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

92 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
'Forgetting fatigue', says Yuan Chwang, 'they expatiate
in arts and sciences; seeking for wisdom..they count not
1000 li (roughly equal to 200 miles) as a long journey.
Though their family may be in affluent circumstances,
such men make up their minds to be like vagrants and
get their food by begging, as they go about. With them
there is honour in knowing the truth and there is no
disgrace in being destitute' (I. 160-1). Smṛitis require a
Naisṭhika Brahmachari to serve his teacher throughout his
life; in actual practice however they used to establish new
centres of education after some time. Famous teachers
like Kaṇva and Divākarasena (of the Harshacharit) were
such Naishṭhika Brahmachāris. This ideal of Naishṭhika
Brahmacharya, which is peculiar to India, enabled her
to make striking progress in learning and philosophy.
EDUCATIONAL FINANCE.
Introduction: We have seen already that the item
of students' fees was a minor one in the income of the
private teacher and did not figure at all in the budgets of
public colleges and universities. The question therefore
naturally arises as to how education was being financed
in ancient India. Society, which had frowned upon the
practice of charging regular fees as a mercenary and
unworthy procedure, used to succeed in getting ample
support for the cause of education by appealing to the
religious and charitable instincts of the public. Vidyādāna
or a gift in the cause of education was pronounced to be
the best of gifts, possessing a higher religious efficacy
than even the gift of land (bhūmidāna).¹ Religion had a

¹ सहस्रसंमिता धेनुरनडुवान्दशेभवः । दशानुडुत्समं यानं दशयानसमं हयः ॥
दशवाजिसमा कन्या भूमिदानं च तत्समम् । भूमिदानात्परं नास्ति विद्यादानं
ततोऽधिकम् । Bṛihaspati quoted in SCS., p. 145.