Defining Social Roles for Men and Women in India through Traditional Hindu Texts

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Social Roles for Men and Women in India through Traditional Hindu Texts

Throughout this essay, I will discuss the social roles of men and women in the home, within rituals and within creation. I will look at the roles of a husband and wife, as well as Goddesses and Kings. The main traditional texts that support these roles are the Rg Veda, the Kalpa Sutras, the epics (the Ramayana and Mahabharata), Tryambaka, and Manu Smrti. They are believed to lay the foundations for order in society, as well as giving people the knowledge of their duty. I will show how these separate texts have defined roles within castes and genders and show how their different styles of writings have defined roles in different ways.

A person's role in society depends largely on their caste/class. Firstly, I think it is important to distinguish the difference between `Caste' and `Class'. A person's class (Varna) is dependant on their occupation. It can be changed throughout a person's life. "A varna is very far from being the same thing as a caste" A person's caste (jati) comes mainly from their blood line. The only way that a persons caste can be changed is through "violations of its rules" or through marriage to a member of another caste (although this is greatly frowned upon). In the past, a person's caste and class were the same. "There are fixed occupations for many castes" . In our more modern society however, two people who belong to the same caste do not necessarily do the same job. For example, a person belonging to the Warrior caste can be either a soldier or a doctor for the soldiers. This is where `sub-castes' are introduced. They distinguish between jobs as well as wealth within a certain caste. It shows different roles within society a...

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