{Compiled by: Kandiah Thillaivinayagalingam}
Women of the merchant class could run
textile businesses. Women of royal families also ran businesses, but mostly for
the city-state, rather than for themselves. In the palaces, women either made
cloth by spinning and weaving, or helped with the food.
We also find women ran businesses during
sangam period.Akananuru 390 mentioned one such woman who sell salt for rice.
".......................she went to
all the settlements and called out,
“Town people! Rice for salt, straight
exchange!
Will யு barter?”I blocked her and said to her,
“You with pretty, curved navel and
bamboo-like arms,
what is the price of the salt on your
body?”
She looked at me with her big,
calm,kohl-rimmed eyes" [Akananuru 390]
During the Assyrian era, female power
and freedom declined.Women's roles were strictly defined as daughters and
wives. Women rarely acted as individuals outside their families.
Most girls were trained from childhood
for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper.In a hymn,the goddes
Gula[the patron goddess of doctors & healing] describe the stage in a
women's life as:"I am a daughter,I am a bride,I am a spouse,I am a house
keeper". Girls learned how to grind grains, how to cook and make
beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth.
Also while describing the respective
duties of a mother and father, it is stated in
To bring forth and rear a son is my duty.
To make him noble is the father’s.[Purananuru 312]
Women wore long tunics, wrapped around
the body and pinned at the chest. They also wore make-up, such as red henna for
lipstick and blusher.
In ancient Sumer,Family life started
with a proposal, was followed by a marriage contract, and ended with a
wedding.A girl was considered ready for marriage when she reached puberty.
Marriages were arranged by the families of the future bride and groom. The
groom provided a bridal payment. The bride's parents were responsible for a
dowry (gift) to the husband. The dowry ensured that the woman would get
everything that belonged to her in case the man divorced her or left her a
widow.
In the Sangam age marriage was
considered to be the proper career for a girl. There was no vocation outside
marriage for the vast majority of the Tamil girls.Also Girls enjoyed tolerable
freedom in the selection of their husbands. Marriage was not always
arranged.Therefore,Natural union resulting from love formed the essential
feature of marriage and though it was ultimately considered to be the gift of
the bride by her father or guardian to the most eligible suitor.
In the case of boys, they first enquire
about the girl, her name, residence etc., and make arrangements for marriage
proposals through their parents[Kurunthokai 374]. the parents of boy go to the
residence of girl and ask for marriage. They offer parisam i.e,
bride-price[Purananuru 343]]if the parents of the girl accept, they proceed
further to finalise for formalities.
In the wedding ceremony, the future
husband poured perfume on the bride's head. The groom also gave the bride's
family money and other presents. After the wedding, the husband and wife began
the routine of daily life.This was usually the only marriage for the husband,
as long as the wife lived and provided children.A sumerian proverb referred
husband bragging that his wife had borne eight sons & was still ready to
make love. If the wife died or could not
produce any children, the man had the right to have another wife or a
concubine.The ancient ceremony of marriage which obtained among the Tamils
before it was altered by the Aryans is described in two odes of the anthology
called the Agam.Mothers of sons, with bellies marked with beauty-spots, wearing
beautiful ornaments, poured water on the bride, so that her black hair shone
bright with cool petals of flowers and rice-grains (which had been mixed with
the water), and at the same time they blessed her, saying ‘do not swerve from
the path of chastity, be serviceable in various ways to your husband who loves
you and live with him as his wife’. On the night after the marriage ceremony
was over, the neighbouring ladies assembled, (dressed the bride in new clothes)
and sent her to the arms of her lover, to which she went with trepidation.”[
Agam 86, 1-22].Instead of perfume on the bride's head,Here they poured water
mixed with petals of flowers and rice-grains on the bride's head.
Once a woman was engaged, she was
considered part of her fiancé's family. If her fiancé died before the wedding,
she was then married to one of his brothers or another male relative. If her
husband died, a woman could share her property with her children and was
allowed to marry again.
Life was very difficult for ordinary people
in ancient Mesopotamia. There were plagues, wars, floods, drought and famine.
Children were considered the property of their parents. Children could be sold
into slavery if they disobeyed their parents, although this did not happen very
often.Most boys went to work with their fathers. Girls stayed home with their
mothers to learn household chores and to help look after younger children. Only
boys from rich families went to school.
PART :37 WILL FOLLOW in next week
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