Education in Ancient India c11.s2.35

c11.s2.35

Education of Princesses and Girls in Aristocratic Families :— Ancient Indian history knows of several dowager queens and princesses, who used to take active part in the administration of their kingdoms. Nayanikā of the Andhra dynasty (c. 150 B. C.) and Prabhāvatīguptā of the Vākāṭaka dynasty (c. 390 A.D.) were governing extensive kingdoms during the minority of their sons. The queen of Masaga directed the defence of her capital against Alexander the Great after the death of her husband. Several queens of Kashmir have fought on the battlefield,¹ and some of them like Sugandhā and Diddā have ruled as regnant queens. In the Chālukya dynasty several queens and ladies of the royal family like Mailādevī, Akkādevī, Kunkumadevī and Lakshmīdevī are known to have taken active part in the administration of the empire as governors of towns and districts.² It is therefore quite obvious that steps must have been taken in royal families in ancient India to give proper training to princesses in order to make them fit to carry on the administration in the case of emergency, or even in normal times in order to help their husbands. The training was both administrative and military. Administrative training was of course given when they had become old enough to take part in the governance of the kingdom, but military training was imparted during their adolescence. They were trained fairly well in the use of arms; they could also ride and swim. The son of queen Vijayamahādevī was called Gaṅgadatta, because the mother used to swim about in the Ganges, owing to a strong desire to do so during pregnancy.³ In ordinary Kshatriya families also some military training seems to have been imparted to the lady folk. Village women are often seen defending their hearths and homes, in times of danger, and even laying down their lives while doing so.¹ Inscriptions have recorded the cases of governments of the day honouring village heroines with the gift of suitable ornaments.² The tradition of military training for ladies in high Kshatriya families continued down to the advent of the British rule. There still exists a commemorative tablet in Shikarpur Taluka immortalising the memory of a spirited lady, Hariyakkā by name, who died fighting in 1446 A.D., while avenging the murder of her father.³ Maratha and Rajput princesses could usually ply the sword and wield the lance⁴.