Women Enjoyed Equal Status in Vedic Times, Islamic Invasion Changed That, Says RSS Leader

New Delhi: Senior RSS leader Krishna Gopal, during an RSS event, said that women enjoyed a position of prominence in Vedic times and blamed ‘Islamic’ invasion for the decline of the status of women in India.

“The women in Vedic times enjoyed equal status, it was only after Islamic invasion that their condition deteriorated,” said Krishna Gopal.

Gopal was answering questions posed by the Sangh prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya during the RSS ‘Knowledge Series’ event. In the video interview, the senior leaders discussed ‘Hindutva: Issues of Women and Untouchability’.

Gopal was asked by Vaidya if there is any truth to the claim that there is no respect and place for women in Hindutva.

Citing the example of Vedic times, Gopal said, “Hindu itihas is centuries old, and if we go to the time of Rig Veda we see that women were proficient in Vedas. They wrote and presented hymns in Vedas.”

Naming Vedic period female philosophers and seers like Ghosha, Pala, Suryasavitri, Vishwavara Aatreyi, Gopal said, “Who were they? These women who presented Vedic hymns were all women. This is not a correct thing to say that Hindutva suppressed women.”

In Hindu society, he said, the power terms like riddhi, siddhi, sansad sabha all are female, which shows women enjoyed equal status then.

“When Islam came to India it did not treat women well. Women were kept in purdah, women were not allowed to venture out. The practice prevailed and Hindus also gave in to it. Gurukuls were being destroyed, boys could not go and women were also not able to attend the gurukuls. The condition of women started declining,” said Gopal.

Gopal called on the Hindus to start working in restoring the old position of women in the society.

In the same series Vaidya told Gopal only Hindus accept women as Goddesses. Answering him, Gopal said, “Unlike the Semitic religions, Hindus accept women as Goddesses – so whether it is Durga or Kali, Hindus have female gods. Judaism, Islam, Christianity do not accept women as a divine.”

The RSS leader further blamed Islamic invasion for the practice of untouchability.

“The first untouchables were cow eaters – at that time the Mughal were rulers but Hindus maintained distance from them, didn’t call them home nor did they drink water at their place.”