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

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 85
There is definite evidence to show that this practice pre-
vailed at Taxila¹; probably it obtained in other places also.
College Session : Pre-historic Period : The
Upākarma and Utsarjana rituals show that the college
session could not have lasted for more than five or six
months². It began sometime in August and ended some-
time in February. Such was the case in prehistoric times
when Vedic hymns only formed the main subject of study.
When however the sacred literature became more exten-
sive and new branches of learning were developed like
grammar, philology, astronomy, philosophy and sacred law
(Dharmaśāstra), the short session of six months was
found to be inadequate and studies began to be prosecuted
throughout the year.
College Session : Later Times: There is ample
evidence to show that in later times, though the Utsarjana
ceremony, which marked the suspension of the Vedic
studies, was performed in February, the college work went
on uninterrupted. Manu, for instance, states that in spite
of the Utsarjana ceremony, the study of the Vedas and
Vedāngas should be continued throughout the year (IV.98).
College terms followed by fairly long vacations, with
which we are now familiar, seem to have been altogether
unknown in ancient India since about the 7th century B.C.
Transport difficulties were immense and students from
Rājagṛiha (near Patna) and Benares going to distant
places like Taxila used to return home only when the
whole course was over³ (Jā. No. 252). They therefore
1 धम्मन्तेवासिका आचारियस्स कम्मं कत्वा रत्तिं सिप्पमुग्गह्वंति,
आचारियभागदायका गेहे जेट्ठ पुत्ता विय हुत्वा सिप्पमेव उग्गह्वंति।
Jātaka No. 252.
2. Appendix I, section C.
3. The rule in the Arthas̄āstra laying down that the wife of a
Brahmana student should wait ten or twelve years before
P. T. O.