Harshacharita (socio-cultural Study)
by Mrs. Nandita Sarmah | 2014 | 67,792 words
This page relates ‘Dissimilarities (2): Position of Son and Daughter’ of the English study on the Harshacharita: A Sanskrit (poetical work) which can be studied as a Historical book of Indian society during the 7th century. It was originally written by Banabhatta who based his Harsacarita on the life of the Gupta emperor Harshavardhana. This study researches the religion, philosophy, flora and fauna and society of ancient India as reflected in the Harsha-Charita.
2. Dissimilarities (2): Position of Son and Daughter
[Full title: Differences Between the two Societies of the Kādambarī and the Harṣacarita (2): Position of Son and Daughter]
In the society of the Kādambarī, people had given more importance to boys than girls. In the society of the Kādambarī shows the son got more importance than the daughter. The people gave importance to the words of the great epic Mahābhārata at that time. Therefore, hearing the words of the great epic Mahābhārata[1] which declares that there is no heaven for the childless and that, a son alone can save the soul from hell, the mind of childless queen Vilāsavatī[2] was very deeply strucked and she refused to take food, and to drink. In the Harṣacarita, from the version of king Prabhākaravardhana, it is known that people had given equal importance to their daughter, with their sons.[3] Women too occupied a respectable position in the Harṣacarita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa. Although, the author does not give the name of women kings,[4] but he mentions that the women also ruled capitals in the time of Harṣa.
In the Harṣacarita, it is noted that women were engaged in various professions. But the description of female fortune-teller[5] found in only the Kādambarī. It is noted that queen Vilāsavatī got depressed by the prophetic words of female fortune-tellers.[6]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ibid.,p.104
[2]:
[3]:
[4]:
…sarbhābhyo digbhyaḥ strīrājyānīvāvarjitāni, Ibid.,IV.p.62
[5]:
Kādambarī,p.109