The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c12.28

c12.28

The participation in sacrifices presupposed Vedic study, and we have shown already in Chapter I how girls used to devote themselves to it during their maidenhood (*ante*, p. 11-3). The Initiation Ceremony (*upanayana*) of girls used to take place as regularly as that of boys at the normal time. This was the case as early as the Indo-Iranian age. The Parsis have still preserved this custom; Naojot ritual, which corresponds to Hindu *upanayana*, is even now performed by them regularly in the case of girls as well. In India, the initiation of girls used to take place regularly down to the beginning of the Christian era. The Vedic age held that Brahmacharya discipline and training was as much necessary for girls as it was for boys². It was apprehended that if the most important religious Saṁskāra of *upanayana* was not performed in the case of girls, women would be automatically reduced to the status of Śūdras ; how then could Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas be born of them ?¹ *Upanayana* of women was absolutely indispensable, if the cultural tradition of the different Aryan classes was to be preserved.