The Predicament of Women in Ancient India

Prof. Dr. Klaus Bruhn, former head of department of Indian History Of Arts, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, well known for the development of an advanced method for classification of Jaina iconography, is author of this extraordinary book.

Table of Content

[01] Introduction
[02] The Deterioration of the Position of Women
[03] Eight Forms of Marriage and Other Chains
[04] The Son and the Beyond
[05] Early Marriage of Girls
[06] Avoiding Lack of Sons
[06.00] Avoiding Lack of Sons
[06.01] Obtaining Sons through Magic
[06.02] Putrika As A Substitute For A Son
[06.03] Adoption
[07] Marriage
[07.01] Dowry and Bride-Price
[07.02] Marriage and Married Life
[08] Daily Life (of Wives and Women)
[08.01] Housework
[08.02] Wife and husband, wife and parents-in-law
[08.03] Wife and Ritual
[08.04] Menstruation, impurity of women in general
[08.05] Pardah
[08.06] Greatness of the son, greatness of the mother
[08.07] Perpetual tutelage
[08.08] The daughter
[08.09] Miscellany
[09] Specific Events in the Life of Women
[09.01] Widowhood and Niyoga
[09.02] Monogamy, Supersession, and Polygamy
[09.03] Adultery
[09.04] Sins of Men and Sins of Women
[09.05] Remarriage of Women
[09.06] The Widow's Right of Inheritance
[09.07] Feticide and Female Infanticide
[10] Varia
[10.11] Devadasis
[10.12] Prostitution in General
[11] The Woman in the Epics
[11.01] General
[11.02] Mahabharata: Story of Savitri
[11.03] Ramayana: Sita Twice Repudiated
[12] Widowhood and Suttee
[12.00] Widowhood and Suttee
[12.01] Suttee as recorded up to about 300 A.D.
[12.02] Suttee after 300 A.D.
[12.03] Widowhood after 100 B.C.
[12.04] Suttee, Mainly 18th and 19th Centuries
[12.05] Widowhood Past and Present
[12.06] Two Attitudes
[12.07] Debates on Suttee
[12.08] Theories on Suttee
[13] Woman in Hinduism (Varia)
[13.01] Introduction
[13.02] The Female in Hindu Iconography
[13.03] Hindu Mythology
[13.04] Tantrism and Shaktism
[13.05] Nuns and Saint Singers in Hinduism
[14] Widow Burning in Bali
[15] Glossary
[16] General Bibliography
[17] Specialized Bibliography