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

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 241
students continued to maintain themselves by begging
if necessary ; the number of teachers eager to follow
the high code of the profession, which enjoined free
tuition, still continued to be very large. Society's
earnestness for education was thus remarkable.
**Educational Defects of the Age :-**Though thus
higher education continued to prosper, the education
of the masses suffered during this period. Upanayana
now completely disappeared from Kshatriyas and
Vaishyas ; this gave a serious blow to their cultural
and literary education, reduced the percentage of
literacy among them and made their education very
narrow. Useful arts and professions began to be
regarded as plebian and were boycotted by the higher
sections of Brahmanas ; as the services of the best
intellect in society were no longer available for the
development of arts and crafts, they ceased to make
any progress worth the name. Growing orthodoxy of
the age disapproved of dissection and condemned the
pursuit of agriculture on the ground that it involved
killing of insects at the time of ploughing. Medical
education in the course of time became less efficient ;
surgery went out of vogue and agriculture became a neg-
lected and plebian profession. The marriageable age of
girls was further lowered during this period ; girls were
ordinarily married at the age of 10 or 11. This natural-
ly gave a death blow to the female education. A few
ladies no doubt appear as poetesses during this period ;
they were however exceptions rather than the rule.
Education could not reach the masses as the medium
of higher instruction was Sanskrit, which was no
longer the spoken tongue. No serious or concerted
effort was made to develop literature in vernaculars in
order to facilitate the infiltration of knowledge to the
16

242 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
masses. In the sphere of higher education specialisation
was carried to too great an extreme ; the logician, the
mathematician and the rhetorist, for instance, did not
possess much knowledge of the problems and achi-
evements of one another. The preservation of ancient
literature and culture was the main concern of the
educational system ; it was unable to produce many
scholars who could substantially enrich it. The
creative vein in the Hindu intellect could still be seen
in the realm of poetics. and to a less extent, in those
of philosophy, literature and astronomy. It was how-
ever quite feeble, compared to its strength and achieve-
ments in the preceding ages. The situation deteriorat-
ed further by the growing self-conceitedness of the
scholars of the age and their refusal to benefit by the
knowledge and experience of outsiders. They had no
longer a free, open and enquiring mind ; they would
refuse to accept what was not in consonance with the
views of sacred scriptures. This stood in the way of
progress in sciences like astronomy and medicine,
history and geography. During the medieval times
great importance was attached by Indian Pandits, as
by Jesuitical scholars, to the cleverness and skill in
mere wordy warfare ; a person was hailed as a great
scholar if he could perceive distinctions where none
existed and silence his opponent by a brilliant display
of the resources of a well trained memory. Depth of
scholarship thus often went unrecognised and shallow
and unscrupulous debators could often pose as great
scholars. The general state of affairs regarding education
further deteriorated during the period 1200-1800 A. D.
owing to the growing impoverishment of Hindu society
and the withdrawal of active state encouragement to
its educational system during the period of Muslim
ascendancy.

Chapter XI.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES.
ACHIEVEMENTS—The aims of infusion of piety and formation
of character fully achieved—Testimony of foreign writers and travel-
lers—Success in developing personality, preserving and spreading
culture and literature and promoting social efficiency and happiness.
DEFECTS & LIMITATIONS: Hold of religion leads to the neglect
of secular studies and discouragement of rationalism in later times—
The case in Europe the same—Hindu intellect ceases to be creative
and assimilative and becomes receptive and imitative in later times—
consequent adverse effect on education—Arts and crafts regarded
plebian in later times—Education of masses neglected—Neglect of
vernaculars in later times—Depth at the cost of breadth—No broad-
based course including grammar, literature, mathematics, history
and geography for the average student—Most defects arise in
medieval times—A general estimate of Ancient Indian Education.
Introduction : We shall devote this concluding
chapter to the purpose of giving a critical estimate of
ancient Indian educational system by discussing its
achievements and failures. We have already made
some general observations in this connection in the
preceding pages ; we shall here discuss the subject in
a connected and comprehensive manner. We shall
first proceed to ascertain how far the aims and ideals
of the educational system, referred to in Chap. I,
were actually realised in practice. This will to a
great extent enable us to form its just estimate.
Infusion of Piety and Formation of Character :
We have seen already how infusion of a spirit of piety
and the formation of character were the first two
important aims of the educational system. There
can be no doubt that piety and religiousness are more
characteristic of Hindu society than of any other
community. The success of the educational system

244 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
in moulding and forming character was also very
remarkable, as proved by the testimony of a number
of foreign observers, belonging to different centuries,
creeds and countries, who had no particular reason to
pass flattering remarks about Indian character.
Testimony of Greeks : Among these foreign
observers, the Greeks are chronologically the earliest
(c. 300 B. C.). Politically they were not the allies
but the opponents of the Hindus. They have made
a few caustic remarks about some aspects of their
culture, but they have candidly noted the high
impression that the Hindu character and veracity
produced on their mind. 'Indians have never been
convicted of lying. Truth and virtue they hold in high
esteem' says Megasthenes in one place$^1$. This state-
ment could not have been literally true, but it shows
that the cases of cheating and swindling must have
been comparatively few in society. Strabo and
Megasthenes have further pointed out that law suits
among the Indians were rare owing to their frank
dealing. "They are not litigous. Witnesses and
seals are not necessary when a man makes a deposit,
he acts in trust. Their houses are usually unguarded$^2$."
A Chinese Tribute : Yuan Chwang pays an equally
high compliment to the Indian character during the
7th century A.D. He has carefully noted the weak
and strong points in the character of the peoples of
different districts ; but while summing up his impressions
of the Indian character as a whole, he says "They
(i.e. Indians) are of hasty and irresolute temperament,
but of pure moral principles. They will not take
anything wrongfully and they yield more than fairness

1. Megasthenes, Fragment 35.
2. Ibid.

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 245
requires. They fear for retribution for sins in other
lives and make light of what conduct produces in this
life. They do not practice deceit and they keep their
sworn obligations."¹ Vast majority of Indians in
Yuan Chwang's time did not share his religious beliefs
and practices and yet they receive the above high
compliment from the Chinese pilgrim.
Arab and Italian Testimony : Al Idrisi's im-
pressions of the Hindu character in western India
during the 10th century A.D. are similar to those of
Yuan Chwang's. Though a Muslim, he says of the
Hindus, 'The Indians are naturally inclined to justice
and never depart from it in their actions. Their good
faith, honesty and fidelity to engagements are well
known and they are so famous for these qualities that
people flock to their country from every side ; hence
the country is flourishing and their conditon pros-
perous.² "In the thirteenth century Marco Polo also
was impressed very highly by the character of the
Brahmanas of Western India. "You must know" says
he, "that these Brahmanas are the best merchants in
the world and the most truthful, for they would never
tell a lie for anything on the earth. If a foreign
merchant, who does not know the ways of the country,
applies to them and entrusts his goods to them, they
would take charge of these and sell them in the most
zealous manner, seeking zealously the profit of the
foreigner and asking no commission except what he
pleases to give."³ When the morality of the trading
classes is so high, the character of the average man
must have been very noble. Ibn Batuta, another
Muslim observer, describes the Marathas of Deogiri

1. Watters, I, p. 171.
2. Elliot, History, Vol. I, p. 88.
3. Yule, Marco Polo, Vol. II, p. 363 (Third edition).

246 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
and Nándurbar of the 14th century as 'upright, religious
and trustworthy.¹ The same was the view of
Abul Fazl, the minister of Akbar.
Conclusion : Travellers, pilgrims and merchants
are usually disposed to make caustic remarks about the
culture and character of the foreigners among whom
they have moved ; when so many of them belonging
to different times and climes and professing different
faiths agree in paying a high tribute to Indian
character, we may well conclude that there is no
exaggeration and that the educational system of the
country had succeeded remarkably in its ideal of
raising the national character to a high level. It is
only after the 17th and 18th centuries A.D. that we
come across some foreign travellers, traders,
missionaries and ex-governors passing strictures upon
the Hindu character. Some of them were probably
misled by their prejudices, as we find their testimony
contradicted by others.² It is also possible that the
Hindu character may have suffered deterioration
during the long spell of foreign rule in medieval times ;
for successful falsehood is usually the best defence of
a slave. It is however worth observing that not a
single foreign observer is found passing hostile remarks
about Hindu character and honesty during the ancient
period of Indian history.
Success in developing Personality : The deve-
lopment of personality was the third aim of the
educational system and let us see how far it was able to

1. Ibna Batuta, p. 228.
2. Col Sleeman, for instance, says : 'Lying between members of
   the same village is almost unknown.' I have had hundreds of cases
   before me in which a man's property, liberty and life depended upon
   his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell it.'
   Quoted by M. Muller in India, What It can teach Us, p. 50.

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES. 247
accomplish it. The available evidence is rather meagre
to form a definite judgment in this connection. We
come across several masterful personalities, in different
walks of life in ancient India, but how far they were
typical of their age we do not know. Hindu achieve-
ments, however, in the different walks of life and
branches of knowledge were fairly of a high order in
ancient India down to the 6th century A.D., and this
would hardly have been possible if the products of the
educational system were not masterful personalities.
Things however changed for the worse from the 6th
century A. D.; Brahmacharya discipline became
nominal when a vast majority of students began to
marry at a very early age; growth of independent
judgment became stunted with the growing veneration
for the past and its time-hallowed traditions. Self-
confidence and self-respect disappeared in a great
measure when society suffered from the convulsions of
sudden foreign invasions and long alien rule, frequently
imposing a hated religion and strange culture with the
aid of the sword. We must not judge the success of the
ancient Indian educational system in building personality
of students by the conclusions based upon its products
at the advent of the British rule.
Success in the Preservation and Spread of Culture
and Literature : Friends and foes have alike admitted
that the ancient Indian system of education has been
eminently successful in its aim of the preservation of
ancient literary and cultural heritage. Very few of the
Vedic works have been lost. It is indeed a wonder
how so vast a literature could have been preserved
without the help of the art of writing for the task.
Among post-Vedic works too, the number of valuable
books lost is not considerable. And here also the losses
would have been practically insignificant if the destruc-

248 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
tion of temples and monasteries had not taken place on
a wide scale at the time of the invasions of the
Mahomedans and during their subsequent long rule.
The surprising amount of cultural uniformity that is to
be seen even now over the length and breadth of India
is mainly due to the successful preservation and spread
of ancient culture and civilisation. If there are several
features, common to Hindu life, all over the country,
contributing to Hindu unity, the credit has to be largely
given to the educational system, which has produced
uniformity in the culture and outlook on life of the
Hindu community. The remarkable success of Indian
missionaries in spreading Indian culture in Indian
Archipelago, Siam, China, Japan, Tibet, and Central
Asia must be attributed to the success of the educational
system in enkindling a strong zest in the minds of
students for spreading the national culture and heritage
far and wide, both in India and outside.
Civic Responsibility and Social Efficiency and
Happiness : The success of the educational system in
infusing a sense of civic responsibility and promoting
social efficiency and happiness, which were two of its
important aims, was also remarkable. It was but
natural that the educational system should have taken
the help of the religious feeling and the caste discipline
for infusing the sense of civic responsibility. The
average man in ancient India was always loyal to the
interests of his guild, village and caste. It was the
success of the educational system in promoting social
efficiency, which enabled Hindu society to be in the
vanguard of the march of civilisation for several
centuries. It is true that this ceased to be the case
from about the 10th century A.D. ; but the failure
during the last millennium in this connection should not
blind us to the success in the preceding long period of

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 249
more than two thousand years. We shall now proceed
to discuss the causes of the decline in the educational
system and point out its limitations and defects.
DEFECTS AND LIMITATIONS
Introduction : We shall now proceed to point
out the main defects and limitations of the educational
system along with their causes. The period-wise survey
of the educational system, which was taken in the
second section of the last chapter, must have already
indicated to the reader what these defects were and how
most of them arose during the latter half of the first
millennium A. D. We shall discuss them in greater
details now. Attention will also be drawn to some other
limitations of the system, which were more or less
common to almost all systems of education in ancient
times and for which, therefore, the ancient Indian
system alone cannot be blamed.
The Hold of Religion :—Religion had an immense
hold over the Hindu mind and many of the admirable
features of the educational system have to be attribut-
ed to this circumstance, as shown already. It did not
make the educational outlook ‘otherworldly’, as is
supposed in certain quarters. The ideals of the
Vānaprastha and the Sanyāsa were no doubt purely
spiritual, but such was not the case with the ideals of
the educational system. It aimed at producing youths
eminently fit to perform their civic and social duties ; if
any spiritual merit for the life to come was to result from
Brahmacharya, it was to be through the proper
performance of duties, which however were principally
determined with a view to make the student an efficient
and God-fearing citizen.
Secular Studies tend to be neglected :—The
majority of teachers in ancient India were priests, as
was the case all over the ancient world. They did

250 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
not exploit their position for promoting any selfish ends
of their own, but they had the natural limitations of
their class. When the even balance that was for a
long time successfully held in Hindu society between
the claims of religious and secular life (Dharma-Moksha
versus Artha-Kāma) was disturbed, religious and semi-
religious studies got undue predominance in the
educational system. Secular sciences like history,
economics, politics, mathematics and astronomy did not
receive as much attention as theology, philosophy,
ritualism and sacred law. Commerce and industry
and fine and useful arts made no appreciable progress
during the last 1500 years or so, because those in
charge of education showed no keen interest in them.
It may however be pointed out that down to the 18th
century, educationalists in Europe also regarded religious
studies as the most important constituents of the educa-
tional course ; many of them like Franke and Comenius
held that all children should be instructed above all
things in the vital knowledge of God and Christ.¹
Reason not held at a Discount in early Times :—
A greater defect produced by the hold of religion over
the Hindu mind was the tendency to hold reason at a
discount, which became prominent a few centuries after
the Christian era. Such was not the case in earlier
times, when society used to value intellectual freedom
highly. Upanishadic thinkers have, for example,
advocated bold and original theories of philosophy
without showing any anxiety whatever to prove that
their views were in consonance with those of the
Vedic sages. In the days of the Buddha there were as
many as sixty three systems of philosophy, very few of
which cared to rely on Vedic authority for their
premises or conclusions. Systems of philosophy like
1 Greaves, Educators, pp 72—3,

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 251
the Sāṁkhya and the Mīmāṁsā, which did not recognise
a Creator-God, were admitted within the fold of
orthodoxy. Buddhism and Jainism were not summarily
dismissed as athiestic or heterodox ; their scriptures
were carefully studied in order to prove that their
theories were unsound. For a long time society was
successful in reconciling its reverence for the past with
its regard for the advance of knowledge ; it used to
silently abandon exploded views and quietly accept new
theories and doctrines.
The changed Attitude of later Times : Unfortu-
nately for the progress of learning and scholarship
Vedic literature was canonised some time about
600 B.C. An almost equally high reverence came to
be paid to the Smṛitis and Purāṇas in course of time.
The authorship of these works came to be attributed to
divine or inspired agency, and it was averred that what
they contained could not be false, what they opposed
could not be true. Theories began to be accepted or
rejected according as they were in conformity with or
opposed to the statements of thesacred books on the
point. Intellectual giants like Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja had
to spend a disproportionate amount of time and energy
to prove that their systems of philosophy were in
conformity with and the natural outcomes of the Upa-
nishadic hypotheses. If the hold of the Srutis and Smṛitis
were not so exacting, there would have been freer
development of philosophy. At any rate many of the
remarkable intellects of the Middle Ages would have
found it possible to write independent works on their
own systems of philosophy instead of being compelled
to present it unsystematically, while engaged in the
ostensible task of writing commentaries on the revealed
literature. Instead of Nibandha compilations, we
would have possessed original Smṛitis of the later times.

252 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
A concrete Instance and its Moral: Under such
circumstances, there was not much scope left for
research and originality in those matters where opinions
were expressed in sacred texts. A concrete case may
be given to illustrate the point. In the infancy of
astronomy, the eclipses were explained by the mytho-
logical stories about Rāhu and Ketu attacking and
temporarily overpowering the moon and the sun. It
was an evil day for the advance of astronomy when
this mythological version got a canonical sanction by
its inclusion in the Purāṇas. Hindu astronomers like
Āryabhaṭa, Brahmagupta, Varāhamihira and Bhāskarā-
chārya knew the true causes of eclipses, but felt powerless
to carry vigorous propaganda to explode their popular
and mythological explanation canonised by the Purāṇas.
Nay, Brahmagupta, with a view to win cheap
popularity, went to the extent of advocating that the
popular view was correct, when he knew full well
that such was not the case. In Chapter I of his
Brahma-siddhānta, he gives both the popular and
scientific theories about the eclipses, but advocates
the cause of the former. "Some people think that the
eclipse is not caused by the Head (of Rāhu or Ketu).
This, however, is a foolish idea. The Veda, which
is the word of God from the mouth of Brahman, says
that the Head eclipses, likewise Manusmṛiti and Garga-
saṁhitā".¹ What is, however, most lamentable is that
Brahmagupta, who knew full well the real cause of
eclipses, should have proceeded to condemn Āryabhaṭa,
Varāhamihira, Śrīsheṇa and Vishṇuchandra for
expounding the unorthodox but scientific theory that
eclipses are caused by the shadow of the earth. It
is important to note that Brahmagupta becomes guilty
of intellectual and moral dishonesty because he was

1. As quoted by Alberuni, Vol. II, pp. 110-1. The original work
   has been lost.

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 253
anxious to win cheap popularity by supporting the
popular view that what was contained in the Vedas
and Manusmṛiti could not be untrue. It is interesting
to note that Varāhamihira first combats the Rāhu-Ketu
theory,¹ but then immediately succumbs to it.²
Āryabhaṭa alone has perhaps the moral courage to be
consistent with his intellectual convictions. But he
also only hints that the popular theory is wrong, but
does not dare to attack it openly.³ If the Rāhu-Ketu
theory of eclipses has continued to retain its hold over
the popular Hindu mind for the last 1500 years and
more, inspite of the scientific discovery of the true
cause of eclipses, the reason is that Hindu scholarship
of later times was too much in the leading strings of
religion to carry on active propaganda against its
hypothses. Similarly astronomers continued to
subscribe to the view that the constellation of the Great
Bear moves from one lunar mansion to another in
a hundred years, even when they had discovered that
such was not the case. The discontinuance of dissection
in the medical training and the abandonment of
agriculture by the Brahmanas, Buddhists and Jains
are also to be attributed to the hold of the progressively
puritanical notions over the popular mind.⁴
Similar Hostility to Rationalism in Europe also :

1. Bṛihat-saṁhitā, V. 4 ff. यदि मूर्तो भविचारी शिरोथवा भवति
   मंडली राहुः । भगणार्धेनान्तरिते गृह्णाति कथं नियतचारः ॥ ४ ॥
   अथ भुजगेन्द्ररूपः पुच्छेन मुखेन वा स गृह्णाति । मुखपुच्छान्तःसंस्थं
   स्थगयति कस्मान्न भगणार्धम् ।
2. Ibid, v. 13 एवमुपरागकारणमुक्तमिदं दिव्यदृग्भिराचार्यैः । राहुः
   कारणमस्मिन्नित्युक्तः शास्त्रसद्भावः ॥
3. Golabhāga, v. 49 यदसज्ज्ञानसमुद्रात्समुद्धृतं देवताप्रसादेन ।
   सज्ज्ञानोत्तमरत्नं मया निमग्नं स्वमतिना वा ।
4. I-tsing, p. 62.

254 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
It is, however, but fair to observe that in Europe too,
reason had to beat a hasty and precipitate retreat
when in conflict with the dicta of scriptures down to
the beginning of the modern age. Galileo had to
suffer for his astronomical discoveries. Throughout
the Middle Ages, educationalists were more anxious
to impart traditional theories and formulæ than to
train minds, capable of forming their own conclusions.
Medieval philosophers and commentators were utilising
reason only to prove that the scriptural hypotheses were
correct. It was Lüther who first vindicated the cause
of reason by declaring that what is contrary to reason
must be certainly much more contrary to God. But
Lüther too became a renegade towards the end of his
life and declared, 'The more subtle and accurate is
the reason, the more poisonous is the beast, with many
Dragon's heads is it against God and all his work.'
The truth was that the Reformers were unwilling to
concede to others the right to interpret scriptures, which
they claimed for themselves. If therefore reason was
at a discount in India from the beginning of Middle
Ages, (c. 500 A.D.) we must also note that the same
was the case in Europe down to the beginning of the
modern age. We should not further forget that reason
was given full scope by the Hindu scholars and thinkers
for more than about 1500 years, when it was superseded
by the exigencies of the religious situation. The his-
torian, however, cannot help regretting that supersession
of reason should have taken place among a people, who
had given full scope to it for several centuries.
Intellect Creative in the earlier Period : Enrich-
ment of the culture of the past along with its preservation
continued to be the goal of the Indian educational system
for several centuries. Intellect and reason were for a
long time given full scope, originality was encouraged,

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 255
and as a result we find remarkable creative activity in
the domain of theology, philosophy, philology, grammar,
logic, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, etc., down to
about 500 A.D. Indian achievements in many of these
fields were remarkable, judged either by the contem-
porary or by the absolute standard Scholars from
China, Korea, Tibet and Arabia used to visit India in
order to learn what she had to teach in the realms of
religion, medicine, mathematics and astronomy.
It Becomes Receptive and Imitative later : To-
wards the beginning of the 9th century A.D., the
creative vein in the Indian intellect got fatigued after
an intense activity of more than 2,000 years.¹ Hindu
intellect had probably become old and no longer possess-
ed the energy necessary to open out new paths of
thought and action. Probably the heritage of the past
became so great that all the ability of scholars was
engrossed in preserving it. As also was the case in
Europe down to the 16th century A.D., the habit of
looking back to the past for inspiration and guidance
became quite common ; it began to be instinctively felt
that not much could be expected from the present. The
golden age of inspiration had gone, no new achieve-
ments were possible, the best that the age could do was
to preserve, expound or comment upon the masterpieces
of the past. Hindu educational system was unable to
create minds powerful enough to rise above the influence
of these theories. For the last one thousand years and
more, the Hindus have been writing only digests and
commentaries on the works of earlier periods. Creative
activity has come to a practical standstill.
Similar Condition in Europe : Here also we have
to add that the spirit of the times was unfavourable for
the formation of independent minds and intellects both

1. The creative phase of the Greek or the Roman intellect
   lasted for about 1,000 years only.

256 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
in the West and in the East. In Europe too the Middle
Ages were a period of intellectual repression. Jesuitical
education also produced not creative or original but
receptive and imitative minds. The Renaissance and
Reformation movements, however, eventually succeed-
ed in establishing an era of intellectual independence
and originality in Europe; in India, on the other hand
the foreign rule and its natural consequences continued
the spirit of the Middle Ages down to the time of the na-
tional reawakening towards the end of the 19th century.
Intellect ceases to be assimilative :—Owing to its
excessive reverence for the past, the Hindu intellect
ceased to be assimilative from about 800 A. D. Hindu
sculptors assimilated Greek methods and enriched
Indian art. Early astronomers like Āryabhaṭa and
Varāhamihira were keeping themselves in touch with the
activities and achievements of the workers in the same
field outside India. Varāhamihira (c. 500 A. D.) pays
even a handsome compliment to Greek astronomers and
observes “The Greeks are no doubt Mlechhas (impure),
but they are well grounded in astronomy and are
therefore worshipped and honoured like the Ṛishis.”¹
A remarkable change for the worse took place in the
Hindu attitude towards foreign scholarship within a
couple of centuries or so after Varāhamihira’s death.
Implicit faith in the past and in the correctness of its
canonised tradition made the Hindu scholar narrow,
bigotted and conceited. Of the Hindu men of letters
of the 11th century A. D., Alberuni observes, “They
are haughty, foolish, vain, stolid and self-conceited.
According to their belief, there is no country on the
earth but theirs, no other race of men but theirs, and no
created beings beside them that have any knowledge

1. म्लेच्छा हि यवनास्तेषु सम्यक्शास्त्रमिदं स्थितम् । ऋषिवत्तेऽपि
   पूज्यन्ते······॥ Brihatsamhitā, II 14.

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 257
or science whatever. Their haughtiness is such that if
you tell them of any science or scholar in Khūrāsān or
Persia, they will think you to be both an ignoramus
and a liar. If they travelled and mixed with other
nations, they would soon change their mind, for their
ancestors were not so narrow-minded as the present
generation is¹". In proof of the last assertion Alberuni
quotes the tribute of Varāhamihira to Greek astronomers,
quoted above. Hindus in Alberuni's time had very
good reason to feel a very deep prejudice against
Muslim scholarship; Alberuni's picture may have been
to some extent overdrawn. But the contemporary
Hindu attitude towards the Śrutis, Smṛitis and Purānas
and other works of the past, which has been discussed
above, would show that Alberuni's account of the
mentality of the contemporary Hindu scholar is
substantially true. Hindu education had ceased to
remove prejudices, explode superstitions and broaden
the mind, so as to keep it capable of receiving instruc-
tions from all quarters by the beginning of the 9th
century A. D. Hindu colonising activity, necessitating
travel abroad, had also come to an end by this time.
Some Hindu doctors are no doubt known to have
proceeded to Baghdad at the invitation of Khalifa Harun
(786 A.D.—808 A.D.) to act as chief physicians in his
hospitals²; we however do not know whether public
opinion approved of their conduct, whether they returned
home and were readmitted to Hindu society. Foreign
travel for the purpose of education and the broadening
of views became impossible when the sea voyage was
prohibited. Whether it was undertaken in earlier days
also for these objects is doubtful. There are no books
in Sanskrit literature descriptive of geography, manners
and climate of the countries adjacent to India. Nor do
the Pauranic geographers seem to have been in touch with

1. Sachau, Alberuni, I, pp. 22-23. 2. Idid, Introduction, p. 81.
   17

238 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
the traders and colonisers, who were familiar with
Babylon, Arabia. Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Burma and
Borneo.
Arts and Crafts become plebian Professions :
Skill in manual training and industrial arts was highly
appreciated in early times. Liberal and useful
education was usually combined among high class
workers. Brahmanas used to be skilled in mining and
metallurgy, medical and military sciences. Weavers
were often amateur students of literature, folk lore,
astronomy and the art of war. This combination of
liberal and useful education began to become
progressively rare after the Gupta age. The status of
the Vaishya became assimilated to that of the Śūdra
as early as the 1st century A.D. and talented persons
among the intellectual classes began to think it below
their dignity to follow useful and industrial arts. Like
European classical scholars of the Renaissance period,
Indian scholars became fascinated by the charms of
the classical literature. Absorbed in the beauty of
words and ideas, they neglected the world of Nature.
Mathematics and astronomy, sculpture and architecture
ceased to attract them. The level of intelligence
among the industrial classes therefore became lowered
down when their education became rigidly confined
to the technique and processes of their own professions
from about the 9th century A. D. As a natural
consequence of such a state of affairs, the growth and
development of the fine, useful and industrial arts
became arrested in India from about the 8th century
A.D. No advance is to be seen after that date in the
realms of sculpture, painting, mining, surgery, etc. The
old type of learning became stereotyped and it soon
began to degenerate. It is true that India continued
to retain her dominating position in the weaving
industry down to the beginning of the last century; but

XI] ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES 259
it is doubtful whether any progress was made in the
technique or processes of manufacture during the last
one thousand years.
Education of Masses neglected in later Times: At
the time when India was making rapid strides in the
different domains of knowledge, her education was
broad-based. In ancient Athens one in ten and in
ancient Sparta one in twenty five received education,¹
and women's education was altogether neglected. The
case was much different in India down to the com-
mencement of the Christian era. Literacy among the
Aryans was probably as high as 60 per cent in the days
of Aśoka. Anxious thought and care were also bestowed
on female education. Things, however, gradually
changed for the worse in the first millennium of the
Christian era. The education of women began to be
neglected. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas began to become
progressively illiterate. It is true that in Europe also
the masses were little more than barbarous and took
more naturally to warfare than to schooling down to
the end of the Middle Ages.² We can, however, hardly
derive any consolation from this comparison, for the
prevalent illiteracy in India was due to degeneration
from a more creditable condition, obtaining in earlier
centuries.
The neglect of Vernaculars : Hindu educational
system was unable to promote the education of the masses,
probably because of its concentration on Sanskrit and
the neglect of the vernaculars. The revival of Sanskrit
that took place early in the first millennium was un-
doubtedly productive of much good; it immensely
enriched the different branches of Sanskrit literature
which began to reflect the ideals and ideas of the
individual and the race. But owing to the deep fascina-
1 Monroe, A Text Book, pp. 26, 29.
2 Ibid, p. 261.

260 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
tion for Sanskrit, society began to identify the educated
man with the classical scholar as was the case in the
Europe of the Renaissance period. But when the best
minds became engaged in expressing their thoughts in
Sanskrit, Prakrits were naturally neglected. As long as
Sanskrit was intelligible to the ordinary individual, this
was not productive of much harm. But from about
the 8th century A.D. Prakrits and vernaculars became
widely differentiated from Sanskrit, and those who were
using them began to find it difficult to understand
the latter language. Hindu educationalists did not
realise the importance of developing vernacular litera-
tures in the interest of the man in the street. Alberuni
observes, “The language in India is divided into a
neglected vernacular one, only in use among the common
people, and a classical one, only in use among the upper
and educated classes, which is much cultivated.” 1
We no doubt come across a few cases from the 13th
century onwards where provision was made for the
teaching of Telugu, Canarese and Marathi in some of
of the schools and colleges of South India, but the
general impression produced by a survey of the edu-
cational system and institutions is that society was not
alive to the importance of the teaching and development
of vernaculars in the interest of the spread of education
among the masses. Things in India were however quite
on a par with what they were in contemporary Europe,
where Latin continued to be the medium of instruction
down to the 17th century A.D. The classics dominated
the curriculum of the Public Schools in England down
to c. 1850 A.D., boys could write better Latin than
English. In the 16th century school boys were
punished for using the mother tongue, and its study
could be started in Jesuitical schools only with the
1 Sachau, I, p. 18. Some poems and dramas were written in
Prakrit, but their number was very small.