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

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 195
family, their education would not terminate. Training in
actual administration would begin after this period and
last for about seven or eight years. At the age of 24
the education would become fully complete and
princes were then regarded as eligible to become heir-
apparents.
COMMERCIAL EDUCATION
General Condition of Commerce :—In the Vedic
age, the Aryans had a greater liking for the sword
than for the sclaes ; Paṇis who were then controlling
commerce are contemptuously spoken of in the
Vedas. Gradually however when there remained
no fresh lands to conquer and acquire, the Aryans
must have turned to commerce. There was considerable
inter-provincial and foreign trade going on in the
Mauryan period. The maritime activity of ancient
India was considerable, and the trade with Rome
was very profitable to India during the early centuries
of the Christian era. Much of it however was in the
hands of Dravidians.
Scope of Commercial Education: We can get
some idea of the scope and nature of commercial
education from the training prescribed for the Vaishya
caste by Manu,¹ and the qualifications required by
Kauṭilya in the superintendent of commere.³ First
of all a knowledge of the varieties in quality of the
articles to be dealt with was imparted. Then came
commercial geography, for the trader was expected to
know the places where the different articles were
produced and the nature of the route by which they
had to be imported. Customs barriers in the period
we are discussing were numerous, and profits often
depended on selecting a route where the customs

1. IX, 381-882. 2. II, 16.