प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

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UNIVERSAL LIBRARY
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UNIVERSAL LIBRARY

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OSMANIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Call No. 370.901 Accession No. 23700
Author A46E Altekar AS.
Title Education in ancient
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EDUCATION
IN
ANCIENT INDIA
BY
DR. A. S. ALTEKAR, M. A., LL. B., D. LITT.
Manindrachandra Nandi Professor and Head of the
Department of Ancient Indian History and
Culture, Benares Hindu University.
( Revised & Enlarged )
BENARES
NAND KISHORE & BROS.,
Educational Publishers.
Second Edition.] 1944 [ Price Rs. 4/8/-

All rights, including those of translation and abridgement
are reserved by the Author.
BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

1. History of Important Towns and
   Cities in Gujarat and Kathiawar. Out of Print.
2. History of the Village Communities
   in Western India. Out of Print.
3. The Rāshṭrakūṭas and their Times
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4. Śilāhāras of Western India Re. 1/-
5. Hindu Scriptures and Social Reform As. /4/-
6. Benares, Past and Present Re. 1/-
7. The Position of Women in Hindu
   Civilisation Rs. 6/-
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   The Culture Publication House, New D/2,
   Benares Hindu University.
   Printed in India by
   JNANMANDAL PRESS, BENARES, PP. 1—96
   THE TARA PRINTING WORKS, BENARES. 97—319

CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface ... ... ... ... iii
Abbreviations and Transliteration ... ... vii
Chap. I. The Conception and Ideals of
Education ... ... 1
Chap. II. Some Educational Principles and
Postulates ... ... ... 22
Chap. III. The Teacher and the Student ... 48
Chap. IV. Educational Organisation and
Finance ... ... ... 70
Chap. V. Some Educational Centres and
Institutions ... ... 103
Chap. VI. Higher Literary Education;
Curriculum, Method of Teaching
and Examinations ... ... 143
Chap. VII. Primary Education ... ... 170
Chap. VIII Professional & Useful Education ... 184
Chap. IX. Female Education ... ... 204
Chap. X. A General Resume ... ... 225
Section A, Buddhism and
Ancient Indian Education ... 225
Section B, Period-wise Survey ... 233
Chap. XI. Achievements and Failures ... 241

ii
APPENDICES
PAGE.
Appendix I. Educational rituals ... 265
IA Vidyārambha ... 265
IB Upanayana ... ... 268
" IC College Session Rituals ... 282
" ID Convocation Ritual ... 287
" IE Ayurvedic Upanayana ... 289
" IF Dhanurvedic Upanayana ... 291
" IG Dhanurvedic Convocation ... 292
Appendix II. Significance of the Sacred Thread 294
Appendix III. Convocation Addresses ... 300
Appendix IV. Four Vedas, Six Aṅgas, etc. ... 305
Appendix V. Technical Terms and Dates. ... 30
Select Bibliography ... ... ... 311
Index ... ... ... ... 314

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Considerable changes have been made in
Education in Ancient India while presenting its second
edition to the public. The first edition was in the
form of a research work primarily intended for the
students of Ancient Indian History and Culture. The
reception that was given to it, however, showed that
the general public was also interested in the subject
and would welcome its presentation in a less technical
and more popular form. Several Universities prescribed
the work as one of the text books for the paper dealing
with the History of Indian Education at the B. T.
examination, and it appeared that the teachers and
students of the Training Colleges would welcome the
treatment of the subject matter of the book, not only
from the point of the orientalist but also from that
of the educationalist. Further thought given to the
subject also showed that a few more topics should be
included in the book in order to make the treatment
complete and comprehensive.
A considerable portion of the book has, therefore,
been entirely rewritten for the second edition. Tech-
nical and detailed discussions have been transferred
to foot-notes and appendices. A new appendix
(appendix V) has been added, which explains technical
terms and gives the dates of authors, works, kings and
travellers incidentally referred to in the work. It is
hoped that this appendix will give a proper chrono-
logical background to readers not acquainted with
ancient Indian political and cultural history.
While rewriting the book the view point of the
educationalist has also been constantly kept before
the mind. The treatment is more comparative than

iv
was the case in the first edition; the views and
theories of Greek and Roman thinkers and medieval and
modern educationalists have been referred to, wherever
necessary, for a comparative estimate. Particular
attention has been given to the method of teaching
and curricula that prevailed in the different periods
of Ancient Indian History.
The first edition began with the chapter on
Educational Rituals. As this topic is not of particular
interest either to the educationalist or to the general
reader, it has been transferred to the end of the book
as Appendix I. The book now opens with a
discussion of the Conception and Ideals of Education,
the section on the Conception of Education being
entirely new. The second chapter which deals with
Some Educational Principles and Postulates is
substantially new. It is hoped that students of
Education will find it to be a very useful back-ground
for the study of ancient Indian education. Its
concluding section, dealing with the caste system and
education, will give information about the social life
in ancient India sufficient to understand the educational
problems. The next chapter dealing with the Teacher
and the Student presents in a succinct form the
information given in chapters II and III of the first
edition. Chapter IV dealing with Educational
Organisation and Finance is to a great extent a new
addition, and it is hoped that the educationalist as well
as the orientalist will find here a good deal of new
and interesting information on the subject. The
concluding portion of this chapter dealing with the
Educational Finance is based upon the chapter on
Society, State and Education of the first edition. The
next five chapters dealing with Some Educational
Centres, Higher Education, Primary Education, Profes-

v
sional and Useful Education and Female Education
occurred in the first edition, but they have been revised,
rearranged and rewritten in a more succinct form for
this edition.
Chapter X, which gives a General Resume of
the subject, is a new addition. The line of
treatment so far followed in the book isolated
the different topics like Primary Education, Female
Education, etc., and traced their history and
development from age to age. This method of
treatment no doubt enables the reader to get a
clear idea of the development of each theme, but does
not give him the picture of the educational condition
as a whole of the different epochs of Indian History.
The new chapter seeks to meet this need. In its first
section it gives a resume of the contribution of the
Buddhism to Ancient Indian Education and in its
second section it gives a bird's-eye view of the general
educational condition and achievements of each of the
four succeeding epochs into which Ancient Indian
History has been divided for this purpose. It is hoped
that both the student and the general reader will find
this chapter very useful. This edition like the first
one concludes with a discussion of the achievements
and failures of Ancient Indian Education.
Appendix I deals with different educational
rituals discussed in Chapter I of the first edition.
Appendices II and III are identical with Appendices
A and B of the first edition. Appendices IV and V are
practically speaking new. They explain some technical
expressions and supply dates of kings, authors and
travellers, referred to in the work.

'vi
It is hoped that the second edition of 'Education
in Ancient India' will make a wide appeal not only to
the resarch workers in Indology, but also to the general
readers and the students of education, and succeed in
familiarising them with the main features, ideals and
achievements of the Ancient Indian Educational
System.
Benares Hindu University.
10-8-1944. A. S. ALTEKAR.

1] THE CONCEPTION AND IDEALS OF EDUCATION 9
inculcation of civic and social duties, promotion of social
efficiency and the preservation and spread of national cul-
ture may be described as the chief aims and ideals of ancient
Indian education. Let us now see what were the views
of our educationalists about each of them.
Infusion of Piety and Religiousness: Religion
played a large part in life in ancient India and teachers
were usually priests. It is therefore no wonder that
infusion of a spirit of piety and religiousness in the mind
of the rising generation should have been regarded as the
first and foremost aim of education. The rituals which
were performed at the beginning of both the literary and
professional education,—primary as well as higher,—the
religious observances (vratas), which the student had to
observe during the educational course, the daily prayers
which he offered morning and evening, the religious
festivals that were observed with eclat in the school or
the preceptor's house almost every month,—all these
tended to inspire piety and religiousness in the mind of
the young student. It was the spiritual background that
was thus provided which was expected to help the student
to withstand the temptations of life. The very atmosphere,
in which he lived and breathed, impressed upon him the
reality of the spiritual world and made him realise that
though his body may be a product of nature, his mind,
intellect and soul belong to the world of spirit, the laws
of which ought to govern his conduct, mould his character
and determine the ideals of his life.
Limitations on Religiousness: Though the edu-
cational system thus provided the background of piety
and religiousness, its aim was not to induce the student
to renounce the world and become a wanderer in the
quest of God like the Buddha or Tulsidas. Even in the
case of Vedic students, who intended to follow a religious

10 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
career, only a microscopic minority used to remain life-
long Brahmachārins, pursuing the spiritual quest: the
vast majority was expected to become and did become
householders. The direct aim of all education, whether
literary or professional, was to make the student fit to
become a useful and pious member of society.
Formation of Character: The illumination and
power, which men and women received from educa-
tion, was primarily intended to transform and ennoble
their nature. The formation of character by the proper
development of the moral feeling was therefore the
second aim of education. Like Locke, ancient Indian
thinkers held that mere intellectual attainments were of
less consequence than the development of a proper moral
feeling and character. The Vedas being held as revealed,
educationalists naturally regarded their preservation as
of utmost national importance; yet they unhesitatingly
declare that a person of good character with a mere
smattering of the Vedic knowledge is to be preferred
to a scholar, who though well versed in the Vedas, is
impure in his life, thoughts and habits.¹ Montaigne
has observed, "Cry out, 'there is a learned man' and
people will flock round him."; cry out 'there is a good
man', and people will not look at him." Indian thinkers
were aware of this natural human tendency and wanted
to counteract it by pointing out that character was more
important than learning. One thinker goes to the extent
of saying that he alone is learned who is righteous.²
This opinion tallies remarkably with that of Socrates,
who held that virtue is knowledge. Evil effects of
1 सावित्रीमात्रसारोपि, वरं विप्रः सुयन्त्रितः ।
नायन्त्रितस्त्रिवेदोपि सर्वाशी सर्वविक्रयी ॥ Manu, II. 118.
2 धर्मं हि यो वर्धयते स पण्डितः । Mbh., XII. 321.78.

1] THE CONCEPTION AND IDEALS OF EDUCATION 11
divorcing power from virtue, intellectual and scientific
progress from moral and spiritual values, which are
being so vividly illustrated in the west in the modern
age, were well realised by ancient Indians; they have
therefore insisted that, while a man is being educated,
his regard for morality ought to be developed, his feeling
of good will towards human beings ought to be strength-
ened and his control over his mind ought to be perfected,
so that he can follow the beacon light of his conscience.¹
In other words, education ought to develop man's ideal
nature by giving him a sure moral feeling and by
enabling him to control his original animal nature. The
tree of education ought to flower in wisdom as well as
in virtue, in knowledge as well as in manners.
How Character was to be Formed: Direct
injunctions to develop a sense of moral rectitude were
scattered over almost every page of books intended for
students; they were also orally given to them by their
teachers every now and then. Apart from them, how-
ever, the very atmosphere in which students lived, was
calculated to give a proper turn to their character. They
were under the direct and personal supervision of their
teacher, who was to watch not only over their intellectual
progress but also over their moral behaviour. Ancient
Indians held that good character cannot be divorced
from good manners; the teacher was to see that in their
every day life students followed the rules of etiquette
and good manners towards their seniors, equals and
inferiors. These rules afforded an imperceptible but
effective help in the formation of character. The rituals
¹ Compare the view of Herbert: The aim of education should
be to instill such ideas as will develop both the understanding of the
moral order and a conscientious spirit in carrying it out. Great
Educationalists, pp, 175-6.

12 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
which students occasionally performed and the prayers
which they regularly offered every day were calculated to
emphasise upon their mind the fact that the student-life
was a consecrated one and that its ideals could be realised
only by those who did not swerve from the strict and
narrow path of duty. Examples of national heroes and
heroines like Hariśchandra, Bhīshma, Rāma, Lakshmaṇa,
Hanumān, Sītā Sāvitrī and Draupadī, which were pro-
minently placed before students, also served to mould
their character in a powerful manner. Character was
thus built up partly by the influence of direct injunctions,
partly by the effect of continued discipline and partly
by the glorification of national heroes, held in the highest
reverence by society.
Personality not Repressed: There is a general
impression that Hindu educationalists suppressed persona-
lity by prescribing a uniform course of education and
enforcing it with an iron discipline. Such however was
not the case. The caste system had not become hidebound
down to c. 500 B.C. and till that time a free choice of
profession or career was possible both in theory and
practice. Later on when the system became rigid; the
theory no doubt was that everybody should follow his
hereditary profession, but the practice permitted consider-
able freedom to enterprising individuals, as will be
shown in the following chapter. It is wrong to conclude
from some stray passages that the whole of the Brahmana
community, if not the whole of the Aryan community,
was compelled to devote twelve years to the task of
memorising the Vedic texts.¹ Kshatriyas and Vaishyas
never took seriously to the Vedic learning; only a section
of the Brahmanas dedicated themselves to the Vedic
studies, while the rest of the community learnt only
¹ E. g., Manu, III. 1; II. 168.