प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 215
the proper manner, its study should be prohibited to
them in order to avert spiritual disasters to the family
arising out of the mistakes of amateurish Vedic girls-
students. Spoken dialect had by this time become
completely differentiated from the Vedic speech ;
women were unable to speak even ordinary Sanskrit
and used to express themselves in Prakrits or
vernaculars. They must have experienced greater
difficulties in correctly pronouncing the Vedic hymns
than men, who could speak classical Sanskrit correctly.
Leaders of society therefore felt that correct
transmission of the Vedic literature necessitated the
prohibition of its study to women. Their Upanayana
was therefore also discontinued.
**The Lowering of the Marriage Age :—**The
mischief caused by the discontinuance of Upanayana
was further enhanced by the lowering of the marriage-
able age. In the Vedic period girls were married at
about the age of 16 or 17 ; but by c. 500 B. C. the
custom arose of marrying them soon after the
attainment of puberty. Dharmaśāstra works of the

1. It is undoubtedly true that Mādhava, who flourished in the
   14th century, observes in his Nyāya-mālāvīstāra (p. 335, Bombay
   edition) that women are entitled to Upanayana. A similar
   statement is made by Mitramiśra of the 17th century when
   discussing Manu II, 66. The statements of these authors in these
   passages do not warrant the view that Upanayana of girls was
   performed in some families even in the 17th century A. D. The
   above authors are simply expounding the views of the earlier writers
   they are commenting upon, and not attesting to the contemporary
   practice. This would be quite clear from a wrong construction
   which Mitramiśra elsewhere places upon a passage in the Pāraskara
   Gṛihya Sūtra :—बाह्यतः स्त्री बलिमुपहरति II, 17. Mitramiśra com-
   bines the two words स्त्री and बलिम् into स्त्रीबलिम् on the ground that
   women were incapable of offering any oblations owing to their
   ignorance. Cf. एतादृशव्याख्याने स्त्रीणां तत्तद्बलिप्रदानानुकूलविद्याकल्पना
   स्यात् । V. M. S. p. 908.