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

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.

Chapter X A GENERAL RESUME. CONTRIBUTIONS OF BUDDHISM TO EDUCATION—Ordination ceremony—Relations between the novice and the teacher—Education of the laity—Rise of public educational institutions due to Buddhism— Non-sectarian courses also provided for in them—Buddhism and primary education—Estimate of the contributions of the Buddhism. PERIOD-WISE SURVEY: History divided into four periods—Educa- tion in the Vedic period—The Upanishad-Sūtra age (1000 B.C. to c. 200 B.C.) a creative period—Education in this period—The period of the Dharmaśāstra (c. 200 B.C.—500 A.D.) an age of reflection and specia- lisation—The general condition of education in it—The age of the Purāṇas and Nibandhas, (c. 500-1200 A.D.)—Its achievements and limitations. Introduction : In the course of our narrative so far we have finished the history of the origin and development of the different branches of education in ancient India. We devoted separate chapters to topics like primary education, professional education, educational institutions, etc., and the treatment in each of them must have enabled the reader to visualise clearly the development and vicissitudes that took place in their connection from age to age. We also indicated at each place the contribution that Buddhism made to the development of education in ancient India. For a proper understanding of the subject it is however desirable that the reader should get a clear picture of the educational conditions as a whole in the successive periods of ancient Indian history, as also of the contribution which the Buddhism made to educa- tional theory and practice. We therefore propose to devote the present chapter for this purpose. Its first section will give a general resume of the contribution of the Buddhism to ancient Indian education and the