My paper is the outcome of ongoing research in connection with a project on Hindu women and their position within Hindu religion, conceptually and in actual practice. From the oldest period of Vedic ritual practice, women shared responsibility in religious acts, such as the fire sacrifice, with men. In orthodox Hindu religious law books women are often extolled as the centre of family welfare and prosperity. According to the oldest manuals of socio-religious norms and ritual practice, Hindu women were relied upon to keep up the ancient tradition of religious practices and ethos. The paper will investigate what authority they were given by the authors of the canonical Hindu texts.
The Source of Welfare and Abundance: Woman as Hindu Ritual Agent
28.10.2005 15:00 - 17:00
Organiser:
ISTB | FWF-Forschungsschwerpunkt "Kulturgeschichte des westlichen Himalaya"