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

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 221
dowager queens and princesses, who used to take
active part in the administration of their kingdoms.
Nayanikā of the Andhra dynasty (c. 150 B. C.) and
Prabhāvatīguptā of the Vākāṭaka dynasty (c. 390 A.D.)
were governing extensive kingdoms during the minority
of their sons. The queen of Masaga directed the
defence of her capital against Alexander the Great after
the death of her husband. Several queens of Kashmir
have fought on the battlefield,¹ and some of them
like Sugandhā and Diddā have ruled as regnant
queens. In the Chālukya dynasty several queens and
ladies of the royal family like Mailādevī, Akkādevī,
Kunkumadevī and Lakshmīdevī are known to have
taken active part in the administration of the empire
as governors of towns and districts.² It is therefore
quite obvious that steps must have been taken in
royal families in ancient India to give proper training
to princesses in order to make them fit to carry
on the administration in the case of emergency,
or even in normal times in order to help their
husbands. The training was both administrative
and military. Administrative training was of
course given when they had become old enough
to take part in the governance of the kingdom,
but military training was imparted during their
adolescence. They were trained fairly well in the
use of arms; they could also ride and swim. The son
of queen Vijayamahādevī was called Gaṅgadatta,
because the mother used to swim about in the Ganges,
owing to a strong desire to do so during pregnancy.³
In ordinary Kshatriya families also some military
training seems to have been imparted to the lady

1. Rājataraṅgiṇī, VII, 905, 909, 981; VIII, 1187-9.
2. I. A., IX p. 274, XVIII p. 37
3. E. C., VII, Shimoga No. 4, dated 1122 A.D.