household life as wife and mother; but she might also
study Brahma-Vidya, and become the Brahma-
vadinl, as much as the man could become the knower
of Brahman. You have not forgotten such women as
Gargi, able to meet in argument Ya/jfiavalkya, and to
silence him by the depth of her learning, by her insight
into the knowledge of Brahman. You have not for-
gotten Maitreyi who, after the household life was
over, asked her husband for the knowledge of
Brahman, and that knowledge was poured out to her.
In those days the woman was not compelled to marry,
but might—as the man did—if she would, follow
that high path of knowledge which leads to libera-
tion. It was in those days that the mantras were written
which still you use in your marriage ritual, and in
those days, as you may learn from history, Hindus
had not dropped to the later level, where the girl
was shut out from knowledge, where the thread
ceremony was not performed for her, where no sacri-
fices might be offered by her, where the Samskaras
were kept away from her, and only marriage was
admitted. I do not ask you to take what would
now be called so revolutionary a view, although
it be really an ancient one, on my own word.
I turn to the writings of Harita, to his Dharma
Shastra, and I find that he lays down: " All
sacramental rites for women should be conducted with
the Vaidik texts. Among women there is a twofold
distinction ; those who study the Veda and those who