Women In Classical India

November 22, 2013
GHIST101 Paper 1 Women in Classical China and India
In the classical societies of China and India, women are viewed as second to men. Both societies agree that men are stronger, protectors, providers, and more authoritative than women. They also agree that women are inferior, delicate, gentle, and vulnerable than men. Generally, men had a higher level of independence than women, whereas, women completely depended on their husbands socially and economically. Even though they both agree that women are inferior to men, Chinese women have less dependency on men than Indian women but there is still a great dependency on men by women in both societies. In China, women have higher degree of expression than women in classical India society. In the Mother of Mencius, written by Mencius
in the first century, talks about how Mencius mother has a strong influence in his life. Constantly, Mencius listens to the advice his mother gives him as a child, husband, and as the head of his family. Specifically, when Mencius is a husband, Mencius’ mother rebukes him for being inconsiderate when his wife was naked in their quarters. The influence of his mother is so strong that he obeyed her and took his wife back even though he never sought the counsel of his mother. Moreover, the influence of Mencius mother is so strong that even “Superior men” admired her (Stearns 51). On the other hand, in The Ramayana, a great Indian epic, after Rama rescues his wife, he is hesitant to believe her that she did not sleep with Ravana willingly. She had to throw herself into a burning pyre to show her innocence. Rama fully believes of his wife’s innocence only shortly after the god of fire, proclaims that “She is pure and without taint, do thou receive Maithili; it is my command that she should not suffer reproach in any way” (Stearns 57). This shows that for Rama to believe his wife’s innocence he had to be commanded to do so by a god as just listening to his wife was not enough. Thus, it seems that the word of women in china is more valued that the word of women in India as seen in “Mother of Mencius” and in The Ramayana. In China, women can support themselves without a husband, while in India, it is seen that women without a husband are helpless. In the Ramayana, Sita proclaims,
“The happiness of a woman depends on her husband, neither father, mother, son, relative or companion avail her at death; in this world and in the other world, the husband alone is her all-in-all. If thou to-day depart for the forest, I will precede thee on foot, cleaning the thorns and kusha grass from thy path “(Stearns 55).
This shows that Sita is weak and helpless without her husband, as she is willing to follow him into the forest and even clear thorns in the path for him.
This reflects how Indian society sees the dependency of wives on their husbands. Indian classical society sees that without a husband, wives lose their reason to stay in society as they no longer have a provider and protector. Moreover, when Rama threatened to leave Sita out of the claim that she was not pure, she went to the extreme to throwing herself into a burning pyre which shows that she rather die than not have her husband. Thus, Indian society views that without a husband, wives are destitute and might be better off dead. On the other hand, Mencius mother, left windowless, supported her family and took care of the family without a husband. Moreover, it was expected that women would live normally as a woman’s life was seen in three stages of submission composing of being under her parents in her youth, under her husband in her marriage, and as a widow, under her son (Stearns 52). In India society, the last stage, being a widow, is seen as a desperate stage as a wife is seen to be one with her
husband. Even though classic Chinese society gives women more freedom than Indian classical society, women are always under men’s control. Even though Mencius listens to his mother, she is always under men as she lets Mencius make the decision to either leave or stay at Qi (Stearns 51-52). Moreover, she also proclaims “A woman’s duties are to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that is all!” (Stearns 52). Even though she advises her son she could never have the same freedoms as her son. This shows that Chinese classic society put women under men as men are seen as the primary decision makers for the family. In the Ramayana, SIta shows that Indian woman are inferior to men as she is willing to follow her husband into exile and even to the extreme of throwing herself into the fire which shows her disparity of not having a man to support her. Thus, Indian and Chinese classic societies always put women under men as men are seen as the dominant sex. Both the classic Chinese and Indian societies place women as having a separate role and inferior to men. However, Chinese society gave women more standing than Indian society gave to Indian women. This can be seen as Chinese women could advise their sons, and were not hopeless without a husband whereas, Indian society viewed that a wife without a husband is in a helpless state.

Works Cited
Stearns, Peter N. "China: Mother of Mencius"" World History in Documents: A Comparative Reader. New York: New York UP, 1998. N. pag. Print.
---."India: The Ramayana." World History in Documents: A Comparative Reader. New York: New York UP, 1998. N. pag. Print.