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Rh an honoured place in society from the dawn of Hindu civilization four thousand years ago; they inherited and possessed property; they took a share in sacrifices and religious duties; they attended great assemblies on state occasions; they openly frequented public places; they often distinguished themselves in science and in the learning of their times; and they even had their legitimate influence on politics and administration. And although they never mixed so freely in the society of men as women do in modern Europe, yet absolute seclusion and restraint were not Hindu customs; they were unknown in India till the Mohammedan times, and are to this day unknown in parts of India like the Maharashtra, where the rule of the Moslems was brief.

Innumerable passages might be quoted from the Brahmana literature, showing the high esteem in which women were held, but we will content ourselves with one or two. The first is the celebrated conversation between Yajnavalkya and his learned wife Maitreyi on the eve of his retirement to the forest:—

"Now when Yajnavalkya was going to enter upon another state, he said: 'Maitreyi, verily I am going away from this my house. Forsooth let me make a settlement between thee and Katyayani.'"

"Maitreyi said: 'My lord, if this whole earth full of wealth belonged to me, tell me, should I be immortal by it?' 'No,' replied Yajnavalkya; 'like the life of rich people will be thy life. But there is no hope of immortality by wealth.'