पान झाओ

कृतियाँ

• लगभग 106स्त्रियों के लिए शिक्षाएँ (नुइजिए)

  विनम्रता, परिश्रम और पत्नी के कर्तव्यों पर सात छोटे अध्याय – और यह आग्रह कि लड़कियों को भी लड़कों जितना पढ़ना सिखाया जाए।

मत

Her short “Lessons for Women” (Nüjie), written for her daughters, is the earliest surviving Chinese text on the conduct of women. It teaches humility, deference, diligence and devotion to the husband’s family, and for centuries it was read as a manual of submission. But it also argues that, if the ritual texts require husbands to control wives, wives must be able to serve them well – which is impossible without education. Girls, she says, should therefore be taught from the age of eight, as the classics prescribe for boys. Scholars dispute whether to read the work as securing her daughters’ position within the system or as a text later used beyond its intent.

जीवन और संदर्भ

Ban Zhao (c. 45–117) was the daughter of the historian Ban Biao and sister of Ban Gu, author of the “Book of Han”. Widowed young, she was called to court by Emperor He to complete her brother’s history after his death in prison, and she taught the empress and court ladies, who addressed her as “the Venerable Madam”. She accompanied her son to his provincial post; her dates are approximately known.

अन्य प्रमुख कृतियाँ

• Lessons for Women (Nüjie, c. 106)
• Book of Han (Hanshu; treatises and tables completed by her, c. 110)

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