Esteem Of Hindu Goddesses And Hindu Females
Esteem of Hindu Goddesses and Hindu Females Hinduism is the world’s oldest existing religion but has constantly evolved as Hindus have experienced other religious traditions. Since the religion Hinduism started, Hindu females have not been given equality with men. Men were always considered Supreme and potent creatures on the earth. The main God in Hinduism is Brahma and many other male and female deities are followed by Hindus. Hindus believe in reincarnation and believe that they will amalgamate with the Brahman. The soul of Male Hindu Brahmin (priest) was considered the superior and the foremost to amalgamate with Brahman. Even though Hindus worshiped the female deities they felt uncomfortable giving respect and equality to the Hindu females.
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The cultural rituals were mixed with the actions of Goddesses and teachings of their holy scriptures such as Laws of Manu, which influenced the lives of Hindu women both in good and bad ways.
The scriptures of Hinduism gave the teachings of male dominance due to which the female deities and scriptures such as Laws of Manu generated the society who mixed religion with their cultures. Hindu culture misinterpreted the deeds of their goddesses and tried to impose the changed version of rules on the females. Hindus worship many female deities, and all have different qualities. They all are related to each other, while some are the incarnated soul of the other deity with different qualities. Some of the main female deities Hindu worships are Parvati, Lakshmi, Kali, Sarasvati, Matangi, Maya, Bhuvaneshwari, Shakti, Dhanwantari, Kartika, Dhumavati, Sita, Durga, and Ganga. According to the holy scripture of Classical Hinduism, laws of Manu, women must obey their husbands because their husbands are their God. “Woman are not able to live independently, she should be kept under the tutelage of her father during her childhood, kept under the custody of her husband as his wife, and under her son after the death of her husband” (Laws of Manu). The laws of Manu explained the status of women subordinate to males. And it was duty of all husbands to control their wives. Even a bad natured and unscrupulous husband was considered God for his wife.
Sati, the most common precedent of Hindu Women to show their love and loyalty for their husbands, was to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Practice of Sati showed the value of husband and included even the death of his wife to prove loyalty to her husband. The history of Sati comes from the Goddesses Sati’s love for her husband Shiva. Sati was wife of Shiva and burnt herself just because her father didn’t like Shiva and insulted him. She wanted to show her father that she loves Siva more than her own life that she can even finish her life for him. Burning herself up was her own act of proving that how much she loved her husband. Sati’s this feat had a contrary impact on the Hindu women because the practice of sati, was not adapted as a religious ritual, but as a regional tradition. And women were forced to commit suicide to show their love for their husbands. It still continues in India, not on a large scale, but in some regions.
In early ages of Hinduism, woman was considered burden for the family because at the time of her marriage the father had to give dowry; bride’s price to the groom. And again the Hindu women suffered because of the female deity. The female deity Lakshmi was the Goddesses of wealth. When Lakshmi and Dharma got married, Lakshmi’s father gave her property as a gift. But Hindu males misconstrued the emotions of Lakshmi’s father and thought that the money Lakshmi received from her father was not a permissive gift but an obligated price of bride that he had to give to her husband Dharma. The dowry tradition became the part of wedding afterwards. And the Laws of Manu about woman’s duties as a wife were used again to justify the dowry. Woman was required to bring money in the form of dowry to her husband’s house and that appended into her qualities because after all her husband was considered her God, and a woman wouldn’t like to decrease her value in eyes of her husband.
As Lakshmi was the Goddesses of wealth, it was also believed that a new bride who brings dowry was Lakshmi. This belief originated as a cultural belief and later on was named as religious belief. Dowry (Bride’s price) became the priority of the males that they started rejecting women because their fathers weren’t able to pay the bride’s price to the Groom. Because of the increasing tension some Hindus introduced the new concept of Lakshmi that a person who fulfills his duty will gets wealth and this concept had a somewhat impact on Hindus and they didn’t put dowry on the top of their priority list. David Kinsley who wrote book about the Hindu Goddesses explained that, Lakshmi (prosperity) was given to the person who did his Dharma (duty as a Hindu). Kinsley wrote, “The point of wedding between Dharma (Virtuous conduct) with Lakshmi (prosperity and well-being) seems to teach that by performing dharma one obtains prosperity” (Kinsley 23).
According to the Rig Veda and Upanishads women should do their duty as a faithful daughter, wife, and son because her father, husband, and son decides her fate that if she will attain Moksha (liberation from cycle of rebirth). Women were mostly regarded as unable to attain Moksha (liberation from cycle of rebirth) and were considered the least ones to attain Moksha (Rodrigues 95). The Goddesses Kali being a female deity made the status of women higher. Kali releases humans from Samsara (cycle of rebirth). Her quality of helping humans attain Moksha showed that a woman can be higher than a male because it is a female deity who releases humankind from Samsara (Fowler 38-39).
Kali besides giving Moksha is also considered as the Goddesses of anger and is famous for killing the demons and wicked persons instantly by beheading them.
Mostly the Hindu females are the one who goes to Kali’s temple, males are often scared of her as she is the only female deity who can punish men and no other male or female deity can stop her from killing the wicked. George Williams wrote book about Hindu Mythology in which he explained the qualities of all Hindu Gods and Goddesses and also their impact on society. Williams in his book Handbook of Hindu Mythology wrote, “Kali appears as a voluptuous woman enticing both demons and wicked warriors-only to reveal herself as an opponent who beheads men almost as a whim. Only male offerings can be presented to her and beheaded into her blood sacrifices” (Williams 174). She gave women one more reason to stand upon the bad behavior of their husbands because she is supposed to fulfill all the demands of her followers especially female …show more content…
followers.
Laws of Manu were considered most sacred text; Hindus followed them and still practice those from time to time. The Laws of Manu were strict for the females as compared to the males because it explained more duties of females and put them inferior to males. Mostly after marriage a woman was totally dependent on her husband, she was considered slave of the whole family. As Hillary Rodrigues explains in his book Introducing Hinduism, “Hindu marriages are not intended merely to link individuals. They connect family lineages. A cardinal function of marriage is to produce offspring, particularly a male heir, in order to continue the lineage” (Rodrigues 83). Rodrigues made it clear to understand that the main purpose of marriage was to produce male children so that the family can get wealth by getting wealth at the time of their marriage from the Bride’s father.
Besides a faithful and loyal wife male Hindus wanted virgin beautiful wife like their Goddesses Sarasvati. Sarasvati was wife of Brahma, she was considered pure and simple. She was considered as a pure river through which life is attained. Stephanie Jamison in her article, Sarasvati Goddess of Knowledge explained all the qualities Sarasvati had. Jamison explained Sarasvati was beauty and the male deities loved her beauty and later on all the Hindu males wanted their wives to be as beautiful as Sarasvati was. Jamison wrote that, “Sarasvati was all about the power of her current, the dynamic beauty of her waves, the life giving liquid she carries etc. Sarasvati was later associated with knowledge” (Jamison). Women were expected to be beautiful and contain the qualities of the Goddesses Sarasvati, and if the wife of some person was not according to his choice or demand. The blame was put on the girl and man went out to get the prettier wife of his own choice. The qualities Hindus wanted in their wives were similar to the qualities Goddesses Sarasvati had.
As the goddesses mentioned above, the cultural rituals emerged which sometimes made the life of women easier, but sometimes they made their lives worse. The male deities lacked the qualities that the female deities had such as; Kali (Goddesses of Moksha), Durga (Goddesses of revenge), Ganga, Parvati and Seta. Women somewhat were given dominance over men in some aspects because of the qualities of their female deities. Men were scared that the Goddesses Kali could deny giving Moksha to the person whose wife wasn’t happy from him and complained to Kali about her husband. On the other hand women suffered too because of Sati, Lakshmi and Sarasvati because the qualities these female deities had, raised the expectations of men for their wives. Men wanted simple, and beautiful wife who brings a lot of wealth at the time of their marriage and would even risk her life to show her husband that how much she loves him.
The Hindu society now has changed and has stopped focusing on judging women on the scale of the qualities Goddesses had.
Because the qualities are now seen as the plus point for women and has added in their interest to get respect and equality. All women are now considered as Lakshmi, a woman can bring wealth and prosperity to the house by doing her duties as an obedient daughter, loyal wife, and loving mother. Jeaneane Fowler wrote book about the beliefs and practices in Hinduism. In her book, Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, she explained Lakshmi as a partner of Vishnu that without her Vishnu’s power are useless. As she wrote,
“Lakshmi is the active energy of Vishnu, so while Vishnu is creator, Lakshmi is creation. While Vishnu supports and sustains the earth, Lakshmi is the earth and identifiable with all females on it with the same way that Vishnu is identifiable with all males. Vishnu is speech, while Lakshmi is meaning; Vishnu is understanding while Lakshmi is intellect; Lakshmi is the creeping vine, Vishnu the tree to which it clings; Vishnu is love, and Lakshmi is pleasure” (Fowler
36-37).
The old Hindu Cultures are not completely finished in India, but they are still practiced in some parts of India. Hindus still give preference to males and want sons after marriage, and the new technology of finding out the sex of the child before birth have made it easier for both men and women to decide if they want the child. Fowler in her book also wrote about the Modern day lives of Hindus after marriage,
“Despite the emphasis on motherhood, abortion, which is Legal in India, is very frequent. The amniocentesis test is now used widely to ascertain the sex of a child, and if the outcome suggests that the fetus is a girl, it will often be aborted” (Fowler 57-58)
Abortion is mostly used in India also as means of saving money, because the price of dowry (as said is still practiced in India) is higher than the price of abortion.
The religion is never wrong, but it is the people who change the teachings according to their views and ruin the whole religion. We can say that both the religion and culture have great impact on the lives of humans, but cultures often make the religion difficult to follow. And cultures can always be changed, as Hinduism has changed a lot culturally but is still the same if we look at the real religious practices.
The cultural rituals were mixed with the actions of Goddesses and teachings of their holy scriptures such as Laws of Manu, which influenced the lives of Hindu women both in good and bad ways.
The scriptures of Hinduism gave the teachings of male dominance due to which the female deities and scriptures such as Laws of Manu generated the society who mixed religion with their cultures. Hindu culture misinterpreted the deeds of their goddesses and tried to impose the changed version of rules on the females. Hindus worship many female deities, and all have different qualities. They all are related to each other, while some are the incarnated soul of the other deity with different qualities. Some of the main female deities Hindu worships are Parvati, Lakshmi, Kali, Sarasvati, Matangi, Maya, Bhuvaneshwari, Shakti, Dhanwantari, Kartika, Dhumavati, Sita, Durga, and Ganga. According to the holy scripture of Classical Hinduism, laws of Manu, women must obey their husbands because their husbands are their God. “Woman are not able to live independently, she should be kept under the tutelage of her father during her childhood, kept under the custody of her husband as his wife, and under her son after the death of her husband” (Laws of Manu). The laws of Manu explained the status of women subordinate to males. And it was duty of all husbands to control their wives. Even a bad natured and unscrupulous husband was considered God for his wife.
Sati, the most common precedent of Hindu Women to show their love and loyalty for their husbands, was to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Practice of Sati showed the value of husband and included even the death of his wife to prove loyalty to her husband. The history of Sati comes from the Goddesses Sati’s love for her husband Shiva. Sati was wife of Shiva and burnt herself just because her father didn’t like Shiva and insulted him. She wanted to show her father that she loves Siva more than her own life that she can even finish her life for him. Burning herself up was her own act of proving that how much she loved her husband. Sati’s this feat had a contrary impact on the Hindu women because the practice of sati, was not adapted as a religious ritual, but as a regional tradition. And women were forced to commit suicide to show their love for their husbands. It still continues in India, not on a large scale, but in some regions.
In early ages of Hinduism, woman was considered burden for the family because at the time of her marriage the father had to give dowry; bride’s price to the groom. And again the Hindu women suffered because of the female deity. The female deity Lakshmi was the Goddesses of wealth. When Lakshmi and Dharma got married, Lakshmi’s father gave her property as a gift. But Hindu males misconstrued the emotions of Lakshmi’s father and thought that the money Lakshmi received from her father was not a permissive gift but an obligated price of bride that he had to give to her husband Dharma. The dowry tradition became the part of wedding afterwards. And the Laws of Manu about woman’s duties as a wife were used again to justify the dowry. Woman was required to bring money in the form of dowry to her husband’s house and that appended into her qualities because after all her husband was considered her God, and a woman wouldn’t like to decrease her value in eyes of her husband.
As Lakshmi was the Goddesses of wealth, it was also believed that a new bride who brings dowry was Lakshmi. This belief originated as a cultural belief and later on was named as religious belief. Dowry (Bride’s price) became the priority of the males that they started rejecting women because their fathers weren’t able to pay the bride’s price to the Groom. Because of the increasing tension some Hindus introduced the new concept of Lakshmi that a person who fulfills his duty will gets wealth and this concept had a somewhat impact on Hindus and they didn’t put dowry on the top of their priority list. David Kinsley who wrote book about the Hindu Goddesses explained that, Lakshmi (prosperity) was given to the person who did his Dharma (duty as a Hindu). Kinsley wrote, “The point of wedding between Dharma (Virtuous conduct) with Lakshmi (prosperity and well-being) seems to teach that by performing dharma one obtains prosperity” (Kinsley 23).
According to the Rig Veda and Upanishads women should do their duty as a faithful daughter, wife, and son because her father, husband, and son decides her fate that if she will attain Moksha (liberation from cycle of rebirth). Women were mostly regarded as unable to attain Moksha (liberation from cycle of rebirth) and were considered the least ones to attain Moksha (Rodrigues 95). The Goddesses Kali being a female deity made the status of women higher. Kali releases humans from Samsara (cycle of rebirth). Her quality of helping humans attain Moksha showed that a woman can be higher than a male because it is a female deity who releases humankind from Samsara (Fowler 38-39).
Kali besides giving Moksha is also considered as the Goddesses of anger and is famous for killing the demons and wicked persons instantly by beheading them.
Mostly the Hindu females are the one who goes to Kali’s temple, males are often scared of her as she is the only female deity who can punish men and no other male or female deity can stop her from killing the wicked. George Williams wrote book about Hindu Mythology in which he explained the qualities of all Hindu Gods and Goddesses and also their impact on society. Williams in his book Handbook of Hindu Mythology wrote, “Kali appears as a voluptuous woman enticing both demons and wicked warriors-only to reveal herself as an opponent who beheads men almost as a whim. Only male offerings can be presented to her and beheaded into her blood sacrifices” (Williams 174). She gave women one more reason to stand upon the bad behavior of their husbands because she is supposed to fulfill all the demands of her followers especially female …show more content…
followers.
Laws of Manu were considered most sacred text; Hindus followed them and still practice those from time to time. The Laws of Manu were strict for the females as compared to the males because it explained more duties of females and put them inferior to males. Mostly after marriage a woman was totally dependent on her husband, she was considered slave of the whole family. As Hillary Rodrigues explains in his book Introducing Hinduism, “Hindu marriages are not intended merely to link individuals. They connect family lineages. A cardinal function of marriage is to produce offspring, particularly a male heir, in order to continue the lineage” (Rodrigues 83). Rodrigues made it clear to understand that the main purpose of marriage was to produce male children so that the family can get wealth by getting wealth at the time of their marriage from the Bride’s father.
Besides a faithful and loyal wife male Hindus wanted virgin beautiful wife like their Goddesses Sarasvati. Sarasvati was wife of Brahma, she was considered pure and simple. She was considered as a pure river through which life is attained. Stephanie Jamison in her article, Sarasvati Goddess of Knowledge explained all the qualities Sarasvati had. Jamison explained Sarasvati was beauty and the male deities loved her beauty and later on all the Hindu males wanted their wives to be as beautiful as Sarasvati was. Jamison wrote that, “Sarasvati was all about the power of her current, the dynamic beauty of her waves, the life giving liquid she carries etc. Sarasvati was later associated with knowledge” (Jamison). Women were expected to be beautiful and contain the qualities of the Goddesses Sarasvati, and if the wife of some person was not according to his choice or demand. The blame was put on the girl and man went out to get the prettier wife of his own choice. The qualities Hindus wanted in their wives were similar to the qualities Goddesses Sarasvati had.
As the goddesses mentioned above, the cultural rituals emerged which sometimes made the life of women easier, but sometimes they made their lives worse. The male deities lacked the qualities that the female deities had such as; Kali (Goddesses of Moksha), Durga (Goddesses of revenge), Ganga, Parvati and Seta. Women somewhat were given dominance over men in some aspects because of the qualities of their female deities. Men were scared that the Goddesses Kali could deny giving Moksha to the person whose wife wasn’t happy from him and complained to Kali about her husband. On the other hand women suffered too because of Sati, Lakshmi and Sarasvati because the qualities these female deities had, raised the expectations of men for their wives. Men wanted simple, and beautiful wife who brings a lot of wealth at the time of their marriage and would even risk her life to show her husband that how much she loves him.
The Hindu society now has changed and has stopped focusing on judging women on the scale of the qualities Goddesses had.
Because the qualities are now seen as the plus point for women and has added in their interest to get respect and equality. All women are now considered as Lakshmi, a woman can bring wealth and prosperity to the house by doing her duties as an obedient daughter, loyal wife, and loving mother. Jeaneane Fowler wrote book about the beliefs and practices in Hinduism. In her book, Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, she explained Lakshmi as a partner of Vishnu that without her Vishnu’s power are useless. As she wrote,
“Lakshmi is the active energy of Vishnu, so while Vishnu is creator, Lakshmi is creation. While Vishnu supports and sustains the earth, Lakshmi is the earth and identifiable with all females on it with the same way that Vishnu is identifiable with all males. Vishnu is speech, while Lakshmi is meaning; Vishnu is understanding while Lakshmi is intellect; Lakshmi is the creeping vine, Vishnu the tree to which it clings; Vishnu is love, and Lakshmi is pleasure” (Fowler
36-37).
The old Hindu Cultures are not completely finished in India, but they are still practiced in some parts of India. Hindus still give preference to males and want sons after marriage, and the new technology of finding out the sex of the child before birth have made it easier for both men and women to decide if they want the child. Fowler in her book also wrote about the Modern day lives of Hindus after marriage,
“Despite the emphasis on motherhood, abortion, which is Legal in India, is very frequent. The amniocentesis test is now used widely to ascertain the sex of a child, and if the outcome suggests that the fetus is a girl, it will often be aborted” (Fowler 57-58)
Abortion is mostly used in India also as means of saving money, because the price of dowry (as said is still practiced in India) is higher than the price of abortion.
The religion is never wrong, but it is the people who change the teachings according to their views and ruin the whole religion. We can say that both the religion and culture have great impact on the lives of humans, but cultures often make the religion difficult to follow. And cultures can always be changed, as Hinduism has changed a lot culturally but is still the same if we look at the real religious practices.