South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 162

Pes hawar

KUSHANAS

Khyber
Pass

TIBET

Kanauj

g e s

M

Arabian Sea

Bay of
Bengal

a

Approximate extent of
Gupta empire

PALLAV AS

T Tributary areas
Other power groups

Cities/towns

CHOLAS

Northwest frontier
Hun attacks and defeats

0 250 500 mi

Indian Ocean

0 250 500 km

Figure 6-7
South Asia, ca 550 AD. While the Indo-Gangetic Plain remained important in the north, river
and coastal regions fostered several powerful communities in the south.

were worthy only as breeders of sons. No matter
their caste, women were linked philosophically
with Sudras , the lowest caste group. Morally and
intellectually , they were seen as weak. Chastity ,
loyalty , submission, and subservience were the
watchwords of a woman' s life. The essence of a
woman' s being was her relationship with her

Funeral flames dispel suspicion, honour lives when
woman dies! The Ramayana

Women: Subjugation and Sati

Born into a male-dominated world, girls, if they
survived the common practice of female infanticide,