To Veil or Reveal?

Is it trespassing on a freedom to choose an attire or is it a genuine concern on women? And is a veil necessary? Is it a choice or is it by the book? - Well looks like the French have disturbed a hornet's nest and well it is about time.

Sura 24.31 in Quran says, "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss."

Whether the above insists on wearing a burqa is still ambiguous. In India the veil was existing even much before the islam. It is now generally accepted that the purdah ( seclusion and veiling ) was existent in India since ancient Aryan times. [ Altekar 167-70 ] [ Indra 73 ] [ Shamram 24 ] [ Ojha-Cutlture 66-67] In fact, certain high-class women refused to entertain strangers [ Altekar 175 ] [ Nand 5-6 ] It seems that the bodice was imported by Muslims.

The practice of using veils by women, particularly in well-to-do families, was in vogue. Prabhakaravardhana's daughter Rajyasri put on a veil when she met her husband, the Maukhari Grahavarman of Kanauj, for eh first time. It is known from Vacaspati Misra (9C AD) that women in good families observed the purdah system and did not appear in public without veils ... However, Dhoyi, the author of the 12 C poetical work the Pavanaduta, relates that the women of Vijayapura (in Bengal) did not observe the purdah system'
-- [CHI Vol II #37 p.595 # 37 `Some aspects of the position of women in Ancient India' DCGanguly p.594 ff]

Namboodiri Brahmin women of Kerala were surrounded by an entire screen carried by female servants. "Nambudri women carry with them an umbrella whereever they go out, to prevent them from being seen by men. They also should be covered with a cloth from head to foot, and should not wear jewels. A Nayar woman should precede her and watch her movements.

Orthodox Jewish women have long concealed their hair with a scarf or wig upon marriage. The 13th-century scholar Moses Maimonides is quoted in the Mishneh Torah as stating that the covering of a woman’s hair is from the teachings handed down to the biblical figure of Moses, or rather from the Old Testament. He quotes some famous ancient Rabbis saying,"It is not like the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered" and "Cursed be the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen....a woman who exposes her hair for self-adornment brings poverty." The veil personified the dignity and superiority of noble women. It also represented a woman's inaccessibility as a sanctified possession of her husband.

St. Paul in the New Testament says "Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head" St. Paul's rationale for veiling women is that the veil represents a sign of the authority of the man, who is the image and glory of God, over the woman who was created from and for man.

Even today many conservative Hindus do veil and so do many conservative Jews and Nuns.

But where are we? are we not in a century when Women have proved equals? Is it not a fact that what is hidden creates more curiosity than what is known?

There is yet another reason which supports a veil. A man gets more feminine if in company of females and vice versa. A pure man and women in them is possible when they seldom see each other. Normally veiled societies produce better men and women, as they are. But what is the point when it is not a homogeneous system, where men can see except theirs and women are seen even if not theirs.

The veil in the mind is better than a prison in clothing is a counter argument. Though there may be more crimes in a liberalized world, not much can be attributed to the absence of a veil in clothes but mostly because of an uncontrolled mind.

The debate will continue as there is no clear sign from the above and nor is there any credible evidence supporting either.

But what does the women want? If they wish otherwise, surely it must be the will of their gods.

Did you Know?
Among the Tuareg of Northeastern Africa, it's the men, not the women, who go veiled. Hardened Tuareg warriors, knowing with precision how fabulous they look, arise out of the desert on their tall, swift cloud-white camels looking arrogant and elegant and dangerous and blue. Men begin wearing a veil at age 25 which conceals their entire face excluding their eyes. This veil is never removed, even in front of family members