Jinamanjari 1996 04 No 13

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 56

assurances of male superiority -- hygienic, emotional, moral and intellectual -- were taken for granted.
A Millennium of Usurpation
The earliest literary evidence concerning the position of women in the religious milieu are references in the Rig Veda to a number of female scholars, mystics and poets. Portions of the Vedas, in fact, were composed by women; no less than twenty female seers and authors were cited.27 In the early stages of Vedic religions, women were accorded an important place; they seem to have participated on a near equal footing in ritual sacrifices and in theological discussions. Their spiritual or mystical propensities were neither stifled nor diminished; it was "an era of unsurpassed advantage and opportunity for women."28 At least one reason why women enjoyed such status is that they were regarded as an integral part of a hierogamy in which marriage was a requirement for both genders. Unmarried people of either gender were ineligible for Vedic sacrifices. 29 The wife was a partner (ardhangini) to her husband in religious rites and, at times, was able to perform sacrifices herself. 30 Participation in Vedic rites necessitated an education in that the married woman became an intellectual companion and philosophical guide (sahadharmini) to her husband. 31 Educated women were divided into two classes: the brahmavadinis, i.e. life-long students of theology and philosophy who learned Vedic hymns, prayers and sacramental manuals, and sadyodvahas, i.e. women who studied until the time of marriage. It is difficult to determine, given the lack of available date, if the brahmavadinis remained single throughout life, or if they in any way were connected with the tradition of renunciation of family life and worldly pursuits.
There seem to be no direct Vedic references to single women who chose a life of renunciation and celibacy; but there were examples of wives who joined their husbands as
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