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

72 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
school. How private teachers organised and imparted
education and how they were supported has already been
described in Chap. III. It may be observed in passing
that in ancient Athens also education was for a long
time imparted by private teachers and not in public
institutions. The first real founder of public schools
in Europe is believed to be Charlmaigne the Great
(800 A. D.); his death however completely frustrated
his schemes.¹
Rise of Organised Institutions : Corporate edu-
cational institutions were first evolved in ancient India in
connection with Buddhist monasteries. The Buddha had
emphasised the vital importance of imparting systematic
instructions to novices, who were required to be educated
for ten years, not only in spiritual practices, but also in
the study of the sacred literature, which required a good
grounding in Pali and Sanskrit, logic and metaphysics.
When Buddhist monasteries developed into big establish-
ments from the time of Aśoka onwards, they naturally
developed into centres of education. They were the
counter parts of Hindu Gurukulas, where the Guru was the
head, not of a family but of a monastery. At first they
were intended for monks and nuns only, but later on for
the lay population as well; for it was soon discovered
that the best way of getting a good supply of novices of
the right type and of propagating the religion among the
masses was to mould the pliant minds of the young
generation by taking up its education. Hindu educational
institutions, so far known, are all later than the time of
the Nālandā University (c. 400 A.D.). It is probable
that the starting of organised public institutions for
education may have been suggested to Hindus by the

¹ Staunton: The Great Schools of England, p. xv.