Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
[Ch. IV
after marriage, her sons in old age or widowhood, as she does not deserve to have freedom.
In the V yavahāra Bhāsyal there is a reference to the punishment of a daughter-in-law by abusing and turning her out of the house as she did not give up her habit of witnessing a procession or of running to see a commotion caused by a stray horse or a chariot through the window in spite of repeated prohibition to do so.
In the same work the women are painted as "faithless, ungrateful, treacherous, untrustworthy" and they bring sorrows and sufferings to the village or town in which they exercise their supremacy over meno.
Different synonyms of "woman' in Prālorit, such as, nārī, mahilā, pamada, mahiliyā, ramā, aiganā, lalanā, etc, have been given new interpretations and derivations in Tanula to paint the character of the woman as hellish, for example, she is called nāri as she is the worst enemy of man, etc.
The degraded position of women is further revealed in Agadadatta' in which it is stated that "the intelligent may know the sands of the Ganges, the waters in the sea and the size of the Himavat, women's heart they may not know.” “They weep and make you weep, they tell lies and make you believe them and decietfully they eat poison, they die, but they do not conceive a true affection.” “Woman indeed as soon as she has fallen in love is all sugar like a piece of sugarcane; the very same woman surpasses the bitter nimba, as soon as her love is gone."
“In a moment women fall in love but in another moment their love grows cold. Delighting in various love sports and unstable in their affection, they are like the colour of turmeric."
"Cruel in their hearts and charming in body, speech and glance, girls resemble a knife inlaid with gold."
i Vyavahāra Bhasya, 3, p. 233.
? 16, 1, p. 130. 3 Tandula, p. 50. For all these details see Life in Ancient India
as depicted in the Jaina Canons, by Dr, J. C. Jain, p. 152. 4 Agadadatta (Translation in Hindu Tale by Meyer, p. 286 f.)
Pide Life in Ancient India by Dr. J. C. Jain, p. 152.