Re: Status of woman in Hindu religion
Anjan,
If you read on the same front, Hindu religious texts also glorify women. For eg. if you read Soundarya Lahari, lalitha Sahasranamam etc you can see that we worship Goddess and they are defined as the most powerful.
I think women's status in the society started to degrade maybe 1000 years ago after the invasions from the other countries started. Also, more and more women were looked up as "assets" and symbol of "honour" for different families, tribes and castes. This led the men to become more and more protective and inturn suppress the women.
//Glory be to the divine form (thiruvuru) of Meenakshi, who adorns malaydhvaja pANDya like excellent bangles adorning a person. How are we to describe it ? As the red hue (lustre) of a thousand crore suns shining all at once ? Or the brilliance of a column of rubies (mANikka pizambu) ? Or the lasting redness of fragrant kumkumam ? How wonderful ! //