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śramaņa, Vol 59, No. 4/October-December 2008
towards spirituality. On one occasion Ananda sought an explanation from Lord Buddha as to why women did not sit in court or conduct in business. Jätakas refer to day to day life of people and supply valuable material for reconstructing the history of women working class. They indicate that women kept their own paddy fields, gathered and parched the seeds or rice and grew cotton and used to spine fine threads and to manufacture their own cloths* . Free peasant called vaisyas, sūdra, slaved artisans and laborers and their female members formed the main basis of Indian formation in the age of Buddha. In fact, the poorer classes had no alternative but to allow their female member to cooperate with men in the cultivation of soil, in reaping the harvest and in other process of production. The condition of lower strata of society, which comprised mainly petty traders, artisans and wages earners belonging to vaiśyas and sūdra castes, is found to be better projected in Pāli literature and other text such as the Arthaśāstra.. The Pāli texts furnish much less evidence for prepuberty marriage.' Women were able to move freely in society and were also known to earn their livelihood independently by weaving, dyeing, basket making and selling flowers. Large number of women pursued higher learning or renounced the world in favour of monastic life. Even those who became courtesans are described as holding a respectable position in society. I.B. Horner observes, "Even secular women in the Buddhist times enjoyed liberty to honorable extents. Besides looking after the household, women had the option to share their husbands calling and undertake any productive labour.'"' The patterning of kinship and family structure and the status of women have close relationship with the ownership of the means of production. Only an insignificant part of women labour belonging to upper caste came to withdraw from public production due to patriarchal kinship structure. The general women labour class of rural-urban society was engaged in all spheres of economy which can be broadly classified as women peasants, women skilled workers, women service class and courtesans.
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