Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper critically analyses the status of the wife in a Hindu family and the religious traditions which have shaped social practices. It has been observed that the notion of the ideal wife was not developed in isolation but the subordination of the wife assumed a particular severe form through the powerful instrument of religious and textual traditions. It has also been noticed that in a Hindu family ideological control upon the wife is exercised through the idealization of chastity and the wife’s devotion which is regarded as the utmost duty of women, reinforced through customs and rituals. The arguments in this paper draw attention to the gender norms that regulate the identity, role, and status of the wife in a Hindu family, which may be traced back to historical development and religious traditions. The relegation of the wife to the realms of sexuality, chastity, and procreation is associated with human agency that is, they are neither innate, but constructed, created, and re-created by human agency.