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

20 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
educated which cannot preserve and expand its cultural
heritage. Our education enabled us to do this for
several centuries.
Aims of Education: Some Comparative Observa-
tions: It would be interesting to compare the aims and
ideals of ancient Indian education with those of some other
systems, both ancient and modern, both eastern and
western. We therefore now proceed to do so. In ANCIENT
CHINA, Confucian preached that the purpose of education
should be to train each individual in his path of duty,
wherein is to be prescribed most minutely every deatil of
life’s occupations and relationships. If we understand
duty in a sufficiently wide sense, this definition of the aim
of education would appear to be very similar to that of
ancient Indian educationalists. In ANCIENT GREECE as
well as in REFORMATION EUROPE, the ideal of personal
culture loomed large in the educational system. Ancient
Indians held that the individual exists more for society
than vice versa; it was therefore the function of education
to acquaint the individual with the culture of the race.
Personal culture was promoted by the educational system
only to the extent it was possible to do so by imparting
national culture. Music, painting and fine arts thus did
not become subjects of general education in ancient India
as they became in ancient Greece. THE SPARTAN EDUCA-
TION aimed at providing the state with as many faithful
and capable soldiers as possible, who would defend it
with the armed hand. The existence of the Aryans in
India was not a precarious one; they were not like the
Spartans threatened with a slave population about ten
times their own number; so their education was not
naturally dominated by the military ideal in any degree.
MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN EDUCATIONALISTS held that education
should be primarily for piety and wisdom; some writers

I] THE CONCEPTION AND IDEALS OF EDUCATION 21
like Montaigne also have advocated that it should develop
virtue, wisdom, good manners and learning. Ancient
Indians agree with this view but add that education must
also fit an individual for a useful profession. JESUITICAL
EDUCATION aimed at creating an army of faithful and
resolute servants of the Catholic Church. Brahmana
priests, who controlled and guided education in ancient
India did not have so narrow an aim; the youths they
trained very often questioned their traditional beliefs and
started new theories of religion and philosophy. The
system also provided for the needs of the laity. MILTON
held that educational system should qualify a youth to
perform skilfully, justly and magnanimously all the
offices, both private and public, of peace and war.
Ancient Indians held that all persons are not versatile
enough to be trained for this ideal; they believed in the
differentiation of functions and trained different classes
for their different duties. SOME MODERN AMERICAN
EDUCATIONALISTS hold that moral character and social
efficiency, and not mere erudition and culture, should be
the aims of education. Ancient Indians accept this view,
but add that the preservation of the ancient national
culture, which naturally does not loom large before a
young nation like America, must also figure prominently
as an aim of education. SOVIET EDUCATION concentrates
its activities on the training and upliftment of the
proletariate. There was no class war in ancient India;
educationalists therefore tried to provide education to
each class, suitable for its own needs and traditions.
MODERN INDIAN EDUCATION is dominated by the aim of
passing examinations with highest honours; this aim was
practically non-existent in ancient India. It will be
shown in Chapter VI how examinations played quite a
negligible part in ancient Indian education.

Chapter II.
SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND
POSTULATES.
Education for all—Education a serious proposition and marriage
incompatible with it—Education to begin in childhood and not to stop
with graduation—Student’s cooperation important—Rod to be used very
sparingly—Importance of habits, routine, association and imitation—
The Gurukula system—The role and importance of the family—Various
theories about Nature vs, Nurture—Influence of the caste system—The
system once flexible, Brahmanas and non-Brahmanas teaching each
others’ subjects—Its influence on the curriculum of Brahmanas,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras in later times—Caste system and
Buddhism.
Introduction: It is desirable to discuss now
important educational principles and postulates accepted
and assumed by ancient Indian thinkers. This would
facilitate the proper understanding of the evolution and
history of the different aspects of education that would
be described later on in the book. It has to be observed
at the outset that principles and postulates have not been
systematically and comprehensively discussed in any
ancient work; they have to be gathered from diverse and
scattered sources and inferred from educational practice.
Education should be thorough : We have seen
already how education was regarded as a source of
illumination and was expected to enable its recepients to
meet successfully the difficulties and problems of life.
It was therefore insisted that it should be thorough and
efficient. The educational system did not aim at imparting
a general knowledge of a number of subjects; its ideal
was to train experts in different branches. Printing and
paper being unknown, books were very costly and libraries

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 23
practically non-existent; the educational system therefore
took particular care to train and develop memory in order
to ensure that what students had learnt during their
college days should stand them in good stead throughout
their life. Personal attention to each student was insisted
upon to ensure a high degree of proficiency. In pro-
fessional education the necessity of practical training was
emphasised for the same reason.
Education for all: Since education was regarded
as the best agency for improving society, it was naturally
insisted that it should be available to all those who were
qualified to receive it. It was not regarded, as was the
case in Ancient Greece, as the priviledge of those
lucky few who had the necessary leisure to devote to its
acquisition. To ensure literary education to the largest
possible number, Upanayana ritual, which marked the
beginning of religious and literary education, was made
obligatory for all the Aryans, both males and females. It
was further declared that a man can discharge his debt
to ancestors not merely by procreating sons but by pro-
viding for their proper education.¹ Every Aryan, i. e.
every Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya, thus received
at least the rudiments of literary and religious education.
Things however changed for the worse during the first
millennium of the Christian era, when Kshatriyas and
Vaishyas gradually ceased to perform Upanayana and
sank to the level of the Shudras. This gave a great set-
back to their literary education. As far as the professional
education was concerned, it was ensured to almost all
persons anxious to receive it, when the caste system became
hereditary; every family was expected to train its children
and bring them up in the traditions of its profession.
¹ तस्मात्पुत्रमनुशिष्टं लोक्यमाहुस्तस्मादेनमनुशास्ति । B. Up., 1.5.7.

24 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Steps Taken to Realise the Ideal: Society also
took several other important steps to realise this ideal.
To ensure an adequate supply of teachers, it enjoined
that teaching was a holy duty which a Brahmana was
bound to discharge irrespective of the consideration as to
whether any fee was likely to be received or not. It
made education free and held to public opprobrium any
teacher who would stipulate for fees. In order to bring
education within the reach of the poorest, it not only
permitted students to beg, but elevated begging into the
highest duty of the student life. In order to ensure a
reasonable maintenance to teachers, who were expected to
devote their lives to the cause of teaching in the missionary
spirit of self-sacrifice, society laid down that both the
public and the state should help learned teachers
and educational institutions very liberally. How these
arrangements worked in practice will be explained in
Chapter IV.
Education a serious Proposition: Though ancient
Indians held that all should normally receive the benefits
of education, they have also laid down that persons who
were morally and intellectually unfit to receive it should
be excluded from its benefit (Nirukta, II. 4); this was a
necessary precaution to avoid waste. They further point
out that real scholarship cannot be obtained by dilettanish
or perfunctory studies; impatience is as great an enemy
of learning as self-complaceney¹. The rich and the poor
have both to submit to stern discipline in order to become
learned. Long continued and laborious preparation is
necessary to aquire real grounding and efficiency in a
subject. One who is lazy or anxious to dabble in several
matters, or one who wants to have a merry time during

1. अशुश्रूषा त्वरा श्लाघा विद्यायाः शत्रवस्त्रयः। Mbh., V. 40.4.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 25
his school and college days, cannot become a good
scholar¹.
Marriage Incompatible with Studentship: Natu-
rally therefore ancient Indians held that a student ought
not to marry during his course. The term Brahmachārī,
which is used to denote a student, primarily refers to a
person leading a celibate life in order to realise his
educational ideals and ambitions. Our authorities insist
that the student should observe celibacy both in thought
and deed. He can marry only at the end of his course,
when permitted by his preceptor to do so.
Lapse from this Ideal: Owing to several causes,
which cannot be discussed here, the marriageable age of
girls began to fall down gradually from c. 600 B. C.
From 16 it came down to 14, then to 12 and then to 11
or 10. The last mentioned limit was reached during the
early centuries of the Christian era. The lowering of
the marriageable age of girls naturally brought down the
marriageable age of boys to about 16 or 18; marriage
thus became inevitable before the end of education. As
early as the 3rd century B.C. we find occasional references
to the cases of husbands staying away from their wives for
some years during their educational course;² these cases
later became common. We may safely conclude that
from about the beginning of the Christian era, more than
50 percent students used to marry before their education
was completed.
¹ सुखार्थिनः कुतो विद्या नास्ति विद्यार्थिनः सुखम् ॥'
नान्योद्योगवता न चाप्रवसता नात्मानमुत्कर्षता।
नालस्योपहतेन नामयवता नाचार्यविद्वेषिणा ॥
लज्जाशीलविनम्रसुन्दरमुखीं सीमन्तिनीं नेच्छता।
लोके ख्यातिकरः सतामभिमतो विद्यागुणः प्राप्यते ॥ Subhāshitas.
² ब्राह्मणमधीयानं दशवर्षाणि (प्रतीक्षेत)। A. S. III, 4.

26 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Education to begin at Proper Time: Ancient Indians
were convinced that no good results would follow if
education is begun late, in life. A boy who begins his
education at 16 is not likely to bring any credit to his
teachers¹. During our childhood, mind is pliable, memory
keen and intellect receptive; it is only at this period of
life, that it is possible to form good habits that may be
of life-long use to us. Ancient Indians have therefore
insisted that education ought to commence in childhood.
One thinker observes that parents themselves would
become the greatest enemies of a child, whose education
has been neglected during the childhood². It was held
that the 5th year and the 8th year would be the proper
time for the beginning of the primary and the secondary
education respectively. Our educationalists had however
recognised that it would be necessary to vary these years
in accordance with the cultural traditions of the family.³
Studies not to stop with the Course: Even in
modern times, when books are cheap and library facilities
fairly good, students forget a good deal of what they
learn within a few years after leaving the school or the
college. The danger was much greater in ancient times
when books were rare, costly and fragile. Our educa-
tionalists therefore emphasise that every graduate should
recapitulate daily a portion of what he had learnt in the
school or the college. At the time of his convocation,
the chancellor particularly exhorted him not to neglect
his duty of daily revision⁴. To forget what had once
been learnt was pronounced to be a sin as grave as the
¹ नातिषोडशवर्षमुपनयीत प्रसृष्टवृषणो ह्येष वृषलीभूतो भवति ॥ J.Gr.S.,I.12
² माता शत्रुः पिता वैरी बालों येन न पाठितः । Subhāshita.
³ See Appendix I, sections A and B.
⁴ स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । T.U ., I.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 27
murder of a friend or Brahmana (Yáj., III. 228). During
the rainy season, every graduate was expected to devote
extra time to his studies 'in order to remove their staleness'.
Some thinkers like Śvetaketu even recommended an annual
stay of two months at the college for this purpose
[A. D. S., X. 1. 2. 12].
Importance of Student's Cooperation : Ancient
Indians held that education was not a passive or one
sided process and that it will be productive of the
greatest results only when full and voluntary coopera-
tion is coming forth from students. They must feel the
urge to acquire more knowledge; then there would be
pleasure in teaching them. If there is no real desire for
learning and improvement, it would be useless to waste time
and labour over the education of insincere students (Manu,
II, 113-4, 191). But what was to be done if a student
entrusted to the charge and care of a teacher begins to
show a continuous indifference to duty ? How was he to
be induced to do his work? Was the teacher merely to
remonstrate, or was he to inflict physical punishment ?
Views about Physical Punishment : As may be
expected, there was no unanimity of views among ancient
Indian educationalists about the advisability of physical
punishment. Āpastamba recommends that a teacher
should try to improve refractory students by banishing
them from his presence or by imposing a fast (1.2.8.30).
He seems to be opposed to physical chastisement. Manu
grows eloquent over the virtues of gentle persuasion
(II. 159-61), but eventually permits the imposition of
mild physical punishment by a thin rod or rope. Gautama
agrees with him, but adds that a teacher giving a severer
punishment would be liable for legal prosecution.¹ A
१ शिष्यशिष्टिरवधेन । अशक्तौ रज्जुवेणुविदलाभ्याम् । अन्येन घ्नन् राज्ञा
शास्यः । I. 2.48.53

28 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
teacher in Taxila, when giving physical punishment
to a royal student from Benares, who would not give up
his stealing habits in spite of repeated exhortations,
exclaims that the use of the rod cannot be altogether
given up by a teacher (Jā., No. 252). He takes up the
position of Manu and Gautama, which represents the
via media, and seems to have been generally followed in
ancient India.¹ The Taxila teacher seems to have held
views similar to those of Locke, who permits corporal
punishment for moral remissness.
Corporal Punishment Elsewhere: In ancient times
corporal punishment was the order of the day. It was
given in Sparta not only as a corrective, but also as a
means of making students hardier. In the schools of
this city, there were rather whipping exercises than the
imposition of corporal punishment. Other schools in
ancient times did not go to the extreme length of Sparta,
but permitted a liberal use of the rod. The same was
the case with the Europe of the Middle Ages and it was
but natural. At a time when man was regarded as a
vessel of sin, and when he hoped to become fit for heaven
only through a bitter struggle with the flesh, extreme
views about the place of punishment naturally prevailed
among educationalists. The reaction started only with
Rousseau.
Importance of Habits: One of the best ways to
secure ready cooperation from students was to encourage
proper habits; great importance was therefore attached
to the formation of proper habits by the student during
his education course. It was realised that habits consti-
tuted a second nature and those formed during the pliable

¹ 1. In Medieval India, as in Medieval Europe, corporal punishment
was liberally administered in village schools. The old ideals were for-
gotten by this time.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 29
and impressionable period of childhood would stand a
person in good stead throughout his life. Rules of
discipline, that are prescribed for the student, have been
laid down not so much for the purpose of prohibiting him
from doing undesirable acts as with the object of forming
good and valuable habits. The habit of rising early was
found to be good; it was therefore laid down that the
student must daily get up at the dawn. Plain living and
high thinking was recognised to be a desideratum; in
order to develop a liking for it the use of costly food and
gorgeous dress was prohibited. Life is a hard and long
struggle against circumstances; in order to prepare,
students for it, rules were laid down calculated to develop
them into strong and hardy men with determined will
and great enduring power.
Importance of Routine: It was recognised that
routine also will play a great part in the formation of
habits. The daily routine was carefully determined with
a view to enable students to form good habits and
master their subjects at the end of their course. Students
of poetics and literature were constantly engaged in
practising composition and versification. Students of
theology had to take part daily in the performance of
sacrifices, which they would be called upon to conduct in
their after life. Apprentices in sculpture and painting
had to go through a long course of routine practice before
they could finish their course. Students in primary and
secondary schools went through the daily routine of
recitation and recapitulation, which enabled them to
master their subjects. The routine was made interesting
by making several children take part in the recitation
simultaneously.
Association and Imitation: Ancient Indians had
realised that association and imitation play a great part

30 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
in moulding the character and improving the calibre of a
student. Even a dull student, they point out, will improve
his intellect if he is in close association with a brilliant
boy and imitates his methods of study¹. One should
therefore be very careful in choosing one's company. One
can now understand why our educationalists have attached
a great importance to sending a student to live under the
direct care of a teacher, or better still, in a gurukula
(boarding) of established reputation.
The Gurukula System: The Gurukula system,
which necessitated the stay of the student away from his
home at the house of a teacher or in a boarding house of
established reputation, was one of the most important
features of ancient Indian education. Smṛitis recommend
that the student should begin to live under the supervision
of his teacher after his Upanayana; etymologically
_antevāsin_², the word for the student, denotes one who
stays near his teacher and samāvartana, the word for
convocation, means the occasion of returning home from the
boarding or the teacher's house. The rules which require
the student to rise earlier and sleep later than his teacher,
to show him alms gathered at midday and to attend to the
night service of his Agnihotra (sacrificial fire) also show
that the student was normally living at the house of his
teacher³. Ancient literature contains several stories like
¹ बुद्धिश्च हीयते पुंसां नीचैः सह समागमात् ।
मध्यमैर्मध्यतां याति श्रेष्ठतां याति चोत्तमैः ॥ Mbh., VI.1.30
2 अन्तेवासी is an abbreviation of आचार्यकुलवासी Ch. Up, 11.23.
uses this expression in the case of the general student; cf.
द्वितीयो ब्रह्मचारी आचार्यकुलवासी ।
3 Stories like those of Upakośala, where we find the wife of the
' teacher coming forward to induce the student to give up his fast,
also show incidentally that students must be living with their
teachers; see Ch. Up, IV, 10 8. P.T.O.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 31
those of Nābhānedishṭa and Kṛishṇa showing that students
were being actually sent to reside with their preceptors.
Of course this was recommended only in the case of
students of higher education. The evidence of the Jātakas
shows that they used to leave their homes, not perhaps
immediately after their Upanayana, but at about the age
of 14 or 15 when they were old enough to look after
themselves in a distant place. It is also likely that parents
living in the same locality with the teacher, or belonging
to the same place where the educational institute was
located, may not have always sent their wards to stay with
their preceptors or in boarding houses. But such cases
could not have been many. On the other hand there is
evidence to show that rich persons used to deliberately
send their children to distant places, even when there were
famous teachers in their own towns, because they were
anxious that they should reap the benefits of the Gurukula
system.
Gurukula System why Recommended: The
recognition of the importance of association and imitation
was one of the main reasons for the great emphasis laid on
the Gurukula system. Direct, personal and continuous con-
tact with a teacher of noble character naturally produces
great effect on the mind of the scholar during the pliable
period of childhood and adolescence. The close associa-
tion with elderly scholars, who had made progress in
education and won the applause of their teachers, naturally
(Continued from the last page)
It is interesting to note that the Law of Limitation was relaxed
in favour of students staying away from their homes at Guru-
kulas; cf.
ब्रह्मचारी चरेत्कश्चिद्व्रतं षट्त्रिंशदाब्दिकम् ।
समावृत्तो व्रती कुर्यात्स्वधनान्वेषणं ततः ॥
पंचाशदाब्दिको भोगस्तद्धनस्यापहारकः ॥ Kātyāyana in Pa. M.
Vol. III, i, p. 148.

32 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
induces the new entrants to imitate their example. The
invisible yet all-pervading influence of established tradi-
tions of the institution naturally spurs the student to
identify himself with them. The system eliminated the
factors in home life prejudicial to the educational atmos-
phere and facilitated better studies; it however did not
altogether eliminate the refining influence of the family
life, because students used to come into indirect contact
with it when living under the guardianship of their
teachers, who were usually householders. It also served
to tone down personal angularities of pampered children
and made all students more resourceful and self-reliant
and better acquainted with the ways of the world¹. It was
felt that students trained at home would lack the benefit
of school discipline and suffer from desultoriness and
want of application and would thus normally compare
very unfavourably with those trained in a Gurukula.²
Gurukulas not always in Forests: The general
belief that Gurukulas were located in forests away from
the din of city life is but partly correct.³ There is no
doubt that the majority of the teachers of philosophy in
ancient India lived, thought out and taught their spiritual
theories in sylvan solitudes. The same was the case with
celebrated teachers like Vālmīki, Kaṇva and Sāndīpani;
who used to stay in forests, though they had made
arrangements in their Āśramas (forest retreats) to teach

¹ Cf. पोराणिकराजानो अत्तने पुत्ते 'एवं एते निहतमानदप्पा सीतण्हक्खमा
लोकचरितञ्ञू भविस्संति' अत्तनो नगरे दीसापामोक्खे आचरिये विज्जमानेपि
सिप्पुग्गहणत्थाय दूरे तिरोरट्ठं पेसंति । Jā. No. 252.
² अपि च ज्ञानसंपन्नः सर्वान्वेदान्पितुर्गृहे ।
श्लाघमान इवाधीयादग्राम्य इत्येव तं विदुः ॥ Mbh., XIII. 36.15
³ Rules prescribing a holiday when there was a death or robbers'
raid in the village (Manu, IV. 108, 113) presuppose that the
school was not situated in a forest.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 33
hundreds of students in subjects like philology, grammar,
astronomy and civics, in addition to Veda, religion and
philosophy (Mbh., I: 91). In the Jātakas (e. g. No. 438)
we sometimes come across the stories of teachers leaving
cities like Benares and retreating to Himalayan forests
with a view to be free from the disturbances from the
city life. They were confident that the villagers around
would supply their few and simple wants. But in the
majority of cases Gurukulas were located in villages or
towns. It will be seen that such was the case with most
of the educational centres that would be described in
Chapter V. This was but natural, for teachers were
usually householders. Care however was taken to locate
Gurukula in a secluded place or garden¹, and in holy
surroundings. The case of Buddhist Universities like
Nālandā or Vikramaśīlā and of Hindu _agrahāra_² settle-
ments was peculiar; they were like modern University
towns of Oxford, Cambridge or Benares Hindu Univer-
sity, independent educational settlements, where arrange-
ments were made for the lodging and boarding of
students who flocked in hundreds and thousands. They
combined the advantages both of the town and forest life.
The Importance of the Family, Pre-birth Period:
Association and imitation begin to influence the student
not only from the time of his joining a school or Guru-
1 At Benares during the 17th century, students and teachers used
to repair to adjoining gardens and orchards for the purpose of
study. This practice is presupposed by the Go. Br., I. 2. 1-8
where it states that students should enter the village only for
necessary work like begging alms, etc.
2 This word denotes village consisting only of Brahmana scholars,
who were assigned its entire revenues for the purpose of their
maintenance. It may therefore be compared to a settlement of
teachers, each of them being engaged in teaching some students
free of charge.
3

34 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
kula, but from his early childhood; ancient Indians
therefore attached great importance to the family in their
scheme of education. They held that the child begins to
receive influences that mould its character and determine
its efficiency right from the time of its conception. If
Prahlāda became a deep devotee and Abhimanyu a skilful
warrior, the reason was the influence indirectly exercised
upon them by Nārada and Kṛishṇa respectively, when
they were still to be heralded in this world. It was
believed that the impressions, which would be conveyed
on the mind of the expectant mother, would be automati-
cally transmitted to the mind of the child to be born. The
mother therefore was advised to devote herself to the
study and contemplation of the achievements and biogra-
phies of great national heroes and heroines, so that she
may herself get a child that may be a worthy successor of
theirs.
Family and the Pre-School Period: We have
seen already that the preservation of the national culture
was one of the important aims of education and the family
was expected to cooperate with the school in its realisation.
The ambition of the child was first fired and its imagina-
tion set aglow not by the lessons it received in the school
but by the stories it heard from its mother and grand-
mother. Well known is the part which the home influence
played in shaping the career and firing the imagination of
heroes and saints like Shivājī and Rāmadāsa. Multiplica-
tion tables, noun declensions and some metrical rules
about grammar were taught at home to the child during
its early childhood in all cultured families. The home
thus not only prepared the child for the school, but also
supplemented its work.
The Role of the Family in the Pre-Historic Times:
In pre-historic times, i. e. before about 1000 B. C., the

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 35
family played a still greater part in the educational
system. At that early period, the professional teacher
was yet rather rare; so generally the father was the usual
teacher and the home the usual school. Several examples
are preserved in Vedic and Upanishadic literature of
fathers themselves teaching their own sons.¹ Nay, the
father himself was to begin the Vedic education, because
it was he and he alone who was regarded as eligible for
teaching the Gāyatrī Mantra to the boy; recourse was had
to another teacher only if he was unavailable for the
purpose. In course of time, owing to greater specialisa-
tion that became inevitable, home education became
possible only in the case of a few cultured families.
Remaining families were however expected to take prompt
steps to send the children to a teacher or a school at the
proper time and supervise their lessons at home if neces-
sary. Supervision of the education of the family wards
was one of the most important duties of its head.²
Family and the Female Education: In the case
of the education of girls, the family played an important
part. We do come across rare cases of girls being educat-
ed at boarding schools or colleges; for instance, we read
in the drama Mālatīmādhava how Kāmandakī was educated
at a college along with Bhūrivasu and Devarāta (Act I).
These cases were however exceptional, for there was a
general prejudice against sending girls outside for their
education. Dharmasūtras insist that they should be taught
at home by their male guardians like the father, the
brother or the uncle. This was of course possible only in

1. Prajāpati was the teacher of his sons, Devas, Asuras and Men,
   Br. Up. V. 2.1. Āruni had initiated his son Śvetaketu in the
   study of philosophy. Br. Up., VI. 2. 1; Ch. Up., V. 3.
2. Rv., I, 24

36 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
well-to-do and cultured families. Home, of course, was
the main centre of the education of girls in the domestic
science.
Nature vs. Nurture ; some Western Views: What
is the relative importance of nature and nurture in the
scheme of education has been a question of great contro-
versy since early times. Are human beings born with
their mental, moral and intellectual characters and faculties
rigidly predetermined, or can these be modified by educa-
tion, and if so, to what extent ? As is well known,
different answers are given to this question by different
educationalists in the west also. Plato, for instance, held
that human mind is like a skein, that has to be only
unravelled in this world ; all knowledge is contained in a
man, he has only to be reminded of it. Darwin, Galton
and Ribot attach great importance to the role which here-
dity plays in our nature and Shopenhauer held that human
character is inborn and unalterable. Herbert and Locke
on the other hand maintain that it is not nature but nurture
that determine our destiny. We come into this world with
minds as empty as our bodies are naked ; it is the training
which we receive and the environments in which we live
that determine our character and capacities.
Vedic Age believed more in Nurture: As may
be expected, there is no unanimity of views among ancient
Indian thinkers also about the relative importance of
nature and nurture. A young people, fortunate to have
a series of successes, naturally feel that there is nothing
impossible or difficult for man. Vedic Aryans belonged
to this category and their age therefore did not much
believe in heredity or natural endowments. This is em-
phatically expressed in one of the hymns of the Atharva-
veda, where we are told that given proper education,
everything can be accomplished. Even Indra owes his

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 37
supremacy among the gods not to any penance or previous
merit, but to his proper training during his studenthood.¹
A few centuries later we find a patriarch praying that
some of his sons should become good priests, others brave
warriors and the rest successful merchants (S. Br., X.4.1.10).
Obviously he did not much believe in heredity and held
that a good deal depended upon proper training and
education.
Karman Theory; Growing Faith in Nature: In
the course of time, however, the supreme confidence that
was placed in nurture began to weaken to a great
extent. When the Aryans settled down in a less
spectacular and more peaceful life and began to
investigate more carefully the phenomena of life around
them, they began to feel that man is not entirely an
architect of his own fortune, and that the powers and
capacities with which he is born determine the scope of
his prospects and activity to a considerable extent. The
doctrines of Karman and Rebirth, which were unknown
in the Vedic age, became universally accepted in the course
of time, swinging the pendulum considerably in favour of
nature as against nurture. It began to be averred that the
deeds (Karman) in previous lives, rather than the training
in the present one, will determine whether our intellect is to
be bright² and moral propensities strong. The development
of the caste system on hereditary lines did not strengthen
the hands of the advocates of nurture; it began to be
argued that the efficiency of a person as a priest or a
warrior does not so much depend upon the training he
receives in this life as upon the inherent qualities with
which he is born as a consequence of his Karman in

1. इन्द्रो ह ब्रह्मचर्येण देवेभ्यः स्वराभवत् । V. 1. 19.
   2, बुद्धिः कर्मानुसारिणी ।

38 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
previous births. The Karman determines the qualities
and characteristics, and God assigns birth in that particu-
lar caste in which they would be most needed. As a
natural consequence of these theories, educationalists
began to aver that nature is more important than nurture;
a bamboo tree cannot blossom into a sandal one simply
because it is assiduously watered and manured and planted
upon the Malaya mountain.¹ If you have no natural
capacity, education cannot create it; a mirror can show
reflection only to one who has the eyesight.² A conscientious
teacher imparts education as assiduously to a brilliant as
to a dull student; there is however a world of difference
as to the results. One shines forth in the world of scholars,
while the other hardly succeeds in making any appreciable
progress. Glass alone can reflect solar rays, not a piece
of earth, howsoever polished.³ This view is similar to
that of Plato who has pointed out that education is not
like putting sight into blind eyes; it is only turning the
eyes to light.
The Function of Nurture: Though natural en-
dowments thus play a great part, it was realised that they
exist only in a potential condition in our childhood and
would not flower into perfection unless they are properly
¹ अंतःसारविहीनस्य सहायः किं करिष्यति ।
मलयेपि स्थितो वेणुर्वेणुरेव न चंदनः । S R.B, p. 41.7.
² यस्य नास्ति स्वयं प्रज्ञा शास्त्रोक्तं किं करिष्यति ।
लोचनाभ्यां विहीनस्य दर्पणः किं करिष्यति । Ibid, p. 40.1.
³ वितरति गुरुः प्राज्ञे विद्यां यथैव तथा जडे
न च खलु तयोर्ज्ञाने शक्तिं करोत्यपहन्ति वा ।
⸰ भवति च पुनर्भूयान्भेदः फलं प्रति तद्यथा
प्रभवति मणिर्बिम्बोद्ग्राहे न चैव मृदां चयः ॥ II.
Uttararāmacharit, II. 4.

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 39
developed by training and education. One may be born
in a Brahmana family on account of his past good Karman;
one may be also endowed by nature with the qualities of
a Brahmana like self-control and love of learning. Still
he will be not a whit higher than a Shudra if he does not
receive proper sacraments (Sanskāras) and gets the neces-
sary education.¹ Past Karman may determine the mental
and intellectual qualities of an individual. But they will
deteriorate if he does not receive proper education, and
improve, though within a limited degree, if he gets the
benefit of good training under a competent teacher. That
nature can thus be considerably modified by nurture seems
to have been the considered opinion of ancient Indian
educationalists from about the beginning of the Christian
era. This view is similar to the theory of Stern who
sought to effect a compromise between the extreme posi-
tions of Galton and Locke by maintaining that man is born
with tendencies, which are conditioned by heredity but
which are transformed into the qualities of human
personality through a process of development and training.
The Influence of the Caste System: The caste
system has been an important feature of Hindu society
for a long time and has naturally exercised considerable
influence on the theory and practice of education in ancient
India. Let us try to find out its extent. It is usually
held that it had rigidly determined the professions and
made the teaching line a monopoly of the Brahmanas.
We shall however find that Kshatriya teachers of Vedic
and philosophical subjects existed down the 6th century
B. C. and that the keen intellect of the Brahmana com-
munity was for a long time utilised to further the bounds
¹ जन्मना जायते शूद्रः संस्काराद्द्विज उच्यते ।
विद्यया याति विप्रत्वं त्रिभिः श्रोत्रिय उच्यते ॥