religious songs. A collection known as Theri Gatha

(Songs of the Theris) forms part of the Buddhist canon and it

consists of compositions by seventy-three nuns. Altekar propounds

that the admission of women to the Buddhist order gave a great

impetus to the cause of female education among the ladies in

commercial and aristocratic families. Like the Brahmavadinis in

Brahminical circles, several ladies in Buddhist families used to

lead a life of celibacy with the aim of understanding and following

the eternal truths of religion and philosophy. Some of them, like

37
Sanghamitra, went even to foreign countries like Ceylon and

became famous there as teachers of the Holy Scriptures.15

In the sermons of Buddhism, the ideal wife is one who

practices the universal virtues of loyalty, obedience to elders,

efficiency in house keeping, love of peace etc. Buddhism does not

preach abject surrender and all absorbing devotion to the

husband. The profession of prostitution or courtesan was not

looked down upon. On the contrary it was considered a regular,

useful and desirable occupation. The prostitutes enjoyed the

patronage of society in general and of the aristocracy in particular.

Buddhism favoured monogamy but it had no objection for

polygamy or polyandry. No ritual or ceremony was necessary for a

valid marriage. Mutual consent and joint decision by both parties

were necessary. Parents arranged marriages. If parents did not get

a girl married till the age of twenty, she had the right to marry

anyone she liked. Widows and divorced women were allowed to

remarry. No girl could be married against her will.

Buddhism was the dominant religion of India from the time of

Asoka till about the eighth century A. D. And it has considerably

influenced Hindu institutions. Its effect on women and marriage in

India had been beneficial when compared with Brahminism.

Buddhism stood for individual rights for women. It also prevented

the spread of the purdah, which was prevalent in some royal

38
households. It is significant that only after Buddhism disappeared

from the country did the subjection of women become complete in

India.

Jainism, another religious sect, was founded by Parsvanath.

But Mahaveera is considered the real founder of Jainism. Jainism,

like Buddhism, rejected the sanctity of Vedas, the superiority of

Brahmins and the sacramental notions of marriage. It considered

all sex relations as inferior to celibacy. Jainism did not obtain the

popularity of Buddhism in India. Unlike the middle-path advocated

by the Buddha, Jain teachers held extreme views on asceticism

and ahimsa. It admitted women to the religious order of nuns.

In earlier stages of Jainism women too had the privilege of

leaving their husbands and joining convents but later, as inter­

marriage with the Hindus became common among the Jains the

practice was condemned. All Jains maintain that in the monastic

life, the nun is inferior to the monk. Monogamy was the general

rule in Jainism but kings and nobles were exceptions. The Jains

at the time of Mahaveera and the few centuries following, held the

view that marriage was a secular affair that could be dissolved at

will. But with the disappearance of Buddhism in India and the
revival of Brahminism, the Jains generally accepted the

matrimonial conceptions of the higher castes of Hinduism.

39
 The Ramayana shows a degeneration of the freedom of women.

Child marriage was becoming popular. Purdah was prevalent in

royal households, though it was not very strict. In the

Mahabharata period, woman became the property of her husband,

but in practice, she was the equal and at times the superior to her

husband. The typical example is that of Draupadi. She was robust

and often carried her will. Sati was not widely prevalent in the epic

age but some cases are mentioned in the Mahabharata. Madri, one

of the two wives of Pandu, burnt herself on the funeral pyre of her

husband.

The age of the later Puranas and Dharma Shastra is

considered the darkest period in Indian history. It falls roughly

between the seventh and twelfth centuries, the period between the

decline of Buddhism and the spread of Islam in India. In this

period woman's freedom was curtailed. She was denied the

knowledge of not only the scriptures but even letters. The rights of

women in all law books are identified with those of Sudras and

slaves. Most lawgivers, both earlier and later, were of the opinion

that a woman was bound to worship her husband as God, even if

he were a drunkard, gambler or debauchee. Women were barred

from owning property.

Child marriage was widely prevalent. A girl had to be married

before she menstruated. Lawgivers like Manu held that the parents
40
of a girl who did not give her away in marriage before puberty

would go to hell. There was no minimum age mentioned and even

infants were married among the orthodox in medieval India. This

was the main reason for the physical decline of the Hindus as a

race, and the ease with which the Muslims conquered India.15

Child marriage produced many social evils. Girls had no time

for secular education. They were restricted to domestic drudgery

and ignorance. Premature motherhood resulted in deformities

rendering her unfit for a healthy man. This was responsible for the

high position prostitutes gained in later India. During this period

widow marriage came to be strictly prohibited for the higher castes.

The widow was expected to lead a holy life and to forgo all worldly

pleasures. The practice of sati was recommended by many of the

later authorities and well established by the end of sixth century

A.D.

The Muslim invasion also led to the spread of sati among the

Hindus. The Hindus who were suffering defeat after defeat felt that

it was better for their wives to perish in the flames rather than fall

into the hands of the enemy. Thousands of women died in Jauhar

during the days of the Muslim invasion of India. After sati was well

established in India it became more or less a point of honour with

the Hindu widow to mount her husband’s funeral pyre. The

institution of sati became so popular in the later Puranic period

41
and the centuries that followed it that even communities where it

did not exist adopted it. Due to these developments, the

unfortunate women who survived their husbands were tortured

and condemned to life long misery. And many widows left their

homes for the comparatively better atmosphere of the street.

Another social evil that gained considerable popularity during

the later Puranic period was that of temple dancers or devadasis.

Every temple in medieval India had a large number of them in its

service. Prostitution got religious sanction mainly to enhance the

profits of well-known shrines. Throughout the later Puranic period

the institution of devadasi flourished with great vigour. Only with

the onslaught of Islam and the destruction of the great temples of

the North did it show any sign of decline.

Muslim Period

From the time of the Aryans, many warlike races like Hunas

and Kushans invaded India but most of them settled down in the

country. They accepted the Indo - Aryan culture and religious

hegemony and became Hindus or Buddhists. But with the arrival

of the Muslims, for the first time in Indian history, a race was
introduced which Hinduism could not assimilate. The social and

religious conceptions of Hindus and Muslims were so different that

it was found impossible for the two to merge. The prolonged

42
Muslim rule produced a composite culture in India. There was

close contact between the two communities for centuries. Both of

them influenced each other considerably in their long and

continued co-existence.

To the Muslims, marriage is not a sacrament as believed by

the Hindus but a secular institution. A man can marry four wives

at a time, and he is allowed to keep slave girls, if he could afford

them. Divorce is permitted under Muslim law. The Muslim law of

succession and inheritance is more humane. A woman is as much

an heir as a man. Marriage does not give the husband any rights

over the property of his wife during her lifetime. Though the

position of medieval Muslim women looked well it was not so

actually, because of the rigidity of the purdah system and the

ignorance of women. Men insisted on the fidelity of women. The

seclusion of women was so rigid that all women had to put the veil

while moving out of doors. If any woman was found in a public

place without veiling her face, she was taken for a shameless

woman and molestation of her was no offence. As a result even

non-Muslim women under Muslim rule took care to veil their faces

when they went out. As the purdah became stricter, the seclusion

made the women anaemic, narrow-minded and victims of many

physical ailments.

43
 In the Muslim period, the position of women further
deteriorated. Women faced a number of hardships and cruelty due

to evil practices like child marriage, the purdah system, sati,

widowhood, prostitution and the devadasi system. Women were

excluded from succession to property and were dependent on men.

As Hate mentions, the advent of the Muslims arrested the progress

of Hindu civilization and an era of blind faith and perpetuation of

old customs followed.17 The Muslim conquest led to a large scale

immolation of women especially among Rajputs, who considered it

a lesser evil than capture by the invaders. As Krishna Basu states,

“Until quite recently their very existence was almost merely a bare

necessity and taken to be an indispensable appendage to the male

population. They were totally and forcefully subjugated to male

superiority physically and intellectually.”18

British Period

There had been, from veiy early times, a steady deterioration

in the position of Indian women down the centuries. The

disruption of the Moghul Empire in the eighteenth century and the

consequent political confusion throughout the country only
enhanced the miseries of Indian women. As a result when the

British period started, the position of women in India was the worst

in the history of the country. Altekar says, “the period between 500

A.D. to 1800 A.D. was one of progressive deterioration in the

44
position of women. In the history of India, these dark and

depressing days of total injustice, intolerance and inequality will

remain as the darkest spot forever.”19

Child marriage was the general rule for all respectable castes

of Hindus and had even spread to some sections of the Muslim

population. Sati was widely prevalent and even the Sikhs practised

it, though forbidden by their Gurus. Purdah was strictly enforced

on Muslim women and to some extent Hindu women. Female

literacy was regarded as a source of moral danger, since only

dancing girls could read and write. Polygamy was practised by all

those who could afford it. Prostitution was rampant and every city

and town teemed with singing and dancing girls. Almost all Hindu

temples patronized devadasis.

Widows’ condition was deplorable. Widows came to be

regarded as inauspicious; they could not be present at the

marriages of even their own children. Altekar argues, “They had to

lead a dreary life of enforced celibacy, and society did not show

much sympathy to them... Some summoned the necessary

servitude and preferred to escape from life through the frightful

door of the sati custom, which consequently began to become

commoner.”20 In certain regions, particularly in the south, the

widow was not allowed to look cheerful or wear bright clothes or

ornaments. The head of the widow was shaved in order to make

45
her unattractive and she was avoided as an ill omen by all.

Margaret Cousins, referring to the status of women at the end of

the nineteenth century states that “The condition of women was at

its lowest point of literacy, of individuality, of health, of social

status, of freedom of movement, of initiative of economic status, of

power.”21

The British were the first rulers who unified the country as a

whole and were liberal in their thinking. They believed that rational

thinking has to be the basis for all customs and institutions. If

these customs and institutions are not based on reason they had

to be done away with. Hence, during the British rule, Indian

society faced significant modifications. The British government

worked slowly and succeeded in providing an alternative way of life

for those who wanted change, by introducing a new type of

economy, state structure, educational system and also by passing

new social legislations.

The Indians were impressed by the high standards of British

society. P. Thomas observes:

The freedom enjoyed by European women, their

appearance in public functions without

embarrassment or outrage to modesty, the
advantages of monogamy, the soundness of

46
 marital relations among Europeans inspite of the

absence of the purdah, their family life, all

impressed the better class of the Hindus and

Muslims, who began to wonder if their notions of

society with its seclusion of women were the best

possible.22

This change in mental attitude and access to western

education were foremost in changing the position of Indian women

for better. Things began to improve. Several factors contributed

towards the uplift of Indian women. The general awakening of

Asians in the twentieth century was an important factor. Also the

direct influence of the British, a people noted for their chivalry

towards women, was no less significant. And Anally the political

struggle for Indian independence under the leadership of Gandhi

and others gave a tremendous impetus to the feminist movement

in India.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, important

trends in thought and ideology such as westernization, revivalism,

nationalism and modernization were concerned with the question

of women of India. The first efforts motivated by reformist

consciousness were efforts by individual men to abolish repressive

social practices affecting women. Men such as Ishwar Chandra

Vidyasagar and Behramji Malabari formed associations, wrote

47
pamphlets, and lobbied for legislation to allow widow remarriage

and to prohibit child marriage. While laws were passed on these

subjects, a few widow remarriages took place, and child marriages

continued to be common.

The next stage in the efforts to improve the status of women

was women’s associations started by men like the Brahmo Samaj

in the Bengal Presidency and the Prarthana Samaj in the Bombay

Presidency. These associations were active in Hindu reforms. Their

female relatives were members of women’s organizations. Though

it was the enlightened individual men who launched initial efforts

to abolish laws and customs which suppressed Indian women, in

course of time women themselves organized the movement for their

emancipation, the earliest examples being Bharat Stri

Mahamandal (1910), the Women's Indian Association (1917) and

All India Women's Conference (1927). The women's movement in

the early nineteenth century was primarily concerned with the

problems of the upper class women. Social reformers strove to put

an end to the practice of social evils like sati, child marriage,

enforced widowhood and polygamy.

The twentieth century women's movement in India was

inextricably bound with the freedom movement. During the

swadeshi period (1904-1911), however, revivalist consciousness,

attempts at mass mobilization, and the skillful tactics of several

48
women leaders contributed to an increase in the public

participation of women. The swadeshi movement was triggered by

the British decision to partition Bengal in 1905, and the movement

involved boycott of British goods, and championing of indigenous

self help efforts in manufacturing, education and terrorism.

Attempts at mass mobilization during the swadeshi period

facilitated the participation of women in several ways. British

women leaders like Annie Besant and Margaret Cousins brought

Indian women under the influence of western feminist ideologies,

and the spread of women's education generated new ideas.

However the crucial difference in the shift in women's ideas as well

as situations was made during the freedom movement.

From the beginning, the Indian women’s movement was

oriented toward elite representation and not toward mass

mobilization. The early women’s movement was very small in size

and elite in composition: its members were women from a handful

of families prominent in the associational politics of the urban,

educated elite. Slowly women’s educational institutions and

associations came to be accepted within the educated elite, but a

large gap between the elite and the masses remained.

After 1910, women who had acquired experience in local

women’s associations started national and provincial women’s

associations. Sarla Devi Choudurani founded Bharat Stri

49
Mahamandal in 1910. Most of the organizations such as the Poona
Seva Sadan, the Servants of India Society or Maharishi Karve

University for Hindu women emphasized social reform and

education.

It was considered useful to organize these independent

activities on gin all India basis. Consequently the Women's Indian

Association was formed in Madras in 1917 with the efforts of Annie

Besant, Margaret Cousins and Dorothy Jinarajdasa. This may be

considered the first organization that could speak with authority

for the women of the country as a whole. Its official organ Stri

Dharma gave effective expression to the feminine point of view on

Indigm problems. Three other important women's organizations

rose later. The National Council of Women, which was affiliated to

the International Council, in 1925, The All India Women's

Conference in 1927 and The Federation of University Women which

was mainly concerned with women's academic and professional

interests.

Many prominent women like Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant,

Margaret Cousins, Malathi Patwardhan, Dorothy Jinarajdasa,

Muthulakshmi Reddi, Abala Bose and a host of others were

associated with these organizations. These associations were

concerned with influencing government policy on women’s

suffrage, educational and social reform issues. The leaders of these

50
associations, while comparing the women's movement in India with

the Suffragette Movement in the West, were careful to emphasize

the difference. Hindu philosophical and religious literature

incorporated the ideal of equality between men and women.

Rameshwari Nehru in a speech delivered at a women's college in

England emphasized the difference between the two movements.

The Suffragette Movement in India was a fight against orthodoxy,

ignorance and not against the other sex. Hie Indian women desired

the vote not from a sense of self-aggrandizement but from a desire

to fulfill their duties and responsibilities in public life.23 The All

India Women's Conference was founded as an educational

conference but from its first session, it focused on both social and

educational questions. By the 1930s the All India Women's

Conference was widely recognized as the most important women's

organization in India and it had branches and offices throughout

India.

Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu were two prominent

spokespersons of the early women's movement. Writings and

speeches of Naidu and Besant presented the goals of the women's
movement. Both of them connected women's uplift to national

development by pointing out the important and distinctive

contributions that women could make to development. Margaret

Cousins, the president of the All India Women's Conference, had

51
been active in the Indian women's movement, ever since she

arrived in India in 1915. She was instrumental in the formation of

both the Women's Indian Association and the All India Women's

Conference. Muthulakshmi Reddi, AIWC president in 1931 was one

of the first Indian women to become a doctor. Her view of women's

uplift emphasized the health of mother and children.

The Khilafat and Non-cooperation campaigns (1918-1922)

marked the beginning of Gandhfs leadership of the Indian

nationalist movement. The ideas and activities associated with

Gandhi encouraged the growth of the women’s movement. His

ideology was very respectful to women and supported their uplift,

though this was in terms of complementary sex roles. Gandhi’s

activities did encourage the participation of women in the

nationalist movement, but the legacy of male direction remained.

Gandhi included several women among his lieutenants. In the

1918-1922 period there were Anasuya Sarabhai and Sarojini

Naidu- but Gandhi was always the supreme commander. He

involved women in most of his satyagraha campaigns but he

carefully orchestrated their participation. He was against women

joining his Salt Satyagraha in 1930. Although women protested

and finally participated, Gandhi continued to exhort women to

channel their political energies into constructive work (spinning

weaving, and work in the villages) and picketing liquor stores.

52
Nevertheless, Gandhi became associated in public’s mind with

women’s participation in the Salt Satyagraha.

Under Gandhi, the Indian National Congress began a process

of mass mobilization, which enabled it to dominate Indian politics

from the 1920s to the present day. A few women formed

associations for constructive work during the Non-cooperation

campaign and these were more widespread during subsequent

campaigns.24 Desh Sevikas (National Service Societies) were

formed during the Civil Disobedience campaign, and women

organized to boycott foreign cloth, encourage home industries, and

picket liquor stores. Gandhi’s techniques inspired women to

participate in public activities and broke down opposition to their

entry into social service and nationalist associations. Indeed, his

campaigns served as a training ground for many women’s

movement leaders - Hansa Mehta, Durgabai, Kamala Devi

Chattopadhyaya, Renuka Ray, and Jaishri Raiji.

There was a gradual shift in goals of these organizations from

women's upliftment to equal rights for women. Most of the leaders

of the women’s movement were close associates of Gandhi and the

liberal feminism adopted by them fitted in well with the ideology of

nationalism during Independence movement.

53
 After Independence, women's groups and organizations like

Mahila Sangharsha Vahini, Shramika Sangathana, Stree Mukti

Sangathana have taken up feminist issues from a totally new

perspective. Their activities were not restricted to merely calling

resolutions or sending delegations to various authorities as earlier.

These groups engaged not only in militant activism to assert

women's rights but also made serious attempts to articulate their

thoughts on the roots of oppression of women. Western women's

liberation movement, its literature and the issues raised,

influenced many women with higher education. It was primarily a

revolt against women's treatment as objects and not as individual

human beings.

Women's movements of the post-Independence period were

initiated by Gandhians and socialists in the early 1970s, but it was

only much later that they began to be looked upon as feminist.

During mid - 1970s a number of women's organizations had come

up in major cities like Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Pune, Patna,

Ahmedabad, and some other places. Though there was no

particular uniformity among them, their members were drawn
largely from the urban educated middle class. During the early

stages, women's organizations moved towards left and began to

align themselves with socialist trade unions. They had a broad view
of feminism, as an ongoing process, hand in hand with class

54
struggle. The unfortunate spell of emergency brought a halt to

these activities. Later, many of the feminist ideologies of Europe

were brought in and discussed at great length. Women's equality,

freedom and social justice were the major issues.

The United Nations, by declaring 1975 as Women's Year and

the next decade as Women's Decade called upon its member states

to develop new measures for emancipation. Eventually several

women's organizations sprang up. Many women activists have

found it necessary to take up issues related to oppression of

women like dowry, violence in the family, alcoholism and sexual

discrimination of women at their work place. During the

International Women’s Year, a conference of women activists was

held in Pune. In Bombay and Pune independent and autonomous

women's groups like Stree Mukti Sangathana came into existence

in the same year. After the withdrawal of the Emergency, the issue

of civil liberties was hotly debated. News of mass rape of poor, Dalit

and tribal women in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar

Pradesh and Maharastra appeared in the press. Awareness of

democratic rights brought with it awareness of atrocities on

women. Consequently innumerable feminist organizations were

formed in major cities all over India. Manushi the feminist journal
founded in 1979, was treated as a mouthpiece by autonomous
women's movement in the country.

55
 In the 1980s organizations like Mahila Daxata Samata Manch,

Stree Sangharsh Samiti in Delhi, Socialist Women’s Group in

Bombay, Purogami Sangathana in Pune, Stree Shakti Sangathana

in Hyderabad and Pennurimai Iyyakum in Madras came into

existence. These groups and their campaigns had started all over

India and ranged from protesting dowry murders and police rape to

unionizing women workers, domestic servants, and slum-dwellers.

The issues of dowry murders and rapes were exposed to public

notice and caught attention of the press and the public. In the

subsequent campaigns they gained considerable confidence and

support. By the mid-1980s, they could establish themselves in

societies based on a common ideology and programme.

At this stage, different trends in feminist thought like

bourgeois, radical and socialist feminisms came to the fore. Those

who merely wanted to make some minor reforms in the existing

social structure and remain contented with liberal statutory

measures were known as bourgeois feminists. Those who found

men alone responsible for the miseries of women were known as
radical feminists. And those who admit the role of patriarchy in

subjugating women in our society but at the same time believe that

in this system other oppressed and exploited masses like Dalits,

tribals, working class are allies of women's liberation movement

and therefore believe in solidarity with these groups are known as

56
socialist feminists. The feminists are divided over the manner of

emancipation of women. Nevertheless as a result of the pressure

created by the women’s movement, amendments in the laws

regarding rape, dowry and marriage had to be made. Now many

women's organizations are actively working on the problems of

working women. In general, women's movement in India is

increasingly adopting the position that every issue is a women's

issue.

Women's organizations have made efforts to make feminism

acceptable among masses through plays, skits, songs, posters,

exhibitions, magazines, etc. Many feminist magazines like

Manushi, Saheli, Sabala are being published from Delhi, Calcutta

and Bangalore respectively. The significant contribution of the

feminist movement in India is that it has helped to spread some

kind of women's consciousness throughout the country. The three

decades of feminism in India have witnessed intense ideological as

well as practical debates over the issues related to women. Recent

trends reveal that feminists are increasingly coming out to support

civil rights, ecological, health and other related social movements

in order to seek alternatives in every walk of human life.

The movement for social emancipation of Indian women that

started in the nineteenth century still has a long way to travel

before it reaches its desired goal. However there is considerable
57
improvement in the position of women as compared to the ancient

and medieval times. Women have come out of their cocoons and

they enjoy certain amount of freedom. And this is largely due to

Gandhian influence and women's movement.

58
 REFERENCES

1. R. Mehta, The Western Educated Hindu Women, Bombay, Asia

Publishing House, 1970, pp. 16 and 113.

2. B. S. Upadhyaya, Women in Rigveda, New Delhi, S. Chand and

Co. Pvt. Ltd., 1974, p.43.

3. A.S. Altekar, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization, Delhi,

Motilal Banarsidass, 1956. p.337.

4. B.S. Upadhyaya, op.cit., p.45.

5. M. N. Joshi, Jeevana Maulyagalu, Dharwad, Rupa Prakashan,

2004, p. 94.

6. N. V. Jagannatha Rao and Godavari D. Patil, “Changing Role

and Status of the Indian Woman”, The Indian Woman : Myth
and Reality, ed. J.P. Singh, New Delhi, Gyan Publishing House,
1996, pp. 204-205.

7. Shakuntala Rao Shastri, Women in the Vedic Age, 3rd ed.,

Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1960, pp. 36-37.

8. N. V. Jagannatha Rao and Godavari D. Patil, op.cit., p.203.

9. P. Thomas, Indian Women Through the Ages, New York, Asia

Publishing House, 1964, p.58.

10. Shakuntala Rao Shastri, op. cit., p. 87.

11. A. S. Altekar, op.cit., p.163.

12. Ibid., p. 348.

13. P. Thomas, op. cit., p. 78.

14. Ibid, p. 83.

59
15. A. S Alterkar, op. cit., p. 12.

16. P. Thomas, op. cit., p. 226.

17. Chandrakala Hate, Changing Status of Women, Bombay, Allied

Publishers, 1969, p. 175.

18. Krishna Basu, “Movement for Emancipation of Women in the

Nineteenth Century”, Role and Status of Women in Indian
Society, Calcutta, Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd., 1978, p. 38.

19. A. S. Altekar, op. cit., p. 353.

20. Ibid., p. 163.

21. Margaret Cousins, Indian Womanhood Today, Allahabad,

Kitabistan, 1947, p. 13,

22. P. Thomas, op. cit., p. 292.

23. Uma Shankar Jha and Premlata Pujari eds., Indian Women
Today: Tradition, Modernity and Challenge, New Delhi,
Kanishka, 1996, p. 148-149.

24. Quoted in Jana Matson Everett, Women And Social Change In

India, New Delhi, Heritage, 1981, p. 80.

60