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

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,

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 195
family, their education would not terminate. Training in
actual administration would begin after this period and
last for about seven or eight years. At the age of 24
the education would become fully complete and
princes were then regarded as eligible to become heir-
apparents.
COMMERCIAL EDUCATION
General Condition of Commerce :—In the Vedic
age, the Aryans had a greater liking for the sword
than for the sclaes ; Paṇis who were then controlling
commerce are contemptuously spoken of in the
Vedas. Gradually however when there remained
no fresh lands to conquer and acquire, the Aryans
must have turned to commerce. There was considerable
inter-provincial and foreign trade going on in the
Mauryan period. The maritime activity of ancient
India was considerable, and the trade with Rome
was very profitable to India during the early centuries
of the Christian era. Much of it however was in the
hands of Dravidians.
Scope of Commercial Education: We can get
some idea of the scope and nature of commercial
education from the training prescribed for the Vaishya
caste by Manu,¹ and the qualifications required by
Kauṭilya in the superintendent of commere.³ First
of all a knowledge of the varieties in quality of the
articles to be dealt with was imparted. Then came
commercial geography, for the trader was expected to
know the places where the different articles were
produced and the nature of the route by which they
had to be imported. Customs barriers in the period
we are discussing were numerous, and profits often
depended on selecting a route where the customs

1. IX, 381-882. 2. II, 16.

196 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
duties were relatively light. The needs of the people
of the various localities were to be carefully studied
with a view to find out possible markets. A knowledge
of different places and occasions of fares and
pilgrimages was also imparted as it was necssary in
this connection. The knowledge of the relative prices
of different articles in different provinces and countries
was also regarded as essential. Students were also
taught the exchange value of articles and also of
different currencies in various provinces and countries.
Those who intended to deal with inter-provincial or
inter-national trade were also given a working
knowledge of the necessary languages. Principles of
banking also formed part of the course. It is difficult
to determine the percentage of persons in the trading
community who received so wide an education. In
the hereditary trading families of high status, all this
education may have been a reality ; much of it must
have been unconsciously picked up by the youths
in the family shops. In the case of petty merchants
the extent of the education was probably determined
by the needs of the situation.
Agencies of Education :—During the first millen-
nium of the Christian era, most of the trades in the
country had formed very efficient guilds. One of them
is known to have maintained an Arts college in Karna-
tak during the 12th century A.D.¹ It is however
strange to find that the commercial guilds should not
have organised and managed commercial schools and
colleges. The reason however is not far to seek.
Down to the 5th century A.D. organised educational
institutions did not exist even for literary courses.
When they became fairly common in the country a
1 I.A., Vol. VIII, p. 195.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 197
few centuries later, commercial classes did not feel
it necessary to copy their example. By this time the
caste system had become hereditary and the training
in different trades and industries was usually imparted
in the family itself by the elders. Where there were
no elders in the family to train its children, they were
usually attached as apprentices to some neighbouring
trader or artisan. This apprenticeship system, which
will be soon described, rendered any regular schools of
the modern type unnecessary.
TRAINING IN ARTS AND CRAFTS.
**Introduction :—**We shall now consider the pro-
blems connected with the training of students in arts
and handicrafts like sculpture, artchitecture, painting,
carpentry, smithy, agriculture, etc. Our sources of
information are scanty, because neither Smṛitis, which
have written about education, nor foreign pilgrims like
Yuan Chwang and I-tsing who often throw consider-
able light on educational conditions, were interested
in the problems connected with the training in arts
and handicrafts.
Attitude towards Arts and Crafts : Early Period :—
It will be convenient at the outset to consider the general
attitude of society towards arts and crafts. In the early
period they were held in high esteem. Agriculture was
the general profession for the average Aryan. There
are prayers both in the Ṛigveda and the Atharvaveda for
success in various agricultural processes and operations.
It was not therefore a profession held in low
esteem as in later times. The carpenter was so impor-
tant a member of the Vedic society that the chief of
his guild was included among the twelve courtiers to
whose houses the king had to repair in person for
offering oblations at the time of his coronation. Ṛibhus,

198 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
originally human beings, were deified as a reward for
their extraordinary skill in manual arts. The same
was the case with Aśvins, who though originally human
princes, were later raised to the pantheon on account
of their medical skill.
Society's Attitude In later Days : In later
times however the attitude of society changed,
primarily due to the development of the rigid caste
system. The elevation of the Brahmanas and Ksha-
triyas was at the cost of the Vaishyas and Shudras,
who generally used to follow manual arts and handi-
crafts. As the status of the Vaishyas and Shudras
declined, the angle of vision to look at their usual
professions also changed. Manual arts and crafts
began to be held in low esteem. Carpenters and
doctors for example began to be regarded as children
of intercaste unions, which were disapproved by the
contemporary orthodox opinion. All this resulted in a
gradual boycott by Brahmanas and Kshatriyas of
manual arts and crafts. As the best intellect of the
community would not condescend to help their progress,
the general level of skill began to decline both in fine
and useful arts from about the 8th century A. D.
Apprenticeship System : The training in fine
and useful arts¹ was usually given by the apprentice-
ship system under which the student agreed to work

1. विज्ञानमुच्यते शिल्पं हेमकुप्यादिसंस्थितिः ।
   नृत्यादिकं च तच्छिक्षन्कुर्यात्कर्म गुरोर्गृहे ॥
   बृहस्पति in विवादरत्नाकर, p. 141.
   Devanabhaṭṭa, while commenting on this observes कंकणकटका-
   दिनिर्माणविषयं नृत्यं गीतादिकरणविषयं चकारात्स्तंभकुंभादिरचनाविषयं
   च विज्ञानं शिल्पमुच्यते ।