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

42 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
of horses and elephants, are mentioned in Smṛitis (Manu,
III. 162). Jātakas also show that at Taxila, Brahmanas
used to impart education in several practical professions
like the military art, medicine and snake charming etc.
both to Brahmanas and Kshatriyas.¹ Dhanurveda lays
down that Brahmanas are as eligible to be the teachers of
the military science as Kshatriyas (1.4). Being as a rule
more intelligent than members of other castes, they must
have shone in these lines also, as for instance was the
case with Droṇāchārya. It was only in later times, from
c. 500 A.D. onwards, that Brahmanas ceased to be teachers
of useful arts and professions owing to the growing rigour
of the caste system. This was rather unfortunate, for it
prevented the utilisation of the intellect of one of the most
intelligent classes in society for expanding the boundaries
of knowledge in the domain of practical sciences.
Caste System and Curriculum, Domination of
Vedic Studies: Let us now find out the influence the caste
system exercised on the curriculum. A perusal of the
relevant rules of the Smṛitis produces the impression that
Vedic studies must have dominated the course prescribed
for the Brahmanas. It has been emphatically laid down
that all Brahmanas should devote twelve years to Vedic
studies after their Upanayana. Such, however, was not
the case in actual practice. Only a small section of the
Brahmana community,—possibly not more than its one-
fifth,—used to devote itself to Vedic 'studies, when new
branches of knowledge like grammar, philosophy, law and
classical Sanskrit literature came to be developed. For the
preservation of the Vedic literature, the services of only
a small section of the community were necessary; the rest

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¹ खत्तियमानवा ब्राह्मणमानवा च तस्सेव संतिके सिप्पं उग्गण्हितुं गच्छंति ।
Asadisa J. No. 181; see also Thusa J. No 338.