BEYOND THE ALTEKARIAN PARADIGM 45 from the dominance of Sanskritic models in the nineteenth century, since the major thrust in the debate came from within the upper sections of the Hindu community. The above-mentioned characteristic has survived in the women's question even in contemporary times where the study of the identity of women is based almost entirely on Sanskritic models and the myths conditioning women. Another feature which has significant consequences for the general debate on the status of women is that both the proponents of the reform as well as the opponents of the reform looked back to the ancient texts as the source from which both groups took their positions and invoked the sanctions of the Shastras in putting forward their arguments. This naturally necessitated a study of the position of women over the course of history. The deciding factor in the debate between the liberals or progressives, and the conservatives was the relative antiquity of the source from which they were quoting. The older the source the more authentic and authoritative it was considered. Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and R.G. Bhandarkar, all quoted copiously from the Sanskrit sources in order to attack the conservatives. There is thus a direct correlation between the concerns of the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, and the Prarthana Samaj and the writings on the position of women in Hindu civilization. Since the traditional work on the status of women in India exists entirely within the context of Hinduism it is heavily pre-occupied with religious and legal questions such as the right to widow remarriage, the existence of the institution of Niyoga, the right to property for women, the origin and development of the institution of Stridhana, the right of the childless widow to adopt and so on. On the religious front there is an obsession with the right of a woman to perform religious sacrifices either by herself or with her husband, as also with her interest and involvement with the pursuit of religious goals. The social position of women is usually concerned with the inclusion or exclusion of women in public assemblies and their right to education. On the whole the perspective on women is confined to seeing them within the context of the family. It is the status of women within the family, and primarily in the relationship of wives to husbands with which the traditional writers were concerned. Another feature of the traditional writing on the position of women is that they were based entirely on brahmanical sources. Even if these sources are considered to be reasonably authentic, which I have reason to doubt, they carry the problem of (a) an inherent bias of the brahmanas, (b) reflecting the precepts of the brahmanas rather than the actual practice of the people, and (c) confining themselves to the upper castes. At best the existing work can be termed as a partial view from above. How unsatisfactory such unconditional reliance upon brahmanical sources has been will be clear further on in this paper. The analysis of the position of women in ancient India has also been coloured by the fact that almost all the works have been written by