female population is, as nearly as possible, one of equality, while the same census as authoritatively confirms what had been often asserted, but often captiously and ignorantly cavilled at, disputed, or denied, viz., that the entire female population with hardly any known exceptions are hereditarily debarred from the advantages of instruction of any kind, and consequently abandoned to the absolute dominion of an all-enveloping night of starless and rayless ignorance! But, as the subject is one fraught with painful, yea, tremendous importance to the interests and welfare of society at large, we must, in order to obviate the possibility of any farther cavils, quote Mr. Adam’s own clear and explicit statements. In his second Report to the Supreme Government of India, he thus writes:—
“The state of instruction amongst this unfortunate class (females) 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 females, 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. The Muhammadans participate in all the prejudices of the Hindus against the instruction of their female offspring; besides that, a very large majority of them are in the very lowest grades of poverty, and are thus unable, even if they were willing, to give education to their children. It may therefore be affirmed that the juvenile female population of this district—that is, the female population of the teachable age, or of the age between fourteen and five years, without any known exception, and with so few probable[1] exceptions, that they can scarcely be taken into the account—is growing up wholly destitute of the knowledge of reading and writing.”
- ↑ The few probable exceptions here alluded to are these:—1st. Zemindars are said occasionally to instruct their daughters in writing and accounts, since, without such knowledge, they would, in the event of widowhood, be incompetent to the management of their deceased husband’s estates, and would unavoidably become a prey to the interested and unprincipled; although, as Mr. Adam adds, “it is difficult to obtain from them an admission of the fact”—such, in social repute, is the disgrace of instructing a female in letters! 2nd. The mendicant Vaishnavas or followers of Chaitanya, a comparatively recent sect consisting of a colluvies from all other sects, are alleged, in some measure at least, to instruct their daughters in reading and writing. Yet, as Mr. Adam adds, it is a fact that, “as a sect, they rank precisely the lowest in point of general morality, and especially in respect of the virtue of their women.” 3d. Many of the wretched class of nautch girls, who
