Both the documents: “The Laws of Manu” and “Ban Zhao’s Admonitions for Women” talked about the role, duties and status of women in different times and places. The Laws of Manu were edited in 1913. This paper thus draws comparison between the two texts and talks about how the different times; places and religions had a huge role to play in determining how women are treated. While the Hindu version, derived from scared Hindu books, clearly shows how subservient the status of women is in Ancient India and how the only purpose of her life is to ensure that she follows the orders of the men in her life. The content demonstrates the clear impact of past Dharmasutras and Arthashastras. Specifically, the Manusmriti was the first to embrace the term vyavaharapadas. These eighteen "Titles of Law" or "Justification for Litigation" makes up more than one fifth of the work and arrangement fundamentally with matters of the ruler, state, and legal methodology. The dharma class of writings was essential on the grounds that they didn't rely on upon the power of specific Vedic schools, turning into the beginning stage of a free custom that accentuated dharma itself and not its Vedic roots. Ban Zhao, on the other hand was a professional historian and educator, which in itself was a rare profession for women at that time, she thus brings forth a different version of women.
According to the Hindu book The Law of Manu; the rights associated with women do not raise much above those for slaves etc. A woman is supposed to eat, sleep, think, dress and live her life according to the demands and status of first her father and brother and then her husband and her sons. It denotes the status of the women when it states that women can only enter heaven if they have son which shows how much their culture discourages females. A woman is supposed to act accordingly to the wishes of her father or her brother and they may marry her off to whosoever they deem fit. After her marriage it’s her responsibility and duty as pious woman to serve her husband as a God and if this God like figure passes away then the woman is not allowed to even think of any other man let alone marry again. If a woman does indeed get married after her husband’s death then that means that she is not virtuous anymore and would not make it to heaven. The offspring that she has with the second marriage would not be considered lawful and the second husband would not be considered as the lawful father of those. The status of women can be shown that the highest reward that they would get, after spending their entire lives in complete servitude, is a place next to their husbands in heaven. This shows the thought process of the civilization and how being with a man is considered as the highest honor for a woman. The book does not mention anywhere the rights that a wife has on the husband or the duties or responsibilities of the husband towards his wife. It does not also mention any restrictions for the husband, like it does for women. The husband is not forbidden to re-marry after his wife’s death. He is not restricted to not dress up and be good to other women or in any way consider his wife as his Goddess like she considers him a God. Rather it is considered acceptable behavior for a man to be destitute of virtue or seek pleasure from other women or to not have any good qualities because still the wife has to worship and serve him like he is a God.
The status of women in ancient India paints a different picture than the text Ban Zhao’s Admonitions of Women. This was written in between 45 – c. 116 CE. Zhao was raised and educated by Han men. She was a professional historian and educator of women in the Han Dynasty. Thus, she challenges most of the assumptions and superiority associated with the men of that era. This Confucian moralistic book by and large prompted ladies to be tame and acknowledge that their spouses can have courtesans while as wives they must stay reliable, despite the fact that the book does demonstrate ladies ought to be too taught as her so they can better serve their spouses. With her spouse at the highest point of the pyramid of power (or her father on the off chance that she was unmarried), a lady should accord the suitable measure of admiration to her siblings, brothers by marriage, father, father-in-law and other male relatives. As indicated by her, "Nothing is superior to acquiescence which gives up individual notion". A current revisionist hypothesis expresses that the book is a manual for show ladies how to dodge embarrassment in youth so they can survive sufficiently long to turn into an influential dame. This treatise on the instruction of ladies was devoted to the girls in Ban Zhao's family yet was circled quickly at court. It was well known for a considerable length of time in China as an issue for ladies' behavior. While Zhao does mention a lot of characteristics of women and womanly behavior that are at various levels in accordance to laws and regulations moderating womanly behavior in ancient India yet she also talks about the rights and responsibilities towards women. She challenges the status quo which states that a boy be given a book to read by the age of 8 and should start formal education by the age of 15 she challenges this stating that why can’t this be true for women too. She believes that men and women are both supposed to respect each other, they are not similar to each but the common thing between them is respect and compliance without which they cease to co-exist.
Confucius established these guidelines and duties for a Superior Man and Zhao has more or less just feminized the process. She has aimed to establish the superior woman, a woman on the pursuit of self-development. Her ideals are not much unlike those of Confucius; however she believes that while both men and women should strive for greatness they both are different in how they might pursue it. Women are known for their gentleness while men for their strength however that does not mean that women should not be strong in times of trouble or that men should not be gentle in their relationships with women as this would disrupt the balance of nature and would result in men and women parting from each other due to lack of respect and compliance between the yin and yang of nature.
The list of proper behavior stated by Confucius and the list of behavior for women by Zhao are very much alike. Zhao believes that women should work hard and be composed in behavior and upright in service. The same goes for the Superior man of Confucius who is earnest, self-sufficient and thorough. Zhao and Confucius believe that both women and men are supposed to be poise and not to be affected by what is happening with other rather they should strive for self-discovery and excellence. Zhao’s and Confucius’s theories are very much alike the only difference being that Confucius talks about men and Zhao about women but they both state almost the same set of behavior to be followed by both genders for there to exist a perfect yin and yang equilibrium in the world.
While Zhao talks about how women should be controlled in their speech, appearance, virtue and behavior so does the teachings of the ancient Hindu books. They agree that women should be modest, should happily perform their domestic duties, should be mindful of their appearance and their speech and should respect and serve their men. However, Zhao also talks about the rights and responsibilities associated towards a woman. Zhao challenges the status quo of not educating women, she explains how it is important that men treat their women with the utmost respect and how it is their responsibility to keep them happy. The ancient Hindu teachings on the other hand only talk at length at what are the rights of men and do not in any way mention what are the rights of the women. It does not believe that women deserve fair treatment and is of the opinion that women are below in virtue and behavior to men thus it is their responsibility to work harder than men to earn the highest reward in this world and the hereafter. Thus, we come to the conclusion that it is the nature and self image of men in both these regions which really determines how women are treated too. History belongs to the winners and those who dominate and as men were the dominating forces in that time hence, it is their self image and how much they are secure in their being about their authority and dominance which helps them give their women the respect they deserve. This is the ancient times when men still had their survival mindset in mind and how they had to conquer places and countries etc to establish their dominance and this might be why they believe that they need to conquer the womankind to actually establish themselves as leaders and rulers of the humanity as well. .
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