Across India today, one cannot
escape the growing presence of spiritual leaders in your Insta reels / youtube
shorts. These are popularly known as Baba. They have massive followings, appear
regularly on television, livestream on YouTube, own luxurious ashrams, and
influencing electoral politics. It was once a personal search for spiritual
guidance has now transformed into a multi-billion-rupee ecosystem of faith,
commerce, and soft power.
The modern ‘baba’ is a 21st-century creation part time preacher, part entrepreneur, and part
influencer. It’s an intersection of faith, media, politics, and modern
consumerism. Once confined to the limits of traditional spirituality, contemporary
godmen and godwomen now command mass followings across continents. In a country
where access to mental health care, employment opportunities, and justice can
be scarce, baba’s often step in as informal counsellors, philanthropists, and
community leaders. For many people, faith serves not just as a source of
spiritual comfort, but as a lifeline offering of emotional and social support
in a society.
The worst part is these Spiritual
leaders also wield immense political power. Their
followers, often numbering in the millions, form a reliable vote bank that no
political party can afford to ignore. As a result, many baba’s maintain close
relationships with political elites offering public endorsements, sharing
stages at rallies, and helping electoral campaigns. In turn, politicians extend
support through land grants, legal protection, and policy favours. This
symbiotic relationship blurs the line between spiritual authority and political
influence, turning religion into a powerful instrument of governance and
legitimacy.
Another striking feature of the
modern baba movement is its ability to repackage ancient Hindu philosophy in
the idiom of contemporary life. By fusing yoga, meditation, and moral
discipline with the language of self-help and national pride. This cultural
rebranding of faith transforms religion from a purely ritualistic practice into
a holistic philosophy of success, wellness, and identity.
“When politics, media, and
spirituality intersect, the result is not faith, it’s vote influence.”
However, this rise has not been
without controversy. Several high-profile godmen have faced charges ranging
from fraud to sexual assault to murder. Yet despite scandals, public trust in
such figures persists suggesting a deeper societal need that institutions have
failed to fulfil.
Adding faith in the classroom
Classrooms has never been just
places of learning they are spaces where the future moral compass of a nation
is shaped. Recent revisions to school curriculum reveal how education has
become a tool for cultural assertion and ideological influence. While policymakers
justify these changes as efforts to preserve heritage and generate values.
Critics warn that such reforms may blur the line between education and
propaganda.
In the year 2020 India’s National
Education Policy (NEP) was introduced with the promise of modernizing
the education system encouraging critical thinking, reducing memorising
learning, and promoting holistic development. Its key goals are to combine
“Indian Knowledge Systems” and “ethics-based learning” into the curriculum.
Aiming to reconnect students with indigenous traditions and moral foundations.
This implementation has stirred
controversy. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
India’s apex textbook authority has made a series of content deletions and
revisions in history and social science textbooks. Topics such as Mughal
history, caste-based social struggles (Varnas), and instances
of communal violence have been shortened, rephrased, or entirely omitted. This
selective editing distorts historical understanding.
Cultural and Moral
Reorientation
Parallel to these historical
revisions, subjects like yoga, Sanskrit, Vedic
mathematics (don’t know who got that term), and ancient Indian
sciences have gained greater space in syllabus.
What is promoted today as Vedic
mathematics or ancient Indian science lacks the methodology that defines true
science. The supporters of these ideas often display only selective acceptance
endorsing what modern science seems to validate but dismissing any critique as
blasphemy.
Science is a method for
understanding how things work and why they happen, based on evidence, and it
organizes this knowledge into testable explanations and predictions, but there
is no scope to correct or update religious texts.
Further the inclusion of
faith-based elements in curriculum raises important questions. Should schools
reflect the beliefs of a nation’s dominant religion, or preserve neutrality as
spaces for open and critical inquiry?
Supporter of cultural education
argue that ignoring native traditions leads to moral drift among youth.
However, I feel that faith-driven curriculum risk narrowing the intellectual
horizon as it lacks scientific temperaments, this will encourage reverence over
reasoning.
Independent history
Our freedom fighters had a vision
deeply to shape India as a secular nation, one guided not by religious dogma,
but by the light of rational and scientific temper. Their struggle was not
merely for political independence, but for the liberation of thought and
spirit. They dreamed of a nation where faith would remain a personal
matter, not a tool of governance or social division.
The freedom of a nation lies
not only in its borders but in the minds of its children,
what they are taught about
their past determines what they dare to imagine for the future
The Impact on the Young
Generation
What children learn about their
past shapes how they dream of their future. The battles over curriculum are not
merely about teaching methods but also struggles over identity.
Whose history gets told? Whose
faith gets glorified? And who decides what is ‘moral’ knowledge?
One of the most immediate effects
of religious authority influencing education is the reshaping of
identity. When textbooks are written to emphasize religious pride, students
may develop a strong sense of belonging to their community but not nation.
This same pride can easily turn
into exclusion. When history is retold through a single lens be it Hindu,
Muslim, Christian, or nationalist. Students begin to internalize divisions like
us versus them, believer versus non-believer, patriot versus traitor. The
celebration of one identity can become the criticising of another. Thus, while
religion in education can nurture cultural rootedness, it can also sow the
seeds of intolerance when diversity is misrepresented as division. The very
goal of education to broaden minds gets reversed, narrowing the imagination to
a single story of self and society.
Education is meant to awaken
the mind critical thinking & inquiry, not silence it. However, when
religious authority infiltrates the classroom, questioning can be viewed as
rebellion rather than intellectual curiosity. If textbooks present one-sided
narratives and spiritual figures discourage inquiry under the cover of
protecting “faith,” young minds lose the essential skill of critical
engagement. Instead of learning how to think, they are taught what to think.
This subtle shift from inquiry to brainwashing is dangerous. A generation that
cannot question is a generation that cannot innovate. The scientific temper
relies on doubt, debate, and discovery. Yet, in classrooms where myths are
presented as historical truths or where factual reasoning is dismissed as
“western,” young learners are robbed of their intellectual independence. Faith
may offer comfort, but education must offer clarity.
Television & social media fails
to distinguish between genuine insight and manipulated propaganda. The fake
news in spiritual or patriotic language spreads rapidly, deepening existing
biases. The platforms once meant to democratise knowledge have turned into echo
chambers of belief, where noise overpowers nuance.
The real danger isn’t
faith but blind faith, magnified by the social media algorithms.
The question is not whether
religion should be excluded from education altogether, but how it can coexist
with rational inquiry and plural values creating a balance. Faith can
inspire morality, compassion, and service qualities that every society needs.
But when faith dictates what can or cannot be questioned, it undermines the
very spirit of learning.
The goal should be an education
system that respects belief but upholds evidence, that honours heritage but
celebrates diversity, that invites debate rather than silence dissent. When
world increasingly divided by ideology, the youth must be equipped not just
with degrees, but with judgment. They should be taught how to navigate multiple
truths, how to respect faith. Only then can they become citizens of conscience,
capable of bridging the divide between tradition & modernity, spirituality
& science, nation & humanity.
Possible Solutions
Even the best-designed curriculum
will fail without empowered teachers. The success depends on
educators who can navigate complex topics with sensitivity and critical
understanding. Teachers must be equipped with continuous professional
development, exposure to diverse worldviews, and training methods that
encourage dialogue rather than dogma.
An empowered teacher is not
merely an instructor, but a cultivator of thought's
Faith can inspire moral action, it
is vital that religious institutions operate within the framework of
transparency and legality. Laws must ensure public accountability for the
financial dealings and social activities of religious organizations. A society
must hold its spiritual authorities accountable.
Education must move beyond
classrooms into society. Interfaith exchanges, youth forums, and civic projects
can do what textbooks can’t humanize differences. When students meet across
faiths, they replace stereotypes with shared values of compassion, justice, and
coexistence, building empathy essential for a plural democracy.
In the end, the rise of baba
culture getting leak into education reflects a larger struggle over India’s
soul. Spirituality when guided by conscience, can uplift society, but when
fused with politics and teaching, it risks distorting truth and silencing inquiry.
The purpose of education has never been to create believers, but thinkers minds
that question, empathize, and evolve. India’s strength has always been in its
diversity of ideas. To preserve that, our classrooms must remain spaces of
curiosity, not conformity where children learn not what to think, but how to
think, freely and fearlessly.
Seasons of Joy – How Every
Festival on Earth Grew from the Harvest
Long before the words “religion”
or “holiday” existed, human believed & lived by rhythm of the
harvest. The sowing of seeds, the coming of rain, the ripening of grains. The
harvest wasn’t just a season it was life or death. When the crops grew well,
people sang, danced, and thanked the gods or the skies, when they failed, they
prayed and mourned.
Out of that cycle of hope and
gratitude grew our festivals. It might surprise many to realize
that almost every major festival Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Easter,
Thanksgiving, Chinese New Year, Baisakhi, Pongal, Holi, and even Halloween
finds its roots in agricultural cycles. They began as expressions of gratitude
for food, light, and survival.
The Agricultural being
Heartbeat of Humanity
Human civilization began with
agriculture and agriculture began with seasons. When early humans shifted from
hunting and gathering to cultivating crops, they entered a partnership with the
earth. They depended on rains, sunlight, and soil fertility, and thus began
observing the skies, the stars, the moon, and the solstices as calendars of
life.
Every seed sown became a prayer.
Every harvest was a miracle. And when the crops grew golden and heavy, humans celebrated
not merely to feast, but to thank nature for allowing them to live another
year. That emotion of gratitude slowly took spiritual shape. Gods of rain, sun,
wind, and fertility emerged. Temples were built not for abstract ideas, but for
the elements that sustained crops Indradev for rain, Demeter for grains, Osiris
for the Nile’s flood
How Faith Wove into Farming
Religion and agriculture weren’t
separate beginnings they grew from the same root. Temples were built on fertile
land & priests were also astronomers tracking planting stars.
We can see the references in later
Hindu temples (for example, those dedicated to Surya, Indra, and fertility
goddesses like Annapurna), similarly this practice we can see in all major religion
across the globe.
The Vedic chant of India praise
rains and rivers more often than moral codes.
The Bible begins in a garden.
The Quran repeatedly calls humans “stewards of the earth.”
Across the world, civilizations
have grown, flourished, and celebrated under the same the rhythm of the earth.
In India the monsoon always
been the heartbeat of civilization. It decided the fate of kingdoms, the
prosperity of villages, and the abundance of granaries. Every major festival
from Onam in the south to Pongal, Makar Sankranti, and Baisakhi celebrates a
specific stage in the crop cycle. These are not just rituals of gratitude but
expressions of deep ecological awareness, where people honour nature as a
living deity.
In ancient Egypt life
pulsed with the Nile’s rhythm. Each flood renewed the land, turning desert into
fertility. The Egyptians saw it as divine the tears of Isis, with the blessing
of Osiris. Their festivals honoured the river as both god and giver, the source
with which all life flowed in harmony. Temples like Karnak, Luxor, Dendera was
built near the fertile floodplains of the Nile. Temples owned land and directed
farming through priestly orders.
Across Europe harvest
festivals marked gratitude and survival. Villages sang, feasted, and worked
together to celebrate the year’s yield. With Christianity,
300these harvest rituals evolved
into Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts, still echoing the same spirit
gratitude, community, and warmth against winter’s cold.
In China the agricultural
calendar was meticulously aligned with the lunar cycle. The Lunar New Year,
also called the Spring Festival. Six months later came the Mid-Autumn Festival,
celebrated when the moon is brightest and the harvest is complete. Mooncakes
are shared, symbolizing unity and gratitude. Farmers looked up at the full moon
and thanked the heavens for abundance. The Chinese agricultural calendar was
based on star constellations and lunar phases, often observed by court
astronomer-priests.
The emperor performed rituals in
the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) in Beijing, praying for good harvests and
observing celestial patterns.
Chinese culture like many Asian
traditions, sees humans as part of a cosmic balance the earth, the sky, and the
human heart must all stay in harmony. And so, the festivals follow that balance
each rooted in the life of the fields.
Across continents and centuries,
these festivals reveal, humanity has always danced to the same ancient rhythm.
Whether by the monsoon rains of India, the flooding Nile of Egypt, the golden
fields of Europe, or the moonlit farms of China, the spirit of the harvest
connects us all. It is a shared memory of dependence, gratitude, and admiration
before we built cities and civilizations, we learned first to listen to the
land.
Diwali The Light After Harvest
To many, Diwali celebrates Rama’s
return or the victory of good over evil, but its roots lie in the harvest
cycle. Falling after the Kharif harvest, it marks the end of monsoon and the
start of winter sowing.
Ancient farmers cleaned granaries, lit lamps to protect crops, and offered
first grains to the gods symbols of hope and gratitude. Over time, these
agrarian rituals merged with mythology. Even today, Lakshmi Puja and Chopda
Pujan reflect Diwali’s economic and agricultural essence. Diwali celebrates not
just divinity, but the eternal rhythm of harvest and renewal.
Fire
Before temples, there were
campfires symbols of warmth, safety, and victory over darkness.
Persians leapt over flames at Nowruz, Indians lit Holika Dahan to burn
negativity.
Fireworks of Diwali or New Year,
when nights grow long, we light the sky to promise that the light of positivity
will return.
Christmas: The Solstice Feast
Turned Sacred
Across the world, Christmas is
known as the birthday of Christ but its timing and many of its customs go far
back to pre-Christian winter solstice festivals.
For farmers in ancient Europe,
the winter solstice around December 21st marked the darkest, coldest time
of the year. The sun appeared to “die” and then “return,” bringing hope of
longer days and a new agricultural cycle.
People feasted during this period
not because they had plenty, but because it was practical. When Christianity
spread, the birth of Jesus was celebrated during this same season
blending divine symbolism with the old agrarian rhythm. Even now, Christmas
carries that same warmth a feast of hope in the coldest time of year.
Pongal, Baisakhi, and Onam:
India’s Seasonal Symphony
Few cultures celebrate agriculture
as richly as India. Blessed with monsoons and diverse climates, every region
shaped its own harvest festival, reflecting gratitude to the land.
In Tamil Nadu, Pongal in
mid-January marks the harvest of rice and sugarcane. Families boil the season’s
first rice till it overflows a symbol of abundance and honour their cattle, the
lifeblood of farming.
In Punjab, Baisakhi arrives
in April with the wheat and mustard harvest. The fields turn golden as people
sing, dance bhangra, and give thanks. Though it later became part of Sikh
tradition, its roots remain deeply agrarian.
In Kerala, Onam follows the
monsoon, celebrating the paddy harvest and the legend of King Mahabali. Flower
carpets, boat races, and grand feasts express joy in the earth’s fertility.
Thanksgiving / Gratitude
When Pilgrims and Native Americans
celebrated their first successful crop with corn, pumpkins, and turkey. began
as a harvest feast in 1621.
Long before that, native tribes honoured the “three sisters” maize, beans, and
squash in their own harvest rituals.
Across cultures, the full granary
brings the same feeling relief and gratitude.
Thanksgiving embodies this timeless spirit, sharing abundance, giving thanks,
and celebrating survival.
Middle East
The Middle East is also called a
birth of civilisation and agriculture, In Mesopotamia, humans first grew wheat
and barley 12,000 years ago, and with that came the first harvest festivals.
In Sumer, people offered grain to “Inanna”,
goddess of fertility. Later Babylonians and Assyrians continued these rites,
linking farming and faith.
In Islam neither Eid
al-Fitr, which ends fasting, nor Eid al-Adha directly mark the harvest, yet
both celebrate abundance. Through ages, one truth endures faith and food are
inseparable; every prayer finds its completion in gratitude at the table.
Easter: Resurrection and
Rebirth in the Fields
Easter, celebrated by Christians
as the resurrection of Christ, also carries a deeper, older connection to
nature. It occurs during the spring when the sun is above the
imagined line round the centre of the earth (equator) and day and night are of
equal length, around 20 March and 22 September. Flowers bloom, lambs are born all
symbols of renewal.
Even the name “Easter” likely comes from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of
spring and fertility. festival celebrated the return of the sun, the
fertility of the earth, and new beginnings. The Easter egg, a modern
emblem of rebirth, is an ancient agricultural symbol representing the seed, the
origin of life.
Thus, Easter’s message of
resurrection perfectly mirrors the rebirth of the land.
The feast of Easter bread, lamb,
wine echoes the ancient harvest table. Religion and agriculture, spirit and
soil, remain woven together.
The Seasons as a Spiritual
Calendar
When we look closely and you’ll
see that the human year is structured around the four agricultural
seasons:
Spring Planting: New
beginnings, fertility, and hope. (Holi, Easter, Nowruz)
Summer Growth: Light,
abundance, and vitality. (Midsummer festivals, Ratha Yatra)
Autumn Harvest: Gratitude,
sharing, and community. (Diwali, Onam, Thanksgiving,)
Winter Rest: Reflection,
faith, and renewal. (Christmas,Winter
Solstice)
This natural rhythm shaped both
farming and faith. Our ancestors didn’t separate religion from the environment
they saw divinity in the changing of seasons.
The Rise of the Commercial
Festival
Industrialisation &
globalisation has given festivals new meanings in an economic world, when
organisations in India started giving perks & bonus salaries, That became
occasions for trade, travel, and spending. Retailers realized that farmers
& consumers are happiest when they share abundance.
And so began the age
of commercial festivals.
Diwali became the biggest shopping
season in India.
Christmas turned into a global
retail event with gift-giving, advertisements, & vacations.
Thanksgiving created “Black
Friday,” symbolizing consumption rather than gratitude.
It’s easy to dismiss this as
materialism and partly it is, but beneath it lies the same ancient instinct, the
desire to celebrate abundance. In modern cities, it means
overflowing stores and decorated streets.
What we are witnessing is not the
death of the harvest festival, but its transformation. Humanity has
simply changed the symbols of prosperity from crops to currency.
Wishing you all season filled with
light, gratitude and happiness.
Celebrate the seasons with overflow heart and Laughter;
Abundace is not in what we have, but in how wide we smile ☺
After watching this video, I found myself deeply intrigued by
the issues it raises, which prompted me to explore this topic further in
writing. The video presents a perspective that challenges conventional ideas
and invites reflection on how societal norms continue to shape human behaviour.
Its thought provoking content not only captured my attention but also
encouraged me to examine the broader implications of the theme it portrays.
This initial spark of curiosity evolved into a deeper inquiry, motivating me to
critically engage with the subject and articulate my own understanding through
this piece.
Women as a watchguard in a patriarchal society
At its core, patriarchy refers to a system of social
relations in where men hold more power authority, privilege, and dominance over
women and other gender identities. It describes as “a system of social
structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.”
It’s not only in structured institutions such as family,
religion, politics, and economy but also linger in culture, shaping the values
and norms that regulate everyday life. In patriarchal settings, women often
appear as passive victims of oppression. Yet a closer examination reveals that
women themselves may serve as active agents in reinforcing patriarchal
structures. They become the “watchguards” of patriarchy, maintaining and
transmitting its norms to younger generations.
The Indian context provides a particularly rich case study to
examine this phenomenon. With the long and complex history, since 1500 BCE in
our ancient scriptures, medieval traditions, colonial period, and modern legal
reforms, has produced a unique blend of patriarchal practices.
Indian feminist historian Uma Chakravarti introduces
the concept of “Brahmanical Patriarchy" explains how caste
and gender oppression are interwoven.
Patriarchy in India is not a standalone system but intersects with caste to
control women’s sexuality and labour in the service of caste purity. This makes
Indian patriarchy particularly complex, as women themselves are recruited to
uphold both gender and caste hierarchies.
The Evolution of Patriarchy in India
Patriarchy in India has evolved through multiple stages,
shaped by religious texts, cultural practices, political instability, and
colonial rule.Its
foundations were laid in ancient texts and traditions that defined gender roles
and social hierarchies. Over time, cultural customs and political shifts
reinforced male dominance, while the colonial period further institutionalised
these inequalities through legal and administrative systems.
1. Vedic Period (c. 1500–500 BCE)
The Vedic period marks the formative stage of Indian
civilization, when religious, social, and philosophical ideas that would shape
millennia of cultural life were first articulated. It was during this era that
the earliest forms of patriarchy began to emerge, initially less restrictive in
the early Vedic age, but gradually solidifying into a rigid, male dominated
order by the later Vedic period.
In the early Vedic period, women appear to have
enjoyed a relatively high status and autonomy. The Rigveda, the oldest
of the Vedas, contains hymns composed by or dedicated to women scholars such as
Gargi, Maitreyi, and Lopamudra. These women were
celebrated for their intellect and philosophical insight, participating in
public debates on metaphysics and ethics. Marriage was seen as a partnership
rather than domination, and widow remarriage and education for women were not
forbidden. Both men and women took part in religious rituals, and property
inheritance, though limited, was not entirely closed to women. This early
phase, therefore, represented a period of relative gender balance.
However, by the later Vedic period (c. 1000–500 BCE),
as society transitioned from animal husbandry to agriculture and settled
kingdoms, patriarchy began to consolidate. With the rise of private property
and surplus production, the social structure became hierarchical and caste based.
This new economic and political order necessitated the control of women’s
sexuality and labour to ensure the purity of lineage and inheritance.
Consequently, women’s autonomy declined, and their social position became
increasingly confined to the household. The Dharmashastra texts and
rituals of the time redefined the woman’s role as one of obedience, fertility,
and service to her father, husband, and son.
Religious thought began to mirror and reinforce these
changes. The performance of yajnas (sacrificial rituals), which
initially included women, became the exclusive domain of male priests (Brahmins).
The spiritual equality of the early Vedic hymns gave way to theological
hierarchies where the male was equated with divinity and authority, and the
female became secondary or dependent.
The concept of stridharma the idealised duty of women
as devoted wives and mothers took root during this phase, establishing a moral
framework that bound women’s virtue to their submission and chastity.
Texts like the Atharvaveda also began to include hymns
that portrayed women as sources of temptation and disorder if left
uncontrolled, indicating a growing anxiety about female independence. Marriage
was now seen as essential to a woman’s social identity, and widow remarriage began
to decline. Education for women became rare, and religious life increasingly
excluded them. Thus, the later Vedic period laid the ideological foundation for
the patriarchal norms that would dominate subsequent centuries.
This hymn was used in
marriage rituals to ensure a wife’s devotion and fidelity. While poetic, it
subtly assumes that a woman’s mind and will be bound to her husband’s,
symbolizing control over her independence.
In summary, the Vedic period reveals a gradual evolution from
gender complementarity to male dominance. The early era’s spiritual and
intellectual openness for women was slowly replaced by rigid hierarchies
grounded in property, ritual authority, and caste. This transition established
the roots of patriarchy in India where religion, economy, and social morality
converged to define women’s subordination as both natural and sacred.
2. Post-Vedic Era and Manusmriti (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE)
As the later Vedic and post-Vedic eras witnessed a
systematic erosion of women’s status. The emergence of Dharmashastra
literature, especially the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), codified
patriarchal norms into a religious and moral framework that would shape Indian
society for centuries.
The Manusmriti, composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE,
became the most influential legal and moral text of Brahmanical Hinduism. It
was presented as a divine code prescribing ideal conduct for men and women, describing
social duties, purity, and hierarchy. However, beneath this religious
legitimacy lay a deeply gendered order designed to consolidate male authority
within the household and society.
The text portrays women as inherently dependent, emotionally
unstable, and intellectually inferior. Manu asserts that women must be
perpetually under male guardianship first of the father, then of the husband,
and later of the son (Manusmriti 5.148). This injunction formalised the notion
that women were incapable of self governance and required constant control.
Such injunctions institutionalised the patriarchal family as the core unit of
society, with male dominance justified through divine sanction.
As a girl, she is under her father’s authority, As a wife,
under her husband’s and as a widow, under her sons’.
Further, the Manusmriti restricted women’s
participation in education and religious life. By excluding them from Vedic
study and priestly roles (9.18), the text removed women from the intellectual
and ritual domains that had once offered them status in early Vedic society.
Their moral worth was now tied to chastity, obedience, and fidelity.
Manusmriti 9.18 - Restriction on Education and Freedom
Women have no business with the text of the Veda; hence their
(ceremonial) law is settled by tradition and the authority of the sacred texts.
This excludes women from education, spiritual knowledge, and
religious authority, this was a tool of disempowerment.
Even in widowhood, women were expected to practice austerity,
renounce pleasure, and avoid remarriage (5.157), reinforcing the ideal of
female subservience and self sacrifice.
Manusmriti 5.157 - Widow Restrictions
कामंतुक्षपयेद्देहंपुष्पमूलफलैःशुभैः
नतुनामापिगृह्णीयात्पत्यौप्रेतेपरस्यतु॥१५७॥
A virtuous wife should constantly serve her husband like a
god, and even after his death, she must never think of another man.”
This denies widows the right to remarry, trapping them in
lifelong dependency and suffering, one of the roots of oppressive practices
against widows in India.
The Manusmriti also moralised women’s sexuality. It
treated female desire as a source of social disorder that needed to be
controlled through surveillance and restriction. This notion justified early
marriage, control over mobility, and the emphasis on virginity. Through such
prescriptions, the female body became a symbol of honour for the family and
community, placing women’s behaviour under continuous patriarchal scrutiny.
In the broader social context, these codes coincided with the
rise of agricultural settlements, private property, and caste stratification.
As inheritance and lineage became central to maintaining purity of descent,
patriarchal control over women’s sexuality and labour intensified. Manu’s laws,
therefore, were not merely religious prescriptions but tools of social control
that linked gender hierarchy to caste and property relations.
While women continued to appear in literary and mythological
texts of the time as devoted wives, mothers, and occasionally saints their
social agency was largely curtailed. The female ideal became that of pativrata
the woman wholly devoted to her husband, even at the cost of her own autonomy.
This ideal, glorified in epics like the Ramayana through characters such
as Sita, echoed the Manusmriti’s injunctions and further naturalised
patriarchal expectations.
This text and similar Dharmashastras laid the
groundwork for systemic male authority, influencing centuries of practice in
Hindu society.
One of the highly debated 3 dohas in Sundar Kand by Goswami
Tulsidas in Ramcharitra Manas
ढोलगँवारशूद्रपशुनारी।
सकलताड़नाकेअधिकारी॥
This means "A drum, an illiterate, a Shudra, an animal,
and a woman all these are worthy of beatings”
"महावृष्टिचलिफूटिक्यारि"
"जिमिसुतंत्रभएँबिगरहिंनारीं"
Great rain falls and the borders of the fields burst,
unchecked freedom, according to him, leads women to lose discipline.
Whether it is a brother, father, son, or even an enemy, when
a women looks upon a beautiful man, women mind becomes restless and hard to
restrain, just as a snowcjewel begins to melt when exposed to the rays of the
sun.
3. Medieval Period (c. 8th – 18th century)
The medieval period in India witnessed the consolidation and
deepening of patriarchy, transforming women’s lives across social, cultural,
and religious dimensions. This was a time marked by invasions from Turkish to
British rule, shifting political powers, and rigid caste hierarchies, which
collectively produced an environment of anxiety over lineage, honour, and
purity. In response, patriarchal controls over women’s sexuality, mobility, and
education became more systematic and socially sanctioned.
Practices such as pardah, sati, and child
marriage emerged as defining symbols of this era. The purdah system,
initially confined to elite Muslim households, soon extended to upper caste
Hindu families as a way to signify status and preserve chastity. By restricting
women’s visibility and freedom, purdah converted the female body into a site of
male honour and community identity. Similarly, the practice of sati glorified
widow self immolation as the ultimate act of wifely devotion, while child
marriage denied women education and autonomy, ensuring that control over them
passed seamlessly from father to husband.
These practices were reinforced by religious texts and social
norms that defined a woman’s worth through her obedience and chastity. The Manusmriti
and other Smritis shaped the ideological foundation for viewing women as
dependents, whose moral conduct determined the purity of the family and caste.
As feminist historian Uma Chakravarti observes, this period reflects the
merging of Brahmanical patriarchy and political insecurity, where women’s
control was essential for maintaining both caste purity and social stability.
Within families and communities, women were also turned into
guardians of patriarchy themselves. By the end of the medieval period, these
deep patriarchal values had created a society where women’s individuality and
agency were largely erased.
4. Colonial Period (18th – 20th century)
The colonial period in India (18th–20th century) was a time
of political domination, economic change, and social transformation. This
period highlights how women were positioned as both moral agents and objects of
surveillance, reflecting the persistence and adaptation of patriarchal norms.
In traditional Indian society, a family’s honour was closely
tied to women’s behaviour, particularly their sexuality, modesty, and adherence
to ritual norms. The arrival of British colonial rule introduced new laws,
administrative structures, and social reforms, which, rather than liberating
women, often reinforced patriarchal control. Women’s conduct was increasingly
scrutinised, both legally and socially, positioning them as central to
maintaining moral and cultural order. Laws concerning marriage, inheritance,
widowhood, and property underscored women’s dual role as vulnerable and responsible
for upholding family honour.
Education and reform movements during this period illustrate
the moral watchguard role of women. Reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule and Pandita
Ramabai (first woman to be awarded the titles of Pandita) promoted
women’s education and welfare, this mission was further advanced by Maharshi Karve by building the first Women's university in India, the SNDT Womens's University in 1916. Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve, was also a staunch advocate for widow remarriage and married a widow himself after his first wife's death in 1891. He founded the Widow Marriage Association in 1893.
Education was frequently framed as a
means to strengthen women’s ability to cultivate virtue, devotion, and
propriety within the household, rather than purely for personal empowerment.
Women were thus expected to transmit moral and social values, reinforcing their
role as guardians of familial and cultural continuity.
Within households, women exercised authority in regulating
domestic life. Mothers, elder daughters-in-law, and women elders monitored
younger women, ensuring adherence to norms around chastity, modesty, and ritual
conduct. This internal policing created layers of surveillance, where women
were simultaneously controlled and controllers, safeguarding family honour in
both private and community spheres.
Even as nationalist movements opened spaces for women’s
public engagement, patriarchal expectations persisted. Women’s political
participation, from the Swadeshi movement to Gandhi’s campaigns, was often
framed as an extension of domestic moral duty, emphasizing sacrifice, self discipline,
and service to the nation. Literary and reformist narratives reinforced this
symbolism, depicting women as essential to moral and social stability.
During the colonial period, Indian women remained central to
patriarchal notions of morality and social order. Through education, domestic
authority, and political engagement, they were positioned as watchguards of
family honour and cultural continuity. Colonial reforms and nationalist
discourses, while introducing new roles for women, often reinforced the
expectation that their primary responsibility was to safeguard morality. The
colonial era thus symbolises how women’s agency and societal control were intertwined,
Emphasizing the persistent significance of the watchguard role within India’s
patriarchal society
5. Post-Independence and Modern Era
Even after India gained independence in 1947, patriarchal
norms continued to shape social structures. Women often carried the dual
responsibility of upholding moral and social codes within families and
communities, functioning as “watchguards” to preserve societal order, honour,
and cultural values. This role was both symbolic and practical, reflecting
societal expectations for women to regulate behaviour, particularly that of
men, in line with patriarchal norms.
In the post-Independence era, women’s watchguard role was
evident in both domestic and community settings. Within families, mothers and
elder sisters monitored household conduct, ensuring adherence to cultural and
moral expectations.
In rural and traditional communities, women acted as
custodians of rituals and social discipline, reinforcing gendered norms through
participation in ceremonies and public gatherings. While these roles were
deeply rooted in patriarchy, they also provided women with limited but
significant influence in social regulation.
At the same time, India’s newly framed Constitution, guided
by reformers like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, sought to redefine women’s position in
society. Legal provisions guaranteed equality under the law, prohibited
discrimination, and secured rights to education and inheritance. These measures
gradually shifted the framework within which women could exercise their
influence, allowing them to act as agents of social oversight while gaining
formal legal recognition and protection.
Post-Independence social reformers further supported women’s
empowerment, navigating the watchguard role while advocating for broader
societal change. Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay and others encouraged women’s
participation in governance, education, and labour rights, expanding public
roles while negotiating traditional moral responsibilities. Legal reforms also
reduced burdens associated with patriarchal expectations.
The Hindu Code Bills (1955–56) this bills, driven by Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru's government and influenced by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, aimed to promote women's rights by introducing monogamy,
equal inheritance rights, and rights to adoption and maintenance.
This reformed marriage and inheritance laws, granting women
autonomy and property rights. The Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) sought to limit
social pressures on women to enforce family honour through marriage
arrangements. Later measures, including the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act (2005) and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (2013),
provided formal avenues to challenge oppressive norms.
In the modern era, women continue to influence cultural and
moral domains, but their role has shifted significantly. Legal reforms and
social movements have enabled women to move beyond passive enforcement of
patriarchal values toward active participation in shaping social norms,
governance, and equality initiatives. While traces of the watchguard
expectation remain, women now exercise agency in redefining societal morality,
blending traditional oversight with contemporary empowerment.
Patriarchy’s Relevance in Contemporary India
Today’s India presents a paradox. On one hand, women are
rising in politics, education, business, and the armed forces. On the other
hand, they continue to face systemic barriers, many reinforced by women
themselves.
Despite legal reforms, education, and increasing female
participation in public life, traditional notions of morality, honour, and
cultural propriety persist, often positioning women as custodians of these
values. In this context, women continue to function as “watchguards,”
responsible for maintaining social order and upholding patriarchal codes within
both family and community settings.
Within families, women often regulate domestic behaviour,
monitor the upbringing of children, and ensure adherence to societal and
cultural norms. Mothers, elder sisters, and wives frequently act as moral
overseers, supervising both male and female family members to conform to
accepted behaviour.
Beyond the domestic sphere, women also play a role in
community life participating in rituals, religious ceremonies, and local
governance thereby reinforcing social discipline and cultural continuity. Although
rooted in traditional patriarchal expectations, these responsibilities grant
women social authority and enable them to influence family and community norms.
In modern India, the watchguard role of women is evolving
rather than disappearing. Women continue to safeguard cultural and moral
values, yet increasingly, they balance these traditional responsibilities with
professional, political, and social agency. No longer mere enforcers of
patriarchal norms, they actively shape social engagement, challenge outdated
practices, and redefine family and community dynamics. This dual role
underscores both the persistence of patriarchy and the expanding empowerment of
women, reflecting a society in transition where tradition and modernity
coexist, and women navigate both spheres simultaneously.
While patriarchy remains influential in contemporary India,
its power is constantly being negotiated. The evolving role of women as
watchguards highlights their unique position, preserving cultural continuity
while simultaneously driving social change, thereby reshaping the very
structure of gendered expectations in Indian society.
Patriarchy continues to shape contemporary Indian society,
embedding itself in everyday practices and social expectations. Certain
continuities are strikingly persistent. Son preference remains widespread,
reflected in skewed sex ratios and the prevalence of sex selective abortions.
Women’s identities are still often tied to marriage, with unmarried women
frequently perceived as incomplete or socially marginalised. Honor based
restrictions persist, with women’s clothing, friendships, mobility, and
personal choices closely scrutinised under the guise of family or community honour.
Additionally, despite their increasing participation in paid work, women
continue to bear the overwhelming burden of domestic labour, highlighting the
deep rooted gendered division of responsibilities.
At the same time, significant contradictions and forms of
resistance challenge these patriarchal structures. Women occupy high political
and corporate offices India has seen a woman Prime Minister, several Chief
Ministers, and numerous corporate leaders demonstrating that traditional
barriers can be overcome. Grassroots movements led by women, such as the
Shaheen Bagh protests and village level anti-liquor campaigns, actively contest
entrenched patriarchal norms. Social media has further amplified feminist voices,
bringing discussions on consent, marital rape, and gender equality into the
mainstream, fostering awareness and mobilization across diverse communities.
As Nivedita Menon (2012) argues in Seeing Like a
Feminist, patriarchy persists because it is deeply embedded in everyday
life, and women, by internalizing these norms, often become its most steadfast
defenders. She emphasizes that “feminist struggles in India are not simply
about ‘catching up with the West’ but about questioning the very foundations of
social hierarchies that regulate gender.”
Thus, while patriarchy remains resilient, its influence is
increasingly contested. Women navigate a dual reality upholding cultural and
moral values in some spheres while simultaneously challenging and reshaping
societal norms in others. This tension highlights both the persistence of
patriarchal structures and the growing empowerment of women in contemporary
India, illustrating a society in transition where tradition and modernity
coexist.
Women as watchguards of patriarchy
This role emerges from intergenerational transmission of
values, internalization of gender hierarchies, and the rewards of conformity.
In the classic case in all the Indian households, where
mothers-in-law policing daughters-in-law. Mothers-in-law enforce rigid gender
roles upon their daughters-in-law, dictating how much freedom they enjoy, what
tasks they must perform, and how they should behave within and outside the
family. This creates a cycle where oppression is not merely top-down from men
but horizontally enforced among women.
Women often become the strictest enforcers of moral codes
around modesty, purity, and family honour. Mothers and elder women police
clothing, restrict interactions with men, and regulate daughters’ mobility,
reinforcing the notion that a woman’s virtue defines the family’s
respectability.
Women sometimes become critics of those who deviate from
traditional roles. Working women, unmarried women, or those seeking divorce may
face gossip and exclude them not only from men but also from other women, who
interpret deviation as a threat.
Older women play a central role in promoting the belief that
sons are more valuable than daughters. This is evident in phrases like “Beti
to paraya dhan hai” (a daughter is someone else’s wealth). Often observed
in the north India, when a girl child are not allowed to touch the feet of her
parents, as her house in future will be of her husband. Such beliefs justify
unequal distribution of resources within families, often with women themselves
prioritizing sons over daughters in matters of education and inheritance.
Many women oppose legal and social reforms such as equal
property rights, inter-caste or inter-faith marriages, or gender neutral laws.
Their opposition stems not from ignorance alone but due to concerns about
losing traditional safety nets or compromising family honour.
Why women became watchguards
In patriarchal societies, women often become the enforcers of
social norms, policing behaviour within their families and communities. This
role is rooted in early socialization from childhood, girls are taught to
equate obedience and restraint with virtue, internalizing the values of
conformity. Upholding these norms offers women a degree of security and status
within the patriarchal system, as conformity is rewarded with respect,
protection, and social acceptance.
Fear of social exclusion further reinforces this behaviour.
Women who deviate from prescribed roles risk stigma, criticism, or collective
shame for their families, prompting many to police others behaviour to maintain
communal honour. Over time, this dynamic becomes an intergenerational cycle,
women replicate the restrictions they once endured, often believing them to be
natural or necessary.
Although women often lack formal structural power, they employ
influence within the household and family, particularly over younger women, by
upholding patriarchal norms. In doing so, women themselves become agents of
patriarchy, balancing the pressures of survival, social acceptance, and
authority within restrictive social frameworks.
The watchguard paradox today
Modern Indian society embodies a tension between tradition
and change, where women often navigate contradictory roles. A mother may
celebrate her daughter’s academic success yet insist she marry within her
caste, while a grandmother might support a granddaughter’s career ambitions but
still expect her to perform domestic rituals. These contradictions reflect the
complex ways patriarchal norms are both challenged and reinforced.
Women negotiate between personal empowerment and social
expectations, balancing aspirations for independence with the pressure to
maintain family honour and conformity. In this interplay, acts of support for
education or careers coexist with the enforcement of conventional roles,
showing that progress and tradition often operate side by side. Such dynamics
highlight how patriarchal culture persists subtly, with women themselves
mediating its endurance even as they embrace certain forms of social change.
This tension shows how patriarchy adapts, embedding itself
even in progressive environments. UmaChakravarti (2003)
emphasizes that patriarchal control today is most visible in the regulation of
women’s sexuality and choice, particularly in cases of inter-caste and
inter-faith marriages, where family and community surveillance is intense.
Patriarchy in India is not a static or timeless entity, but
an evolving system shaped by historical, cultural, and political processes. Its
resilience lies in its ability to enlist women as active agents of its
perpetuation. Women as watchguards of patriarchy illustrate the paradoxical
reality that the oppressed can become the enforcers of their own oppression.
Yet this very awareness also opens the door to
transformation. As education, law, and feminist activism spread, many women are
challenging these inherited roles, refusing to police others, and breaking
cycles of subordination. Modern India thus stands at a crossroads, while
patriarchy continues to exert a powerful hold, the resistance against it grows
stronger each day.
The challenge of dismantling patriarchy, therefore, lies not
only in changing laws or men’s attitudes but also in addressing the internalised
watchguard role that women themselves often play. Only then can India move
toward a more egalitarian society where gender equality is not just promised in
the Constitution but lived in everyday life.
References
Chakravarti,
Uma. Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens. Stree, 2003.
Chakravarti,
Uma. “Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender,
Caste, Class and State.” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28,
No. 14, 1993.
Menon,
Nivedita. Seeing Like a Feminist. Zubaan/Penguin, 2012.
