The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c6.60

c6.60

Cultured and rich families are naturally few in society. They had sufficient resources to enable them to employ special teachers like Bṛihannaḍā, Gaṇadāsa and Haradatta for their daughters' education. Ordinary families, however, could not afford to do this and their daughters, who had to be married at this time at about the age of 10 or 11, could therefore hardly receive any education. Asahāya, a commentator on *Nāradasmṛiti* who flourished in the 8th century A. D, justifies the theory of the tutelage of women on the ground that their intellect is not developed like that of men on account of their not having the benefit of proper training and education². This observation makes it clear that education had become fairly rare among women in general in the 8th century A. D. It is hazardous to make any statement about the exact extent of literacy among women at about 1000 A. D., for we have no data like modern census reports to guide us. Literacy among men at this time was about 30 per cent.³; that among women could not have very probably been more than 10 per cent.