Vedic Religion

[Sankar Khrish]

> > 3) Some of the mantra draShta-s were women, at
> least I know of apAlA
> > whose mantra is used vedic wedding ceremony and
> oocurs in rig veda (I
> > read this in a book called vivAha mantrArthangal
> by one balasubrahmania
> > aiyar). Her mantra is addresses to Indra where she
> offers the juice of
> > somalatha to him. Does this not indicate that
> women can chant veda-s?
> > If not why?
> >
>
> Can a man write a book on gynecology even though he
> is unable to have a
> baby?  Does he have the ability to get pregnant just
> because he knows a
> lot about gynecology?
>

But what if one of the lost sAkhA had explicitly stated that women can
chant vEdAs?  Will not different sAkhAs be inconsistent?  And we will
never know because it is lost.

> Women cannot chant the Vedas for one reason and one
> reason only.  The
> Vedic traditions say they can't.  We do not infer
> anything about their
> intelligence, moral fitness  or ability or anything
> else from this.  The
> only important thing to note about a Rshi is somehow
> they saw a mantra and
> passed it on to someone else.  They were not
> necessarily the nicest of
> people (In the puranas a major occupation of Rshis
> seems to be cursing
> some hapless person.)  They came from all castes.
> Some were householders,
> some were sannyasis. Some were rich some poor.  Some
> were not even Human.
> It doesn't matter.

Sankar.
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