Women in Religious Activities

According to Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, the wife works as an assistant to her husband in some religious works. This has been presented in the Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa^[1] and the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa^[2]. The Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa also advocates that without the wife a person is not fit for ijyākarma i.e. he cannot perform religious sacrifices without being accompanied by his wife.^[3] Again, if he has more than one wife, the first wife is considered to be worthy to accompany her husband in religious rites.^[4] In this Purāṇa, the worth of presence of wife in religious acts has been very well depicted in the myth of the king Uttama and the king Nāga. No sacrificial works become fruitful if these are accomplished without the help of his wife. Without the cooperation of his wife one cannot attain dharma, artha and kāma.^[5] But the wives have not the right to do their husband’s religious works independently.

In this Purāṇa it is stated that for woman there is no need of performing separate sacrifice, nor śrāddha nor upavāsa, because only by obedience to her husband she can attain the desired worlds.^[6] It is also worth mentioning that leaving such a wife the husband is believed to be devoid of attaining the fruits of his actions.^[7] Moreover, it is against the religious values to abandon one’s wife. The man who leaves his wife, is not worthy of any religious rites, irrespective of being a Brāhmaṇa, a Kṣatriya, a Vaiśya and a Śūdra.^[8] So for a wife the husband and for a husband his wife is atyājya i.e. not worthy to be forsaken.^[9] To be obedient to her husband is considered to be the righteousness of a woman. By merely participating in any religious act with her husband, she is able to achieve the right to receive the half of the entire merit painfully earned by her husband and to reach the desired worlds.^[10] Therefore, to enjoy the fruits of any religious offerings, a wife should always be obedient to her husband.

In the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa we find examoles of women practising austerities. At that time, the women of royal families went to the forest to accompany the husband at the forest hermitage. We find some examples in the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa which depict the dedication of women towards their husbands. For example, king Ṛtadhvaja and his wife Madālasā retired to the forest to practise penance.^[11] When king Khanitra went to the forest to practise austerities his three wives accompanied him.^[12] Again king Karandhama and Virā, his wife, retired to the forest to practise penance. After that Karanadhama gained the world of Indra after his death and Virā practised penance for hundred years more for gaining the same world.^[13] King Nariṣyanta and his wife Indrasenā also departed to the forest to practise austerities.^[14]