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

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 205
sacrifices enjoined in it down to about 200 B. C. This
need not surprise us, for some of the hymns of the
Ṛigveda are the compositions of poetesses. Even the
orthodox tradition admits that the Ṛigvedic
collection contains hymns composed by twenty
different poetesses. Viśvavārā, Sikatā Nivāvarī,
Ghoshā, Romaśā, Lopāmudrā, Apālā and Urvaśī are
the names of some of them. Man could perform the
Vedic sacrifices only if he had his wife by his side ;¹
both had to undergo a special initiation² on the
occasion and take equally active part in its procedure.³
Down to the end of the Mauryan period, the housewife
was expected to offer oblations in the household
(grihya) fire unaided by the husband, normally in the
evening and sometimes in the morning also.⁴ In the
srastarārohaṇa ritual of the Agrahāyaṇa ceremony, the
wife used to recite a number of Vedic hymns⁵ and
the harvest sacrifices could be performed by women
alone, 'because such was the long standing custom'.⁶
From the Rāmāyaṇa we learn that Kauśalyā was by
herself alone performing a sacrifice on the morning of
her son's proposed installation as an heir-apparent ;⁷
1 अयज्ञियो वा एष योऽपत्नीकः । S. Br., V. 1. 6-10
2 T. Br. III. 3. 3
3 या दंपती सुमनसा सुनुत आ च धावतः । देवासो नित्ययाशिरा ।
R. V., VIII. 31
4 Go. Gr. S., 1. 3. The term patnī denotes the special connec-
tion of the wife with her husband's sacrifices ; cf.
पत्युर्नो यज्ञसंयोगे । Paṇini, IV. 1. 33
5 P. G. S., III. 2. See the commentary of Harihara also.
6 स्त्रियश्चोपयजेरन्नाचरितत्वात् । P. G. S., II. 20.
7 सा क्षौमवसना हृष्टा नित्यं व्रतपरायणा ।
अग्निं जुहोति स्म तदा मंत्रवित्कृतमंगला ॥ II. 20. 15.

206 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
the same was the case with Tārā when her husband
Vālī was about to leave the palace to meet Sugrīva in
the fateful encounter.¹ It is interesting to note that
both these ladies are expressly described by the epic
as mantravid, i. e. well grounded in the Vedic literature.
We need not then wonder if we find Sītā also offering
her Vedic prayer during the days of her captivity in
Laṅkā.² Kuntī, the mother of Pāṇḍavas, was well-
versed in the Mantras of the Atharvaveda (Mbh., III.
305. 20).
Upanayana of Girls : No one can recite Vedic
prayers or offer Vedic sacrifices without having under-
gone the Vedic initiation (Upanayana). It is, therefore,
but natural that in the early period the Upanayana of
girls should have been as common as that of boys.
There is ample evidence to show that such was the
case. The Atharvaveda (XI. 5. 18) expressly refers to
maidens undergoing the Brahmacharya discipline³ and
the Sūtra works of the 5th century B. C. supply
interesting details in its connection. Even Manu
includes Upanayana among the saṁskāras (rituals)
obligatory for girls (II. 66). After about the beginning
of the Christian era, girls' Upanayana went out of
vogue, but Smṛiti writers of even the 8th century A. D.
like Yama admit its prevalence in the earlier age.⁴
¹ ततः स्वस्त्ययनं कृत्वा मंत्रविद्विजयैषिणी । IV. 16. 12.
² संध्याकालमनाः श्यामा ध्रुवमेष्यति जानकी ।
नदीं चेमां शुभजलां संध्यार्थं वरवर्णिनी ॥ V. 15. 48.
³ ब्रह्मचर्येण कन्या युवानं विन्दते पतिम् । XI. 5. 18.
⁴ Cf. पुराकल्पे तु नारीणां मौञ्जीबन्धनमिष्यते ।
अध्यापनं च वेदानां सावित्रीवचनं तथा ॥
पिता पितृव्यो भ्राता वा नैनामध्यापयेत्परः ।
स्वगृहे चैव कन्याया भैक्षचर्या विधीयते ॥

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 207
Two Classes of Girl Students :—There were no
child marriages in the Vedic period ; as a rule however
girls could not remain unmarried as long as boys as
they had to be younger than their spouses. Majority
of them used to get married at the age of 16 or 17,
and only a few would prosecute their studies after
that age. Girls of the former class were called
Sadyovadhūs, and of the latter class Brahmvādinīs.
The education of the Sadyovadhūs comprised the study
of important Vedic hymns necessary for usual prayers
and sacrifices. Music and dancing were also taught
to them ; partiality of women to these arts is often
referred to in the Vedic literature.¹ Brahmavādinīs
used to marry after their education was over ; some of
them like Vedavatī, a daughter of sage Kuśadhvaja,
would not marry at all (Rām., VII. 17).
Attainments of Lady Scholars :—The attainments
of lady scholars, who remained unmarried for a longer
time, were naturally wider and more varied. In the
Vedic age, they used to acquire thorough mastery in the
Vedic literature and even compose poems, some of
which have been honoured by their inclusion in the sacred
canon. When the Vedic lore and sacrifices became
complex, a new branch of study, called Mīmānsā, came
to be developed in their connection. Though this
was a subject, drier than mathematics, we find lady
scholars taking keen interest in it. Kāśakṛitsnin had
composed a work on Mīmānsā called Kāśakṛitsnī after
him ; lady students who used to specialise in it, were
known as Kāśakṛitsnā.² If lady specialists in a technical

1. S. Br., III. 2. 4. 6 observes that women can be easily won
   over by one who can sing and dance. Appreriation of music and dan-
   cing of course presupposes a training in them.
   2 एवमपि काशकृत्स्निना प्रोक्ता मीमांसा काशकृत्स्नी । काशकृत्स्नी-
   मधीते काशकृत्स्ना ब्राह्मणी । On IV, 1, 14 ; 3, 155.

208 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch..
science like Mīmāṁsā were so numerous as to necessitate
the coining of a new special term to denote them, we
can reasonably conclude that the number of women
who used to receive general literary and cultural
education must have been fairly large. When in the
course of time the study of philosophy became popular
in the Upanishadic age, women began to take keen
interest in that subject also. Such was the case with
Yājñavalkya's wife Maitreyī; she was more interested
in studying deeper problems of philosophy than in
wearing costly jewels and apparels.¹ In the philo-
sophical tournament held during the sacrificial session
performed under the auspices of king Janaka, it is
interesting to note that the subtlest philosophical
question was asked by the lady philosopher Gārgī
Vāchaknavī.² The question was so subtle and esoteric
in character that Yājñavalkya refused to discuss it in
public. The keen reasoning and subtle cross-exami-
nation of Yājñavalkya by Gārgī shows that she was a
dialectician and philosopher of a high order. Ātreyī
of the Uttara-Rāma-charit was another lady, who was
studying Vedānta under Vālmīki and Agastya.³
Some lady scholars of the age like Sulabhā, Vaḍavā,
Prāthiteyī, Maitreyī, and Gārgī seem to have made
real contribution to the advancement of knowledge, for
they enjoy the rare privilege of being included among
the galaxy of distinguished scholars, to whom a
daily tribute of gratitude was to be given by a
1 Br. Up., II, 4; IV, 5. Cf.—सा होवाच मैत्रेयी। येनाहं नामृता
स्याम् किं तेनाहं कुर्यामिति ।
2 अनतिप्रश्न्यां वै देवतामतिपृच्छसि । Ibid. III, 6, 1.
3 तेभ्योऽधिगन्तुं निगमान्तविद्यां वाल्मीकिपार्श्वादिह संचरामि ।
Act II.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 209
grateful posterity at the time of the daily prayer
(Brahmayajña).¹
Effect of Buddhism on Female Education : The
eventual permission, which the Buddha accorded to the
admission of women to his Church, gave an impetus
to the spread of education and philosophy among the
ladies of the aristocratic and commercial communities.
Like Brahmavādinīs, several ladies in Buddhist
families also used to lead a life of celibacy, with the
aim of understanding and following the eternal truths
of religion and philosophy. Some of them even went
outside India to countries like Ceylon and became
famous there as teachers of the holy scriptures.
Among the authoresses of the Therī-gāthā, who were
believed to have attained salvation, 32 were unmarried
women and 18 married ones. Amongst the former,
Subhā, Anopamā and Sumedhā belonged to very rich
families, and are said to have been wooed by princes
and rich merchants ² When so large a percentage of
girls was leading a life of celibacy in pursuit of religion
and philosophy, it is but natural that the general
average of intelligence and educatioh among them
must have been fairly high.
How Girls were educated : Let us now try to
find out the agencies for imparting female education
during this period. We have already seen that for
a long time family was the only educational institution,
and even boys used to receive education only from
their fathers, uncles or other elders. The same
naturally was the case with girls. When however
later Smṛitis like Yama³ lay down that none but
1 As'. G. S., III. 4. 4.; S'a. G. S., IV. 10. 3.
2 Horner, Women under Primitive Buddhism, Chap. II.
3 पिता पितृव्यो भ्राता वा नैनामध्यापयेत् परः ।
14

210 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
near relations should teach girl students, they are
probably referring to a state of affairs current by
about the beginning of the Christian era; for there
is evidence to show that such was not the case in
the earlier period. When a large number of women
were receiving higher education and were making
their own contributions to the march of knowledge,
it is but natural to suppose that some of them must
have followed the profession of teaching. And the
presence of the terms Upādhyāyā and Upādhyāyānī in
Sanskrit language supports this conjecture. The
latter of these words is a courtesy title given to the
wife of a teacher, who may or may not be educated.
The former, however, denotes a lady, who was herself
a teacher. That a special term should have been
coined to denote lady teachers in order to distinguish
them from wives of teachers would show that their
number in society could not have been small. We
must note in this connection that there was no Purdah
custom in Hindu society down to the 12th century, and
so there was no difficulty for women in taking to the
teaching profession. Lady teachers may probably
have confined themselves to the teaching of girl
students, though some may have taught boys also.
Pāṇini refers to boarding houses for lady-students,
chhātrīśālās², and these probably were under the
superintendence of Upādhyāyās or lady teachers, who
had made teaching their profession. Unfortunately
we have no clear and sufficient evidence about the
activities of lady teachers and the management of
girls' boardings.
1 उपेत्याधीयते अस्याः सा उपाध्याया । Patañjali on III. 322.
2 छात्र्यादयः शालायाम् । VI. 2. 86.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 211
Was there co-education ? The modern reader
would be anxious to know whether co-education
prevailed in the past. Our sources however throw but
dim light on the subject. From the Mālatīmādhava
of Bhavabhūti, written in the 8th century A. D., we
learn that the nun Kāmandakī was educated along
with Bhūrivasu and Devarāta at a famous centre of
education.¹ This would show that if not in Bhava-
bhūti's time, at least some centuries earlier, sometimes
boys and girls were educated together while receiving
higher education. In the Uttara-Rāma-charit also (of
the same author) we find Ātreyī receiving her
education along with Kuśa and Lava (Act II). The
stories of Kahoda and Sujātā and Ruru and
Pramadvarā, narrated in Purāṇas, would also point
to co-education. They would further show that at a
time when girls were being married at an advanced
age and receiving co-education, sometimes love-
marriages used to take place as a consequence of it.
When however there were competent lady teachers,
parents may have preferred to send their daughters
to read under them ; but when they were not available,
they may have sent their wards to read under male
teachers, and necessarily along with male students.
In an age, which looked upon love marriages as
nothing abnormal,² co-education need not have
frightened the parents. What percentage of girls
¹ अयि किं न वेत्सि यदेकत्र नो विद्यापरिग्रहाय नानादिगन्तवासिनां
साहचर्यमासीत् । Act I.
² सुखत्वादबहुक्लेशादपि चावरणादिह ।
अनुरागात्मकत्वाच्च गांधर्वः प्रवरो मतः । Kāmasūtra, III. 5. 30
गांधर्वमप्येके प्रशंसंति सर्वेषां स्नेहानुगतत्वात् ।
B. D. S., I. 11-13. 7

212 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
received co-education is a question which we cannot
answer in the present state of our knowledge. It
could not however have been very large.
Extent of Female Education : It is not easy to
determine the extent of female education during the
period we are reviewing here. Vedic literature has
preserved rituals to be performed by parents anxious
for the birth of scholarly daughters¹; it would therefore
follow that many parents must have been anxious that
their daughters should become cultured and accom-
plished ladies. Education of girls could not have been
neglected by the ordinary well-to-do father. Upa-
nayana ritual was also obligatory for girls, and this
must have ensured the imparting of a certain amount
of Vedic and literary education to the girls of all the
Aryan classes. We may therefore presume that as
long as Upanayana ritual was performed in the case of
girls, and the custom of child marriage had not taken
root in society, girls of well-to-do families must be
receiving fairly good education. Such continued to be
the case down to c. 500 B. C.
SECTION II.
FEMALE EDUCATION FROM c. 200 B.C. TO
c. 1200 A.D.
Deterioration in religious Status : Female educa-
tion received a great setback during this period
primarily owing to the deterioration of the religious
status of women. During the earlier period, Upanayana
ceremony was as much obligatory for girls as it was
¹ अथ य इच्छेद्दुहिता मे पंडिता जायेत सर्वमायुरियादिति तिलौदनं
पाचयित्वा सर्पिष्मन्तमश्नीयाताम् । Br. Up., VI, 4. 17.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 213
for boys. We have already seen how this ensured a
certain amount of higher education to every Aryan girl.
During the period we are reviewing, however,
Upanayana began to be gradually prohibited to girls.
By about 500 B. C. it had already become a mere
formality, not followed by any serious course of Vedic
education.¹ The Manusmriti, which was composed
at about 200 B. C., goes a step further and declares
that girls' Upanayana should be performed without
the recitation of Vedic Mantras.² But immediately in
the next verse it is stated that it is really the marriage
ritual of girls which corresponds to the Upanayana
ritual of boys³. It is therefore clear that Upanayana
of girls, even as a mere formality, was dying down by
the beginning of the Christian era. Yājñavalkya
(200 A. D.) therefore takes the logical step of
prohibiting Upanayana altogether in the case of girls
(I. 13), and all later Smṛiti-writers follow his lead,
though some of them like Yama admit that once upon
a time girls used to have the privilege of Upanayana
and Vedic studies. The discontinuance of Upanayana
was disastrous to the religious status of women; they
were declared to be of the same status as that of
the Shudras⁴ and unfit to recite Vedic Mantras and

1. तत्र ब्रह्मवादिनीनामग्नीन्धनं वेदाध्ययनं स्वगृहे च भैक्षचर्या ।
   सद्योवधूंनां तूपस्थिते विवाहे कथंचिदुपनयनमात्रं कृत्वा विवाहः कार्यः ।
   Hārīta quoted in V. M. S., p. 402; S. C. S., p. 62.
2. अमंत्रिका तु कार्येयं स्त्रीणामानृदशेषतः । II. 66.
   Cf. also नास्ति स्त्रीणां क्रिया मंत्रैरिति धर्मे व्यवस्थितिः । IX. 18.
3. वैवाहिको विधिः स्त्रीणां संस्कारो वैदिको मतः ।
   पतिसेवा गुरौ वासो गृहार्थोऽग्निपरिक्रिया ॥ II. 67.
4. वदन्ति केचिन्मुनयः स्त्रीणां शूद्रसमानताम् । Purāṇāntara in
   V. M. Paribhāshā, p. 40.

214 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
perfom Vedic sacrifices. The wife's association with
the husband in the family sacrifices became a formal
matter and there were some theologians like Aitiśāyana
who were opposed even to this formal participation.
(P.M., VI. 1. 2. 2.)
Why Vedic Education was prohibited to Women :
The causes of the prohibition of the Vedic education
to women during this later period have nowhere been
specifically stated ; they can only be inferred. When
Vedic literature came to be regarded as revealed,
it was insisted that it should be very meticulously and
accurately committed to memory. The Vedic course
also became a lengthy one, requiring a long period
of study, and could not be finished till about the age
of 24. The marriages of girls, as a rule, were never
postponed to this advanced age even during the Vedic
period. Usually they took place at about the age of
16 or 17. Girls in well-to-do families therefore could
get only about six or seven years for their Vedic
studies ; they could not therefore carry them out with
that exactitude and thoroughness which was insisted
upon by the age. In poor families, the exigencies
of the household work must have resulted in only
very little time being available for Vedic studies after
the Upanayana. Girls in such families were often
unable to recite even the formulæ in the marriage
ritual prescribed for the bride ; they had to be recited
by the priest or the bridegroom (Go. G. S., II. 1. 21. ;
Jai G. S., I. 20). Dilettante Vedic studies were
regarded as not only useless, but also dangerous ;
even the slightest mistake in the recitation of the
Vedic hymns was regarded as very disastrous in its
consequences. It was therefore probably felt that
since women could not study the Vedic literature in

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.

216 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
period however permit the postponement of a girl's
marriage to the age of 16 or 17 in case a suitable
match could not be arranged.¹ Manu, though in favour
of a marriage at 12 in normal circumstances, was
prepared to contemplate the possibility of a girl
remaining unmarried to the end of her life, if no
suitable bridegroom could be found.² Later writers,
however, of this period like Yājñavalkya,³ Saṁvarta⁴
and Yama,⁵ most vehemently condemn the guardian
who fails to marry a girl before the attainment of the
puberty. This condemnation had the natural effect ;
from Alberuni we learn that in the 11th century
Hindus used to marry at an early age, and that a
Brahmana was never allowed to marry a girl above
the age of 12.⁶ Many marriages must have taken
place much earlier, for the Smṛitis written at the end
of this period begin to glorify the merits of a girl's
marriage at the age of 7, 8, or 9.⁷ When it was
regarded as an ideal thing to celebrate a girl's marriage
at so young an age, female education could hardly
prosper.
Female Education in cultured Families :—
Though in society as a whole female education received

1. E. g., Va. Dh. S , कुमारी ऋतुमती त्रीणि वर्षाण्युपासीत ।
   ऊर्ध्वं त्रिभ्यो वर्षेभ्यः पतिं विन्देत्तुल्यम् । XVII. 59
   See also Vishṇu, 24, 41.
2. काममामरणात्तिष्ठेद्गृहे कन्यर्तुमत्यपि ।
   न चैवैनां प्रयच्छेत्तु गुणहीनाय कर्हिचित् ॥ IX, 89.
3. अप्रयच्छन्समाप्नोति भ्रूणहत्यां ऋतौ ऋतौ । I, 64.
4. I, 67. 5. I, 22.
5. Sachau, II, 131.
6. See Āśvalāyana, Saṁvarta, Kāśyapa etc. quoted in
   VMS., p. 767.

[IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 217
a great set-back during this period, it continued to
receive attention in rich, cultured, aristocratic and
royal families.¹ Girls in these families were given a
fairly good literary education, though they were not
allowed to study the Vedic literature. They could
read and understand Sanskrit and Prakrit works and
even detect mistakes accidentally committed by their
male relations.² Special effort was made to give them
a good grounding in domestic and culinary arts and
fine arts like music, dancing, painting, garland-making
and household decorations.³ Tutors were appointed
in rich families to train girls in these arts and
accomplishments, as is shown by the employment of
Gaṇadāsa and Haradatta in the household of king
Agnimitra. Most of this education was finished before
the marriage ; but famous lady scholars of the age, to
be mentioned in the next para, probably continued
their education and reading even after their wedlock.
Lady Authors of the Age : Educated ladies in
cultured families continued to make their own
contributions to literature, as was done by the lady
scholars of the earlier period. During this age, there
flourished several poetesses in south India, who

1. पुरुषवद्योषितोऽपि कवीभवेयुः ।••••। श्रूयन्ते दृश्यन्ते च राजपुत्र्यो
   महामात्रदुहितरो गणिकाः कौटुंबिकभार्याश्च शास्त्रप्रहितबुद्धयः कवयश्च ।
   Kāvyamīmāṁsā, p. 53.
2. Stories are current in learned circles of how clever wives
   would bring milk to serve at the dining party when the order
   given was dadhimānaya ; they could at once see the blunder
   committed by the husband and in order to save him from the
   reproach of ungrammatical speech, would pretend to understand
   the order, not as dadhim ānaya bring curds (which would have been
   incorrect as dadhi is not a word in masculine gender), but as dadhi
   mā ānaya, ‘do not bring curds’
3. Vātsyāyana, (Kāmasūtra, 1. 3. 16.) lays down that girls
   should be trained in all the 64 arts and crafts.

218 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
composed poetry in Prakrit. Among the authors
from whom selections have been made in the Gāthā-
sapta-śatī of Hāla, there are sevan poetesses, their
names being Revā¹ Rohā,² Mādhavī³ Anulakshmī,⁴
Pāhaī,⁵ Vaddhavahī⁶ and Saśiprabhā.⁷ Some of
the Sanskrit anthologies also have preserved the
memory of a few other poetesses, who seem to have
composed poetry of a very high order. Sīlabhaṭṭārikā
was famous for her easy and graceful style, noted
for a harmonious combination of sense and sound.⁸
Devī was a well known poetess of Gujarat, who
continued to enchant her readers on the earth even
after her departure to heaven.⁹ Vijayāṅkā's fame
in Berar was second only to that of Kālidāsa¹⁰.
She seems to have attained a really high position
among Sanskrit poets and poetesses, for the poet
Rājaśekhara compares her to Saraswatī.¹¹ A drama,

1. I, 87 and 90. 2. II, 63.
2. I, 91. 4. III, 28, 63, 74, 76.
3. I, 70. 6. I, 86. 7. IV, 4.
4. शब्दार्थयोः समो गुंफः पांचालीरीतिरुच्यते ।
   शीलभट्टारिकावाचि................................॥
5. सूक्तीनां स्मरकेलीनां कलानां च विलासभूः ।
   प्रभुर्देवी कवी लाटी गतापि हृदि तिष्ठति ॥
6. सरस्वतीय कर्णाटी विजयांका जयत्यसौ ।
   या वैदर्भंगिरां वासः कालिदासादनंतरम् ॥
7. नीलोत्पलदलश्यामां विजयांकामजानता ।
   वृथैव दण्डिनाप्युक्तं सर्वशुक्ला सरस्वती ॥
   These verses are attributed to Rājaśekhara in the
   Sūktimuktāvali.
8. शीळाविजामारुलामोरिकायाः काव्यं कर्तुं संति विज्ञाःस्त्रियोपि ।
   विद्यां वेत्तुं वादिनो निर्विजेतुं विश्वं वक्तुं यः प्रवीणः स वन्द्यः ॥
   Śarang. P.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 219
na med Kaumudīmahotsava has been recently discover-
ed' which is from the pen of a poetess, whose
name seems to have been Vidyā or Vijjakā. The
plot dramatises the incidents of a political revolution
at Pātalīputra, showing thereby that ladies were
not uninterested in the incidents of political history.
Subhadrā, Sītā, Marulā, Indulekhā, Bhavadevī and
Vikaṭanitambā are some other poetesses quoted in
later anthologies¹. It is a pity that we should have
lost their works. Lady scholars of this age took interest
in criticism also ; Rājaśekhara's wife was both a
critic and poetess. The umpire in the controversy
between Śaṅkara and Maṇḍanamiśra was the
accomplished wife of the latter²; she must
have been well grounded in Mīmāṁsā, Vedānta
and literature. Some ladies were attracted by medical
studies also ; the majority of these must be specialising
in gynæcology. Some of the lady doctors had also
written authoritative works on the medical science.
Among the Hindu works on medicine translated
into Arabic in the 8th century A.D. was a book on
midwifery, written by a lady doctor, whose name
appears as Rūsā in the Arabic garb³.
Female Education in ordinary Families :—
Achievements of lady scholars in cultured families
were thus fairly high. Cultured families are, however,
relatively few in society. They could afford to

1. पार्थस्य मनसि स्थानं लेभे खलु सुभद्रया ।
   कवीनां च वचोवृत्तिचातुर्येण सुभद्रया ॥ K. M.,
   See also M. Krishnamachariar, Classical Sanskrit
   Literature, pp. 301-3
2. विधाय भार्यां विदुषीं सदस्यां विधीयतां वादकथा सुधीन्द्र ॥
   Śaṅkaradigvijaya, VIII. 51.
3. Nadvi, Arab aur Bharat ke Sambandha, p. 122.

220 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [CH.
employ special teachers for their girls. Ordinary
families, however, were not so well situated, and it is
therefore doubtful whether the average woman was
receiving any education after about the 6th or the
7th century A. D. Asahāya, a commentator on the
Nārada-smṛiti, ' who flourished in the 8th century
A. D., justifies the theory of the dependence of women
on the ground that their intelligence is not developed
like that of men on account of the absence of proper
education.¹ It is hazardous to make any statement
about the percentage of literate women in society at
the end of the 12th century A. D., but it could not
have been higher than 5 percent. Literacy among
men at this time was probably about 30 percent as
has been shown in Chapter, VIII.
Buddhism and Female Education in later Times :—
We saw how in the earlier period the Buddhist
movement gave an indirect impetus to female
education and produced a number of nun-poetesses.
During this period however we do not come across any
nun scholars at all. Nunneries had gone out of vogue
by the 4th century A. D. ; Chinese pilgrims of the
5th and 7th century A. D. do not refer to them
at all. It is interesting to note that in modern Ceylon
and Burma also nunneries do not impart instructions
to girls as monasteries do to boys. We have there-
fore to conclude that female education, which was
languishing during this period, could not get any
impetus from Buddhism also.
Education of Princesses and Girls in Aristocratic
**Families :—**Ancient Indian history knows of several

1. शास्त्रोध्ययनानधिकारित्वात् शास्त्रमात्रोपजीविधर्माधर्मज्ञानाभावात
   अस्वातंत्र्यम् । On xiii, 86.

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.

222 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
folk. Village women are often seen defending their
hearths and homes, in times of danger, and even laying
down their lives while doing so.¹ Inscriptions have
recorded the cases of governments of the day honour-
ing village heroines with the gift of suitable
ornaments.² The tradition of military training for
ladies in high Kshatriya families continued down to
the advent of the British rule. There still exists a
commemorative tablet in Shikarpur Taluka immorta-
lising the memory of a spirited lady, Hariyakkā by
name, who died fighting in 1446 A.D., while avenging
the murder of her father.³ Maratha and Rajput
princesses. could usually ply the sword and wield the
lance⁴.
Female Education and Economic Independence :
In ordinary families, literature and the fine arts were
usually the favourite topics of female education. This
education was of course not calculated to make women
economically self-sufficient, but we must note that
the theory that women ought to be economically
independent is of quite a recent origin. In the case of
emergency, however, the Hindu woman could eke out a
humble subsistence for herself and her children by
taking to spinning and weaving in her spare time.
In Pali literature we find instances of wives imploring
their dying husbands to keep composed by pointing
out that they could maintain the family by their skill
in spinning and weaving⁵. The Artha-śāstra of
Kauṭilya lays down that the state superintendent of

1. S.I.E.R., for 1911. 2. Ibid, I, No. 75.
2. E. C. VII. Shikarpur No. 2.
3. Malcolm, Memoirs, II, pp. 99-100.
4. Cf. कुसलाहं गहपति कप्पास॑ कंतितुं वेणिमोल्लिखितुं सक्काहं गहपति
   तवाच्चयेन दारके पोसेतुम् । Ang. Nik. Vol. III, p. 298.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 223
weaving should make special arrangement for sending
cotton to and receiving the yarn from those women,
who were cripled, or whose husbands were dead or
had gone abroad, and who were thus compelled to
seek work for their subsistence¹. There is evidence
to show that during the 9th century also widows, who
were unprovided for, used to have recourse to spinning
for their maintenance². This humble but independent
means of existence was available to the women in
distress in India down to the middle of the last
century, when the hand spinning and hand weaving
industry was crushed out of existence by the mill
competition.
Female Education during 1200—1800 A. D. :
It will be interesting to take here a rapid bird's eye
view of the fortunes of female education during the
next six centuries. During the Muslim rule the
percentage of literacy among women went down
very rapidly. Old, rich and cultured families were
as a rule ruined by the political revolution, and they
were no longer in a position to make special
arrangements for the education of their girls. There
were of course no schools for girls. Some new
Hindu families did no doubt rise to importance
under the new regime. But their number was very
small and they did not generally possess sufficient
culture to induce them to appoint teachers for their
girls. Daughters of Rajput chiefs and some Bengali
Zemindars were usually able to read and write down

1. II, 28; cf. याश्चानिष्कासिन्यः प्रोषितविधवा न्यङ्गाः कन्यका वाऽऽ-
   त्मानं बिभृयुः ताः स्वदासीभिरनुसार्य सोपग्रहं कर्म कारयितव्याः ।
2. मृतपतिकाया अनपत्याया असति भर्तृधनादौ दायिके च कर्तनादिना
   केनचिदुपायेन जीवन्त्याः.........। Medhātithi on Manu V, 157.

224 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
to the 19th century; some of them, if unfortunately
widowed, would devote themselves to learning and
even become teachers.¹ Jain widows too were
sometimes taught reading and writing by the monks
with a view to enable them to read their scriptures.²
These were, however, exceptional cases. Society as
a whole had become prejudiced against female
education. It was believed that a girl taught to
read and write aym become a widow soon after
her marriage.³ The decline in literacy after the
13th century was so rapid that by the beginning of
the 19th century hardly one woman in hundred
could read. Such was the state of affairs in Malva
and also in Madras presidency. In the latter
province in 1826 only 4023 girls were attending
schools as against 1,57,664 boys.⁴ According to the
then population of the presidency, 16 percent of the
boys of the school going age were receiving primary
education; the percentage of girls receiving the
same was therefore less than one half. In certain
sections of Hindu population as among the Nāyars,
literacy was much higher, but such groups were few
and exceptional. All the available evidence shows
that by the beginning of the 19th century, about 99
per cent of women population had grown illiterate.

1. Ward refers to one such case of a Kulina widow, Hati
   Vidyalamkāra, who removed from Bengal to Benares and obtained
   some pupils there. A View of Hindus, II p. 508.
2. Malcolm, Memoirs, II, 159.
3. Spark: Vernaculur Education in Bengal, pp. 43-44.
4. Report of the Madras Prov. Committee, p. 5.