(With Special Reference to Gender Bias in Vedic, Upanishadic and Dharmashastric Traditions)
Dr. Renu Chaudhary
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, C.M.P. Degree College, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj
E-mail: renu.chaudhry2009@gmail.com
Issue: Volume 2 No. 1 (March 2026) Anubodhan
Received: 18 March 2026 / Accepted: 23 March 2026 / Published: 31 March 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.65885/anubodhan.v2n1.2026.015
Abstract
This study critically examines how women, silence, and philosophical authority intersect in classical Indian texts, arguing that gender bias is central to the formation of authority within Vedic, Upanishadic, and Dharmashastra traditions. While these texts present influential metaphysical and ethical ideas, they are constructed within patriarchal frameworks that systematically restrict women’s access to philosophical authority. The analysis contends that women’s voices are often suppressed or mediated through cultural constructions of silence, which function both as a contemplative practice and an instrument of exclusion. In early Vedic and Upanishadic texts, exceptional figures like Gargi and Maitreyi display intellectual agency, but their rarity underscores a tradition that largely sidelines women’s philosophical participation. Dharmashastric literature further institutionalises silence by prescribing it as a normative social and moral expectation for women, thereby formalising their exclusion from education, scriptural access, and debate. This enforced silence perpetuates male dominance and codifies authority as masculine. The central argument of the study is that these gendered structures of silence and authority are maintained by social power—not necessity—linking philosophical legitimacy to masculinity and silence to femininity. Through a feminist philosophical lens, the research uncovers the logic by which classical Indian philosophy often marginalises women and challenges this gender hierarchy by advocating for reinterpretation and recovery of suppressed voices. Situated within feminist epistemology and the concept of epistemic injustice, the study insists that women’s systematic exclusion from philosophical discourse reflects broader issues in the politics of knowledge. Ultimately, the project contends that only by directly addressing how silence and authority are gendered can Indian philosophy become more inclusive and ethically robust, thus contributing meaningfully to global debates on gender, knowledge, and power.
Keywords: woman, silence, philosophical authority, classical Indian philosophy, gender bias, Vedic tradition, Upanishads, Dharmashastras, feminist epistemology, epistemic injustice
How to cite: Chaudhary, R. (2026). Critical Analytical Study: Woman, Silence and Philosophical Authority in Classical Indian Texts. Anubodhan, 2(1), 143–157. https://doi.org/10.65885/anubodhan.v2n1.2026.015