6. Women’s right to Property

As it has been discussed in the familial relations of the women, it is observed that women, in all her stages were attached with the male persons, the daughter with the father, the wife with the husband, the mother with the son, the sister with the brother, and so on. They were cared by their male associates throughout the life. Hence, the question of their right to the property was less concerned at that time. But, yet, in the Atharvaveda, one such mantra is recorded, where the brothers and the sisters have been urged to avoid dispute regarding the distribution of properties.^[1] Instead, an appeal has been made for them to be pleasant to each other.^[2] This shows that the girls used to have their share of property like the boys.

Thus, after having a glimpse on the familial and social life of a woman through the foregoing passages, it is to conclude that the women of the Atharvavedic period were treated in different ways. Though a woman as a daughter was unwanted, at the same time, she was paid respect as a mother. As a wife too, though she was honoured, yet, her position was always subordinate to her husband. Her child-giving aspect was always praised, but, without this, she had no value. Thus, the then society maintained a mixed standard of treatment to the women. The observation of W. D. Hambly^[3] may be quoted in this context, “In Hindu society there is no place for unmarried woman, and it is possible to speak in general terms to the effect that in primitive and oriental society woman functions chiefly as a domestic worker and child-bearer … Her position is inferior to that of men in the social scale, but the utilitarian value of manual work and fecundity make females far too valuable to be subject to ill-treatment.”

Regarding the indispensable association of a wife to her husband in sacrificial activities, it is to say that she was only the means to the achievement of the sacrificer’s fulfilment of life. It was the women, through which, men could obtain progeny and thus, propitiate the gods and the manes.

So far the social customs are concerned, though sometimes her position seems to be equal to that of a man, but, indeed, there too she was always inferior to them.

Hence, it may here be summed up that for being the society a male-dominated one, women were offered a secondary importance and wherever, there was a male interest, women were praised much.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

mā bhrātā bhrātaraṃ dvikṣanmā svasāramuta svasā / Atharvaveda, 3.30.3

[2]:

samyañcaḥ savratā bhūtvā vācaṃ vadata bhadrayā / Ibid.

[3]:

Vide, Hambly, W. D., Origins of Education among Primitive People, p.291