AN OVERVIEW OF “GENDER EQUALITY” DURING BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN INDIA

History

The status of women in India is a contradiction. Although a woman is respected and revered as housewife and mother there is general acceptance of her subordinate status relative to man at all stages and in all areas of life. The Laws of Manu, which made her subservient, first to her father, then to her husband and finally to her son, are often quoted as the ideological base for her subordinate status. In other words, it is argued that socio-religious ideologies (which explain the legitimate gender relation) are the obstacles to women’s equality with man in Indian society. From this argument flows the belief that by changing (or destroying) religious ideologies one will improve the status of women. This paper questions that assumption on theoretical and historical ground and suggests an alternative explanation for contradictions in the status of women in India during the medieval period. It examines from an historical perspective the impact of the socio-religious reform movement – the Bhakti Movement on the status of women in India. This paper is a trial and precise study in search of gender equality during a particular period of socio-religious transformation in medieval India that was the phase of Bhakti movement which took place in between the 9th and the 14th Century A.D. to bring reform within Hinduism.

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