Education in Ancient India c11.s2.28

c11.s2.28

11. शीळाविजामालामोरिकायाः काव्यं कर्तुं संति विज्ञाःस्त्रियोपि । विद्यां वेत्तुं वादिनो निर्विजेतुं विश्वं वक्तुं यः प्रवीणः स वन्द्यः ॥ na med *Kaumudīmahotsava* has been recently discovered which is from the pen of a poetess, whose name seems to have been Vidyā or Vijjakā. The plot dramatises the incidents of a political revolution at Pāṭalīputra, showing thereby that ladies were not uninterested in the incidents of political history. Subhadrā, Sītā, Marulā, Indulekhā, Bhavadevī and Vikaṭanitambā are some other poetesses quoted in later anthologies¹. It is a pity that we should have lost their works. Lady scholars of this age took interest in criticism also; Rājaśekhara's wife was both a critic and poetess. The umpire in the controversy between Śankara and Maṇḍanamiśra was the accomplished wife of the latter²; she must have been well grounded in Mīmānsā, Vedānta and literature. Some ladies were attracted by medical studies also; the majority of these must be specialising in gynæcology. Some of the lady doctors had also written authoritative works on the medical science. Among the Hindu works on medicine translated into Arabic in the 8th century A.D. was a book on midwifery, written by a lady doctor, whose name appears as Rūsā in the Arabic garb³.