________________
Vol. XXXI, 2007
SANSKRIT, WOMEN, ŚŪDRAS AND MLECCHAS
3
matters of society even the august Baudhāyana Sūtra provides that in determining what is dharma one may consult the male members of the three higher varnas or, women and members of all the varnas.
Thus while the line of division based on language, religion and society which arose around the fourth century B.C. and persists to this day in Hindu society illustrates the interaction between languages, religion and society; it at the same time forces the conclusion that the division was never quite neat and might even be called messy. There was a line of fracture running through language, religion and society, but while there was a fracture it could be argued that it was fracture without fragmentation. It also generates a healing possibility, that once Vedic language and learning, once denied to them, again becomes accessible to women and sūdras the logic of the triple alignment of language, religion and society may close the gap, which had opened up more than a millennia ago, for good.
REFERENCES:
1. A.S. Altekar, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1995) p. 345-346. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid., p. 346. 5. Ibid. 6. Ram Sharan Sharma, sūdras in Ancient India (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980) p. 34.
OOO
