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

102 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
A Resume : By making Upanayana obligatory
and professions hereditary, by showing encouragement
to learning in a variety of ways, by securing ample
patronage from rulers and landlords, by penalising
any stipulation for fees and by laying down a very
high code of conduct for the teaching profession,
Hindu society tried to make fairly efficient arrange-
ment and provision for the education of the rising
generation. The results show that before the decay
set in, these measures for the spread of education
proved to be fairly successful. As will be shown in the
Chapter VII, literacy was spread fairly widely among
the higher classes ; its percentage among them was
probably as high as 75% at the beginning of the Christian
era. In contemporary times in no other country in the
world was there so wide a spread of literacy. Hindu
achievements in the realm of medicine, metallurgy,
astronomy, chemistry, and spinning and weaving
were also of a high order, if judged by contemporary
standards. There was, undoubtedly a set back after
about 800 A.D.; its causes will be discussed in the
course of the concluding chapter.