Women in Rgveda

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This book deals with the status of women in the period of the Rgveda and treats with much learning and discrimination the difficult problems of the morals and manners, of the marriage and education of women as set forth in the Rgveda. With an impressive impartially, the author brings out the exalted ideals as well as the lapses from them. An historical account of the institution of marriage and its forms is likely to induce in us an idea of the relativety of social habits and customs; yet it reveals the prevalence of an unchallenged tradition, an ideal definite, vivid, and well established and profusely illustrated by the stories of famous women, an ideal which our women, who are not ultramodern accept and aspire to live up to. Marriage is not an instinct but an institution based on an instinct. While we are under a biological necessity to mate and perpetuate our kind as birds and animals, we can make it the basis of a marriage of minds, the interplay of the inmost thoughts and feelings of two human beings. The adjustment of two personalities to a common way of life is full of delights and difficulties, reconciliations and disagreements. Marriage is not to be regarded as a temporary association to be dissolved at the fancy of the parties. There is a good deal to be said for the ideal of the wife as ardhāngi. The Greek myth represents that human beings were originally composed of a man and a woman, that some God divided each being in two and these separated halves are continually searching for one another. To look upon husband and wife as complementaries which make up a whole is the true implication of married life.

Dr. Bhagwat Saran Upadhya (1910-1982) was born in October 1910 in Ujiyar, a village in district Ballia (Uttar Pradesh). He was an internationally renowned scholar. Upadhyay ji has published many important books on Indian history, archaeology, culture and art. He has used his writing in every genre of literature. Apart from this, he has edited many translations and dictionaries. The total number of his books is more than a hundred.

Upadhyay ji also visited jail twice after joining the non-cooperation movement during his student days. Later studied at Kashi Hindu University. During his academic career, he was the Chairman of the Department of Antiquities, Prayag and Lucknow, Professor of Birla College, Pilani; Director of the Institute of Asian Studies, Hyderabad; He was the Chairman of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archeology of Vikram University, Ujjain. Along with being a visiting professor in many universities of the United States of America and Europe, he has also presided over many conferences in the country and abroad. He has edited the Hindi encyclopedia published by Nagari Pracharini Sabha. Till 1982, he held the post of High Commissioner of India to Mauritius.

Works: Kalidas's India, History is witness, some features, some one-act plays, Thuntha Mango, On the Waves of the Sea, Kalidas's Subhashit, Romance of Archaeology, Savera Sangharsh Garjan, Cultural Essay, Sher Bada Ya Peacock, Miracle of Wisdom, Sculpture of India. Story of India, Story of India's Culture, Story of Indian Music, Story of India's Cities, Story of India's Buildings, Story of India, India's Neighboring Countries, Story of India's Rivers, Story of India's Paintings, The Story of Literature of India.

The present work is the second edition of my Women in Rgveda. The first edition has been thoroughly revised and doubly enlarged in this venture. As my study to Rgveda has spread now over a long period of time and as new matter has come to light, a revised edition has become imperative; and here is the result of my efforts. The work has been almost rewritten and it can be considered an altogether new book. The method followed in the treatment of the theme of this volume is constructive, analytical and critical. It has been my endeavour to piece together, weigh and incorporate all matter that my study of this 'first book of mankind' has disclosed to me. The range of my work has been limited exclusively to the Rgveda except where I have sought help from the Brahmaņas and later literature for elucidation. The ground has been almost untrodden and the difficulties therefore have by no means been few. Most of the works that have treated of the subject of ancient Indian women have started either with the epic period or somewhere in its vicinity, but my efforts have convinced me that the Rgveda conceals a mine of information and that every effort will yield surprising results.

This book deals with the status of women in the period of the Rgveda and treats with much learning and discrimination the difficult problems of the morals and manners, of the marriage and education of women as set forth in the Rgveda. With an impressive impartially, the author brings out the exalted ideals as well as the lapses from them. An historical account of the institution of marriage and its forms is likely to induce in us an idea of the relativety of social habits and customs; yet it reveals the prevalence of an unchallenged tradition, an ideal definite, vivid, and well established and profusely illustrated by the stories of famous women, an ideal which our women, who are not ultramodern accept and aspire to live up to. Marriage is not an instinct but an institution based on an instinct. While we are under a biological necessity to mate and perpetuate our kind as birds and animals, we can make it the basis of a marriage of minds, the interplay of the inmost thoughts and feelings of two human beings. The adjustment of two personalities to a common way of life is full of delights and difficulties, reconciliations and disagreements. Marriage is not to be regarded as a temporary association to be dissolved at the fancy of the parties.