Women in Hinduism: Conflict between Swami Dayanand and Internet Aryas

Written by Neer Mohammed

 
This series of articles on women in Hinduism will be in four parts .



Part 1- Women in Hinduism: Conflict between Swami Dayanand Ji & Agniveer.

Part 2- Women in Hinduism: Lies of Agniveer.

Part 3- Women in Hinduism: Lies of Agniveer.

Part 4- Women in Hinduism: Let us see whether Agniveer will quit Vedic Dharm or not?

In his present article on women, Agniveer makes so many bogus claims. In this series of articles we are going to analyze them one by one.

In his recent article on women in Hinduism he makes these claims on Niyog.

1. Niyog Pratha was a social custom to beget a child that was prevalent in all societies and more so in Biblical and Quranic society.

2. Bible, Quran and Hadiths are full of such references.

3. But Vedas have no mention of Niyog. People have interpreted vedic verses to create social custom of Niyog to prevent prostitution in emergency situations. But neither is it a Vedic order nor a compulsory practice in Aryan society.

4. On contrary, many a prophets of Christianity and Islam got children from slave-girls but never made them their wives! Prophet Abraham is supposed to have even attempted to abandon his slave-girl to death after having child from her. Prophet Muhammad is supposed to have the only son from his slave Maria. God only knows the veracity of these stories and support for sex-slavery in Bible and Quran.

5. But as far as Vedas are concerned, any relation apart from one single wife/husband is clearly considered to be cause of miseries.”

6. As for Mahabharat, well thats a historical text full of interpolations and written in an era when the Vedic values were already dwindling. However evidence in matter of Dharma can come only from Vedas. So kindly cite Vedic references.

7. Niyog is optional not compulsory and in emergency situation only.

Before analyzing these claims about Niyog in detail, let us see what Swami Dayanand had to say about Niyog.

ALL THE POINTS TAKEN HERE ARE FROM SATYARTHA PRAKASH TRANSLATED  BY Shri Dr. Chrianjiva Gharadwaya.

PAGE 129

1.Re-marriage is absolutely prohibited in the case of a twice born man or woman (i.e., one belonging to a Brahman, Kshatriya or Vaishya Class .

2. The following are the principal evils of remarriage:-

a.Diminution of love between the husband and the wife, since either of them can desert the other whenever he or she so desires, and marry another person.

b.On the death of one party, the other will take away the property of his or her deceased consort when he or she marries again. This will give rise to family disputes.

c.If a widow re marries, many a noble family will be blotted out of existence, and its property destroyed (by constant alienation).

d.Re-marriage involves loss of true conjugal love and infraction of duty towards the departed husband or wife.

PAGE 130

 3.Q. ~ If one of the parties dies leaving no male issue, even then the family line will become extinct. Besides, if re-marriage be not allowed, the widows and widowers will resort to adultery and fornication, procure abortion, and will commit wicked deeds of a kindred nature. For these reasons re-marriage is desirable.

A. ~ No. If the widows and widowers desire to practice Brahmacharya, no such evil consequences will accrue. Again, if the widow or widower adopts a boy of her and his Class, the family line will be continued and there will be no danger of adultery being restored to. Those, however, who cannot control their passions may beget children by having recourse to Niyoga.

So lets us see what the niyoga is [writer]

4.Q. ~ What are the differences between re-marriage and Niyoga?

A. ~ 1.After marriage the bride leaves her paternal roof, lives with her husband, and her relations with her relations with her father’s family cease to be very close; on the contrary. The widow (in case she contracts Niyoga) continues to live in her deceased husband’s house.

2.The children begotten of marriage inherit the property of their mother’s husband, whereas, offspring begotten of Niyoga on a widow are not regarded as children of the begetter and consequently they don’t take his surname, nor can they be claimed by him. They are spoken fo as the children of their mother’s deceased husband, take his surname, inherit his property and live in his house.

3.Married people are required to serve and help each other, while those that contract Niyoga have to abandon all relations (after the stipulated period).

4.The relation of marriage is life-long, while the contract of Niyoga ceases to be operative after the desired object has been attained.

5,.The husband and the wife help each other in the performance of their house hold duties, while those that have that have contracted Niyoga discharge the duties of their respective households.

PAGE 131

Q. ~ Do the same laws apply to Niyoga and marriage, or are they different in each case?

A. ~ They are little different. A few differences have already been enumerated, and here are some more:-

A married couple can produce children up to the limit of ten, while that connected by Niyoga cannot produce more than two or four.A married couple always lives together but not that connected by Niyoga..

Let the widow rear the children for two or three years and hand them to her husband by Niyoga, in case it has been entered into for his behalf. In this way a widow can give birth to two children for herself and two for each of the four husbands by Niyoga. Similarly a widower can beget two children for himself and two for each of the four wives by Niyoga. Thus ten children in all can be produced by means of Niyoga.

This is what the Veda declares:-“O thou who art fit to procreate and art strong, do thou raise upon the married wife or upon these widows, with whom thou hast contracted Niyoga, good children, and make them happy. Do thou beget with on thy married wife ten children, and consider her the eleventh (memberof the family). O woman! Let ten children be raised on thee by the married husband or thy husbands by Niyoga and do thou consider thy husband as the eleventh (member of thy family).” Rig Veda 10: 85, 48.

PAGE 133

Q. ~Should the relation of Niyoga be entered into with a member of one’s own Class or with that of a different Class as well?

 A. ~ A woman should contract Niyoga with a member of one’s own Class or with that of a higher Class, that is, a Vaishaya woman with a Braahman, a Kshatriya or aVaishaya; a Kshatriya woman with Kshatriya or a Braahman; a Brahman woman with a Braahman. The object of this is that the spermatic fluid should always be of a man of the same Class as the woman or of a higher Class, never

 PAGE 134

Q. ~ are there any Vedic and Shaastric authorities in favor of Niyoga, as there are in support of the marriage institution?

A. ~ “O man and woman (connected by Niyoga), just as a widow, co-habits with her husband by Niyoga and produces children for him, and a wife co-habits with her husband by marriage and produces children for him, likewise (it may be asked) where both of you were during the day and during the night, and where you slept, who you are, and what your native place is.” RIG VEDA 10: 40, 2.

 PAGE 135

“O widow! Dothou give up thinking of they deceased husband and choose another from among living men. But thou must understand and remember that if thou should contractest Niyoga for the benefit of thy second husband with whom thou are united by performing the ceremony of joining hands, the child resulting from this union shall belong to him; but if thou interest into relation of Niyoga for thy benefit, the child shall be thine. Do thou bear this in mind. Let thy husband by Niyoga also follow this law.” RIG VEDA 18,8.

“Do thou O woman that givest no pain to thy husband or devar (husband by Niyoga), art kind to animals in this Order of householders, walk assiduously in the path of righteousness and justice, art well-versed in all the shaastraas, hast children and grandchildren, givest birth to valiant the brave boys, desirest a second husband (by Niyoga), and bestoweth happiness on all, accept a man of they choice as thy husband or devar , and always perform the Homa which is the duty of every householder.” ATHARVA VEDA 14:, 2, 18.

The sage Manu also sanctions the marriage of virgin widows. Says he “A virgin widow may marry the younger or the elder brother of her deceased husband.” MANU.

 PAGE 135

A man may also contract Niyoga with eleven women (one after the other), just as a woman may enter into the relation of Niyoga with eleven men (one after the other), as sanctioned by the Veda in the following text:-

 “…….take unto thyself the eleventh husband by Niyoga.” RIG VEDA 10: 85, 45.

PAGE 137

 Q. ~ Can a woman contract Niyoga only after the death of her husband or even when he is alive?

 A. ~ This relation can be entered into even in the lifetime of the husband (or of the wife). Here is Vedic text n support of this view.

 “When a man is incapable of producing children, let him address his wife as follows:- O thou that art desirous of getting children do not expect me to raise offspring upon thee. Do thou, therefore, seek another husband.” RIG VEDA 10: 10, 10.

Similarly when a woman on account of some chronic disease is rendered incapable of bearing children, let her address the following words to her husband. “My lord! Do not expect me to bear any children. Do thou, therefore, contract Niyoga with a widow.[THESE WORDS ARE NOT PART OF MANTRA THEY HVE BEEN ADDED BY SWAMI JI-WRITER]

Kunti and Maadri, wives of king Pandu had recourse to Niyoga. Vyas, on the death of his brothers, Chidraangad and Vichitravirya

contracted Niyoga with their wives and begot Dhritraashtra on Ambikaa, Paandu on Ambaalika and Vidur on a Shoodra woman.

PAGE 138

The sage Manu declares:-

“If a husband has gone abroad in furtherance of some righteous cause,

let his wife wait for eight years;

if for he acquisition of knowledge and glory, for six years;

if for the pursuit of material ends, for three years. If after the expiry of the prescribed periods he does not turn up, she may contract Niyoga and obtain children.” MANU 9: 76.

“if the wife be sterile, let the husband wait for eight years after marriage;

if all of her children die, for ten years,

if she bears only daughters and no sons, for eleven years,

 if she be a termagant, let him forsake her immediately, and enter into Niyoga with another lady and beget children upon her.” MANU 9: 81.

Likewise if the husband be very cruel, let his wife forsake him, and bear children by Niyoga who will succeed to the property of her husband by marriage.[THESE ARE NOT PART OF VEDIC LAWS-i.e manu smriti]

Q.~ Monogamy being the rule (i.e., if one man be allowed to have only one wife, and one woman only one husband) what will a person do, if the wife be encienti ir afflicted with some chronic disease, or if the husband be a valetudinarian and either of them cannot control himself or herself on account of extreme youth?

 PAGE 140

 A. ~ We have answered this objection while treating of Niyoga. If a man be not able to control his passions while his wife and she is pregnant, he may contract Niyoga with a (widow) and beget offspring on her, but let him never misconduct himself with a prostitute or commit adultery.

PAGE 142

… Niyoga is clearly allowed by the Veda.

Above we read some laws related to niyog and remarriage which iare laid by Swami Dayanand Saraswati which he backs up through Vedas, Manusmriti and other scriptures. He even gives historical refrences from Mahabharata [it is to be noted agniveer reject these refrences,now its upto reader to decide who is write and who is wrong] and gives various qualities of Niyoga.

In his belief the alleged reformer has claimed re-marriage as faulty and Niyog as justified and appropriate .

Swami Dayanand pointed back on remarriage issue as goofy, nonsense and childish . Further more as the great writer has mentioned that if a man or a woman remarries their faith/religion will be lost/destroyed but due to Niyog their basic faith will be pure and safe. Isn’t this nonsensical?

What kind of patidharam is this in which if a woman remarries will loose or destroy his faith and if she maintains 11 other sexual relationships she will be safe and clean?

If a wife is alive and due to certain reasons the husband is  incapable to reproduce, this doesn’t mean that he lacks sexual desire. If a man has sexual desire but is incapable of producing offspring and his wife approaches another men for niyog, then where and how will the husband fulfill his sexual desire?

Given a thought, everwhere he mentions about begetting a male child only after niyog, but according to the science there is 50% possibility can  be a birth of a girl child. [This is another proof of wishing a male child  in Vedas which we will see later on,and it may also be noted that swami ji permits  Noyog for begetting a male child even if a daughter is present.] In such circumstances where a girl child is born, the rules and conditions governing Niyog have not been mentioned

Swami ji said that  “Married people are required to serve and help each other, while those that contract Niyoga have to abandon all relations after the stipulated period. The relation of marriage is life-long, while the contract of Niyoga ceases to be operative after the desired object has been attained. The husband and the wife help each other in the performance of their house hold duties, while those that have that have contracted Niyoga discharge the duties of their respective households.then for two or three years women have to take care of child.”

Now mark, isn’t it like lower animal activity in which after having sex only the female has to take care of the children?

As Swami has mentioned, if a woman goes on producing girl babies, still MAN can have a male child by doing niyog. Here the point to be noted is, if a woman keeps giving birth to a girl, then its not the woman but the man who is to be blamed. This is a scientific fact that the determination of gender is done by a male and not by female.

As written, if spoken bluntly, Niyog can be done if a wife is pregnant and husband seeks a sexual relationship and if a husband is ill for long time and the wife wants to have sexual relationship. In such cases they can look for proper partners and go for Niyog.

Aren’t the law, virtue and values not being locked up here? Is the not the meaning of Niyog FREE SEX? Can you imagine any society which is of more low standard than this?

One more thing to note is what Swami Dayanand states, “that even If a man be not able to control his passions while his wife  is pregnant he wants to have sexual relationship in such case he  can look for proper partners & go for Niyog.” Now if the necessity of Niyog was only to bear children (which it is not), why go for free sex during the wife’s pregnancy?

Swami Dayanand in order to confirm the truthfulness, authenticity and practicality gave two examples from the period of Mahabharata. It is written that Vyas had Niyog with wives of those  persons with unique semen and derived offsprings. By Niyog process, Ambika derived Dhritrashtrya, Ambalika derived Pandu and a servant derived Vidur. Another example is of the wives of King Pandu’s women Kunti and Madri. Due to the reason of incapability in production of Pandu both his wives derived offspring by Niyog.

[it is quite contrary to the view held by Agniveer that the refrence from Mahabharata is interpolation]

As said in Mahabharat, what to say about Niyog, child even with a non-married woman  was considered good and venerable. The two wise & great men Ved viyas and Bheeshm pitamah’s origin is a solid proof.

Secondly, in Mahabharat time, in a society one woman could be a wife of 5 brothers e.g. Draupadi the wife of Pandav is a solid proof.

Thirdly, according to what is written in Mahabharata, in this era, even without woman’s communication only men were able give birth to children. Mahabharat’s major character guru Dronacharya’s origin is a proof.

Fourthly, in this period children were born by magical methods e.g. origin of Draupadi. Therefore, in such a society what was the need for Niyog?

To give it a thought, under what rules Ved Vyas ji did Niyog and why did he do Niyog with three women at the same time?

Fifthly, why did Kunti give birth to 4 children by Niyog activity on contrary to the rules? Kunti gave birth to Karan, Yudhishtir, Bheem and Arjun and all of them were called as pandu.

Sixthly, in those days when niyog was considered innocent and good then why did kunti float Karan in the river because of shame ?

Seventhly, who were those men with whom kunti had Niyog and derived offspring?

Swami ji has prohibited polygamy, where as its said that in that  in Mahabharata civilization “bahuvivah” was allowed. The society where swamiji has made niyog evident, should that only be considered as high and template?

In Sathyarth Prakash (doubt removal edition) Pandit Jwalaprasad Sharma produce few more examples in support of Niyoga. He says that in ancient period women used to derive off-springs by accepting the semen of Rishi-Munim, wise, great men by Niyog. All the evidences shown by Pandit ji are from Mahabharat period only. Was Mahabharat the only old (vaidik) period? Was Niyog the only need of Rishis?

Its ironical that with the (vaidik) incantation Swami ji demonstrated niyog tradition  with same incantation (mantra) various wise men and lecturers have demonstrated widow remarriage .

Pandit Omprakash has pointed, for widow remarriage, in his book “vaidik sahitya aur sanskriti ka swaroop” he has written that in vedic society there was  permission of widow remarriage.  In the mantra  ( rig ved 10-18-8)  he has given his summary as follows –

“Hey woman! Leaving this dead husband again make arrival into the living military. accept the future husband,  who wishes to marry you”

It’s a whacking, shameful topic where a wise man and a society reformer should support remarriage and widow remarriage, but here the supposed reformers defend niyog practice and showed it useful for the future. Isn’t it’s a sign of a wiseman’s sleazy psychology? In the movies of today that show various stars, even in them we don’t get to see subject movies on these practices and favor. Leaving swami dayanand , all other wise men and reformers belonging to navjagrun ,favored remarriage.

LET US NOW SUMMARIZE THE VIEW OF AGNIVEER AND SWAMI JI. READERS WILL SEE THAT AGNIVEER  IS TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH AND IS GOING AGAINST SWAMI JI AND ALSO SATYARTHA PRAKASH [APTLY MITHYA PRAKSH OR BIBLE OF HATE].

LET US SEE FEW MORE CLAIMS OF AGNIVEER

CLAIM 1: People have interpreted vedic verses to create social custom of Niyog to prevent prostitution in emergency situations.

It is to be noted that only Swami Dayanand and Arya Samaj  who accept Niyog had interpreted Vedic verses in support of Niyog. I had provided a reference of Pandit Omkar who saw those texts as supporting widow remarriage.  Also Mr. Agniveer in his usual hateful style tries to attack the Muslims by saying, “The meaning of this mantra (Rig 10-18-8) provided has been slightly distorted and misinterpreted to suit one’s mindset of hatred.”

Thus Agniveer is calling Swami Dayanand’s view as a mindset of hatred and suting his agenda. Cheers!

CLAIM 2: Niyog Pratha was a social custom to beget a child that was prevalent in all societies and more so in Biblical and Quranic society.. Bible, Quran and Hadiths are full of such references. Prophet Muhammad is supposed to have the only son from his slave Maria.

Having seens the laws of Niyog it is the height of shamelessness of agniveer to look for Niyog in  Islamic and Christian scriptures.

Mother Mariah, was the WIFE of Prophet Muhammad as clearly mentioned in Hadith accounts. Agniveer as usual takes his readers for a ride by not providing any references.

CLAIM 3: Niyog is optional not compulsory and in emergency situation only.

How ironical it is that pregnancy of wife becomes an emergency situation (as claimed by Swamiji)  and and Niyog is only gain a son even if a daughter is present? How pitiful?

In conclusion, I want to assert that Niyog is a curse and bad practice, it cannot be suitable for any period. The state of a women in India was extremely pitiable. It  feels like certain rishis, munis and  other men made  certain rules and regulations, where in woman was treated like a breakfast plate and and thing of lust only. Niyog  tradition made a woman no less than a prostitute. Like you have already read above, a widow can have niyog with 10 men. The two words widow and prostitute if taken with the same meaning, it won’t be unfair. A movie called “water” released in 2000 which was picturized on the bad condition of  widow women which was controversial and was banned. The movie was based on historical facts where widows were shown as prostitutes. Since widowed women are considered as inauspicious, they go to pilgrimage places like Kaashi, Vrindavan etc and sing religious chants and beg to earn a living. Even in these days there are nearly 16000 widows living in Kaashi.

Let us respect women, work for their empowerment and allow remarriage instead of this cursed practice of Niyog.