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Part I: Behind the Scenes (Planning for the Plan)

1. Conceptual Overview: This lesson will introduce students to patriarchy in ancient India and the effect it had on women during the time. It will emphasize the analysis of primary sources to trace the development of patriarchy, the treatment of women, and alternatives to patriarchy. This lesson will give students an opportunity to debate women’s rights in ancient India, while allowing them to compare women’s rights today in the United States. Student learning will depend on primary sources, brief lecture, response groups to prepare for debate, and class discussion.

2. Standards Addressed (Numerated Only):

a. NCSS Thematic Standards: 2, 6, 10

b. NCHS Standards: Era 2: 1A

3. Materials Required: No outside materials will be needed for this lesson.

4. Modifications for Diverse Learning Needs: I am planning my lesson for Class D. Most of my students are upper middle class and all of them are college-bound. Many of them are bright and motivated, but I have students who are bored and disengaged. The introductory activity helps gather students’ attention as they share and discuss their responses from the previous night’s homework. Students will continue to be interested because students will be working together in response groups to analyze primary sources to prepare them for class debate. I have one deaf student, who I will accommodate by providing lecture notes beforehand and by staying in this student’s point of view at all times. The group arrangement allows this student to see the other members’ when they speak. I suspect one or two of these students of possible drug use. Although I have not witnessed anything, the group work allows me to monitor these students so they do not slack, and I can pull them aside if they are being obstinate or absent-minded. All the students will be motivated throughout this lesson because they will be discussing the controversial topic of women’s rights and equality. Students will also be motivated because the class discussion will be scored, so students will need to provide evidence to support their opinions.

Part II: Heart of the Lesson (The Action Plan)

1. Title of Lesson: Society in India: Patriarchy and Women

2. Subject Area: World History

3. Grade Level: 10th grade

4. Objectives: At the completion of this lesson, students will be able to describe women’s roles in ancient India, and be able to give an informed opinion comparing women’s rights today in the United States through analysis of primary sources. This will be measured and observed through students’ participation in their response groups, the primary source analysis worksheet, and their participation in the class discussion.

5. Body of the Lesson (indicate approximate minutes for each activity):

a. Introductory activity: Class will begin with a brief group and class discussion of the previous day’s homework assignment, in which students reflected on their feelings about the caste system, the effectiveness of the caste system, and gave a prediction of possible consequences that could arise from the caste system. A few student volunteers will then share their drawings or short essays with the class. (10 minutes)

b. Procedure: There will be a brief lecture about patriarchy in India and women’s roles in society as a result. This lecture will mention laws and other influential documents created during this time in ancient India. (10 minutes) Then students will get in their assigned response groups to read information about the Vedas and analyze two primary sources in order to participate in a discussion about women’s rights then and now. For each primary source, students will identity its main issues and goals, answering pertinent questions on a worksheet. Students will prepare their group’s response to the critical thinking question “Are women still unequal in today’s society?” (15 minutes)

a. Assessment Plan: Assessment will be completed by the following: Spot-checking the group’s discussion for the introductory activity, participation in their group’s analysis of primary sources during the lesson, and participation during the class discussion. The class discussion will be a scored discussion.

b. Concluding Activity: Groups will present a summary of the reading (who, what and where), and their analysis to the whole class. After this, the class will discuss possible commonalities or differences between the sources, how the issues the sources focused on might relate to the larger issue of women’s rights in general, and if any of the issues raised have any relevance to ones facing women in their community today. Questions we will address during discussion: Were women's rights in ancient India similar to those women have today? What additional rights do women have today? What other rights do you think women would like to have that they do not have now? What changes have there been in women's rights in the United States since this time in ancient India? How do you think these changes came about? (15 minutes)

c. Homework: Students will finish answering the questions from the worksheet. Then they will consider life for a woman during the time in ancient India they recently analyzed. Students will then reflect on life for women today and how it is different from life in ancient India. Then students will list obstacles to improving women’s rights within marriage, prioritize the list, and discuss any possible disadvantages for men. The primary source worksheet will be collected and graded.

Part III: Supporting Materials

1. Lecture Notes

2. Primary Source Analysis Directions and Worksheet

3. Information and Excerpts from The Vedas

4. Primary Source: Excerpts from The Laws of Manu

5. Primary Source: Excerpts from Psalms of the Sisters

6. Homework Directions

7. Scored Discussion Tally Sheet

Lecture Notes

• Patriarchy is a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line.

o A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

Wife’s Role in the Traditional Ancient Indian Family

• Generally looked upon as being inferior to men

• At times treated the same as Sudras, the lowest of the four castes

• Only small amounts of power & responsibility

• Limited freedom concerning education and religious rituals

• Traditionally under constant control & protection

• Life is dedicated to the future of her husband and son(s)

• Her main role is a housewife and the management of affairs according to the wishes of her husband

• Giving birth to a son ensures continuation of hereditary line and improves her status within the Husband’s family

• Giving birth to a daughter was considered a sign of misfortune for the family

• Widows were not usually allowed to remarry and would often kill themselves by jumping into their husband’s funeral fire.

Different Documents from the Time

• India’s most famous early legal code, The Laws of Manu were compiled over the years between 200 - 400 C.E.

• While the position of women in early Vedic India had been good, these laws illustrate the efforts of the Brahmin elite to restrict women’s legal independence in this later period.

o A core text of classical Indian civilization, those laws defined and sharply circumscribed the behavioral expectations appropriate for women.

• One path of release for women from such conditions of Indian patriarchy lay in becoming a Buddhist nun and entering a monastery where women were relatively less restricted and could exercise more authority than in ordinary life.

o Known as bikkhunis, such women composed hundreds of poems in the early centuries of Indian Buddhism.

o Poems were long recited and transmitted in an oral form and brought together in a collection known as the Psalms of the Sisters, which was set to writing probably during the first century B.C.E.

• These poems became part of the officially recognized Buddhist scriptures, known as the Pali Canon.

• As such, they represent the only early text in any of the world’s major religions that was written by women and about the religious experience of women.

• To find out what aspects of these ancient laws might have an influence on the lives of women in India today, search the WEB for resources that present the views of women. Suggested sites: Indiatime Women; Women in India; Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society.

Primary Source Analysis Name: _________________________________________

Primary Source: ________________________________________________________________

Directions: Analyze each source using the questions below:

1. Who wrote the document?

2. What type of document is it (for example, a letter to a friend, a political decree, an exposition of a religious teaching)?

3. Why was the document written? Under what circumstances was it composed?

4. What point of view does it reflect? What other views or opinions is the document arguing against?

5. What can the document tell us about the individual who produced it and the society from which he or she came from?

6. What areas of discrimination against women did the reading focus on?

7. What beliefs about women resulted in the requirement that in marriage she was to become the legal responsibility of the husband?

8. What specific arguments or actions did women and men use in confronting and trying to overcome the obstacles?

For The Laws of Manu:

9. Did you find some contradictions in the Laws of Manu regarding the treatment of women? If so, where do you find this?

10. Is it possible to honor a wife while preventing her from participating with men as an equal?

11. What do these laws suggest a good wife should do in order to achieve power within her family?

12. How were women treated in the Vedic culture? How do The Laws of Manu differ from this treatment?

For Psalms of the Sisters:

13. What kinds of women were attracted to Buddhist monastic life? What aspects of life as a bikkhuni appealed to them?

14. In what ways might these poems represent a criticism of Hindu patriarchy?

15. What criticism of these women would you anticipate? How might advocates of Hindu patriarchy view the renunciation that these nuns practiced?

Information and Excerpts from the Vedas

The Vedic tradition has held a high regard for the qualities of women, and has retained the greatest respect within its tradition as seen in the honor it gives for the Goddess, who is portrayed as the feminine embodiment of important qualities and powers. These forms include those of Lakshmi (the goddess of fortune and queen of Lord Vishnu), Sarasvati (the goddess of learning), Subhadra (Krishna’s sister and auspiciousness personified), Durga (the goddess of strength and power), Kali (the power of time), and other Vedic goddesses that exemplify inner strength and divine attributes. Even divine power in the form of Shakti is considered feminine.

Throughout the many years of Vedic culture, women have always been given the highest level of respect and freedom, but also protection and safety. There is a Vedic saying, "Where women are worshiped, there the gods dwell."

        Furthermore, in the Vedas, when a woman is invited into the family through marriage, she enters "as a river enters the sea" and "to rule there along with her husband, as a queen, over the other members of the family." (Atharva-Veda 14.1.43-44)

In fact, in early Vedic civilization women were always encouraged to pursue spiritual advancement without hindrance: "O bride! May the knowledge of the Vedas be in front of you and behind you, in your centre and in your ends. May you conduct your life after attaining the knowledge of the Vedas. May you be benevolent, the harbinger of good fortune and health, and live in great dignity and indeed be illumined in your husband's home." (Atharva Veda, 14.1.64)

This kind of equality is rarely found in any other religious scripture. Moreover, a woman who is devoted to God is more highly regarded than a man who has no such devotion, as found in the Rig-Veda: "Yea, many a woman is more firm and better than the man who turns away from Gods, and offers not." (Rig-Veda, 5.61.6)

In the matter of dharma, in the days of Vedic culture, women stood as a decisive force in spirituality and the foundation of moral development. There were also women who revealed the Vedic knowledge to others.

This is the proper Vedic standard. If this standard is not being followed, then it represents a diversion of the genuine Vedic tradition. Due to this tradition, India’s history includes many women who have risen to great heights in spirituality, government, writing, education, science, or even as warriors on the battlefield.

Excerpts from The Laws of Manu

• "Women must be honored and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire their own welfare. Where women are honored, there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honored, no sacred rite yields rewards. Where the female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes; but that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers. The houses on which female relations, not being duly honored, pronounce a curse, perish completely, as if destroyed by magic. Hence men who seek (their own) welfare, should always honor women on holidays and festivals with (gifts of) ornaments, clothes and (dainty) food."

• “Women shall receive one-quarter share of the inheritance of their parents. If a man has no sons, his daughter may inherit everything he had.”

• “In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, and when her lord is dead, to her sons; a woman must never be independent.”

• “A father sins unless he marries his daughter off when she reaches puberty.”

• “Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age; they give themselves to the handsome as well as to the ugly just for the fact that he is a man.”

• “Even in the home nothing should be done by a child, a young or even an old wife (woman) independently.”

• “A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no property. The wealth which they earn is acquired for him to whom they belong.”

• “Women, shudra (or sudra, lowest of four castes), dog and crow embody untruth, sin and darkness.”

• “Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling they may appear to be; for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on both the families.”

• “It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world, for that reason the wise never remain unguarded in the company of female.”

• “This is the first law...A wife cannot be dismissed from the marriage by a slave, separation or abdication.”

• “A man can leave a barren woman after eight years and one who only gives birth to daughters.”

• “A virtuous wife who after the death of her husband constantly remains chaste, reaches heaven, though she have no son, just like those chaste men.”

• “If a woman should happen to merely overhear recitations of Vedic mantras by chance, hot molten glass should be poured into her ears.”

Excerpts from Psalms of the Sisters

First Century B.C.E.

A Former Courtesan

How was I once puff ’d up, incens’d with the bloom of my beauty,

Vain of my perfect form, my fame and success ’midst the people,

Fill’d with the pride of my youth, unknowing the

Truth and unheeding!

Lo! I made my body, bravely arrayed, deftly

painted,

Speak for me to the lads, whilst I at the door of the harlot

Stood, like a crafty hunter, weaving his snares, ever watchful.

Yea, I bared without shame my body and wealth of adorning;

Manifold wiles I wrought, devouring the virtue of many.

To-day with shaven head, wrapt in my robe,

I go forth on my daily round for food; . . .

Now all the evil bonds that fetter gods

And men are wholly rent and cut away. . . .

Calm and content I know Nibbana’s Peace.

The Daughter of a Poor Brahmin

Fallen on evil days was I of yore.

No husband had I, nor no child, no friends

Or kin—whence could I food or raiment find?

As beggars go, I took my bowl and staff,

And sought me alms, begging from house to

house,

Sunburnt, frost-bitten, seven weary years.

Then came I where a woman Mendicant

Shared with me food, and drink, and welcomed me,

And said: “Come forth into our homeless life!”. . .

I heard her and I marked, and did her will.

The Daughter of a Wealthy Treasurer

Daughter of Treas’rer Majjha’s famous house,

Rich, beautiful and prosperous, I was born

To vast possessions and to lofty rank.

Nor lacked I suitors—many came and wooed;

The sons of Kings and merchant princes came

With costly gifts, all eager for my hand. . . .

But I had seen th’ Enlightened, Chief o’ the

World, The One Supreme. [The Buddha]

And [I] knew this world should see me ne’er

return.

Then cutting off the glory of my hair,

I entered on the homeless ways of life.

’Tis now the seventh night since first all sense

Of craving dried up within my heart.

The Goldsmith’s Daughter

A maiden I, all clad in white, once heard

The Norm, and hearkened eager, earnestly,

So in me rose discernment of the Truths.

Thereat all worldly pleasures irked me sore,

For I could see the perils that beset

This reborn compound, ‘personality,’

And to renounce it was my sole desire.

So I forsook my world—my kinsfolk all,

My slaves, my hirelings, and my villages,

And the rich fields and meadows spread around,

Things fair and making for the joy of life—

All these I left, and sought the Sisterhood,

Turning my back upon no mean estate. . . .

See now this Subhā-, standing on the Norm,

Child of a craftsman in the art of gold!

Behold! she hath attained to utter calm. . . .

Norm: Buddhist teaching.

Homework Directions

Directions: Finish answering any questions you left incomplete from the worksheet. Then, in your journal, do the following:

Think About It: Consider life for a woman in ancient India during the time The Laws of Manu were compiled. What benefits and setbacks were there for women during this time? Were there alternatives to this way of life? What would these alternatives require of women? Were there benefits? Setbacks? Which sounds like the better option for women during this time? Give evidence to support your answer.

Reflect: Is life better for women today in the United States? What is different for women today? What setbacks (worries) do women have today that women in ancient India did not have? Give specific examples to support your answer.

List: List items (at least 5) that you feel were obstacles to improving women’s rights within marriage. Number the list in the order you think most negatively affected women’s rights within marriage. What changes have occurred for women’s rights within marriage? How do you think these changes affected men?

Scored Discussion Tally Sheet

|Group/Student |Clearly states opinion |Offers convincing evidence |Deviates from topic |Total |

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