History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.122

v7.c92.122

¹⁷⁴¹ नादृश्यन्त च गेहिन्यो गुरुदीक्षोत्थदेवता । कुर्वाणा भर्तृशीलश्रीनिषेधं मूर्धधूननैः ॥ राजत. VI. 12. This shows that, there being equality of sexes among Tāntrikas, women used to be made gurus in Tāntrik rites Vide प्राणतोषणी p 179 for qualifications of a woman *guru* and p 540 for worship of the wife of a guru and of a woman as a guru in her own right The guru and his predecessors are to be worshipped by disciples as sacrificers When the latter praised the husbands of the women that had become gurus, they shook their heads in disagreement and thereby impliedly criticized the character of their husbands. Kalhana says that this did not happen in the reign of Yaśaskara, who must have frowned upon the practices of tāntricism and hence occasions for women being gurus did not arise.