Ancient India[edit]

Women during the early Vedic period[13] enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life.[14]
Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as Patanjali and Katyayana suggest that women were
educated in the early Vedic period.[15][16] Rigvedic verses suggest that women married at a mature
age and were probably free to select their own husbands.[17] Scriptures such as the Rig Veda and
Upanishads mention several women sages and seers, notably Gargi and Maitreyi.
In approximately 500 B.C., the status of women began to decline.[7][6] Although reform
movements such as Jainism allowed women to be admitted to religious orders, by and large
women in India faced confinement and restrictions.[13] The practice of child marriages is believed
to have started around the sixth century.[18]
There are very few texts specifically dealing with the role of women[19] an important exception is
the Stri Dharma Paddhati of Tryambakayajvan, an official at Thanjavur c. 1730. The text
compiles strictures on women's behaviour dating back to the Apastamba sutra (c. 4th century
BCE).[20] The opening verse goes:
mukhyo dharmaH smr^tiShu vihito bhartr^shushruShANam hi :
women are enjoined to be of service to their husbands.