Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c8.28

c8.28

Besides the instruction in the schools there were also a certain number of children receiving instruction at home. William Ward says,³ ‘Hindu women are unable to teach their children their first lessons, but a father may frequently be seen teaching his child to write the alphabet when five years old’. Rich men often employed a tutor to teach their children, and when other children were admitted to share in this instruction it sometimes grew into a school. Girls, as a rule, received no education; but daughters of Rājput nobles or of *zamīndārs* often received a limited education from their fathers or family priests.