09-01-2016 Saturday
Holy Mother By Swami Nikhilananda: 008
Introduction: Women of India - 04
What has been the status of women in Hindu society? With the ebb and flow of India’s political and economic condition, women’s status has gone up and down. When India was free women were unfettered. But when the country came under foreign subjection, society became rigid and conservative: women were denied freedom. During the Moslem rule, purdah was introduced in northern India and a general backwardness of women followed. With the attainment of India’s freedom in 1947, Hindu women again came out of seclusion and took a larger part in the national life. Perhaps the darkest period of Indian culture was the last three hundred years, when the Moslem empire disintegrated and the British rule was consolidated. The latter diverted the attention of Hindu intellectuals to the Western way of life. Even then Indian women contributed to keeping the national life alive. Though the vast majority of them during these dark days were illiterate, yet one finds bright lights shining here and there, demonstrating the potentiality of Indian womanhood. Whatever the situation, women never lost their inner vanity.
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Holy Mother - Being the Life of Sri Sarada Devi Wife of Sri Ramakrishna And Helpmate in his Mission By Swami Nikhilananda p: 3
