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

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 221
dowager queens and princesses, who used to take
active part in the administration of their kingdoms.
Nayanikā of the Andhra dynasty (c. 150 B. C.) and
Prabhāvatīguptā of the Vākāṭaka dynasty (c. 390 A.D.)
were governing extensive kingdoms during the minority
of their sons. The queen of Masaga directed the
defence of her capital against Alexander the Great after
the death of her husband. Several queens of Kashmir
have fought on the battlefield,¹ and some of them
like Sugandhā and Diddā have ruled as regnant
queens. In the Chālukya dynasty several queens and
ladies of the royal family like Mailādevī, Akkādevī,
Kunkumadevī and Lakshmīdevī are known to have
taken active part in the administration of the empire
as governors of towns and districts.² It is therefore
quite obvious that steps must have been taken in
royal families in ancient India to give proper training
to princesses in order to make them fit to carry
on the administration in the case of emergency,
or even in normal times in order to help their
husbands. The training was both administrative
and military. Administrative training was of
course given when they had become old enough
to take part in the governance of the kingdom,
but military training was imparted during their
adolescence. They were trained fairly well in the
use of arms; they could also ride and swim. The son
of queen Vijayamahādevī was called Gaṅgadatta,
because the mother used to swim about in the Ganges,
owing to a strong desire to do so during pregnancy.³
In ordinary Kshatriya families also some military
training seems to have been imparted to the lady

1. Rājataraṅgiṇī, VII, 905, 909, 981; VIII, 1187-9.
2. I. A., IX p. 274, XVIII p. 37
3. E. C., VII, Shimoga No. 4, dated 1122 A.D.

222 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
folk. Village women are often seen defending their
hearths and homes, in times of danger, and even laying
down their lives while doing so.¹ Inscriptions have
recorded the cases of governments of the day honour-
ing village heroines with the gift of suitable
ornaments.² The tradition of military training for
ladies in high Kshatriya families continued down to
the advent of the British rule. There still exists a
commemorative tablet in Shikarpur Taluka immorta-
lising the memory of a spirited lady, Hariyakkā by
name, who died fighting in 1446 A.D., while avenging
the murder of her father.³ Maratha and Rajput
princesses. could usually ply the sword and wield the
lance⁴.
Female Education and Economic Independence :
In ordinary families, literature and the fine arts were
usually the favourite topics of female education. This
education was of course not calculated to make women
economically self-sufficient, but we must note that
the theory that women ought to be economically
independent is of quite a recent origin. In the case of
emergency, however, the Hindu woman could eke out a
humble subsistence for herself and her children by
taking to spinning and weaving in her spare time.
In Pali literature we find instances of wives imploring
their dying husbands to keep composed by pointing
out that they could maintain the family by their skill
in spinning and weaving⁵. The Artha-śāstra of
Kauṭilya lays down that the state superintendent of

1. S.I.E.R., for 1911. 2. Ibid, I, No. 75.
2. E. C. VII. Shikarpur No. 2.
3. Malcolm, Memoirs, II, pp. 99-100.
4. Cf. कुसलाहं गहपति कप्पास॑ कंतितुं वेणिमोल्लिखितुं सक्काहं गहपति
   तवाच्चयेन दारके पोसेतुम् । Ang. Nik. Vol. III, p. 298.

IX] FEMALE EDUCATION 223
weaving should make special arrangement for sending
cotton to and receiving the yarn from those women,
who were cripled, or whose husbands were dead or
had gone abroad, and who were thus compelled to
seek work for their subsistence¹. There is evidence
to show that during the 9th century also widows, who
were unprovided for, used to have recourse to spinning
for their maintenance². This humble but independent
means of existence was available to the women in
distress in India down to the middle of the last
century, when the hand spinning and hand weaving
industry was crushed out of existence by the mill
competition.
Female Education during 1200—1800 A. D. :
It will be interesting to take here a rapid bird's eye
view of the fortunes of female education during the
next six centuries. During the Muslim rule the
percentage of literacy among women went down
very rapidly. Old, rich and cultured families were
as a rule ruined by the political revolution, and they
were no longer in a position to make special
arrangements for the education of their girls. There
were of course no schools for girls. Some new
Hindu families did no doubt rise to importance
under the new regime. But their number was very
small and they did not generally possess sufficient
culture to induce them to appoint teachers for their
girls. Daughters of Rajput chiefs and some Bengali
Zemindars were usually able to read and write down

1. II, 28; cf. याश्चानिष्कासिन्यः प्रोषितविधवा न्यङ्गाः कन्यका वाऽऽ-
   त्मानं बिभृयुः ताः स्वदासीभिरनुसार्य सोपग्रहं कर्म कारयितव्याः ।
2. मृतपतिकाया अनपत्याया असति भर्तृधनादौ दायिके च कर्तनादिना
   केनचिदुपायेन जीवन्त्याः.........। Medhātithi on Manu V, 157.

224 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
to the 19th century; some of them, if unfortunately
widowed, would devote themselves to learning and
even become teachers.¹ Jain widows too were
sometimes taught reading and writing by the monks
with a view to enable them to read their scriptures.²
These were, however, exceptional cases. Society as
a whole had become prejudiced against female
education. It was believed that a girl taught to
read and write aym become a widow soon after
her marriage.³ The decline in literacy after the
13th century was so rapid that by the beginning of
the 19th century hardly one woman in hundred
could read. Such was the state of affairs in Malva
and also in Madras presidency. In the latter
province in 1826 only 4023 girls were attending
schools as against 1,57,664 boys.⁴ According to the
then population of the presidency, 16 percent of the
boys of the school going age were receiving primary
education; the percentage of girls receiving the
same was therefore less than one half. In certain
sections of Hindu population as among the Nāyars,
literacy was much higher, but such groups were few
and exceptional. All the available evidence shows
that by the beginning of the 19th century, about 99
per cent of women population had grown illiterate.

1. Ward refers to one such case of a Kulina widow, Hati
   Vidyalamkāra, who removed from Bengal to Benares and obtained
   some pupils there. A View of Hindus, II p. 508.
2. Malcolm, Memoirs, II, 159.
3. Spark: Vernaculur Education in Bengal, pp. 43-44.
4. Report of the Madras Prov. Committee, p. 5.

Chapter X
A GENERAL RESUME.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF BUDDHISM TO EDUCATION—Ordination
ceremony—Relations between the novice and the teacher—Education of
the laity—Rise of public educational institutions due to Buddhism—
Non-sectarian courses also provided for in them—Buddhism and
primary education—Estimate of the contributions of the Buddhism.
PERIOD-WISE SURVEY: History divided into four periods—Educa-
tion in the Vedic period—The Upanishad-Sūtra age (1000 B.C. to c. 200
B.C.) a creative period—Education in this period—The period of the
Dharmaśāstra (c. 200 B.C.—500 A.D.) an age of reflection and specia-
lisation—The general condition of education in it—The age of the
Purāṇas and Nibandhas, (c. 500-1200 A.D.)—Its achievements and
limitations.
Introduction : In the course of our narrative so
far we have finished the history of the origin and
development of the different branches of education in
ancient India. We devoted separate chapters to
topics like primary education, professional education,
educational institutions, etc., and the treatment in each
of them must have enabled the reader to visualise
clearly the development and vicissitudes that took
place in their connection from age to age. We also
indicated at each place the contribution that Buddhism
made to the development of education in ancient
India. For a proper understanding of the subject it
is however desirable that the reader should get a clear
picture of the educational conditions as a whole in the
successive periods of ancient Indian history, as also of
the contribution which the Buddhism made to educa-
tional theory and practice. We therefore propose to
devote the present chapter for this purpose. Its first
section will give a general resume of the contribution
of the Buddhism to ancient Indian education and the

226 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
second section will provide a bird's eye view of the
general condition of education in the successive
periods of Indian history.
SECTION A.
BUDDHISM AND ANCIENT INDIAN
EDUCATION
No Fundamental Difference : There was no
fundamental difference between Hindus and Buddhists
as far as the general educational theory or practice
was concerned. It was the fundamental tenet of
Buddhism that the world is full of sorrow and that
the salvation can be obtained only by renouncing it.
In the beginning therefore it naturally concerned
itself only with the education of novices and monks.
When however in the course of time it took up the
education of the laity also, its educational system
did not present any important points of difference
from those of Hinduism. Both systems had similar
ideals and followed similar methods. This must have
become quite clear to the reader from the previous
chapters and will become clearer still from this section.
We shall first however say a few words about the
ordination ceremony.
Ordination Ceremony : The wise injunction of
the Buddha, that every novice should be properly
trained in the discipline and doctrine of the religion,
was primarily responsible for the educational
developments in and activities of Buddhist monasteries.
Two ceremonies were laid down for those who desired
to enter the Order, the Pabbajjā and the Upasampadā.
The Pabbajjā marked the beginning of the noviciate
period and could be given when a person was not

X] CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHISM 227
less than eight years old. The permission of the
guardian was necessary. The Upasampadā was given
after the end of the noviciate period, and the recepient
had to be not less than twenty years old. ¹If he was
a debtor, an invalid or a government servant, he was
refused admission. The ordination could take place
only with the consent of the whole chapter. There
were no caste restrictions for admission (ante, p.),
The novice had to affirm his faith in the Buddha,
his Dhamma (gospel) and Saṅgha (the Order), and
select a learned person as his preceptor. He was
to follow strictly the rules and discipline of the Order ;
if he was guilty of any serious breach of discipline,
he could be expelled by a meeting of the chapter.
Like the Hindu Brahmachārī (student), he was
expected to beg his daily food ; but he was also
permitted to accept invitations for meals from laymen.
He was to do all manual and menial work connected
with the monastic life, e. g. cleansing its floor and
utensils, bringing water, supervising its stores, etc.
The Relation between the Novice and his Teacher
were filial in character ; they were united together by
mutual reverence, confidence and affection. Like the
Hindu Brahmachārin, the Buddhist novice was to help
his teacher by doing a variety of manual work for him ;
he was to carry his seat and robes, supply him water
and tooth stick, cleanse his begging bowl and utensils
and accompany him as an attendant when he
proceeded to the town or village for begging or
preaching. The teacher was to teach the student
the rules of etiquette and discipline, draw his

1. Like Upanayana, it has been compared to a spiritual birth ;
   Cf. अरियाय जातितो जातो Majjhima Nikāya, II. p. 108 ; Therīgāthā,
   No. 17.

228 : EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
particular attention to the vow of chastity, poverty
and abstinence from pleasures and help him in his
intellectual and spiritual progress by suitable discourses
and lessons in the morning and afternoon. He was
also to help him in getting food and robes, and even
to nurse him if he was sick. His own life was to be
exemplary and the novice was permitted to act as a
check on him if he was wavering in his faith or about
to commit a breach of monastic discipline. The needs
of the teacher were to be the minimum ; the famous
teachers at Nālandā used to receive an allowance
only three times larger than the amount given to an
ordinary student. This would give a very clear idea as
to how Buddhist teachers led a very simple life and
cost next to nothing to society. They were lifelong
students of their different subjects ; for marriage did
not intervene to put an end to or an obstacle in their
studies.
The Education of the Laity : As observed already,
in the beginning Buddhist education was purely
monastic and was intended only for those who
entered, or intended to enter, the Order. This was
but natural. Buddhism held that the worldly life
was full of sorrow and that the salvation could be
possible only by renouncing it. It could therefore
naturally evince no interest in the education of those
who intended to follow secular life and pursuits. In
the course of time however it was realised that it was
necessary to win public sympathy and support for the
spread of the gospel ; this could be more successfully
done if the Buddhist monk could help the cause of
education as was done by his theological opponent,
the Brāhmaṇa priest. It was also realised that the
best way to spread the gospel was to undertake the

X] CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHISM 229
education of the rising generation. This was
calculated to enable the Order to mould and influence
the minds of the younger section of the society, when
they were very pliable. There was thus a better
chance of both recruiting proper types of persons for
the Order and of getting a larger number of lay
sympathisers, if the educational effort was not confined
to novices but was also extended to the whole
community. Buddhism therefore threw itself heart
and soul into the cause of the general education of the
whole community from about the beginning of the
Christian era. It may be pointed out that lay
students were admitted in ‘external’ monastic schools
of Christianity, ‘internal’ schools being reserved for
those who intended to join the order. Jesuits also
used to admit lay pupils, when space permitted
the step.¹
The Rise of Public Educational Institutes :—
For a long time education was imparted by individual
teachers in ancient India on their own private
initiative and responsibility. The rise of organised
public educational institutions may be justly attributed
to the influence of Buddhism. This was but natural ;
Buddhist monasteries already existed as corporate
bodies : when they developed into educational centres,
they naturally became corporate educational institu-
tions. Temple colleges of Hinduism probably owed
their inspiration to the monastic colleges of Buddhism.
In the heyday of Buddhism India was studded with
monasteries, and about 10 per cent of them at least
used to impart higher education. An account of the
more important of these institutions has already been
given in Chapter V. Some of these monastic colleges
H. Staunton, Great Schools, Intro. p. xv., Quick, Essays, p. 39.

230 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
like those of Nālandā, Valabhi and Vikramaśilā
became international centres of learning and spread
the fame of Indian education in Central and Eastern
Asia. Nālandā could get an endowment even from a
king of distant Java. Kings and merchant-princes in
India vied with each other in giving rich endowments
to these famous centres of education, and they in
turn used to give not only free tuition but also free
food and clothing, certainly to monks and probably to
lay students also. How these institutions were
organsied and managed has been already explained
in connection with the account of the Nālandā Univer-
sity (pp. 114-123). Buddhist monasteries were either
independent and self-sufficient townships or situated
on the outskirts of towns and villages. They therefore
enjoyed the advantage of a quiet atmosphere.
Non-sectarian and comprehensive Courses :—
Though organised and managed by Buddhists, monastic
colleges were neither sectarian in their outlook nor
purely theological in their courses. Buddhist philo-
sophy naturally played an important part in their
scheme of education, but adequate attention was also
given to the study of the religion and philosophy of
the different sects in Hinduism and Jainism. More
than two fifth of the time of Yuan Chwang was spent
in studying Hindu religion and philosophy in Buddhist
monasteries in India. ( Nor was the education confined
only to theology, philosophy and logic. Sanskrit
literature, astronomy-cum-astrology, medicine and
works on law, polity and administration were also
taught for the benefit of lay students in order to enable
them to get government service or follow useful and
learned professions in society. 1 Books being fragile and
costly, students were naturally encouraged to commit

X] CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHISM 231
important texts to memory ; this stood them in good
stead in debates and controversies. But Buddhist
education was far from being mere cramming of texts.
Reasoning and analysis formed an important part in
the method of teaching ; what critical foreign students
like Yuan Chwang and I-tsing admired in their Indian
teachers was not their keen memory, which stored
numberless texts, but their remarkable powers of ex-
planation and exposition. Individual attention was
paid to students ; at Nālandā each teacher had not
more than ten students under his charge.
Female Education : Buddhist nunneries went out
of vogue from about the 4th century A. D.; so at
the time when Buddhist monasteries had developed
into colleges of international reputation, women were
not receiving any advantages of the education
imparted in them. Their marriages were at that
time taking place very early. In the early history
of Buddhism however, the permission given to women
to enter the Order gave a fairly good impetus to
the cause of female education, especially in aristo-
cratic and commercial sections of society. A large
number of ladies from these circles joined the Order
and became life-long students of religion and
philosophy. Their example must have given an
indirect encouragement to the spread of education
among lay women as well.
Buddhism and Primary Education: It is well
known that in modern Burma Buddhist monasteries
afford valuable help in spreading literacy, as a
result of which the percentage of male literate
population in that country was as high as 38 even
in 1902. It is therefore not improbable that what
Buddhist monasteries are doing in modern Burma

232 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
may have been done by them in ancient India as
well. In its early history, however, there is no
evidence to show that Buddhism was interesting
itself in education of laymen. With the rise of the
Mahāyāna school in the early centuries of the
Christian era a great change took place, and Buddhist
monasteries began to undertake systematically the
education of laymen as well. The accounts of the
Chinese travellers, however, leave the impression
that Buddhist monasteries were mainly concerned
with higher education. It is however not improbable
that the Chinese travellers may not have referred
to their work in the sphere of primary education,
because they were not interested in it. We must
further remember that primary education was a more
integral part of higher education than is the case
now, and so could not have been altogether neglected
by the teachers engaged in higher education. Secular
students, who used to serve their monk teachers as
pages giving them water, food, etc., appear from
I-tsing's account to have been students of primary
rather than secondary education.¹ We may therefore
conclude that in smaller monasteries where higher
education was not imparted, monks may have
engaged themselves in primary education. There
is however no definite evidence on the point.
Conclusion :—It will thus be seen that Buddhism
may well be proud of its contribution to the cause of
education in ancient India. Its colleges threw their
doors open to all, irrespective of any considerations
of caste or country. The rise of organised public
educational institutions may be justly attributed to
its influence. It raised the international status of

1. Takakusu, pp. 105-6.

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 233
India by the efficiency of its higher education, which
attracted students from distant countries like Korea,
China, Tibet and Java. The cultural sympathy which
the countries in eastern Asia feel for India even today
is entirely due to the work of the famous Buddhist
colleges of ancient India. If some of the important
lost texts can be reconstructed with the help of their
Chinese translations, the credit must be given to
Buddhist colleges, which enabled Chinese students to
get their copies. Buddhist education also helped
the development of Hindu logic and philosophy by
initiating and encouraging comparative study. In the
period of its early history, it championed the cause
of education through the mother tongue; later on
however it could not resist the charm and influence of
Sanskrit and began to impart education through
that language.
SECTION B.
PERIOD-WISE SURVEY OF ANCIENT
INDIAN EDUCATION.
Four Historical Periods : We now proceed to
take a bird's eye view of the general condition of edu-
cation in the different periods of ancient Indian history.
We shall divide it into four periods for the purpose of
of our survey. The first period will be from pre-his-
toric times to c. 1000 B.C. It may be conveniently
described as the Vedic age, as most of the Vedic litera-
ture was composed during this period. The second
period will extend from c. 1000 B.C. to c. 200 B.C.
It may be described as the age of the Upanishads, the
Sutras and the epics, as these works can be asigned to
this period. The Bārhadrathas, the Śiśunāgas, the
Nandas and the Mauryas were the leading political

234 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
powers of this period. and so the age may be con-
veniently described as the age of the Nandas and
Mauryas. The third period will extend from c. 200
B.C. to c. 500 A.D. It may be described as the age
of the Dharmaśāstra, as most of the leading works on
this subject were written during this period. It can
also be described as the age of the Śuṅgas and the
Sātavāhanas, the Vākāṭakas and the Guptas, as these
were the leading political powers of the period. The
fourth period will extend from c. 500 A.D, to c. 1200
A.D. It may be described as the age of the Purāṇas
and digests (Nibandhas), as society was guided mainly
by the theories and practices recommended in these
works. Politically India was divided into many
small kingdoms during this age. Kings Harsha and
Bhoja were the most prominent rulers during this
period. The age therefore may be described as the
age of Harsha and Bhoja. We shall now proceed to
describe the condition of education as a whole in each
of these four periods.
THE VEDIC PERIOD :
(upto c. 1,000 B.C.)
Condition of Culture and Education : This age
marked the beginning of Indian culture, literature and
science and so naturally not much progress was made in
the different departments of knowledge. Its literary and
scientific achievements were naturally less dazzling
and comprehensive than those of the succeeding age.
People of this period however had a very keen desire
to make progress in the realm of knowledge. They
had realised that it was intellectual efficiency and
equipment that was most essential for progress in
culture and knowledge. It was emphasised that gods

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 235
would be friends of only those who are wise and learned.
Those only were regarded as learned who could not
only recite the texts but also understand and interpret
them. Every householder of the age therefore natu-
rally regarded the education of his children as a sacred
duty. No distinction was made in this connection
between boys and girls; the education of both received
the same attention at least upto the higher stage.
Ordinarily the guardian discharged his duty to teach
his wards so regularly and successfully that no necessity
was felt for a long time either for the professional
teacher or for the public school. Secular literature was
yet to be developed and so the literary course was
predominently religious. People however had an open,
free and enquiring mind and were eager to explore
new realms of knowledge. Great emphasis was laid
on the proper development of debating powers ; boys
and girls who were successful in debates were highly
honoured. Education however did not produce mere
talkers but transformed its recepients into man of
action as well. This would become quite clear from
the successful manner in which the Aryans of the age
spread their culture and extended their political influ-
ence. The Aryan community was a compact and
homogenous one during this period, and there was not
much difference in the educational level of the diffe-
rent classes. Priests however generally used to speci-
alise in literary and religious education. Warriors and
agriculturists also received some literary education,
but it was naturally not so deep or wide as that of the
priests or the poets. They used to devote the greater
part of their educational course in mastering the art
of war, or the processes of agriculture or the methods
of arts and crafts. The followers of the latter were
held in high esteem : some of them like Aśvins and

236 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Ribhus were even deified. The educational system of
the age was successful in forming character, developing
personality, promoting the progress of different
branches of knowledge and achieving social efficiency
and happiness.
THE UPANISHAD-SŪTRA PERIOD.
(c. 1000 B.C. to c. 200 B.C.)
General Condition of the Age : This period can
justly be regarded as the most creative period of Hindu
culture and literature, arts and sciences. The founda-
tions of whatever is the best in Hindu culture and
glorious in Hindu achievements were laid down during
this period. Metaphysics made remarkable progress,
as is evidenced by the Upanishadic, Jain and Bauddha
works ; the foundations of almost all the later systems
of philosophy were also laid down. Philology and
grammar were well developed and the literary acti-
vity in the legal literature commenced. Speculations in
the sphere of political thought were original and fruit-
ful. Astronomy and mathematics, medicine and sur-
gery, mining and metallurgy began to be cultivated and
sculpture and architecture recorded remarkable pro-
gress, especially towards the end of the period. Effort
was also made to popularise culture and knowledge by
transforming the epic of the Bhārata war into an
encyclopædia of religion and ethics.
The Condition of Education : These manifold
achievements in different spheres became possible be-
cause Indians had still a free open and enquiring
mind and were making strenuous efforts to extend the
bounds of knowledge and to ensure its transmission
to posterity. With a view to enlist the help of the whole
society for this work, Upanayana ritual was made

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 237
obligatory for the whole Aryan community at about
the beginning of this period. This gave a great
impetus to the spread both of literacy and higher
education. As learning became more and more exten-
sive in course of time, education in the family became
impracticable, and society began to encourage distin-
guished scholars to become regular teachers. They
used to organise private schools for higher studies,
relying mainly on the voluntary contributions of
students taking their advantage. Brahmacharya dis-
cipline was still rigorous, but towards the end of the
period the marriageable age of girls began to be gra-
dually lowered, which adversely affected female
education. During the earlier part of this period,
however, there was no dearth of women philosophers
and scholars, some of whom used to organise schools
and hostels for girls. Co-education was however not
unknown. Majority of girls received their education
at home, as was the case with boys also during the
earlier period. The educational system paid as much
attention to the cultivation of the Vedic studies as
to that of grammar and philology, mathematics and
astronomy, epic and legal literature. Professions be-
came specialised towards the end of this period and
society began to feel it advantageous that they should
become hereditary in order to encourage further effi-
ciency. The ordinary soldier or agriculturist used
however to receive a fair amount of cultural education.
The training imparted to the doctor and the sculptor
was fairly practical and efficient, and the average in-
telligence of the artisan class was fairly high. The
killed worker was respected by society. Education
vas regarded as a serious proposition and society was
anxious that its benefits should be extended to as large
a class as possible. Various steps were being proposed

238 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
and adopted to see that students did not stop their
studies at the end of their courses. Educational sys-
tem continued to be successful in forming character,
building up personality, extending the bounds of know-
ledge and preserving the heritage of the past. It
undoubtedly promoted social happiness and efficiency ;
it enabled India to be at the vanguard of progress in
the contemporary world and repel and subjugate the
powerful Greek enemy.
THE AGE OF THE DHARMAŚĀSTRA
(c. 200 B. C. to c. 500 A. D.)
Characteristics of the Age: This period may
be described as the age of critical reflection and
specialisation. The achievements of the preceding
creative period were critically examined and special
systems like the Sāṁkhya and the Yoga, the Nyāya
and the Vaiśeshika, the Vedānta and the Mahāyāna
Buddhism were evolved; this undoubtedly marked
considerable progress in critical thought. The creative
vein however was still active, though in a less marked
degree than before. Its activity was particularly
noteworthy in the realm of classical literature and
sacred law, painting and sculpture, mathematics and
astronomy. A considerable part of the religious
literature was now canonised, but Hindus still had an
open, free and enquiring mind. Philosophical systems
continued to be called orthodox, though they had no
place in them even for God. Heterodox systems like the
Jainism and the Buddhism were studied by the Hindus
and the theories and dogmas of Hinduism were
analysed and examined by the Jains and the Buddhists;
this led to considerable progress in logic and meta-
physics. Greeks were no doubt regarded as unholy

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 239
foreigners (Mlechchhas), but nevertheless their achieve-
ments in the realm of sculpture, coinage and astronomy
were carefully studied and assimilated, which led to
considerable progress in all these sciences.
The Condition of Education : There was however
a distinctive setback to the cause of education as a
whole during this period. Child marriages became
the order of the day towards the end of the period,
and so female education suffered very considerably.
Only daughters of high class families used to receive
education during this period. The lowering of the
marriageable age of girls naturally involved the
corresponding lowering of the marriageable age of
boys. Brahmacharya discipline consequently became
slack and nominal and towards the end of this period ;
the educational system could produce only a limited
number of young men possessing a developed person-
ality, characterised by self-confidence and self
reliance. During this period Upanayana of Kshatriyas
and Vaishyas first became a mere formality. This
development gave a severe blow to the general and
cultural education of the warrior and the farmer, the
trader and the artisan, and this reduced their general
efficiency. Their education gradually began to become
too much specialised and narrow. The same defect
arose in the course of time in liberal education also.
There was too much of specialisation in logic and
philosophy, astronomy and mathematics ; there was
no broad-based secondary course of education. The
educational system was still able to promote social
efficiency and happiness and secure the preservation
and spread of national culture ; it enabled society to
absorb and assimilate a number of foreign tribes whom
it could not drive out by military force. Towards

140 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
the end of this period the higher education of the
cultured classes received a great impetus and en-
couragement by the rise of organised public schools
and colleges. On account of the liberal support which
these institutions received from the state and society,
they were able to impart free education. Several
colleges for higher education became famous centres of
education, which in the course of time began to artract
students from abroad as well. The training in
practical sciences like sculpture and architecture,
medicine and matallurgy was still very efficient, if
somewhat narrow.
THE AGE OF THE PURĀṆAS AND NIBANDHAS.
(C. 500 A. D.—1200 A. D )
Educational Achievements of the Age :—India
continued to enjoy the reputation of an international
centre of education during this period also. Down to
c. 900 A. D. Tibetan and Chinese students continued
to flock in her eastern Universities, and her doctors
used to be summoned in Western Asia for curing royal
patients and organising state hospitals. Education
had not become mere book learning ; Indian teachers
excited admiration of foreign students by their remark-
able powers of explanation and exposition. Graduates
of this period were remarkable for their logical acumen
and mastery in Sanskrit, though the latter was no
longer the spoken tongue. Facilities for free higher
education continued to be ample ; if with the decline
of Buddhism the number of monastic colleges decreas-
ed, the loss was more than compensated by the rise of
numerous temple colleges. Brahmacharya discipline no
doubt became nominal owing to early marriages ; even
married students, however, showed commendable per-
severance in pursuing protracted courses of studies. Poor