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579
Economic and Political Weekly April 3, 1993
down the brahmanical texts consider that the Evidence from the cave paintings in cen- pa in any definitive manner on any aspect
whole elaborate edifice of social order that tral India thus suggests that in the hunting- including on questions of gender. However
they built up has collapsed. The Kaliyuga gathering stage there was no rigid sexual the existence of numerous mother goddess
of the future is just such a time when women division of labour as has sometimes been icons and the bronze statue of the dancing
of the high castes and men of the low castes postulated, i e, men hunt and women gather. girl could be interpreted as the continued im-
will ingress from their duties. The Bhagavad In the case of central India in the mesolithk portance of women's special relationship
Gila, the normative text par excellence of the period, it is likely that women participated with reproduction, and may also be seen as
Hindus, outlines the collapse of the social in the hunt apart from the all important task an acceptance of their sexuality. The
and moral order when there are leakages in of gathering which in any case accounted for evidence is not enough to indicate whether
the closed structure of marriages. Families the major source of food in tropical climates. the sexuality was already under some kind
are broken, rites are forgotten, women are The role of women in the economy was thus of control, whether by men or by certain
defiled and from this corruption comes the equal if not more than that of men. Based categories of women. Better interpretation
mixing of castes [Gita I: 41-44). Thus while on modern anthropological data on tribal and analysis of evidence from Mesopotamia
advocating conformity all the detailing of societies it has been postulated that the most is possible as the numerous clay inscriptions
norms for women in the brahmanical texts egalitarian societies are to be found among have been deciphered. Lerner's stimulating
are a powerful admission of the power of hunting-gathering tribes which are charac- study of the creation of patriarchy would
non-conformist women, or all women who terised by interdependence [Lerner 1986: 29]. suggest that some form of community or
have the power to non-conform, to break the The relative status of men and women can clan control over women and their sexuali-
entire structure of Hindu orthodoxy. For, at the most be characterised as 'separate but ty were aspects of social organisation in the
when women are corrupted all is lost. In the equal'. archaic state and may have existed in the
brahmanical texts it is evident that the up- What is of major significance to this essay Harappan culture too.
per caste woman is the object of moral is that the important role of women in the In contrast to the Harappan culture the
panic Through the recalcitrance of women hunting-gathering economy, which was Rig Vedic period is characterised by the lack
the established property and status order can highly valued, was enhanced by the impor- of information on material culture in general
be subverted. To prevent such a contingen- tance attached to the reproductive role of but particularly on anything that may have
cy women's sexual subordination was institu- women. Pregnant women, women in their had a bearing on women. The Rig Veda itself
tionalised in the brahmanical law codes and nurturing roles as mothers, and women por- however does throw some light on the
enforced by the power of the state. At the trayed in the act of childbirth are sometimes ideology of the early Aryans. Rig Vedic
same time women's co-operation in the depicted in the paintings and the last has Society witnessed a continuing struggle bet-
system was secured by various means: been identified as the figure of a mother ween the Aryans and the 'indigenous' tribes
ideology, economic dependency on the male goddess. Similar evidence from other pre- who were viewed with particular hostility by
head of the family, class privileges and historic cultures in the Mesopotamian region the Aryans for their dark skins, and their
veneration bestowed upon conforming and has been used to suggest the prevalence of racial 'inferiority'. As the Aryans succeeded
dependent women of the upper classes, and a pervasive veneration of the mother god- in establishing their control over certain
finally the use of force when required. dess. It has also been argued that the first areas most of the men either fled or were
form of religious expression for men and killed; the conquerors then enslaved the
I women is the psychological bond between women of the subjugated peoples. Thus the
mother and child, and that the 'life giving first large group to be enslaved in early
The process of caste, class and gender mother' appeared to have power over 'life Indian history were women as there are more
stratification, the three elements in the and death'; thus men and women, observing frequent references to 'dasis' than to 'dasas'
establishment of the social order in India this dramatic and mysterious power of the [Chakravarti 1985: 56J; the evidence of the
shaping the formation of brahmanical female turned to the veneration of the Rig Veda is in consonance with Lerner's
patriarchy,1 took a considerable period of mother goddess [Lerner 1986: 39]. argument that all early conquering tribes
time to evolve into its complex structure. killed the defeated men and enslaved the
Going by existing archaeological studies, Female reproductive power in such a
women, at least in the first stage of conquest
which do not lend themselves easily to ques- hunting-gathering society is regarded as
[Lerner 1986:78ff]. For our purpose the Rig
tions of stratification, none of the elements valuable because the very survival of the
Vedic evidence is extremely significant as it
of stratification outlined above can be clear- community is dependent upon it. Prehistoric
reflects an essential stratification within
ly traced in the evidence available to us. paintings at Kathotia, Bhimbetka and Khar-
women, between women of the conquering
There are, however, some indications that in wai treat female sexuality as one aspect of
tribes and women of the subjugated people.
prehistoric cultures women's role in produc- female existence. Thus women as
Their roles and their place in society were
tion and in reproduction was regarded as reproducers are as evident as women's pro-
ductive activities in the hunting-gathering very different. The Rig Veda for example
valuable. In a recent study of cave paintings describes the Aryan women as ruling over
at Bhimbetka (circa 5000BC) it has been economy [Roy 1987:7]. Society in this phase
has been characterised by one scholar as bipeds and quadrupeds, i e, slaves and cat-
argued that women were engaged in gather- tle ['/' Veda. IX 85.43). While the dasis' or
ing fruit and other wild produce and in hun- 'matristic'— one in which women were not
subjected to the authority of men, or of the enslaved women's labour and sexuality
ting small game using baskets and small
other women [Neumayer 1983: 21 J. There were to be used, this was under the overall
nets. They combined their roles as mothers
would be little need in such a society for the control of the men of the conquering clans.
with their activities as gatherers during this
sexual control of women by men. References to dasas as object of 'dana' (gifts)
hunting-gathering stage of society. The pain-
make it evident that the recipients are always
tings include those of a woman with a basket Evidence from the Harappan civilisation men; often the rajanya, as the captors, gift
slung across her shoulders with two children has not been analysed from the gender point them to priests. The possession of women
in it and she also carries an animal on her of view but there is some indication of the slaves was clearly a major element in the
head; women carrying baskets and nets often emergence of social stratification, with a primitive accumulation of wealth.
depicted as pregnant; a woman dragging a class of people who laboured and others Many of the myths of the Rig Veda reflect
deer by its antlers; and women engaged in who wielded power and occupied the citadels an explicit relationship of women with sex-
catching fish (Roy 1987: 3-4). In group hun- in the structures that have been excavated. uality. Frequently this is an aspect which is
ting scenes too the paintings include women. An understanding of how this society was
From the elaborate head-dress that they wear specially associated with demoniac women
organised internally in terms of its economy or with apsaras. While demoniac women are
it is possible to argue that their presence in and polity is still inconclusive as the ar-
the hunt might indicate both a symbolic and a threat to men and to their rituals, the ap-
chaeological data is not yet complemented saras are free from male control and even
an actual participation in ensuring the suc- by written evidence. It is thus not possible
cess of the hunt. set stringent conditions for any long-term
to use the evidence available to us on Harap- cohabitation with men. For other Aryan
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Economic and Political Weekly April 3, 1993
be only a deterrent in the normative functions are associated with kinship in early house of the husband and going to a neigh-
literature but that it was actually used is clear India: punishing those who commit crimes bour is an offence; even kinsmen of the
from the narrative literature. In the against the family, i e, adulterers, and those women are included among the homes of
Cutapaduma Jataka the adulterous wife is who commit crimes against property, i e, people women are forbidden to visit unless
described as a harlot by the husband who robbers. Even before the state emerged we they are being ill-treated. Only in case the
first expounds that women deserve to die, have evidence of the notion that control over house of the kinsman has been the scene of
then recommends and executes the cutting women's sexuality is the concern of the com- death, illness, calamity, or a childbirth is a
off of the adulterous woman's nose and ears munity of men that constitutes the clan in woman permitted to go there but even in
[Jataka 1.193). Similarly in the Gahapati whom political authority is'vested. An inci- such situations the visit must be made with
Jataka, the errant wife of a gahapati when dent recorded in the Vinaya Pitaka describes the consent of the husband (3.4.13-15).
caught by the husband is thrashed by him. how a woman, who had committed adultery, The Arthasastra clearly suggests that
He seizes her by the hair, knocks her down flees from her husband who has been husbands were aided by the coercive power
and threatens her "If you do this kind of authorised by the clan to kill her seeks of the state in ensuring a firm grip on the
thing again, I'll make you remember it!' He shelter in the Buddhist Sangha to escape this 'impulse' control of women, and that
also demanded damages from the adulterer punishment [Vinaya IV: 225'26). through its punitive measures on the free
saying "Damages please for injury done to After the emergence of the state rhe movements of women opportunity for viola-
the chattels under another man's watch and brahmanical normative literature and the tions of the sexual code were effectively
ward". The narrative concludes with the semi-secular Arthasastra laid down minimised. There is thus very little discus-
statement that following the physical punishments for violations of the sexual sion on adultery itself in the Arthasastra•
chastisement the wife did not dare transgress code which the king was expected to enforce. However, sections outlining the duties of a
even in thought [Jataka II. no 199], These texts reflect the more general anxiety king, or those that concern laws in the
Another story in the Jataka combines about the husband's need for progeny to brahmanical legal literature dwell at length
humiliation with physical punishment to complete the religious requirements of men, upon adultery, as well as upon the violation
cure a woman of her evil ways. Describing and the need to ensure legitimate' succes- of the principle governing permitted unions
a woman's errant behaviour the Kosiya sion to pass on property but there is also a between men and women. Violations in both
Jataka tells us that the bad wife of a good concern about the maintenance of the cases are considered bad but what is con-
brahmana spent her nights in gadding about, hierarchical social order, based on caste, sidered most reprehensible is the case of a
and feigning illness during the day. She did which must be reproduced without diluting high status woman involved with a lower
not do a stroke of work while the husband the purity principle. The burden of caste man. Gautama lays down that a
slaved all day to get her the luxuries that reproducing it lay upon women and adultery
she demanded. The moment the brahmana's thus took on an added significance. Manu
back was turned the women flew into the states this explicitly while discussing
arms of her paramours. The brahmana was adultery. According to him, "By adultery is
advised to assert his control over her, star- caused the mixture of castes among men;
ting with giving her pickled cow dung to hence follows sin, which cuts up even the
eat and then taking rope or a stick, and roots and causes the destruction of
threatening the wife with either swallowing everything" [Manu VIII: 35?).
the dung or by working for her food. If she
refused she was to be given a taste of the The king, who nere acts as an executor of
rope or stick and simultaneoqsly the hus- class power, is however only the ultimate
band was to drag her by the hair while he agency by which women's sexuality is con-
pummelled her with his fists. The woman trolled. To successfully establish this control
was thus brought to heel and became as there are a variety of ways in which women's
good as formerly she had been wicked impulses' are to be curbed and these are
[Jataka 1.284]. outlined in the Arthasastra. The Arthasastra
regulates the punishment enforced by malt
In all the above-mentioned narratives
kinsmen in inculcating modest behaviour,
whether physical punishment is actually used
which is considered their prerogative but
or not there is an explicit injunction to the
must conform to the norms laid down by the
effect that it is advisable to use violence to
state. Thus the text states that in inculcating
punish women, particularly wives, to make
modest behaviour certain abuses are to be
them conform to the requirements of wife-
avoided. But while verbal restraint is to be
ly fidelity.
exercised, the use of force itself is permit-
The power to use violence vests in the hus- ted. According to Kautilya one can strike the
band and it is recommended as the means back of a woman three times with either a
to ensure control over the wife's sexuality, split bamboo cane, or a rope, or else by the
in particular, and in monitoring her hand. Similar treatment is prescribed for the
behaviour more generally. But what if wife who 'enjoys' herself outside the home
husbands do not succeed, even through the [Arthasastra 3.3.7-10],
use of violence to bring women to heel? For
such situations a third mechanism of con- Wives who, though prohibited, indulge in
trol was envisaged in the ancient Indian the sport of drink, or go by day to a show
.patriarchal structure, with the king being by women, or even go on a pleasure trip with
vested with the authority to punish errant other women are to pay fines ranging from
wives. The king functioned as the third level three to six 4panas\ The 'offence' is con-
of control over women through whom the sidered much more serious when committed
coercive power of the patriarchal state was at night; the fine is then to be doubled. Most
articulated and used to chastise those wives serious are those offences that relate to any
who flouted the ideological norms for form of interaction with men other than the
women and also subverted the control of husband. If women converse With men in a
male kinsmen. Suspicious' place they can be whipped in the
The patriarchal state of early India view- centre of a village by a 'chandala' instead
ed adultery as one of the major "crimes' in of being merely let off with a whipping
society. In the Buddhist literature only two privately [Arthasastra 3. 3.27], Leaving the