The perfect wife : the orthodox Hindu woman according to the Strīdharmapaddhati of Tryambakayajvan

Abstract

This is a study, which combines translation and commentary, of an 18th-century Sanskrit treatise on how women ought to behave. Written by an orthodox Hindu pandit at the court of Tanjore, the views summarize the norms held by the complex, highly intellectual socio-religious tradition of Hinduism. The special importance of Tryambakayajvan's treatise is that it is the only extant work in Sanskrit on the subject of women's place and role in society. Apart from presenting the views of orthodox Brahmanism, it has interest of a socio-historical nature. While it describes the ideal, its very insistence on orthodoxy reveals the threat of encroachment from many quarters: from domination by Islam, from Christian missionaries, popular folk Hinduism, and also from devotional religion, which taught the heresy that women as well as low-caste men could reach heaven directly, without even attending to their traditional duties towards Brahmin males.

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