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

40 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.

of human knowledge in several branches of non-Vedic
studies. It was only in later times that religious and
literary education came to be confined to the Brahmanas
and professional and industrial training to non-Brahmanas.
Caste System once Flexible: The caste system
has got a long history and has undergone many changes
and vicissitudes during the last three thousand years. It
was formerly much less rigid than now. Interdining is an
anathema to an orthodox Hindu today. Dharmaśāstra
writers like Manu (IV. 253) and Āpastamba (II. 1.3-4)
however permit a Brahmana to take his meals in the house
of a barber, a milkman and a tenant and employ a Shudra
cook even for preparing the sacred sacrificial food. Inter-
caste marriages, which are still not permissible under the
Hindu law, were allowed by the majority of Smṛitis,
provided the bridegroom belonged to a higher caste. In
the realm of educational theory and practice also, we
should therefore not be surprised if we find that some of
the later theories were not subscribed to or followed in
earlier times.
Non-Brahmanas as Vedic Teachers: It is well-
known that the Smṛitis have laid down that Brahmanas
alone should impart Vedic education. In the earlier period
however such was not the case. There is evidence to
show that non-Brāhmanas also sometimes used to become
Vedic teachers; rituals have been prescribed to enable
them to shine in that line.¹ This need not cause any
surprise, for some Kshatriyas figure among the composers
of Vedic hymns also; the whole of the third book of the
Rig-veda is a composition of the various members of the
•¹ Cf. योऽब्राह्मणो विद्यामनूच्य नैव रोचेत स एतांश्चतुर्होतॄन् व्याचक्षीत ।
एतद्वै देवा'नां ब्रह्म निरुक्तं यच्चतुर्होतारस्तदेनं निरुच्यमानं प्रकाशं गमयति ॥
K S., IX. 16