The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s3.t12: Education of Girls
The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s3.t12
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Education of Girls
c4.s3.t12.1
As mentioned earlier, the number of girls attending school was very small. Leaving aside the district of Malabar and the Jeypoor division of Vizagapatam district, the girls from the Brahmin, Chettri, and Vysee castes were practically non-existent in schools. There were, however, some Muslim girls receiving school education: 56 in Trichnopoly, and 27 in Salem. The Hindoo girls who attended school, though again not in any large number, were from the Soodra and other Hindoo castes; and, according to the collectors of Masulipatam, Madura, Tinnevelly and Coimbatore, most of them were stated to be dancing girls, or girls who were presumably going to be *devdasis* in the temples. *Table 8* presents the district and caste-wise number of the girls attending school, or said to be receiving private tuition.
c4.s3.t12.2
As will be noticed from *Table 9*, the position in Malabar, as also in Jeypoor Zamindary of Vizagapatam district, was much different. The relative numbers of girls and boys attending school in these two areas⁵⁶ are presented in *Table 8* below:
c4.s3.t12.3
In percentage terms of the total, the proportion of girls to boys in school was the highest, 29.7%, in the Jeypoor Zamindary of the Vizagapatam district. Even more surprising, the proportion of Brahmin girls to Brahmin boys in school was as high as 37%. Similarly, in Malabar the proportion of Muslim girls to Muslim
c4.s3.t12.4
| Brahmins | Vysee | Soodras | Other Castes | Mussalmans | Total Studying | Total Female Population | Other Details |
| (b) Astronomy | 5 | 19 | 14 | | 38 | | |
| Tamil Speaking | | | | | | | |
| NORTH ARCOT | 1 | | 32 | 8 | 11 | 52 | 2,78,481 | |
| SOUTH ARCOT | | | 94 | 10 | | 104 | 2,02,556 | |
| CHINGLEPUT | 3 | | 79 | 34 | | 116 | 1,72,886 | |
| TANJORE | | | 125 | 29 | | 154 | 1,87,145 | |
| TRICHNOPOLY | | | 66 | 18 | 56 | 140 | 2,33,723 | |
| MADURA | | | 65 | 40 | | 105 | 3,86,682 | Stated largely as dancing girls. |
| TINNELVELLY | | | | 117 | 2 | 119 | 2,81,238 | |
| COIMBATORE | | | 82 | | | 82 | 3,21,268 | Kykakla caste (Dancing girls). |
| SALEM | | | 3 | 28 | 27 | 58 | 5,33,485 | |
| MADRAS | | | | | | | 7,33,415 | |
| (i) Ordinary Schools | 1 | 9 | 113 | 4 | | 127 | | |
| (ii) Charity Schools | | 2 | | 47 | | 49 | | |
| (iii) At home | 98 | 63 | 220 | 136 | | 517 | | |
c4.s3.t12.5
boys in school being at 35.1% is truly astonishing.⁵⁷ Even amongst the Vysees, the Soodras and the other castes in Malabar, the proportion of girls to boys was fairly high at 15.5%, 19.1% and 12.4% respectively; the proportion of the totals being 18.3%. That two such widely separated areas (Malabar on the west coast while Jeypoor Zamindary being in the hilly tracts on the southern border of Orissa) had such a sociological similarity requires deeper study.