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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYA
life. Thus their place in family and society as well as in the political and the religious world will be worth studying for deciding their status which is, in one way, the reflection of the state of civilization of a particular age.
A. Family status or Women inside the House. Normally a woman in the family was treated under three capacities-maiden, wife and mother.
Maiden :-As a maiden she is called 'bāliya' (bālika) 39.109, 'kanna (Kanya) 24.4 or 'kumārī' 15.38. The maiden stage of a woman ended with her marriage when she became a wife. As long as she remained a maiden the whole responsibility of her guardianship fell upon her parents for whom it was necessary to make proper arrangements for her nourishment, growth, education and marriage.
We are told that for the nourishment of the royal sons, fostermothers were engaged (22.5; 96.11). Then why not the same facilities to the royal maidens? The mention of the dhai'=dhātrī of a Vidyadhara princess, śrīmālā (6.165) indicates that the maidens were not neglected in this respect. Śrīmālā's 'dhāi' was not an ordinary nurse. She was well-educated (savvatthasatthakusala==sarvārthaśāstrakusala) so that she could look after the physical as well as the mental development of her ward. This instance shows that the parents had equal consideration for their sons and daughters. In the absence of a son the affection and love of the parents increased for their daughter. Thus it is said that when Bhamandala was kidnapped, his sister Sītā became the sole object of consolation to her parents who gradually annihilated the sorrow of the loss of their son (soyassa moyanattham 26.98). With the advancement of the age of a girl it was necessary that open air, suitable company and proper freedom were allowed to her for her physical growth. The PCV reveals that Añjanā used to play with a ball (kilanti tenduena varabhavane 15.13); Sītā used to play in the company of her girl friends (26.103); and the Vidyādhara girls used to play and enjoy water-sports in gardens (8.31, 37).
Mere physical nourishment is not enough. With it the mental nutrition is also necessary, otherwise a human being cannot develop his personality to its fullness. The PCV refers to princess Atisundară who was getting her education in the house of a teacher (26.5). The education of girls was manifold. Kaikeyi is mentioned to have studied various subjects of both arts and science, viz. literary-scripts, grammar and prosody; fine arts-music, dance, drawing, painting, dressing,