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

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.