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

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 237
obligatory for the whole Aryan community at about
the beginning of this period. This gave a great
impetus to the spread both of literacy and higher
education. As learning became more and more exten-
sive in course of time, education in the family became
impracticable, and society began to encourage distin-
guished scholars to become regular teachers. They
used to organise private schools for higher studies,
relying mainly on the voluntary contributions of
students taking their advantage. Brahmacharya dis-
cipline was still rigorous, but towards the end of the
period the marriageable age of girls began to be gra-
dually lowered, which adversely affected female
education. During the earlier part of this period,
however, there was no dearth of women philosophers
and scholars, some of whom used to organise schools
and hostels for girls. Co-education was however not
unknown. Majority of girls received their education
at home, as was the case with boys also during the
earlier period. The educational system paid as much
attention to the cultivation of the Vedic studies as
to that of grammar and philology, mathematics and
astronomy, epic and legal literature. Professions be-
came specialised towards the end of this period and
society began to feel it advantageous that they should
become hereditary in order to encourage further effi-
ciency. The ordinary soldier or agriculturist used
however to receive a fair amount of cultural education.
The training imparted to the doctor and the sculptor
was fairly practical and efficient, and the average in-
telligence of the artisan class was fairly high. The
killed worker was respected by society. Education
vas regarded as a serious proposition and society was
anxious that its benefits should be extended to as large
a class as possible. Various steps were being proposed