22-JAN-Written/video - last night b4 final war - Page 3

Thanks ananya... I didn't know this before. :)

Ananya

Point taken, but do you think it's likely that the same Kaushalya, who you describe above, would lament, among various things, that a woman is married off and sent away to her shashural while quite young? That's one of the things depicted in her monolog, and the thing that struck me about it.

Even our grandmothers would be of the opinion that a woman's goal in life is to get married, and they typically were married in the same age range that Sita was. I don't know how young Kaushalya was when she married, but she had witnessed and welcomed her 14 year old bahu: having been the 'beneficiary' (for want of a better term) of having such a young and pretty bahu, why would she now lament women being married off that early?

Note that this is decoupled (or at least should be) from what we think the role & status of women should or shouldn't be.

Originally posted by: ananyacool

No, the women in treta yuga were as much independant in their thoughts and action as a modern woman,

It is evident in Ramayana of Valmiki specially in conversations between Sita and Kaushalya (Ayodhya kaand) and in conversation between Anusuya and Sita (Aranyakaand) were both Kaushalya and Anusuya are instructing wifely duties to Sita; they make a referance against such women who left their husbands if they (husbands) were not rich any more or if they coudn't afford extravaganza for their family(that means a woman could choose to separate herself or even divorce her husband) ; Anusuya even says to sita that a wife should be devoted to a husband even if he is a drunkard 🤢.

From those verses we can ascertain that Women in that era highly independant in their decisions also they were educated and knew the shastras and abided to dharma.

Valmiki's portrayal of Sita will put to shame a modern woman; Sita was very eloquent , patient and a knowledgeable woman .

Also the laws were pro women i.e they were made to protect to interest of women, ofcourse some of them were grossly misunderstood, misinterpreted, thas a different discussion....

Originally posted by: godisone

The women in Treta Yuga may have been independent in their thoughts and actions, but not as much as modern women. Today, women can divorce their husbands whenever they want, go anywhere they want, and do practically anything, but women in the Treta Yuga had ristrictions. They were "independent" in their thoughts and actions, but they had to talk respectively towards elders and their husband, they had to treat their husband as God and pray to his feet first thing in the morning, they could not go anywhere without a companion(s) (hence Sita having many companions when in Janakpur), etc. There were even restrictions to places they could go. They may have had independence, but not nearly as women do now.

I agree with Chandraketu that Kaushalya's comment about why women should marry and go away from her childhood home is highly doubtful. It's not the kind of comment a woman of then would make.