On Women(2)

The ancient Indian attitude to women had always been paradoxical. On one hand she is held in high esteem and worshiped as Goddess, on the other she is disparaged as a slave. I am , however, concerned with the former.

Today I want to share with you a poetic passage from the Mahabharata which A.L.Basham has quoted in his celebrated book 'The Wonder that was India'. The passage extolled women in general and wife in particular. Besides you can sense how important the passage is for conjugal life.

Please read on:

'The wife is half the man,
the best of friends,
the root of three ends of life,
and of all that will help him in the other world.

with wife a man does mighty deeds...
With a wife a man finds courage.
A wife is the safest refuge...

'A man aflame with sorrow in his soul,
or sick with disease, finds comfort in his wife,
As a man parched with heat
finds relief in water.
......
'For woman is the everlasting field,
in which the self is born.

To be continued...