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

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 191
the Aryans were engaged in subjugating the non-
Aryans (dasyus) and establishing their supremacy in
the country. We have however no information as to
how military education was imparted. The superiority
in horsemanship and chariot-fighting constituted the
key to the Aryan success; considerable time must
therefore have been devoted to give proper training
in these subjects to the members of the fighting force.
Chariot races, which were very popular in the age,
must have played an important part in increasing the
military efficiency of the chariot corps. Practice in
the use of the bow and the arrow, the shield, the
mace and the spear, which were the main offensive
and defensive weapons of the age, must have played
an important part in the training of the infantry.
Non-official Training Agencies: In modern
times military training is usually given only by the
state authorities when recruits join the army. Such
was not the case in ancient India. The average
citizen and villager was expected to be able to defend
his own hearth and home; the Arthaśāstra expressly
lays down that every village ought to be able to
defend itself (II. 34). Villagers and citizens therefore
had to make their own arrangements to get the
necessary facility in the use of the weapons of the age
in order to be ready for any eventuality. There were
no military schools as such for this purpose; with the
voluntary help of the elderly experts in the village,
most of its youths could be trained in the use of the
bow and the arrow, the lathi and the lance. That
such was actually the case in several parts of India
would become quite clear from the accounts of
Alexander’s invasion, as given by the Greek historians.
In several places the Macedonian hero was opposed
not so much by state forces as by the whole population