Assessing the Rationale for Pativratadharma : A Critical Analysis of Stridharmapaddhati of Tryambakayajvan.

Abstract

Subordination of women and unequal power relationship existed in almost all the early societies despite their extraordinary socio-cultural variations. The degree and nature of that  subordination have been  conditioned and regulated by the socio-cultural norms of that given society in which women reside. Unique to this process and degree of subordination in Indian cultural tradition is the legitimization  of pativratdharma, the embedded ideology of the devoted wife. However, in essence it contains  solely one  principle that of  unquestioned devotion and selfless service to the husband  in which lies the wife’s salvation, and therefore women’s only worth-while goal.   Pativratadharma was used as a  unique and effective device to bestow subordinate status to women. Shaped by the orthodox tradition the  general subordination of women  in India assumed particularly severe form  through the glorification of  submissive  wife as pativrata hence,  Internalized by women as  a mark of distinction. Our ideas of male and female roles and responsibilities derive less from empirical facts and observations and more from norms and expectations conceived by the ideologues and  designed with the aim  to sustain the  patriarchal structure.

An attempt has been made in this research paper to explore the roots of patriarchy leading to the  general subordination and its construction with idealization of  pativratadharma/  unquestioned ‘devotion to husband’, which has  earned pride of place in Indian tradition.