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

308 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [App. proper use and care of dress and ornaments etc. Women, who were usually fond of ornaments, were expected to be able to appreciate correctly the value and quality of the different varieties of gold, etc, and Nos. 38-40 refer to the capacity in this connection. Arts useful for the housewife like sewing, patching, elementary carpentry, repairs of household tools and articles are mentioned in Nos: 25,33,35-6,37,41,44, and 49. Literary efficiency and skill of different variety is presupposed by Nos. 28-31,33,45-47 and 51-57. They require women to be skilled in reading, writing, understanding different languages, composing poems, understanding dramas, etc. Nos. 12 and 64 refer to different physical exercises and Nos. 11,20,22,26,42, 43,57,59,60 mention recreations for utilising leisure hours. The latter include magic, sleights of hand, dyūta etc. No. 61 requires every woman to know how to prepare toys for children. It will be thus seen that the 64 arts, which a woman was expected to master, endowed her with a healthy physique, taught her all arts necessary for an economic and an efficient housewife and made her a cultured companion of her husband, who could introduce her to any company of educated men and women. It is obvious that only ladies in higher sections of society could have got proficiency in 64 arts. What was their percentage we do not know.