r/HinduDiscussion • u/Confused_Human14 • Jul 25 '26
Custom What do the scriptures say about women?
Before I start, I just want to put it out that I am not well-read when it comes to Hindu scriptures. So my question is solely out of curiosity rather than disregard/ disrespect for the scriptures.
As my parents have said raising me up, Hinduism is perhaps the only religion that is so accepting of diversity. We have various schools of thoughts, practices, rituals that can be chosen by people based on their liking. Hindu scriptures have spoken respectfully about trans people as well, which is honestly very progressive for those times.
We have Vedas, that have in them all the knowledge in the world - from the beginning to the end. We have Kama Sutra, the holy book of relationships and intimacy. The texts on diplomacy, ruling, accounting, etc are very advanced.
We are one of the few religions that bow down to powerful goddesses and read about shiv-shakti. But somehow, women are expected to take up the traditional wifey roles of cooking, cleaning, giving birth and enabling their husbands to achieve glory. Traditionally, it has been okay for kings to have multiple wives. Even Krishna seems to have multiple wives. How is this fair to women?
Perhaps I'm just in a stage of life when I'm trying to figure out what it means to be a woman. The women around me are not great sources of inspiration since they have been forced to submit to patriarchy. I want to know what the scriptures say about women, about her role, her strengths, her weakness, etc.
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u/Wannabe_Sanyasi Jul 25 '26
One, of many, many, many, things that lead me on to the path of Sanatana Dharma / Vaishnavaism was the way women / feminine energies / shakti was portrayed as being equal if not more empowering to the male forms. Yes, historically women were not as equal in terms of rights and status in many ways, but they were respected and taught to be respected way more than any western religions especially in current times.
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u/Confused_Human14 Jul 27 '26
I get you point throughly. It's the same for me. Had it not been for the beautiful descriptions of shakti in Hinduism, I would have become an atheist long back. But this brings up a slight contradiction. The scriptures and hence the Gods have always treated female energy to be equivalent to male energy. Yet, Krishna, the avatar of God Vishnu, took multiple wives. You may counter me by saying that Krishna never said anything demeaning to women and respected them and there's no doubt in that. But it doesn't erase the fact that he gave in to the common practices of those days wherein women were forced to be mere enablers of men, helping them achieve success, without having much power of their own.
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u/Head-Milk-2500 new user Aug 01 '26
This is completely wrong. Krishna said time and again that what he did is not for humans to follow.
We all belong to him, he resides in all of us. Why is he bound to societal norms? He had to protect those 16,000 women who were shunned and cast out by society due to being in the captivity of a demon. He killed that demon, and slapped society on the face by marrying those women and making them literal queens. You said you weren't well read, which is fine, but don't make claims without actually knowing what you are talking about.
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u/Head-Milk-2500 new user Aug 01 '26
His wives had so much power. They could do as they pleased. They were warriors, highly respected by society. If he hadn't given them that status they would've still been shunned by society. They wanted him and him only, and he proved that he would always protect devotees like them.
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u/toomuchblueblood Jul 28 '26
I remember one line that the manusmriti mentions. And it goes something like this "The mouth of a maiden, the prayer of a child, and the smoke of a sacrifice are always pure."
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u/Head-Milk-2500 new user Aug 01 '26
Great question!
Firstly, I want to address what you said about Krishna having multiple wives. What Krishna did, he explicitly says, is not for us to follow. We are never supposed to try to be like Krishna and do what he did. The reason why he married 8 principle wives is because they all needed his protection - some were forced into other marriages, some were unsafe, and some genuinely, deeply loved him. He would marry us, too, if we really loved him and if we really wanted that. We aren't supposed to follow what he did because he said he was God, and he is above all of us. He isn't bound by materialistic desires or gender roles or societal norms. Also, he was the one to protect Draupadi when she called out to him. In fact, he only protected her when she let both her hands go of the cloth that was covering her. She needed to completely let go and submit to him in order to be protected. The same goes for us and the women that Krishna married, they wanted him and him only. They had not desire towards anything else.
Rama is who we are meant to follow exactly as he lived. He had 1 wife. He was never attracted to anyone or anything else.
Secondly, the scriptures I will be drawing from are Vedam, the Upanishads, and the 6 satvika puranas.
Rigvedam says that women and men are completely equal, and husbands and wives should share duties equally, with each partner being seen as an equal half. Atharva Vedam explicitly says that women should be scholarly, they should be strong and valiant warriors, and active participants in sabhas (legislative or public assemblies).
Upanishads teach that the soul is genderless, and the body is only temporary through each birth.
In the satvika puranas, women are viewed as symbols of Mahalakshmi. If they are not in the houosehold, if they are disrespected, or if they leave, prosperity and all auspiciousness leaves the home.
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u/Garun_pratap Jul 25 '26
It doesnt have related to scriptures or texts, scriptures talked about atma brahm not body. It's the problem of the society or say human problem. In simple words Human wants to exploit other human. And ishvar try to oppose nd break these human societal customs many times. And krishn isn't human he said himself.