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

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 233
India by the efficiency of its higher education, which
attracted students from distant countries like Korea,
China, Tibet and Java. The cultural sympathy which
the countries in eastern Asia feel for India even today
is entirely due to the work of the famous Buddhist
colleges of ancient India. If some of the important
lost texts can be reconstructed with the help of their
Chinese translations, the credit must be given to
Buddhist colleges, which enabled Chinese students to
get their copies. Buddhist education also helped
the development of Hindu logic and philosophy by
initiating and encouraging comparative study. In the
period of its early history, it championed the cause
of education through the mother tongue; later on
however it could not resist the charm and influence of
Sanskrit and began to impart education through
that language.
SECTION B.
PERIOD-WISE SURVEY OF ANCIENT
INDIAN EDUCATION.
Four Historical Periods : We now proceed to
take a bird's eye view of the general condition of edu-
cation in the different periods of ancient Indian history.
We shall divide it into four periods for the purpose of
of our survey. The first period will be from pre-his-
toric times to c. 1000 B.C. It may be conveniently
described as the Vedic age, as most of the Vedic litera-
ture was composed during this period. The second
period will extend from c. 1000 B.C. to c. 200 B.C.
It may be described as the age of the Upanishads, the
Sutras and the epics, as these works can be asigned to
this period. The Bārhadrathas, the Śiśunāgas, the
Nandas and the Mauryas were the leading political