Häxor, drottningar, slavinnor och andra kvinnor i Niya : En studie av kvinnans status utifrån Kharosthi-dokument och arkeologiska gravfynd i Niya

Sammanfattning: Once upon a time there was an oasis kingdom called Kroraina. It was situated in what is today the Xinjiang-region in China. In 1901 approximately one thousand Kharosthi documents was discovered under the sand in the ruins of the ancient lost city of Niya, Kroraina. The documents and artefacts reveal the everyday life of inhabitants and religious syncretism, in about the 3rd and 4th centuries C.E. Niya was abandoned shortly after it peaked, and much of its history is still a mystery, likewise the story of its women. The aim of this thesis is to examine the status of women in Niya, both in local society and in religions. To achieve this, I use a theory of social constructionism and a method of content analysis with a gender perspective. In the study of Kharosthi documents and graves of female mummies I discovered a connection. The result shows that the former high status of women in religion and society was decreasing, and a lower status of woman was at the time for Buddhist establishing in Niya. The time of witches was gone. The time of monks was coming. But different kinds of male-dominant religions in this syncretistic landscape contributed to this decline for women. It doesn´t matter if she is a witch, a female slave or even a queen. Womens position in Niya was a mix; high and low at the same time, and sometimes almost invisible.