Manusmriti in the Vedic Conception Term Paper

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Thus, she is never honored in any way for her own qualities or virtues, but only if she knows how to obey and please her husband in all his wishes. Moreover, the wife must obey her husband even when the latter is neither virtuous, nor faithful to her and her children: "154. Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere), or devoid of good qualities, (yet) a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife." The justification that the laws offer for this unjust position attributed to women is that the women are naturally inclined to be heartless and unfaithful to their husbands: "15. Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world)." The inferiority of the women is therefore something inborn and inevitable. As a group, women are characterized as mutable and passionate, therefore unreliable and in need to be controlled by men. The main duty of women is therefore to obey their husbands.

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As opposed to this, the only duty of men towards the family is to control the women and make sure that they are properly employed and they do not stray from the path: "4. Reprehensible is the father who gives not (his daughter in marriage) at the proper time; reprehensible is the husband who approaches not (his wife in due season), and reprehensible is the son who does not protect his mother after her husband has died." As it can be seen, the women occupy a very low position in the Vedic social hierarchy. They have no importance or qualities of their own, and the only way in which they can be considered honorable is if they obey their husbands. All through the text, the women are seen as sinful, unclean and every contact with them can be compromising. Thus, in the Indian ancient society the women are counted as a separate social class, inferior to men.

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