Stridharma In Ancient India

Throughout Hindu sacred texts, women seem to fill a diverse and conflicting position. From texts such as The Ramayana to The Birth of Kali, women are portrayed in many different lights; one shown to be the perfect woman, calm, devoted, loving, while the other is nothing but destructive, crazy, and bloodthirsty. Although there are different perspectives, one theme seems to frequently occur, women need men to take care of them and to put them in their place. My goal in this paper is to compare the feminine divine of the Hindu religion and to better understand the notion of Stridharma in ancient India’s patriarchal society. Coming from a feminist society, I believe that it is important to study the way that the feminine divine are portrayed throughout

These qualities are understood as good ones if they are controlled by forces that are identified as masculine. The protective and creative goddess’s qualities are controlled by male gods. Goddesses like Lakshmi, Sita or Pavarati respect and pay attention to their husbands. Goddesses like Kali are considered dangerous and are not controlled by male Gods. If you look at the Goddess Kali, she is a prime example of this belief; she is feminine energy that is free of any male

As a wife, a Hindu woman was expected to live up to the ideals of Stridharma, and to perform the duties of the good wife, become a mother to sons, and should regard her husband as a god. She should serve him, follow him, pray for his well-being and eat after he eats. Women were to respect societies rules and conventions and to remain at her husband’s side no matter what. In The Ramayana, dharma plays a major role; it includes both men’s dharma as well as women’s. It attempts to try and show what the perfect person should be like; the perfect husband, perfect wife, perfect father, perfect brother, and so on. But was Sita’s devotion to her husband the result of Stri dharma? Or was it the result of a loving wife who understands the struggles of