Brahmavadinis (ब्रह्मवादिन्यः)
The Vedic women
Women, who so desired, could undergo the sacred thread ceremony or 'Upanayana' (a sacrament to pursue Vedic studies), which is only meant for males even to this day. The mention of female scholars and sages of the Vedic age like Vac, Ambhrni, Romasa, Gargi, Khona in the Vedic lore corroborates this view. These highly intelligent and greatly learned women, who chose the path of Vedic studies, were called 'brahmavadinis', and women who opted out of education for married life were called 'sadyovadhus'. Co-education seems to have existed in this period and both the sexes got equal attention from the teacher. Moreover, ladies from the Kshatriya caste received martial arts courses and arms training. Vedic literature praises the birth of a scholarly daughter in these words: "A girl also should be brought up and educated with great effort and care." (Mahanirvana Tantra); and "All forms of knowledge are aspects of Thee; and all women throughout the world are Thy forms." (Devi Mahatmya)
In the Vedic age there was both the custom of 'Kanyavivaha' where the marriage of a pre-puberty girl was arranged by her parents and 'praudhavivaha' where the girls were married off after attaining puberty.the Vedic age, more than 3,000 years ago, women were assigned a high place in society. They shared an equal standing with their men folk and enjoyed a kind of liberty sanctioned by society. The ancient Dharmic philosophical concept of'shakti', the feminine principle of energy, was also a produculturally Vedic literature praises the birth of a scholarly daughter in these words: "A girl also should be brought up and educated with great effort and care." (MahanirvanaTantra); and "All forms of knowledge are aspects of Thee; and all women throughout the world are Thy forms." (Devi Mahatmya)
Women, who so desired, could undergo the sacred thread ceremony or 'Upanayana' (a sacrament to pursue Vedic studies), which is only meant for males even to this day.
Education of the Girl Child
The mention of female scholars and sages of the Vedic age like Vac, Ambhrni, Romasa, Gargi, Khona in the Vedic lore corroborates this view. These highly intelligent and greatly learned women, who chose the path of Vedic studies, were called 'brahmavadinis', and women who opted out of education for married life were called 'sadyovadhus'. Co-education seems to have existed in this period and both the sexes got equal attention from the teacher. Moreover, ladies from the Kshatriya caste received martial arts courses and arms training.
As in present, after marriage, the girl became a 'grihini' (wife) and was considered 'ardhangini' or one half of her husband's being. Both of them constituted the 'griha' or home, and she was considered its 'samrajni' (queen or mistress) and had an equal share in the performance of religious rites.Sometimes transliterated as: Brahmavadini, BrahmavAdinI, Brahmavaadini Brahmavādinī literally means ‘the woman who speaks about Brahman’.
In the ancient days, women were divided into two classes:
The brahmavādinīs
- The brahmavādinīs underwent the sacrament of upanayana, kept the Vedic fires, studied the Vedas under their own father and lived by begging the food, also under the parental roof. They had samā- vartana (valedictory rite at the end of the period of Vedic studies) also. They could then marry and settle down in life. The name ‘brahmavādinī’ seems to have been given due to the fact that the girl could recite (vad = to speak or recite) the Vedas (Brahma = Veda). It might also have been applied to those women who were interested in discussing about Brahman, the Absolute, and perform spiritual practices to realize the same. May be due to this reason that the Brhadāranyaka Upaniṣad[1] calls Maitreyi, wife of the sage Yājñavalkya, as a ‘brahmavādinī’.
The sadyovadhus -
‘Sadyovadhus’ were those who became vadhus or brides straight-away, (sadyas = at once) on the attainment of puberty, without undergoing the training in the Vedic studies. In their case, the upanayana ceremony was performed just before marriage, as a formality. The practice of performing upanayana for women and teaching them the Vedas also, seems to have disappeared even by the time of the Manusmrti (composed much earlier than A. D. 200). The word brahmavādinī is sometimes applied to the famous Gayatrīmantra also.
References Jump up ↑ Brhadāranyaka Upaniṣad 4.5.1 The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore