Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/191

Rh rude, confined, and inconvenient as those of the more ignorant, and the pathways of brahman-villages are as narrow, dirty, and irregular as those inhabited by the humblest and most despised Chasas and Chandals.

Some account of the means and amount of female instruction is indispensable, but on this subject I have been able to collect very little information.

The female population of all ages in Nattore, according to Table I., amounts to 94,717.

Of the total female population, 16,497 are under five years of age; that is, are below the teachable age, or the age at which the first instruction in letters may be or is communicated.

Of the total female population, 16,792 are between fourteen and five years of age; that is, are of the age at which the mind is capable of receiving in an increasing degree the benefit of instruction in letters. The state of instruction amongst this unfortunate class cannot be said to be low, for with a very few individual exceptions there is no instruction at all. Absolute and hopeless ignorance is in general their lot. The notion of providing the means of instruction for female children never enters into the minds of parents; and girls are equally deprived of that imperfect domestic instruction which is sometimes given to boys. A superstitious feeling is alleged to exist in the majority of Hindu families, principally cherished by the women and not discouraged by the men, that a girl taught to write and read will soon after marriage become a widow, an event which is regarded as nearly the worst misfortune that can befal the sex; and the belief is also generally entertained in native society that intrigue is facilitated by a knowledge of letters on the part of females. Under the influence of these fears there is not only nothing done in a native family to promote female instruction, but an anxiety is often evinced to discourage any inclination to acquire the most elementary knowledge, so that when a sister, in the playful innocence of childhood, is observed imitating her brother’s attempts at penmanship, she is expressly forbidden to do so, and her attention drawn to something else. These superstitious and distrustful feelings prevail extensively, although not universally, both amongst those Hindus who are devoted to the pursuits of religion, and those who are engaged in the business of the world. Zemindars are for the most part exempt from them, and they in general instruct their daughters in the elements of knowledge, although it is difficult to obtain from them an admission of the fact. They hope to marry their daughters