History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.387.1

v2.c24.s1.387.1

It appears that in very ancient times the status of Indian women as to education was much higher than in medieval and modern times in India. Several women are stated to have been the composers of Vedic hymns; e.g. Ṛg. V. 28 is ascribed to Viśvavārā of the Atri family; Ṛg. VIII. 91 to Apālā of the same family and Ṛg. X. 39 to Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī. The Bṛ. Up. II. 4. 1. shows that Maitreyī, one of the two wives of Yājñavalkya, the great philosopher of ancient India, was herself a very earnest seeker after true knowledge and she prayed to Yājñavalkya that he should impart to her such knowledge as would make her immortal.⁸⁹⁰ In the same Upaniṣad (III. 6 and 8) we find that among the several interlocutors in the court of Janaka, king of Videha, who propounded several questions for solution before Yājñavalkya, Gārgī Vācaknavī occupies a very prominent position. She pursued Yājñavalkya with subtle and searching questions till ultimately he was forced to warn her not to probe too much into the nature of the First Principle which was beyond mere human reason and logical questioning or otherwise she might die by the fall of her head. Then she desisted, but her unquenchable thirst for philosophical knowledge again swelled up and she put two questions to Yājñavalkya hoping to confound him. In the same Up. (Bṛ. Up. VI. 4. 17) there is a rite prescribed⁸⁹¹ for one who desires to have a learned daughter.