Rights women once enjoyed
THERE ARE many instances to show how women in ancient India asserted their legal right and saw that their writ ruled.
A Chola record of the 12{+t}{+h} century from Melattur village near Thanjavur found inscribed on the stonewall of a local Siva temple illustrates this point.
The inscription written during the reign of the Chola Emperor Kulottunga III in 1180 A.D. records that a woman by name Perra Tiru wanted to gift her landed property to the local temple. The woman was the second wife of a cowherd, Sulapani who had children through his first wife and also some through the second wife.
On his death, the second wife got her husband's property duly partitioned amongst all his children and had the partition deed registered. (Probably the first wife died earlier).
Later, the woman wanted to gift a portion of land belonging to her share, measuring about 4+9 ma of land, to the temple and invited her husband's brother to serve as the authorised guardian (Mudu-kan) of the transactions.
It was customary those days for men to oversee property transactions of the family, though this was not an absolute power. It seems there was some resistance from the brother-in-law for the gift.
Thereupon, the woman declared that if it was not feasible (for him) she would assume the "Power of Seniority" (of the family) and see through the transactions herself.
The woman's assertion came in the midst of over 20 male members who were witness to her declaration. The brother-in-law had to agree. The deed was drafted by the village accountant as uttered by the woman that reads in Tamil. Aadimat Adhikaaram means "Administrative power of senior member of the family."
The woman declares in the deed that "I, Perra Tiru, the wife of Sulapani, got this gift deed made."
The scribe, her brother-in-law and all the other members who were witness to the declaration signed the deed.
The record brings out many points of interest to social and legal history.
Women had the right to own property in their name and dispose it of as per their wish.
On the death of the husband the widowed wife had the right to a share of the husband's property in addition to her children's shares.
She alone had the right to dispose it of which she declared in the midst of many male members who signed as witnesses. It was not uncommon for women to make their intentions public and even sign in the deed of transactions. What is made explicit by the record is that it was perfectly legal for women to assume the "Power of Elder" of the family and carry out property transactions.
The ancient Indian law books provided for these rights, which was obeyed by the society.
As the woman who made the gift in the present case was a middle class person — belonging to a cowherd family, it is evident that the rights were obviously common to all sections of society.
The ancient Tamil inscriptions provide many such interesting insights into the respected way the woman was treated.
Dr. R. NAGASWAMY
(former Director of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu)
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