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

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 175
When this ceased to be the case, the family priest or
the preceptor, to whom students were sent for Vedic
education, may have imparted the primary education
as well; for primary education at this time was a
more integral part of higher education than is the case
now. Primary schools also existed in some localities;
we sometimes get references to rich boys going to
attend them, when their wooden slates were carried by
their servants.¹ But who conducted these primary
schools, or how they were financed is not known.
Public institutions even for higher education had not
yet been evolved, as we have seen already. Primary
schools also must therefore have been private institu-
tions. Literacy was very wide spread at this time;
it is but natural that some of the members of the
Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya classes may have
taken to primary education as a career.
PRIMARY EDUCATION DURING
c. 200 B.C. to 800 A.D.
The Time of Commencement :—Primary education
was assigned a definite place in the educational system
during this period by the exaltation of its beginning
into a religious ritual known as Aksharasvīkaraṇa (see
Appendix I A), which was performed at about the age
of five or six. This was the time for the beginning
of primary education. Authors of this period represent
the Buddha, Raghu, Lava and Kuśa as beginning their
education at about this age.² The Chinese pilgrim
I-tsing also found that primary education used to
begin at the age of six.
Scope of Primary Education :—Boys began their
study with the primary and compound alphabets and
1 Kaṭāhaka Jātaka, No. 125.
2 Lalitavistāra, Canto 10; Raghuvaṁśa, Canto III, Uttara-
Rāmacharit, Act II.

176 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch..
used to spend about six months in mastering them.
Then about a year was spent in mastering elementary
arithmetic. Down to c. 250 A.D. Prakrits were in
ascendancy ¹ and so students must have spent some
time in mastering them. After about 250 A. D. Sans-
krit regained its position and even primary education
became to some extent influenced by it. During
the later stages of primary education boys used to
study the Sūtras of Pāṇini and some other simple
grammatical works from the age of 8 to 11.²
**The Method of Teaching :—**The present generation
cannot easily imagine the methods of teaching in
primary schools in an age when paper and cheap text
books were unknown. Boys of the rich used to
write on wooden boards in some kind of colour.
There is a sculpture in the Peshawar Museum
representing the Buddha in his primary school as
holding a rectangular board in his hand and engaged
in writing upon it.³ Poorer students used to write on
ground, covered with sand or dust. There was no
pencil ; they used pointed sticks or their own fingers
for writing the alphabet. The latter method incidently
trained the muscles, the necessity of which is advocated
in the Montessori method. The teacher used to write
1 During the period c. 250 B.C. to c. 250 A D. most of the
public documents are seen to be composed in Pali or Prakrits. Sans-
krit appears in inscriptions very rarely. So this period is regarded
as a period of the ascendancy of Prakrits ; there is a tradition to the
effect that the Sātavāhana kings of the Deccan had decreed that all
their public documents should be in Prakrit alone (Kāvyamīmāṁsā,
p. 50). This tradition is confirmed by the inscriptions of the house.
The Guptas were champions of Sanskrit and had decreed that Sans-
krit should be spoken even in their harems, (Ibid, p. 50). Their
records are all in Sanskrit.
2 I-tsing, chap. XXXIV.
3 A. S. R., 1903-4, pp. 246-7 and Pl. LXVI, 1.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 177
one alphabet on the board and the boys used to shout
out its name, as they went on writing it on wooden
boards or sand-covered ground. This method is
graphically described in a book of the early centuries
of the Christian era¹ and prevailed down to recent
times. The multiplication tables were recited
similarly by the whole class, following the lead given
by the teacher or the monitor. Boys had no primers
or text books with them down to the middle of the last
century, and guardians had not to meet a never ending
demand of the school for fresh exercises and copybooks.
The practice in writing was not given on paper, for
none existed. Boys first acquired the mastery in writ-
ing the alphabet on the sand board. When this
was done, teachers used to write on a palm leaf with
an iron style and hand over the leaf to the pupil for
tracing the letters on the same leaf with charcoal ink,
which was rubbed out at the end of the day. The
same palm leaf thus served as a model for several
days and several boys. When the fingers of boys had
acquired the necessary suppleness, they were then
asked to write on plaintain leaves. When they were
well practised in writing on plaintain leaves, they
were taught to write on the palm leaf.² More practice
was given in writing than in reading, as books were
rather rare.
Primary Schools and Teachers : Only occasionally
our sources refer to primary schools and teachers ; they
are usually described as lipiśālās (alphabet schools) and

1. Cf. तत्र बोधिसत्वाधिष्ठानेन तेषां दारकाणां मातृकां वाच्यतां यदा
   अकारं परिकीर्तयन्ति स्म तदा अनित्यः संस्कारशब्दो निश्चरति स्म ।
   Lalitavistāra, Chap. X.
2. Stark, Vernacular Education, pp. 28-48.
   12

178 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
dārakāchāryas (teachers of little children) respectively.¹
Public schools even for higher education did not exist
down to c. 400 A. D,; it is no wonder that they
should have been very scarce also for primary education
for a long time. Education was thus mostly imparted
by private teachers in private schools. Family priests
continued to impart primary education for a fairly
long time. From about the 5th century A. D. a great
impetus was given to higher education by the founding
of a number of public schools and colleges. This must
have given an indirect impetus to primary education
also; for the less capable products of these institutions
may have taken to primary education as a career.
Primary teachers, by no means highly qualified for
their task, figured in Kashmir society during the 10th
century A. D.;² the same may have been the case
elsewhere also. Sometimes primary teachers were
employed by the rich to educate their family children
and the children of other villagers were also allowed
to read along with them. If a village had not a rich
person to engage a teacher on his own account, a
number of guardians used to cooperate in engaging the
services of a teacher, each paying according to his
ability. In the majority of cases, however, private
teachers used to start schools on their own initiative,
relying upon the uncertain income of voluntary fees and
contributions from the guardians of students. The
average income of a teacher in Bengal just before the
advent of the British rule was more or less equal to
the emoluments of the village accountant :³ the same
1 लिपिशालामुपनीयते स्म कुमारः । तत्र विश्वामित्रो नाम
दारकाचार्यः । Lalita-vistāra, Chap. X.
2 Rājataraṅgiṇī, Vol. I, pp. 134 & 196 (Eng. Tr.)
3 Stark, Vernacular Education in Bengal, pp. 28 ff.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 179
may have been the case throughout the earlier history.
In some localities in Madras presidency teachers used
to receive grain-shares at the time of harvest just like
carpenters or smiths ; this system does not seem to
have been universal,¹ for the services of a teacher
were not required by every villager, as was the case
with those of a smith or potter. Primary teachers
usually belonged to the families of the village
accountants, priests, writers (Kayasthas) or traders,
which were invariably literate. Like the teachers of
the Vedas, they were not exclusively Brahmanas.
This was the case even in the Smṛiti period ; for some
of the Smṛiti writers refer with disapproval to the
custom of non-Brahmanas being the teachers of
Brahmanas.
Extent of Literacy at c. 800 A. D. :—Upanayana,
which had given an indirect inpetus to the spread of
literacy, gradually ceased to be performed in the case
of the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas during the first five
centuries of the Christian era. Automatic initiation
into the 3 R’s, which was ensured by this ritual, thus
ceased gradually to be a reality with the majority of
the Aryans. This gave a setback to the spread of
literacy during this period. Vaishyas engaged in trade
were literate and often cultured ; the members of the
guild of weavers at Mandsore in Malva were well
versed in folklore and astrology during the 5th century
A.D.² The same may have been the case with better
class traders and merchants during this period.
Kshatriyas engaged in administrative work were of
course literate. It is however doubtful whether the
ordinary agriculturist or soldier, who had inherited no
¹ Report of the Madras Provincial Committee, Evidence, pp. 20,
154, 173.
² Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions, p.p. 80-7.

180 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
cultural tradition and who had discontinued Upanayana
at this time, were literate. Literacy among the males
of the three higher castes must have been hardly more
than about 40 percent towards the end of the 8th century
A. D. The Shudras, who formed the bulk of the
labouring classes, and the untouchables were all
illiterate. As a class, women also had ceased to be
literate towards the end of the 8th century, as has been
shown already.
PRIMARY EDUCATION DURING
C. 800-1200 A. D.
Vernaculars and Primary Education :—Verna-
culars began to develop during this period and ordinary
men ceased to understand Sanskrit. This must have
produced a great change in the curriculum of primary
education also. Those who intended to specialise in
Sanskrit must have continued to spend a part of their
time in early childhood in memorising dictionaries
(Koshas) and verbal conjugations and nominal declen-
sions. Those however who had no such ambition
must have concentrated on the study of vernaculars
in the primary stage. Some inscriptions of this period
refer to the arrangements made for the teaching of
vernaculars in the schools and colleges. A school at
Talgund in Mysore state had made provision for the
teaching of Canarese in the 12th century A.D.;¹ a
college at Narsipur in the same state was providing for
the teaching of the vernaculars,—Canarese, Telugu and
Marathi,—in 1290 A. D.² If higher colleges were
making provision for the teaching of the vernaculars
of other provinces also, we can well conclude that
1 E. C., VII, Shikarpur, No. 185.
2 Ibid, Vol. III, Narsipur, No. 27.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 181
primary education at this time was almost entirely
dominated by vernaculars.
The Scope of the Vernacular Education :—When
Sanskrit was the spoken language in earlier days,
primary education was intended to become an integral
part of the higher Sanskritic studies. When Sanskrit
became a dead language as far as the masses were
concerned, primary education became Vernacular
education and developed a self-contained course.
Vernacular education of the masses was organised not
with a view to enable them to develop into good
Sanskrit scholars, but with the object of making them
efficient in their ordinary walks of life. Reading
writing, commercial arithmetic, accountancy, good
knowledge of vernaculars with perhaps a smattering of
Sanskrit, and moral training through the stories of
epics constituted the curriculum of the vernacular
education at about 1200 A. D. The same continued
to be the case during the subsequent centuries as well.
In the case of Brahmana boys, who intended to take
to Sanskritic education later, elements of Sanskrit
grammar were included ; but agricultural and com-
mercial arithmetic dominated the courses intended
for students hailing from agricultural and commercial
classes. How to measure the area of fields, how to
deduce monthly wages from the daily ones and vice
versa, how to find the prices of corn per maund when
those per seer were given, etc,—questions like these
engaged the attention of the teachers and students in
primary schools.
The extent of Literacy at c. 1200 A. D. With the
levelling down of both the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas
to the position of the Shudras, the extent of literacy
must have further gone down during this period.
The average farmer at this time was illiterate and

182 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
members of commercial and industrial guilds were no
longer as educated and cultured as those of the
weavers' guild at Mandsore in c. 400 A. D. We have
however no sufficient evidence to compute the extent
of literacy at c. 1200 A. D. We may perhaps utilise
the data about the state of affairs at the advent of
British rule in this connection. The village teacher
was not usually one of the grain-sharing servants
supported by the village community ; his services
therefore were clearly required not by the whole
community, but only by certain sections of it ; literacy
must have been confined only to them. In the
second decade of the 19th century Sir Thomas Monroe
found a primary school in every village ; 'I am
inclined' says he, 'to estimate the proportion of male
population receiving education to be nearer one third
than one fourth'.¹ In Bengal at this time most
villages possessed schools for primary education, but
the percentage of boys attending them varied in
different places. In some districts² as many as
18 percent of the boys of the school going age attended
schools, in others the percentage was only 3. In
Malva, which for more than half a century was suffer-
ing from anarchy, Malcolm found a school in almost
every village with more than 100 houses.³ It would
therefore appear that about 15 percent of the boys of
the school-going age were attending schools towards
the beginning of the 19th century. If in spite of the
prevailing unsettled conditions, about 15 percent boys
were attending schools at the beginning of the 19th
century, we may well conclude that the percentage
may have been at least twice this figure at the end of

1. Quoted by Sen in History of Elementary Education, p. 78.
2. Ibid, p. 76
3. Malcolm. Memoirs of Central India and Malva, p. 158.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 183
the Hindu period. For during the Muslim rule the
government educational effort for a long time was
confined only to the Muslim section of the population ;
Hindus also could not continue to get the same state
patronage for their education and literature, which
was possible under their own rule. This must have
affected the spread of education and the extent of
literacy in the population as a whole, which was
predominently Hindu. If therefore the percentage
of literate male population among Indians as a
whole was about 15 at the beginning of the 19th
century, it may as well have been about thirty
towards the end of the 12th century A. D. At the
time when Upanayana was a reality with the whole of
the Aryan community, we have already seen that the
percentage of literacy in it must have been as high as
80. Towards the end of the 8th century A. D. it had
declined to about 40, as shown already. It further
went down by about another 10 percent by the 12th
century A. D. These percentages however refer to
male population only and are exclusive of the Shudras
and Untouchables, who were as a rule all illiterate.

Chapter VIII.
PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL
EDUCATION.
MEDICAL EDUCATION—Its general features—Training in
surgery—Arrangements for practical training—Duration of the course
and examination—Medical education in later times—Veterinary
education—MILITARY EDUCATION—Non-official training agencies—
Military schools—professional military coaches—Education of the
princes—COMMERCIAL EDUCATION—Its general scope—How it was
imparted. TRAINING IN ARTS AND CRAFTS—Society's attitude
towards arts and crafts in early and later times—Training given by the
apprenticeship system—Workshop atmosphere—Painter's training as
an illustration—Efficiency of the training—Was it narrow ?
Introduction : In this chapter we propose to take
a rapid survey of some of the important branches of
useful and professional education and of the ways in
which it was imparted. Medical, military and com-
mercial education and the training of artists and
artisans for sculpture, architecture, painting, smithy,
carpentry etc. will principally engage our attention.
MEDICAL EDUCATION.
Early Progress : Medical science is no doubt of
hoary antiquity in India. The Vedic literature refers
to the healing feats of Aśvins, who though originally
human beings, were later deified by a grateful posterity.
This science was fairly well developed by the 4th
century B. C., for the Greeks, who had accompanied
Alexander the Great, were very well impressed by the
skill of Indian doctors in curing the cases of serpent
bite. The Jātakas refer to the medical students at
Taxila performing operations for cranial abscesses and
intestinal displacement.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 185
Some general Features : Medical education was
usually imparted by private teachers. There was a ri-
tual at the admission of students which will be described
in Appendix 1, E. The student had to be well grounded
in Sanskrit, for most of the books on medicine were
written in that language. Learning by rote was
condemned ; Suśruta compares a person having only
a verbal knowledge of the medical texts to a donkey
conscious of the heaviness but not of the quality of
the burden it carries. Specialisation was encouraged ;
students were expected to master the different branches
of learning from different experts.¹ Practical training
in surgery and pharmacy and constant discussion of
abstruse points among the students and teachers were
some of the important features of the training.²
**Training in Surgery :—**We can get a fairly good
idea of the training in surgery from our sources. The
beginners were taught how to hold and use the surgical
instruments by practising upon pumpkins, cucumbers,
water melons, etc., under the teacher's directions.
Puncturing was demonstrated on the veins of dead
animals, the manner of holding the probe on dry
Alābu fruits, scarification on stretched pieces of
leather covered with hair, sewing on thin pieces of
cloth or skin, application of bandages on stuffed human
figures and the use of caustics on soft pieces of flesh.³
The novice was then gradually initiated in real cases
and allowed to extract darts, cleanse wounds, and use
the knife in piercing and cutting diseased parts of the
body. How surgical wounds are to be made to dry
up was also demonstrated. Practice in the adminis-
1 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, IV. 4. 4-8
2 Charaka. Vimānasthāna, 8. 4
3 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, Chap. 9
4 Mil. Pan., Vol. II, 254-5

186 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch-
tration of emetics, purges and enemas was given to all.
Suśruta emphasises on the importance of dissection for
perfecting the student's knowledge, and points out that
mere book learning cannot give a clear idea of the-
actual internal constitution of the human body.
Corpses used to be decomposed in water and students-
were then required to dissect them and visualise the
nature of skin, muscles, arteries, bones, internal organs,
etc.¹ Anatomical knowledge that was thus imparted.
was fairly high when compared with the contemporary
standards elsewhere. Unfortunately in the course of
time the dissection of human body went out of vogue,
causing a setback to the progress of the medical
science.
Arrangements for Practical Training—Students
received practical training in surgery and medicine,
usually through private practice of their teachers. In
some cases hospitals were attached to colleges. In great
cities like Pāṭalīputra there existed big charitable hos-
pitals, which must have afforded good opportunities for
training medical students. Indian hospitals were
well organised, for Hindu doctors were invited by the
Abbaside Khalifas to supervise their own hospitals in
the 8th century A D. It is to be regretted that Fa
Hsien should not have given us detailed information
of the hospitals, which he had seen at Pāṭlīputra. If
he had done this, we would have probably known a
good deal about the hospital management and medical
education during the 5th century A.D. '
Duration of the Course and Examination :—
The exact duration of the medical course is not known.
Charaka and Suśruta do not enlighten us on the
point. In the days of the Buddha, the medical
1 Suśruta, Śarīrasthāna, 5.49.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 187
course at Taxila was fairly long; for his physician
Jīvaka was permitted to go home very reluctantly
by his teacher, though he had spent seven years at that
University. Charaka observes that no one can obtain
a real all round efficiency in Āyurveda; this would
also suggest a very long course. We may well
presume that the student had to spend at least eight
years, before he could get mastery in the subject.
The completion of the course was followed by an
examination. This is implied by the observation of
Charaka¹ and Suśruta² that it is the king's fault,
if incompetent doctors practise the medical profession.
Śukra also prohibits a person to practise as a doctor
without possessing the king's license.³ None of our
authorities however discloses the conditions under
which the royal permission was granted under efficient
administration. Very probably it must have been
given to students who were certified to have finished
their course either by superintendents of state hospitals,
principals of colleges or famous private practitioners.
High ideals placed before the Medicoes : The
convocation address before the medical graduates
exhorted them to follow a very high ideal of profes-
sional conduct.⁴ They must relieve distress in all
quarters. They must strive for the welfare of all
humanity. They must not desert a patient, even when
their own life was in danger. They must continue
study and research throughout their life.
Achievements in the Medical Science : The
above advice seems to have been followed in a very
large number of cases. India continued to be famous

1. Sūtrasthāna, 29.8
2. Sūtrasthāna, III. 52; X. 3
3. I. 804
4. See Appendix III

188 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
for its medical skill throughout the ancient period.
Her doctors could perform surgical operations for
cataract, hydrocele, abscesses, extraction of dead
embryos, etc.¹ They were in demand in Messo-
potamia and Arabia for guiding and training the
physicians there. Khalifa Harun sent several scholars
to India to study Hindu medicine and pharmacology
and induced about 20 doctors to come to Baghdad to
become chief medical officers of state hospitals and to
translate Sanskrit medical work into Arabic. Most
celebrated among them was Manakā (Māṇikya), who
was originally invited to cure an ailment of Sultan
Harun, which defied the skill of Arabian physicians.
He succeeded in his treatment and was later induced
to become the director of state hospitals and translate
the work of Suśruta into Arabic.² Arabic system
1 Sītā apprehended that Rāvaṇa might kill and dissect her limb
by limb like a surgeon extracting a dead embryo; cf.
तस्मिन्ननागच्छति लोकनाथे गर्भस्थजन्तोरिव शल्यकृन्तः ।
नूनं ममांगान्यचिरादनार्यः शस्त्रैः शितैश्छेत्स्यति मानवेन्द्रः ॥
• Rāmāyaṇa, V. 28. 6
Non-discovery of anaesthetics aad sterilisation processes was stauding
in the way of progress. Wine was administered as a partial anaes-
thetic. The Bhojaprabandha refers to an anæsthetic called
mohanichūrṇa: but since it is mentioned in connection with a
miraculous cure effected by the divine physicians Aśvins, we may
doubt its general knowledge or use.
cf. ततस्तावपि राजानं मोहचूर्णेन मोहयित्वा शिरःकपालमादाय
तत्करोटिकापुटे स्थितं शफरकुलं गृहीत्वा कस्मिंश्चिद्भाजने निक्षिप्य संधान-
करण्या कपालं यथावदारचय्य संजीवन्या च तं जीवयित्वा तस्मै
तददर्शयताम् ॥ Bhojaprabandha, after v. 318
2. S. K. Nadvi. Arab aur Bharat ke sambandha, pp. 108-28 ;
Alberuni, Introduction, p. XXXI. Saleh bin Bahala and Dahan
(Dhanvantari ?) were two of the famous colleagues of Manaka, who
accompanied him to Baghdad.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 189
of medicine owes a great deal to the Ayurvedic
system.
Medical Education in Later Times :—Training in
the medical profession was fairly efficient in India
down to the 10th century A. D. Ayurvedic doctors
were keeping themselves in touch with the discoveries
and developments taking place elsewhere, and also
experimenting upon new preparations as better
medicines for ailments and diseases. The use of mer-
cury, opium and metallic preparations was introduced
into the pharmacopeia in the medieval times. Dis-
continuance of dissection and consequent decline in
surgery however gave a setback to the system. Owing
to the prevalence of stricter notions of ceremonial
purity, the touch of the corpse became a taboo and
dissection was consequently given up. This became
fatal to progress in surgery, the practice of which
gradually died down. The medical profession began
to be held in low esteem as the doctor had to deal
with filthy diseases and touch dying patients. In the
earlier period famous doctors like Aśvins and Dhan-
vantari were deified; now the followers of the
profession began to be regarded as defilers of the
company at a dinner table.¹ Purāṇas state that medicine
became the profession of the descendants of the illegiti-
mate son born to sage Gālava from his maid-servant
Ambā.² Occasionally we no doubt come across grants
of villages given to doctors by kings; there can be
however no doubt that society as a whole looked down

1. Manu, III. 152.
2. Some of the Smṛtis also e. g. B. D. S., I. 8. 9. assign the
   medical profession to the children of a mixed caste sprung from the
   union of a Brahmana father and Vaishya mother.

190 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
upon the medical profession, which could not but
have told upon its efficiency and progress.¹
Veterinary Education :—The veterinary science
had been developed in India fairly early. Śālihotra is
its traditional founder and two of the Pāṇḍava heroes,
Nakula and Sahadeva are said to have been experts in
it. In the 3rd century B. C. veterinary doctors were
fairly common ; Asoka could find them in necessary
numbers to man his hospitals for animals throughout
the country. The army authorities used to employ
them in army to treat the ailments of horses and
elephants (Arthaśāstra, II. 30-2). There were special
books also dealing with these subjects.² We however
do not come across any veterinary schools or colleges,
nor do we possess any information as to how veterinary
doctors were trained. Probably army authorities used
to organise their own schools to meet their own needs.
In villages the profession may have been hereditary in
some farmers' families, which may have occasionally
taken some outsiders also to be trained as apprentices.
MILITARY EDUCATION
Vedic Period : During the Vedic period the
military profession must have been a popular one, as

1. An incidental observation in the Mitāksharā would show that
   the medical course was finished in four instead of eight years during
   the 12th century A. D. ; of :—
   अन्तेवासी गुरोर्गृहे कृतकालं वर्षचतुष्टयमायुर्वेदशिल्पशिक्षार्थे त्वद्गृहे
   वसामीति ।
   On Yāj. II. 184.
   2 Aśvavaidyaka of Jayadatta, Aśvachikitsā of Nakula and
   Hastyāyurveda of Pālakāpya (published in A.S. series) are the important
   works on the veterinary science. Some of these works in their present
   form are not later than c. 800 A.D., but they had their precursors,
   now unfortunately lost.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 191
the Aryans were engaged in subjugating the non-
Aryans (dasyus) and establishing their supremacy in
the country. We have however no information as to
how military education was imparted. The superiority
in horsemanship and chariot-fighting constituted the
key to the Aryan success; considerable time must
therefore have been devoted to give proper training
in these subjects to the members of the fighting force.
Chariot races, which were very popular in the age,
must have played an important part in increasing the
military efficiency of the chariot corps. Practice in
the use of the bow and the arrow, the shield, the
mace and the spear, which were the main offensive
and defensive weapons of the age, must have played
an important part in the training of the infantry.
Non-official Training Agencies: In modern
times military training is usually given only by the
state authorities when recruits join the army. Such
was not the case in ancient India. The average
citizen and villager was expected to be able to defend
his own hearth and home; the Arthaśāstra expressly
lays down that every village ought to be able to
defend itself (II. 34). Villagers and citizens therefore
had to make their own arrangements to get the
necessary facility in the use of the weapons of the age
in order to be ready for any eventuality. There were
no military schools as such for this purpose; with the
voluntary help of the elderly experts in the village,
most of its youths could be trained in the use of the
bow and the arrow, the lathi and the lance. That
such was actually the case in several parts of India
would become quite clear from the accounts of
Alexander’s invasion, as given by the Greek historians.
In several places the Macedonian hero was opposed
not so much by state forces as by the whole population

192 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch..
in arms.¹ There can be no doubt that in many of
the republican states of the Punjab, e. g. the Kaṭhas,
the Mālavas, the Sibis, etc., every adult used to
receive military training of a fairly high order.
Probably the same was the case under monarchies,
though perhaps to a less degree. Many villages had
developed high military traditions and used to be
exempted from taxation on agreeing to supply a
certain quota to the army.²
***Military Schools :—***There were also some cities
in the country, famous as centres of military training.
Taxila, situated in the North-Western Frontier
Province, had naturally become a centre of military
training. Kshatriyas and Brahmanas from all over
the country used to go to this frontier city for getting
mastery in the military profession. In one military
college of this city there were 103 princes receiving
training in the different branches of the military art.³
Unfortunately we get no information about the
management of this college, nor do we know whether
it was a private or a state institution. Probably the
former was the case.
**Professional Military Coaches :—**From about
the 5th century B. C. big empires began to be built up
in ancient India, and soon thereafter the country
came into contact with the disciplined soldiers of the
Greek army. This gave an impetus to intensive
military training and many enterprising captains began
to start private military coaching classes with a view
to supply highly trained soldiers to the state. Many
such captains existed as early as the 2nd century

1. Mc. Crindle, Ancient India, Its Invasion by Alexander the
   Great, p. 140.
2. Arthaśāstra, IX. 1
3. Sutasoma Jātaka, No. 222

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 193
B. C.; they used to supply trained soldiers to kings
and receive in return from them lands, money, horses,
etc. by way of reward.¹ Targets of clay or stuffed
human figures were used to teach accurate aiming. A
9th century inscription from the Deccan also refers to
a military captain, who is described as a marvel in
training horses² ; it is not however known whether
this officer was conducting a private class or whether he
was a regular professor in a military college maintained
by the Rāshṭrakūṭa administration.
Conclusion :— The general impression left by the
literary and epigraphical evidence of the 1st millennium
A.D. is that a good deal of preliminary military train-
ing was given almost universally in all villages under
the aegius of the village Panchayats. Organised insti-
tutions for military training probably did not exist in
moffusil villages. Retired members of the state
hereditary forces and local experts used to organise
and manage military classes in their own villages,
which were attended by most of the able-bodied adults
in the locality. Further training was imparted by ad-
venturous captains and final touches were given after the
enlistment of the soldier in the state army in daily
drills. It would appear that the weakness of the
Hindu military machine lay in too much reliance being
placed upon the training received by soldiers as militia
men. This training, while quite sufficient to meet the
needs of local disturbances, was inadequate to with-
stand regularly trained armies.
Education of Princes :— A few words may be
conveniently said here about the education of princes.
In the early period we find kings sending their sons to

1. Mil. Pan., Vol. II, pp. 135-4
2. E. I., XIII, p. 187.
   13

194 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
distant centres of education like Taxila to receive
education there more or less like commoners. But
from about the 3rd century B. C. it became the usual
practice to establish special schools for the education
of the scions of the royal family.¹ Sons and wards of
ministers and high officers of the state were also
permitted to join these schools, as it was realised that
suitable companions and mutual competition were neces-
sary to ensure satisfactory results. The Royal School
was usually located in the vicinity of the capital. It
consisted of several spacious halls, each suitable for
its special purpose. Gymnasium, swimming pools and
extensive grounds for military exercises were provided.
Experts were recruited from all over the country
to teach different subjects. The curriculum included
a study of the Vedas and philosophy, but naturally only
such knowledge of these subjects was imparted as was
necessary for general culture. Special attention was
paid to the study of history, economics, politics,
administration, and civil and criminal law. Lectures
on these subjects were delivered usually in the afternoon,
the morning time being devoted to the athletic and
military exercises. Princes were expected to be experts
in the use of different arms like the sword, the lance
and the bow and arrow. Tournaments and hunting
parties were often organised to test their skill. Fine
arts like music and painting were also taught. Students
in these royal schools used to stay in the boarding
houses ; their parents used to go there occasionally to
see them and find out how they were progressing.
The school course terminated usually at the end of
the 16th year, when princes were allowed to marry.
Though after this time, they would usually leave the
boarding and begin to stay in the palace with their

1. Arthas'âstra, I, Kâdambarī, p. 149,