Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/197

Rh On this the Brahmans became angry, and plied Yajnavalkya with questions, but he was a match for them all, and the sages, one by one, held their peace.

There was one in the great assembly who was not deficient in the learning and the priestly lore of those times, and that one was a woman, who rose in the open assembly, and said: "O Yajnavalkya, as the son of a warrior from the Kasis or Videhas might string his loosened bow and take two pointed foe-piercing arrows in his hand and rise to battle, I have risen to fight thee with two questions. Answer me these questions." The questions were put and were answered, and Gargi Vachaknavi was silent.

These passages and many others like them show that women were honoured in ancient India and considered the intellectual companions of their husbands, their affectionate helpers in the journey of life, and the inseparable partners of their religious duties. Hindu wives received the honour and respect due to their position, in addition to having rights