Education in Ancient India c11.s2.21

c11.s2.21

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 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 Anulakṣmī,⁴ Pāhai,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. Śīlabhaṭṭārikā 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,