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 --- jasn sn <jayasartn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> - Hence the question is not whether women could
> recite the vedas or not. It is ? ?Should they need
to learn vedas at all,  as men do?? 
 
                   **************

Dear member,
You pose a very pertinent query.

If you want to frame the question in the cut-&-dry way
you did, then I say the answer is: Yes, women should
indeed undertake Vedantic studies, but not in the
traditional Vedic way men do.

The example of AndAl you quote is the best one in fact
to illustrate how womenfolk imbibe Vedantic knowledge
from their Vedic surroundings without having to labour
like their menfolk. 

AndAl was the daughter of Peria-azhwAr who was a Vedic
adherent. One must imagine briefly for a moment how
the Peria-AzhwAr household might have been in those
days. It must have had a distinctly Vedic life-style.
Although AndAl surely could not have been initiated
into Vedic studies by her orthodox father, how did she
become such a great Vedantic adept? We can only
conclude that AndAl's Vedic education came to be
imparted to her through a process of inspired osmosis
rather than laborious cultivation.

I've always been struck by the fact that in the
TiruppAvai AndAl does not make a single direct
reference to the Vedic "sruti". Nowhere will you find
a word like "marai" or "vEdiyar" in the TiruppAvai.
But ANdAl does refer to "munivar" and "yOgi" i.e.
realized souls. This to me seems very, very
significant. It suggests to me that she was very
careful not to make direct references to Vedantic
thought, Vedantic faith and Vedantic personality. When
it came to making direct references to Veda, the Vedic
regimen or to Vedic practices she was doubly careful
and avoided it completely. 

In the TiruppAvai, which is full of Upanishad 'sAram'
(as Sri RamanujAchArya said), besides the passing
references to "yOgis", "munivars" and "tavattavars",
we see clearly that AndAl does not anywhere explicitly
pronounce Vedantic thoughts (in the forthright manner
of her holy colleagues, the other AzhwArs such as
NammAzhwAr or Tirumazhisai). All of AndAl's allusions
and references to Veda or Vedanta in the TiruppAvai,
we must not fail to notice, are always rather veiled,
indirect, allegorical, suggestive and under-stated.
Because of this fact probably it would be more
appropriate to characterize the TiruppAvai as being
far more Upanishad 'parimalam' (lingering flavour)
than Upanishad 'sAram' (concentrate). 

For instance, in the line "dEvAdi-dEvanai senru nAm
sEvitthAl, ah-ah yenru aarAindhu arUL ElOr
embaavaay!", we see the veiled allusion to the
"anandavalli" and "brhghuvalli" passages of the
Taittiriya Upanishad. Again in the stanza beginning
"orutthi maganaay pirandhu..." we see her skillfully
use the events of Krishna's early avataric days as
veiled metaphors for traditional Vedic sacrificial
("yagnya") procedures.
   
AndAl's references to Veda or Vedanta are thus always
veiled, never forthright. We must ask ourselves why?
It was clearly because it was her way of deferring to
the time-honoured tradition of women from Vedic
families being duty-bound to observe reticence in all
matters Vedic. 

So, the point I'm trying to make is that AndAl's
example that you quote is in itself the best example 
to prove rather than disprove the time-honoured
tradition of women not being obliged at all to engage
directly in Vedic studies. They are only needed to
enable, encourage and support the family menfolk to
faithfully tread the Vedic pathway as ordained. In
doing that not only would the womenfolk serve best the
interests of the Vedic way of life but also, in the
process, like AndAl, gain the highest Vedantic wisdom
and Grace.

I commend you, dear member, for posing a very tricky
but first-class question.

Rgds,

dAsan,
Sudarshan  

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