INDIAN FEMALE SENSIBILITIES: AN ODYSSEY FROM ECO CENTRIC LIVING TO MODERNITY (Pages 145-151) by Dr. R. Srividya in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Vedic women like Gargi and Maiteyi are in the records as educated and sophisticated people. Pundita Rama Bai quotes Sanskrit verses from Manu that bear evidence of possible later mischievous interpolations in Manu shastra that forbade education to women. Indian feminism rose against oppression in the 1950s, criticizing the sharp difference in matrimonial rights between men and women in Hindu India. It was not until 1955 that the second wife was deemed illegal. But the myths were different. Indian women in myths were always portrayed for mental qualities of self assertion, leadership, participation in wars display of military courage. All this was permissible within Indian patriarchal norms, whereas western mythical women were nothing short of pretty dolls like Cinderella and Sleeping beauties, who had to wait to be won over. Even recorded histories of Indian shows that women with military prowess were allowed to fight wars. It was about the same time that Joan of Arc was burnt as a witch for being bold while there was this hailing of Rani Chennama in India. Vedic women showed a rare sense of responsibility in wifely devotion that could move nature. Love bestowed upon them powers such as eco management and powers of foresight . Somewhere women have lost these powers. To be considered a Deva, man has to do nothing, but to be considered a Devi, a woman needs must sacrifice herself. From women devoted to husbands, no matter how bad, modern girls are learning to get out of painful and uncomfortable relationships and seek practical solutions at divorce courts. Moralists might want to stereo type it as an attitude of intolerance or egotism. But few realize that the so called fall in female standards of ideal womanhood is commensurate with fall in the male standards of ideal manhood. It is time Indian women learnt to evolve a feminist identity from their own cultural ancestry and not blindly copy western feminist canons. Keywords: Vedic women- Gargi and Maiteyi- learned and scholarly- later women stuck to mundane jobs-a distinct fall in the treatment of women during medieval times-Quotes from Manu- mischievous interpolations in Manu shastra- difference in matrimonial rights- Indian woman‟s self assertion , leadership – as against western ideals of docility- Joan of Arc and Rani Chennama –call to define feminism from one‟s own cultural ancestry- to question western feminist canons- reject what is unsuited to Indian female experience.