Book Title: Critical Study Of Paumacariyam
Author(s): K R Chandra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa

Previous | Next

Page 379
________________ 350 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,

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672