Daughters of Sarasvati: Women’s Sanskritic Education in Ma Anandamayee Kanyapeeth, Varanasi

It is a documentary film by Dr Anway Mukhopadhyay on women’s empowerment through Sanskritic education in an institution in Varanasi, namely Ma Anandamayee Kanyapeeth. While the more orthodox segments of Hinduism, due to their male-centric attitude, have tended to deny Sanskritic education to women, the daughters of Sarasvati have continued their sadhana of Sanskritic learning silently. This film explores this alternative tradition of Sanskritic learning where women have played a great role. Beginning from the Vedic ages this tradition has surfaced time and again, though discontinuously. In the eighteenth century too Hati Vidyalankar empowered herself through Sanskritic education, which should not escape our historical awareness of women’s education in Hinduism. Ma Anandamayee Kanyapeeth is located at Bhadaini, Varanasi, on the Ma Anandamayee Ghat. It is run by women teachers and Sanskritic education is imparted to them within a Gurukul-like framework.