Gender bias

All world religions are patriarchal. Hinduism is not an exception to this rule. This charge applies to Hinduism as much as to Christianity and Islam. Religious narratives, myths and values legitimize the patriarchal character of society. Practices like child marriage, dowry and female feticide in search of a male child are associated with religious justifications. Yet, there is a caveat here. First of all, different religions create different types of barriers for women. Secondly, as society evolved, the relationship between religion and women’s status has also changed considerably. Religious beliefs about women which prevail today are not same as those which prevailed five hundred years ago. On the one hand, in contemporary India, religious beliefs justify practices like female infanticide or female feticide, neglect of female babies, and violence against women (both at home and work places), and on the other hand religious leaders/saints are seen making fervent appeal against such wrong practices. Many interpreters, from both critical and conservative categories, use Hindu epics and texts to justify their claims. You find contradictory statements in the same book. For example, Manusmriti which puts lots of restrictions on women also says that gods live in those households where women are worshipped. In Tulsidas’s Ramcharit Manas there are instances of valorization of women’s position as well as of silencing of women’s voice.

Magic, witchcraft and astrology

Religion and culture maintain, justify and promote magic, witchcraft and superstitions which include belief in astrology, palmistry and numerology. No doubt many of these practices are not typically Hindu and almost all ancient societies had such practices in some or other forms, in India and outside.The Hindu systems of philosophy do not justify magic and witchcraft. From time to time religious and spiritual gurus have denounced such practices too but they have continued and today they have the mass media and internet support. Consistent as they are with the Hindu belief in fate and a personalized relationship with God astrological predictions are commonly used among Hindu masses as well as the educated middle class as part of religious discourse. Consulting horoscope of the potential matches at the time of marriage or use of Vastu in construction of a new building is observed even among the urban educated people.