Hindu texts present diverse views on the position of women, ranging from feminine leadership as the highest goddess, to limiting gender roles. The Devi Sukta hymn of Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, declares the feminine energy as the essence of the universe, the one who creates all matter and consciousness, the eternal and infinite, the metaphysical and empirical reality (Brahman), the soul, (supreme self) of everything. The woman is celebrated as the most powerful and the empowering force in some Hindu Upanishads, Sastras and Puranas, particularly the Devi Upanishad, Devi Mahatmya and Devi-Bhagavata Purana. Ancient and medieval era Hindu texts present a diverse picture of duties and rights of women in Hinduism. The texts recognize eight kinds of marriage, ranging from father finding a marriage partner for his daughter and seeking her consent (Brahma or Devic marriage), to the bride and groom finding each other without parental participation (Gandharva marriage) and paishachik (against God's blessing) marriage by force against woman, not following varnashram dharm and without parents blessing. Scholars state that Vedic-era Hindu texts did not have the practice of Dowry or Sati if . These practices likely became widespread sometime in the 2nd millennium CE from socio-political developments in the Indian subcontinent. Throughout history, Hindu society has seen many female rulers, such as Rudramadevi, religious figures and saints, such as Andal, philosophers, such as Maitreyi, and female practitioners/ conductors of Vedic Hindu rituals. Hinduism, states Bryant, has the strongest presence of the divine feminine among major world religions, from ancient times to the present. The goddess is viewed as central in Shakti and Shiva Hindu traditions. Matriarchal theology is quite prevalent in Sanskritic traditions and village Hinduism relating to the worship of Shakti, and there are numerous Hindu communities that are matriarchal. Ancient texts Vedic literature Ancient texts of Hinduism expound a reverence for the feminine. The 10th chapter of the Rigveda, for example, asserts the feminine to be the supreme principle behind all of cosmos, in the following hymn called as Devi Sukta, At the same time , the Rigveda states contradictory views on women: Upanishads The Devi Sukta ideas of the Rigveda are further developed in the relatively later composed Shakta Upanishads, states McDaniel, where the Devi asserts that she is Brahman, from her arise Prakṛti (matter) and Purusha (consciousness), she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the