Question

Consider the following statements

1. Women had held low position in society

2. Girls were educated along with the boys

3. Women were allowed to attend both sabha and samiti

Which of the statements given above is/are correct regarding Early Vedic Age?
1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1 and 3 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1 ,2 and 3

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : 2 and 3 only

The correct answer is 2 and 3 only

• Women had held high position in society. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
  • The Rig-Vedic society was a free society.
  • The Aryans evidently preferred male child to female child.
  • However, females were as free as their male counterparts.
• EDUCATION  RIGHTS
  • Education was equally open for boys and girls.
  • Girls studied the Veda and fine arts.
• MARRIAGE  RIGHTS  
  • Women never observed purdha in the Vedic period.
  • They enjoyed freedom in selecting their mates.
  • But divorce was not permissible to them.
• POSITION  IN  FAMILY
  • In the family, they enjoyed complete freedom and were treated as Ardhanginis.
  • In domestic life women were considered to be supreme and enjoyed freedom.
  • Women helped their husbands in agricultural pursuits also.
  • Husband used to consult his wife on financial matters.

PROPERTY  RIGHTS

• Unmarried daughters had share in their fathers’ property.
• Daughter had full legal rights in the property of her father in the absence of any son.
• Mother’s property, after her death, was equally divided among sons and unmarried daughters.
• However, married women had no share in father’s property.
• As a wife, a woman had no direct share in her husband’s property.
• A widowed mother had some rights.

RELIGIOUS  RIGHTS

• The woman was regarded as having an equally important share in the social and religious life because a man without woman was considered as an inadequate person.
• She regularly participated in religious ceremonies with her husband.
• There were many scholars who composed hymns of Rig Veda. Lopamudra, Gargi and Maitreye were the pioneers among them.
• Lopamudra, the wife of Agasti rishi, composed two verses of Rig Veda.

LATER  VEDIC  PERIOD

• However In Later Vedic period, the position that the women folk enjoyed in the early Vedic society, was not retained.
• Manu assigns to the Women of Vedic age, a position of dependence, if not of subordination.
• The Arthasastra attests to considerable restraints placed on their movements.