[nukkad] Lamenting the state of women and the men ....

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Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young. 
-Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, literary critic (1804-1869)
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Ravi Menon asked: Does the Hindu religion define how we treat our women? Do
we have laws that 
define property rights etc?
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The great law-giver for Hindus, Manu said thus: Na Stree Swathathryam
arhati. This is the last line of a 4 line sloka attributed to Manu. I don't
remember the Sanskrit version of the first 3 lines. I remember the 4th one
and strictly follow it! :)

The Sloka says that as a child the girl should be under the protection of
her father, in youth under protection of her husband and in old age under
the protection of her son. 4th line is Na stree swathathryam arhati meaning
- women do not deserve freedom. 

As for inheritance, there were two schools of thought. One was Mitakshara
and the second one was I-forgot-the-name. The second one was more prevalent
in and around Bengal. Mitakshara for rest of India except matrilineal
societies like nairs in Kerala. It gave only maintenance rights to girls /
women and very limited rights to alienate (sell etc) property. In 1956, the
Hindu code bills codified laws governing marriage, divorce, succession,
adoption etc. and now these laws passed by parliament govern them. Even then
where the law is silent, courts still rely on the conventions I think.
Perhaps Guptaji can enlighten us on this. 

V.K.Venugopal




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