Years of formal education have convinced us that ancient Indian practices were social evils and the British were our saviours. It is widely believed that Indian society was biased towards men and oppressive towards women until the British Raj uplifted them. The men held the power and dominated the society whereas the women were marginalised and even exploited purely on the basis of gender. This is believed despite lack of any accounts, indicating such an imbalance, in ancient Indian literature. On the other hand, these same ancient scriptures talk highly of women and regard them as Goddesses to be worshipped. Then what gave rise to these contradictions in the narrative of the Indian social structure? The truth is that ancient Indian society was one of the most progressive of its time and was built equally for all. It did not discriminate between men and women. Innumerable accounts from ancient Indian literature up until pre-colonial times, highlight the significance given to women in Indian society. She has been seen adorning every role, equivalent to a man, including those of a scholar, an administrator, a ruler, and a warrior to name a few. (Danino, 2009) “Even during the initial days of the British rule, contemporary European writers Robert Orme, Jean-Antoine Dubois, John Malcolm and many others have praised the status of Hindu women in India. Malcolm says that the Hindu women “have a say in the affairs of the state, have a distinct provision and estates of their own, enjoy as much liberty as they desire”. Malcolm also praises women rulers like Ahilya Bai of being great administrators.” (“The Origin of Dowry System – British Policies convert Gifts to Bride into an instrument of oppression against women”, 2012) So when did the Indian society adopt discriminatory systems between men and women? What created the numerous social problems in the Indian society like female foeticide, violence on married women, financial stress on parents of the girl child, imbalance in male-female ratio, broken marriages and others? The answer lies in the British land reforms of India. The Permanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793 by the British under Lord Cornwallis, led to the privatisation of land, a concept unheard of in India until then. Prior to colonisation, land in India belonged to the King and the peasants were the caretakers and the zamindars or landlords were simply tax collectors, who would collect land revenue on behalf of the ruler. After the reforms were brought in, the zamindars became landowners and the system was set in a manner that land became a hereditary property. This initiated the exploitation of the farmers, by the zamindars, who began to loot them in the name of taxes.
The new land reforms barred women from owning any property and initiated the menace of the current system of ‘Dowry’. In the earlier dowry system that prevailed, daughters were given wealth and valuable gifts by her parents and kith and kin. All these gifts were given to the daughter and NOT her husband or her in-laws and was hence rightly termed as ‘Streedhan’. It belonged solely to the bride and ensured her financial independence for the new life ahead. This highlights the far-sightedness and balance in the Indian social system back then.
The British did not give any property rights to the women in England, under their ‘Principle of Coverture’, (Blackstone, 1765) and so, they applied the same principle on Indian women. (Law Commission of India, 1976) As a result, the wealth previously owned and controlled by the woman became the property of her husband and she lost all rights in her domestic life. This made her dependent on her husband for a living, therefore, he could use this as a means of extorting more money. After that, women were seen as burdens in the family, whereas men became sources of income which gave birth to the evil of female foeticide. It is necessary to understand how Indian customs and practices were manipulated and twisted by the British for their own benefit. The private property acts were designed to fund their treasury at the cost of women’s suffering. This same practice was then outlawed by them to declare themselves as saviours which is what we study in our history textbooks. Our minds are governed by western thoughts and philosophies. We are intellectually imprisoned by colonial education and so, we cannot be free from ignorance. We must understand the root of our traditions in order to restore the equality that our society once had. This is a freedom struggle to empower Indian ideals and establish a society that is based on truth and equality. References: Danino, M. (2009). Woman in Indian history: a few vignettes from epigraphy. Pragati, 3(110), 4-8. Blackstone, W. (1765). Commentaries on the Laws of England (1st ed., pp. 442 – 445). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Further Reading: Law Commission of India. (1976). MARRIED WOMEN’S PROPERTY ACT. New Delhi: Government of India. Retrieved from http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/51-100/report66.pdf