Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.95

c9.95

The *Brahmavādinīs* were the products of the educational discipline of *brahmacharya* for which women also were eligible. Rigveda v, 7, 9 refers to young maidens completing their education as brahmachāriṇīs and then gaining husbands in whom they are merged like rivers in oceans. *Ṛv.* iii, 55, 16 mentions unmarried learned and young daughters who should be married to learned bridegrooms. Yajurveda [viii, 1] similarly states that a daughter, who has completed her brahmacharya, should be married to one who is learned like her. The Atharvaveda [xi, 6] also refers to maidens qualifying by their *brahmacharya*, the disciplined life of studentship, for married life in the second *āśrama* (*brahmacharyeṇa kanyā yuvānaṁ vindate patim*).