Patriarchal and Matriarchal societies

[L. Suresh Kumar-LSK]

Vanakkam.

[ P - Patriarchal ]
[ M - Matriarchal ]

Last night, (Friday-Dec-15-2000), I was watching a program on
A&E channel, which was titled "Paradise Lost". It talked about
Egyptian and Mesapatomian civilizations. The program dealt with
both 'patriarchal and matriarchal societies' in these
civilizations. While referring to the times under Islamic rulers,
the program mentioned women were subjected to the domination
of the males more than in the past - and that it was transformed
into a patriarchal society - women were needed to make more
male babies intended to serve in war - "men were killing and
breeding machines" ( to this effect ) .....<blah blah blah>.

Also, a good number of statues from Egypt were used in the program
to discuss the P/M societies based on the sculptures and the
heiroglyphics.

Now, to the best of my knowledge, I did not hear any mention
about how the societies evolved into P/M in the present day
Indian sub-continental region in the past. [ I started
watching it only from the middle of it ].

Questions - "What was the nature of the society in the
present day Indian sub-continental region in the past ?
Was it a patriarchal or matriarchal society ? How was this
presented in our ancient literature ? What kind of evidence
do we have from archeological studies ? Were all societies
P or M ? When did one change from P to M and viceversa ?"

How come there is almost no mention of the ancient civilizations
in India/China/Japan or generally Asia almost never included
in such programs on A&E ? - I am puzzled. They almost seem
obsessed with Egyptian civilization, that I feel its an overkill.
Of course, there is lot to learn, but a more spread out focus
does not seem to be so in such similar programs on A&E.

Thanks
- Suresh


_______________________________________________
Why pay for something you could get for free?
NetZero provides FREE Internet Access and Email
http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html