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

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 95
or make grants of land to meet some recurring expenses.
This was a combination of Vidyādāna and Bhumidāna,
and was very popular.¹ Those who were extremely rich
would often found and endow schools and colleges.²
Sometimes village communities³ and trade guilds⁴ also
would organise and finance educational institutions from
their own resources.
The Example of the Punjab: That the tradition
to help the cause of education was deep-rooted in society
would become quite clear from what we know about the
state of the Punjab on the eve of the British conquest.
Dr. Leitner, its first Educational Commissioner, observes.
“Respect for learning has always been the redeeming
feature of the East. To this the Punjab formed no
exception. Torn by invasions and civil war, it ever
preserved and added to educational institutions. The
most unscrupulous chief, the avaricious money-lender
and even the free-booter vied with the small money-
lender in making peace with his consciene by founding
schools and rewarding the learned. There was not a
1 A local magnate had given a gift of 200 nivartanas of land to the
college at Salotgi; E. I. IV, p. 60. See also I. A., XII, p. 258 and
XIII, p. 94 for similar gifts given at Soratur and Dharwar.
2 Chāngadeva, for instance, a grandson of Bhāskarāchārya, the
famous astronomer, had founded a college at Pātan; see E. I., I.
p. 30; Perumal, a Hoysal minister, had founded a college at Metugi
in Karnatak in 1290 A. D. where Vedas, Śāstras, Canarese and
Marathi were taught; see E. C III, Tiru-Narspur, No. 27
3 The Sanskrit college at Ennayiram was endowed by the local
village community; S. I. E. R., 1918, p. 145; the village commu-
nity at Belur had made a grant of land for meeting part of the
expenses of a local institution; see I. A., XVIII, p. 273.
4 A guild at Dambaḷ in Dharwar district was maintaining a Sanskrit
college in the 12th century; I. A., VIII, p. 185.
5. A History of Indigenous Education in the Punjab, p. 1; Indian
Education Commission, 1882.