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

VI] HIGHER LITERARY EDUCATION 155
Buddhist scholars like Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu
used to master the systems of their opponents as
well. In a famous philosophical college situated in a
sylvan retreat in the Vindhya mountain presided
over by Divākarasena, a Brahmana convert to
Buddhism, students of Hinduism, Buddhism and
Śvetāmbara and Digambara Jainism studied together
side by side under the same principal.¹ Such an
arrangement naturally presupposes a comparative
study of the rival systems leading to the broadening
of the outlook and the deepening of the scholarship of
the average student of the institution.
Courses for Laymen in Buddhist Colleges : For
reasons already explained at p. 72, Buddhist monastic
colleges began to take up the education of the laymen
also from about the beginning of the Christian era. The
courses prescribed for them were not radically different
from those obtaining under sister institutions working
under the aegis of Hinduism. Students started with a
study of Sanskrit grammar and literature, which lasted
for seven or eight years. They were also given some
grounding in Pāli ; as pious Buddhists, they had to
master some passages from the Pāli canon. At about
the age of 15 or 16, their higher education commenced
Those who wanted to specialise in Sanskrit literature
Dharmaśāstra, astrology-cum-astronomy, medicine
or works on polity and administration used to follow
practically the same course as was in vogue in the
Hindu colleges of the period. Those however who
wanted to specialise in logic or philosophy used to
select works by Buddhist authors on these subject
like Hetuvidyā, Abhidharmaśāstra, Nyāyānusāraśāstra
etc. The followers of the Hīnayāna school used to

1. Harshacharit, Chap. VIII.