New Delhi, Aug. 28 :     The National Commission for Women has stirred a hornets' nest with its report on rape. According to the report women were treated as 'queens' in ancient India and their position deteriorated with invasions by 'foreign elements' from the 8th century. Poornima Advani, an NCW member who has authored the report, is now desperately looking for an escape hatch that could clear her name as well as that of the commission. She has been meeting leaders of women's organisations seeking their suggestion on how to find an honourable solution to the controversy. The women's organisations however, have made their stand clear: Either the controversial portions of the report should be dropped or the report should be withdrawn. Last week, the NCW members stayed closeted for an entire day to discuss the situation but failed to come to a conclusion. 'We have still not taken a decision,' said NCW chairperson Vibha Parthasarathy. She added the commission will make its position known as soon as it reaches a decision. Members of the NCW have hinted that a deletion of the controversial sections of the report will raise the hackles of 'certain groups' which want the report to be circulated as it is. 'The references to the changing status of women in society will be to the liking of the RSS, which blames everything on the Muslim invasion,' says Jyotsna Chatterjee of the Joint Women's Programme. Advani, however, has gone out of her way to say that she does not subscribe to the Sangh ideology and had just picked up these references from stray textbooks. But historians specialising in gender and ancient history say the NCW has no business to make such 'sweeping generalisations' which are 'rubbish'. In the chapter on historical evaluation of rape, the report says: 'The Indian woman's vulnerability to abuse by the invading hordes bestowed upon man a responsibility to protect her and from thence developed the inherent dominant role of the male within the family.' Tracing the genesis of Indian patriarchy to Muslim invasions, the report states: 'Long years of invasion and infliction of crime on the Indian woman led to the protective measures.' The invasions, the report says, pushed the Indian woman behind the purdah, bred illiteracy and 'domestic captivity', and made them economically dependent. 'The strong lobby of Brahmins stepped in to create regulatory norms, superimposed by superstitions, to guide the indigenous Hindu society,' goes on the report. Furious with the 'distortions' gender historians like Kumkum Roy are rebutting these references word by word, sentence by sentence. 'Even before the 8th century there were constant wars. And the position of women in ancient India was not all that glorious,' says Roy, who teaches history in Jawaharlal Nehru University. She quotes Vedic literature where there are references to women being burnt. 'The punishment laid down in the Manusmriti varies according to caste and gender,' stresses Roy. A Brahmin rapist was let off with a light sentence while a rapist of a lower caste was burnt to death. Vedic literature also refers to the gifting of women which means they were treated as 'property'. Roy mentions 6th century inscriptions corroborating the existence of sati. Krishna Shrimali, professor of ancient history in Delhi University, backs Roy's arguments. 'You cannot make a blanket generalisation that all was fine for women in ancient India. In every society there are tiers and society in ancient India was not monolithic,' says Shrimali. It is not just the prologue with the historical references which is causing a ripple: the report's epilogue has also come in for flak. 'Some have said that India must ensure a high status of women - a position of honour and dignity they enjoyed in ancient India. As the texts clarify, women held an honoured position as the ardhangini, grihlaxmi and dharmapatni,' says the report. Contesting this position, Roy says: 'Most of us would not like to revert to being grihlakshmis.'