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

68 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
childhood and adolescence, which were expected to be
of good use to them throughout their life. And finally
students were to attend their classes regularly, listen to
lectures attentively and master and digest carefully all
that was taught before the school met the next day.
How far Relaxation was Permitted: Of the
above rules, those relating to religious duties and moral
behaviour, were particularly emphasised and strictly
enforced; modifications however were permitted in the
case of the rest, if demanded by special circumstances.
Thus the prohibition against the use of shoes and um-
brellas was not rigorously enforced in ancient India as
in ancient Sparta; the idea was that students should not
be so soft as to require these articles when moving about
on good roads in villages and towns¹ under normal circum-
stances. Students going to thorny forests in search of
the sacred fuel (samidhs) or undertaking a long journey
to distant places like Taxila over the burning plains of
northern India², were permitted the use of both the shoes
and umbrellas. Similarly occasional exceptions were
permitted in the case of the use of sweetmeats, when
students were invited to some religious function or feast
like a Śrāddha. The use of oils was permitted in some
localities once a week probably after the shave³. Cots also
were probably permitted in swampy or snake-infested areas.
Were Rules of Discipline unreasonable? : The
rules of discipline were on the whole reasonable for the
age. They were intended to infuse piety, teach manners,
1 Cf. न ग्रामोपानहौ। Dr. G. S. II. 5.
2 See Tilamutthi Jātaka, No. 252, where students coming to
Taxila from Benares are seen to be equipped with shoes and
umbrellas.
3 Such was the case in the college at Tirumukhudal in the 11th
century A. D.; see E. I, XXI. p. 223.

III] THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENT 69
promote self-control, discipline the will and facilitate the
formation of good habits. The complaint that they were
too ascetic is not true; students were required only to
control their passions and desires and not to kill them,
as was recommended in the case of ascetics. Strict
celibacy was insisted upon, but that was for the purpose
of promoting concentration in studies and the development
of the body. At the end of the course, students were
enjoined to marry. At Sparta students' food was both
plain and scanty. In India it was only plain; the educa-
tionalists had realised that the body is developed and
built up during the childhood and adolescence and have
therefore permitted students to take as much food as was
demanded by the needs of their developing constitution. In
the light of these facts the observation of a recent writer
that the student life in ancient India was very severe
because it required a stay at a stranger's place, demanded
a beggar's or a menial's life and denied all pleasures of
life¹ will appear to be considerably wide of the mark.
Society did not regard the student life as a proper period
for enjoying the pleasures of life. Its standards of plain
living also were naturally much different from those of
the modern age, dominated by the novel, the drama and
the cinema. Stay at a stranger's place was nothing else
than the stay at a boarding house. The beggar's life was
the mere ideal, recommended with a view to bring educa-
tion within the reach of all; it was a reality only in the
case of the poor and a mere formality in the case of the
rest. Menial duties like personal service at the teacher's
household were expected to be performed only by the
poor students, who were given free tuition by the teacher;
they were a mere formality in the case of the rest.
1 Bokil: The History of Education in India, Part I p. 151.

CHAPTER IV.
EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION & FINANCE.
Private teacher the pivot of the system-How organised in-
stitutions arose-Organisation of Buddhist universities and Hindu temple-
colleges-School and college buildings-Boardings for students-Payment
of fees how far obligatory-Admission procedure-The size of classes-
School hours-Duration of the college session-Holidays-Organisation
and duration of courses-Longer courses for experts-Lifelong students
Educational finance-The quota of ordinary men-Of rich men-The
example of the Punjab--Government contribution in direct and indirect
forms-Government help without Government control-State help in
other countries in contemporary time.
Introduction: The history of ancient Indian edu-
cation extends over several centuries, and so we naturally
come across different types of educational organisations
in different ages. In the pre-historic period down to
about 1000 B. C. the family was the only educational
agency both for the literary and professional education:
we have already shown in Chap. II how it used to dis-
charge this function. As education began to become
more and more complex and exacting, the specialist came
into the field in the form of the private teacher. He
continued to be in its sole and undisputed possession till
about the early centuries of the Christian era, when
organised educational institutions came into existence in
connection with the Buddhist monasteries. In a few
centuries, Hinduism copied the Buddhist example and
organised its own temple colleges. Monastic universities
and temple colleges were however confined to some
famous centres of learning; private teachers still conti-
nued to be the main stay of the educational system through-
out the moffusil. In medieval times the Maṭhas of the
various religious pontiffs (Āchāryas) used to organise

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 71
small centres for higher education, which co-operated
with the private teacher in rendering the valuable service
of keeping the lamp of learning burning in a dark age,
when society was often over-whelmed by anarchy, inter-
necine war and foreign rule.
Private teachers: Private teachers have all along
been the sheet anchor of the educational system. In the
prehistoric period, the followers of different Vedas had
no doubt formed their own literary organisations like
the Parishads, the Śākhās, and the Charaṇas, but curiously
enough these do not seem to have ever made any concerted
effort to form educational institutions, which would hand
down to the next generation the literature of which they
were the custodians. This need not cause any surprise.
The sacred texts required each Brahmana to devote
himself to the cause of teaching in his individual capacity,
and the injunction was very largely followed. Each
learned Brahmana was thus an educational institution by
himself. The Parishads or councils of famous scholars
of the different centres or tribes therefore did not feel
it necessary to organise public educational institutions
of the modern type, worked with the co-operation and
assistance of a number of teachers. Famous capitals and
holy places like Taxila and Benares were centres of a
number of famous scholars, but they also imparted
education in their individual capacity, and did not as
a rule combine to form any colleges. If the number
of pupils under any teacher happened to be large, he
would either engage an assistant teacher, or assign part of
the work to brilliant advanced students.¹ Neither step
however would change the individual character of the
See Anabhirati Jātaka (II p. 185) and Mahadhammapala Jātaka
(IV. p. 447) for the appointments of pittiachārayas and Jethantenva-
sikas respectively.

72 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
school. How private teachers organised and imparted
education and how they were supported has already been
described in Chap. III. It may be observed in passing
that in ancient Athens also education was for a long
time imparted by private teachers and not in public
institutions. The first real founder of public schools
in Europe is believed to be Charlmaigne the Great
(800 A. D.); his death however completely frustrated
his schemes.¹
Rise of Organised Institutions : Corporate edu-
cational institutions were first evolved in ancient India in
connection with Buddhist monasteries. The Buddha had
emphasised the vital importance of imparting systematic
instructions to novices, who were required to be educated
for ten years, not only in spiritual practices, but also in
the study of the sacred literature, which required a good
grounding in Pali and Sanskrit, logic and metaphysics.
When Buddhist monasteries developed into big establish-
ments from the time of Aśoka onwards, they naturally
developed into centres of education. They were the
counter parts of Hindu Gurukulas, where the Guru was the
head, not of a family but of a monastery. At first they
were intended for monks and nuns only, but later on for
the lay population as well; for it was soon discovered
that the best way of getting a good supply of novices of
the right type and of propagating the religion among the
masses was to mould the pliant minds of the young
generation by taking up its education. Hindu educational
institutions, so far known, are all later than the time of
the Nālandā University (c. 400 A.D.). It is probable
that the starting of organised public institutions for
education may have been suggested to Hindus by the

¹ Staunton: The Great Schools of England, p. xv.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 73
transformation of Buddhist monasteries into colleges and
Universities. Temple colleges started by Hindus were a
natural reaction to the Buddhist monastic Universities.
The Maṭhas of the Āchāryas (religious teachers and
recluses) of the medieval times continued the same
tradition.¹
Organisation of Buddhist Universities: We can
get a fairly good idea of the organisation of Buddhist
Universities from the accounts handed down to us about
Nālandā and Vikramaśīlā, which were typical of their
class. The whole establishment used to be in charge of a
famous abbot (bhikshu). He was usually elected by the
members of the Saṅgha. Character, scholarship and
seniority were the factors usually taken into consideration.
In the 9th century, a monk-scholar from near Jalālābad,
who was on a pilgrimage to Bihar, was elected to be the
principal of the University². This would show that local
1 It is interesting to note that in Europe also from about the
6th to the 11th century A. D. education was centered in
monasteries. The causes were somewhat similar. Monks
were required to read; so they had to be taught. They must
have books and they must in turn teach novices to
read and copy manuscripts. Hence arose monastic
schools. After the closure of all the pagan schools by
Justinian's decree in 529 A. D., monasteries became the sole
schools for teaching. "They offered the only professional
training, they were the only Universities of research; they
alone served as publishing houses for the multiplication of
books; they were the only libraries for the preservation of
learning; they produced the only scholars. It was not till
the 11th century that there was any education to speak of
outside monastic schools, and not till the 13th century that
there occurred marked changes in the character of education
given in any institution; until then all these schools were
taught by monks." Monroe, A Text-Book, pp. 255-261.
2 I. A., XVII, p. 307.

74 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch
or provincial jealousies did not influence the election in
any way. The abbot-principal used to be assisted by
two councils, one academic and the other administrative.
The academic council used to regulate admissions, deter-
mine courses and assign work to different teachers. In
later times when the granting of diplomas was introduced
at Vikramaśīlā, it must have arranged for the holding of
examinations as well. It was also in charge of the
liabrary and its duties in this connection were onerous.
In the pre-press days, libraries were not only store
houses of books but also their publishers. They had to
take steps to renew their own worn out manuscripts and
to meet the constant demand of the outside public for
copies of books in their possession. . The copying work
was to some extent done by the monk teachers and pupils,
but clerks also had to be engaged to cope with it. The
administrative council was in charge of the general
administration and finance. Construction and repairs of
buildings, distribution of food, clothes and medicine,
allotment of rooms in hostels, and assignment of monas-
tic work fell within its purview. Above all, it was in
charge of finances and used to take steps to realise the
revenues of the estates given as endowments to the
Institution. This work must have been fairly exacting
and complicated in a big University like Nālandā, posses-
sing a hundred or two hundred villages. Steps had to
be taken to lease out the fields, to collect the corn due and
to store and distribute it properly at the right time. Large
staff must have been employed for the work.
Organisation of Temple Colleges: South Indian
nscriptions give us à vivid picture about the functioning
of the temple colleges flourishing there, but throw very
ittle light on their internal organisation. It would appear
hat they were probably administered by the temple sub-

[IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 75
committee of the village council, within whose jurisdiction
they fell. It was this sub-committee which administered
the estates given as endowments and appointed the tea-
chers of the institution. What subjects were to be taught
and how many seats were to be reserved for each of them
may have been settled by the temple committee in consul-
tation with the views of the head of the institution. The
latter was in charge of the internal administration. He
supervised over the boarding houses, allotted seats to
students, appointed servants for the messes and arranged
for the supply of provisions. In some places even hospital
arrangement was made for the need of students falling
ill. The distribution of the teaching work, the supervision
of the library and the maintenance of discipline also
fell within the jurisdiction of the head of the Institution.
School and College Building: We have seen
already in Chap. II (pp. 32-3) how only a few educational
institutions were located in sylvan solitudes. There is
however no information as to what arrangements were
made in these institutions for the housing of classes and
the lodging of students. In fair weather the classes must
have been held under the shades of trees; in the rainy
season, some kind of humble tenements must have been
found indispensable both for teaching and residence. As far
as organised educational institutions like the Buddhist
Universities or Hindu temple colleges are concerned, we
have definite evidence to show that they used to provide
good, spacious and often imposing buildings for their
class rooms and hostels. At Nālandā there were eight big
lecture halls and as many as three hundred small class
rooms. The college buildings were stately and several
storeys in height. The university of Vikramasīlā also was
provided with several lecture halls by the Pāla emperors.
Similar arrangements must have existed at other famous

76 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Buddhist centres of education. Military schools intended
for aristocratic families were naturally housed in spacious
and imposing buildings¹. Temple colleges were usually
located in spacious halls and apartments adjoining the
temples, to which they were attached. As far as private
teachers were concerned, they usually held their classes in
their own houses. This was not difficult for a well-to-do
teacher; for the class usually consisted, as we shall soon
see, of not more than 10 to 15 students. Sanskrit teachers
of even moderate reputation could however usually succeed
in building a small unostentatious building for their
school out of subscriptions collected for the purpose in
their own Tehsil or Taluka. Teachers with small houses
used to repair to an adjoining temple or garden to carry
on their classes. This practice prevailed in Benares
during the medieval times.
Lodging and Boarding Arrangements: Let us now
survey the general features of the lodging and boarding
arrangements made for students. It has been already
shown in Chap. II how the ideal of the Gurukula
required the student to stay under his teacher's roof or
in a boarding house under his direct supervision. Well-
to-do teachers in famous centres of education like Taxila
used to arrange for the lodging and boarding of their
students in their own houses.² It must be remembered in
this connection that the number of students reading under
one teacher was usually not more than 15 and he could
thus arrange for their lodging and boarding. When
public educational institutions came into existence, they
used to invariably arrange for the lodging and boarding of
students in hostels specially built for the purpose. Several

1 Dialogues of the Buddha, Vol. IV, part iii, p. 111.
2 Jātaka No. 252.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 77
such hostels existed at Nālandā, Salotgi and Vikramaśilā.
In these hostels, there were common messes run by
the authorities through servants appointed for the purpose.
Students' rooms were sometimes provided with a stone
bench to sleep upon and nitches for keeping lamps and
other sundry things; this arrangement prevailed at
Nālandā as will become clear by a visit to its excavations.
In some places, arrangements were also made to offer
free clothing and medicines; some institutions like that
at Nālandā in northern India and Malkapuram in south-
ern India used to maintain hospitals for the needs of
the 'sick students'². In some places like Salotgi, light
also was supplied to students out of special endowments
received for the purpose. In Bengal, till quite recent
times, teachers of tols or Sanskrit schools used to collect
subscriptions from well-to-do people in their districts
and build small unpretentious mud houses for the resi-
dence of students reading under them. It is quite possible
that the same practice may have prevailed in ancient
times in those localities which were carrying on the work
of education in their own humble way, but had not
become famous centres of education like Nālandā or
Ennāyiram. These boarding houses were under the
direct control and management of the teachers under
whom the students were working. When however teachers
were unable to make such arrangements, students had
to shift for themselves. Rich students would often hire
their own houses.³ Poor students would often stay in
temple out-houses and subsist by begging⁴.

1 See Chap. VI.
2 S. I. E. R. for 1917. pp. 122-4.
3 Jātaka No. 456
4 This arrangement prevailed in Vijayanagara.

78 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Payment of Fees: No Stipulation:—Stipulation for
fees was vehemently condemned in ancient India. No
student could be refused admission even by a private
teacher simply because he was too poor to pay any fees.
A teacher guilty of this misdemeaner was declared to be
unfit to officiate at religious ceremonies and was held to
obloquy as a mere trafficker in learning.¹ It was held
that the cause of education was a sacred one; every
teacher qualified to teach must teach as a matter of duty.
The relations between the teacher and the student should
be based upon mutual affection and regard, and not on
any mercenary consideration.² There is ample evidence
to show that this theory was acted upon in all public
educational institutions in ancient India. Evidence of
indisputable character shows that the Buddhist Univer-
sities, temple colleges, Agrahāra institutions, and Maṭhas
were all imparting free education to their students.
When they used to receive sufficient endowments, they
would also arrange to provide free boarding, lodging,
clothing and medicine to the students admitted by them.
Education therefore was free in a much wider sense in
ancient India than is ever dreamt possible in modern times.
1 यस्यागमः केवलजीविकायै तं ज्ञानपण्यं वणिजं वदन्ति ।
Mālavikāgnimitra, 1. 17
The Saura Purana, X. 42, condemns such a teacher to hell.
Such condemnation however may suggest that a small minority of
teahers may have been following the objectionable practice.
2 It is interesting to note that there existed a similar prejudice
against the charging of fees in ancient Greece for a long time.
Neither Socrates nor Plato charged any fees. It was the Sophists
who first introduced the custom of offering instructions to any
person in any subject he chose, if he offered sufficient remuneration.
The practice was despised by the public opinion in the beginning,
but was soon adopted by all educational institutions before the 3rd
century B. C. Spencippus, the successor of Plato at the Academy,
charged fee from his students. Monroe, A Text-book, p. 112

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 79
Private Teachers and Fees: It is necessary to note
that what has been condemned by the sacred texts
is a stipulation for the payment of fees as a condition
precedent to admission; they have no objection
to teachers accepting voluntary gifts from the
guardians of students reading under them. Just
as the teacher was exhorted to remember that teaching
was his sacred duty, the guardian also was asked
to note that no object in the universe, howsoever precious
it may be, can be regarded as an adequate fee for even
that humble teacher, who teaches a single letter of the
alphabet.¹ Smṛitis resort to this hyperbolic strain
because they were anxious that the teacher, who was
prevented from charging regular fees, should be in a
position to get an adequate living. The exhortation to
the guardians was not without its effect. For we find
that though in theory the teacher's honorarium (guru-
dakshiṇā) became payable only at the end of education²,
rich guardians used to pay the whole of it in advance
according to their ability³. Guardians of ordinary means
1 Cf एकमप्यक्षरं यस्तु गुरुः शिष्ये निवेदयेत् ।
पृथिव्यां नास्ति तद् द्रव्यं यद्दत्वाऽनृणी भवेत् ॥
Laghu-Hārīta in Par. Mad, I, ii, p. 53
It is interesting to note that Lüther's view was similar. 'I tell
you a teacher who faithfully trains and teaches boys can never
receive an adequate reward, and no money is sufficient to pay the
debt you owe him.' Monroe, A Text-book, p. 414
2 Yājñavalkya repeatedly refused the offer of a handsome fee
Janaka on the ground that he had not finished all what he had
to teach. Br. Up. IV. 1.
3 Jātakas show that rich persons like merchants and princes
used to send the whole amount of school fee in advance when
they used to send their sons to Taxila. See Jātakas Nos. 55,
61, 445, 447, 522 etc. Bhīshma also had paid Droṇa his honorarium
P. T. O.

80 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
must have found this procedure impracticable and paid
the fee by easy instalments, though we have so far got
no evidence of this practice prevailing. None who could
afford, was permitted to evade payment by the public
opinion. It was regarded as a very great disgrace that
one should not pay one's teacher though properly instructed,
when one had the ability to pay. When Nāgasena, being
a monk, naturally expressed his unwillingness to accept
the rich and luxurious gifts of his royal pupil, Menander,
the latter begged him to change his mind in order to save
him from the scandal getting abroad that though properly
instructed, he would give nothing in acknowledgment to
his teacher (Mil. pan. 1, pp. 134-5). Students whose
guardians were really too poor to pay any honorarium
were expected to help the teacher in his household work
and pay him some honorarium at the end of the course
by collecting subscriptions for the purpose.¹ We often
come across such students in Jātakas. To refuse their
request for subscription was regarded as highly dis-
graceful.²
Payment of fees: A Resume: There was no fixed
scale of monthly or sessional fees prescribed in ancient
(Continued from the last page)
in advance before he had started the edcuation of the Kaurava
princes; Mbh. 1. 142. 1. The same was done by the father of
Nāgasena, the preceptor of Menander; Milindapañha. Vol. 1. 17
1 E, G. पच्चा धम्मेण भिक्खं चरित्वा आचारियधनं आहरिस्सामि । No. 478.
2 Cf. King Raghu's observation to Kautsa, who had come to him
hoping to get the amount of his teacher's fee:—
गुर्वर्थमर्थी श्रुतपारदृश्वा रघोः सकाशादनवाप्य कामम् ।
गतो वदान्यान्तरमित्ययं मे माभूत्परीवादनवावतारः ॥ V. 24
King Uttaṅka gave his wife's earrings to a graduate, who was
asked by his teacher to procure them as his fee. The latter's
wife was desirous to wear them.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 81
India. It was the duty of Brahmanas, who were the
custodians of ancient culture and learning, to teach all
qualified students free of any charge. If a student was
poor, the teacher could not refuse him admission; he had
to teach him in return for personal service and in expec-
tation of some lump sum to be received later, when he
had finished his education and was in a position to collect
subscription for the purpose. As far as well-to-do persons
were concerned, they were expected to pay the maximum
they could do to the teacher. Government also was
expected to enable the teachers to impart free education
by giving them land grants and pensions. It was also
expected to give rich endowments to public institutions in
order to enable them to offer not only free instruction but
also free boarding and lodging. The available evidence
shows that this arrangement fostered a proper sense of
responsibility and worked on the whole quite satisfactorily.
Admission Procedure: In ancient Indian educa-
tional system there were no examinations, diplomas and
migration certificates; every student, therefore, who sought
admission to a higher course, had to undergo a severe
test to prove that he was fit for it. The duty to provide
free education that was imposed upon teachers and insti-
tutions must also have naturally resulted in making the
admission test a stiff one. The test was partly moral and
partly intellectual. Morally disqualified students were
summarily rejected (Nirukta, II. 4). In ordinary schools
dullards were given a trial and advised discontinuance
of studies, when it was discovered that they could not im-
prove. In famous centres like Nālandā, where the rush
was great, the admission test was very stiff; only two or
three out of ten could succeed in getting admission¹.
Both at Nālandā and Vikramāśīlā, there were special

1. Watters, II, p. 165; Beal, II. 170-1.
   6

82 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
professors appointed to the task of regulating admission
by testing the calibre, capacity and sincerity of the appli-
cants for admission¹. Probably similar arrangements
existed also in other institutions of higher education.
Private teachers would themselves test the capacity of
students seeking admission to their schools. At the
beginning of Vedic and professional education, some
religious rituals also were performed, which will be des-
cribed in Appendix I, A.
The Size of the Class: The income of the private
teacher varied with the number of his students, and we
sometimes come across rituals prescribed for getting more
students. But the actual number of students reading
under one teacher does not seem to have been large. The
Jātakas no doubt very often state that the ‘world-renowned’
teachers of Taxila used to have 500 students reading
under them; but this statement seems to be an exaggera-
tion, suggested by the traditional number of disciples usual-
ly associated with the Buddha. For all available evidence
shows that the strength of a class under one teacher was
usually about 15. Nālandā used to have about a thousand
teachers for its student population of not more than nine
thousand. In the 11th century in the Vedic college at
Ennāyiram, each teacher had only about 20 students
under his charge². At Benares during the 17th century,
sometimes only four and usually about 12 to 15 students
used to work under one teacher³. In the 19th century
the number of students under one teacher in Sanskrit

1. These scholars bore the rather curious title of Dvārapālas or
   door-keepers. See Bose, Indian Teachers of Buddist Universities
   pp. 47, 60.
2. S. I. E. R., 1918, p. 145.
3. Bernier, p. 145.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 83
schools at Nadia varied from 10 to 20¹. It therefore
seems to be almost certain that the Jātaka statement about
the teachers at Taxila having 500 students each is an
exaggeration. The normal strength of a class was never
more than 20.
School Hours: Curiously enough there is very
little information available about the school hours.
Smṛitis are altogether silent upon the point. We should
however note that in ancient time press, paper and cheap
books were absent; so home work or home reading was
practically impossible. All the work had to be done
under the guidance of the teacher or the monitor. Literatur
often describes the early morning time as resounding with
the sound of the recitation of students². So there is no
doubt that there was a morning session, probably starting
at about 7 A.M., when the daily religious duties were
over. The morning session continued till about 11 A.M.,
when both the students and the teachers had to break
off for their religious duties and meals. The noon
meal was followed by a short rest and the school
reassembled at about 2 P. M. and worked for three
or four hours. The school period was spent partly in
what may be called homework and partly in learning
new lessons. The former consisted of committing to
memory the texts expounded earlier with the help of one
or two copies of the book existing in the school or under
the direction of a senior monitor, who was well versed in
it. The memorising and revision work was usually done
in the morning, and new lessons were taught in the
afternoon. Such at any rate was the tradition in the Sans-

1. Nadia Gazetteer, p. 182.
2. शुश्राव ब्रह्मघोषान् स विरात्रे ब्रह्मरक्षसाम् । Rāmāyaṇa.
   बटुपटलसमारब्ध स्वाध्यायाध्ययनध्वानप्रबुद्धासु । Vāsavadattā

84 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
krit schools of Bengal and Bihar. We must remember
in this connection that Brahman teachers were busy in the
morning in performing their own religious duties or offici-
ating at religious functions and ceremonies to which they
were often invited. The noon session therefore must
have been usually devoted to teach new lessons. It is
however quite possible that there may have been no hard
and fast rules in this connection. If the teachers were
free, the morning session also may have been devoted
to new lessons. In organised colleges which engaged full
time teachers, this may have been generally the case.
No One Time School : It must have been noticed that
there was no one time school in ancient India. One time
school, either in the morning or in the afternoon, would
not have suited the religious habits of the age, which
necessitated the performance of religious duties both in
the morning and the noon. It has to be noted that most of
the teachers of higher education belonged to the priestly
class. Students usually lived with their teachers or very
near their houses or in small villages; so attendance at
the school two times a day did not cause any physical
inconvenience similar to what is felt by the children
living in big cities and attending schools situated far off.
Nor was it necessary to keep either morning or noon free
to students for their home work; for no home work was
possible. Even the richest student in ancient times could
not afford to have about half the number of books
and exercises, which the poorest student is compelled to
procure in the modern age.
Night Classes : Poor students who could not pay
any honorarium to the teacher had to do a good deal of
the household work for him. They naturally could not
be present throughout school hours during the day.
Teachers used to hold night classes for their convenience.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 85
There is definite evidence to show that this practice pre-
vailed at Taxila¹; probably it obtained in other places also.
College Session : Pre-historic Period : The
Upākarma and Utsarjana rituals show that the college
session could not have lasted for more than five or six
months². It began sometime in August and ended some-
time in February. Such was the case in prehistoric times
when Vedic hymns only formed the main subject of study.
When however the sacred literature became more exten-
sive and new branches of learning were developed like
grammar, philology, astronomy, philosophy and sacred law
(Dharmaśāstra), the short session of six months was
found to be inadequate and studies began to be prosecuted
throughout the year.
College Session : Later Times: There is ample
evidence to show that in later times, though the Utsarjana
ceremony, which marked the suspension of the Vedic
studies, was performed in February, the college work went
on uninterrupted. Manu, for instance, states that in spite
of the Utsarjana ceremony, the study of the Vedas and
Vedāngas should be continued throughout the year (IV.98).
College terms followed by fairly long vacations, with
which we are now familiar, seem to have been altogether
unknown in ancient India since about the 7th century B.C.
Transport difficulties were immense and students from
Rājagṛiha (near Patna) and Benares going to distant
places like Taxila used to return home only when the
whole course was over³ (Jā. No. 252). They therefore
1 धम्मन्तेवासिका आचारियस्स कम्मं कत्वा रत्तिं सिप्पमुग्गह्वंति,
आचारियभागदायका गेहे जेट्ठ पुत्ता विय हुत्वा सिप्पमेव उग्गह्वंति।
Jātaka No. 252.
2. Appendix I, section C.
3. The rule in the Arthas̄āstra laying down that the wife of a
Brahmana student should wait ten or twelve years before
P. T. O.

86 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
continued their education throughout the year, and had
no long vacations like those we have at present. The
present day custodians of Sanskrit learning are unaware
of any tradition about long vacations obtaining in the
past. If a student had some urgent work, he could take
leave and go home to attend to it. Those whose homes
were very near may have occasionally gone home on
some of the usual holidays. But the entire teaching
work does not seem to have been suspended for any part
of the year. Work also was not much disturbed by
different students going home at different times; for
generally speaking each student was taught separately.
The List of Holidays: We come across a system-
atic list of holidays only in post-Vedic¹ literature. But
many of these go back to very early times. Regular
holidays were four in the month at an interval of a week,
the new and full moon days and the eighth day of each
fortnight. Sympathetic interest with the inhabitants of the
locality was also responsible for the stopping of the work
sometimes, when the peace of the settlement was disturbed
by an invasion or by incursions of robbers or cattle-lifters,
or when the king or a Brahmana of the village had met
with an accident or died. Arrival of distinguished guests
led to the suspension of studies; for a good deal of the
time and energy of both the teacher and the students had
to be devoted to make the guests comfortable.
Holidays for Bad Weather, etc:—Abnormal wea-
ther conditions giving rise to untimely clouds, thunder,

(Continued from the last page)
remarrying or having recourse to Niyoga also suggests that
there used to exist no long vacations when married students
could go home and stay for sometime with their families.
Cf. III. 4.

1. G. D. S., II. 7; B. Dh. S. I. 11. Manu, IV. 100 ff.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 87
heavy showers, frost, dust-storms etc. were also regarded
as sufficient causes to suspend studies. Holidays for
these causes seem to go back to hoary antiquity, when
students and teachers lived in humble cottages and were
engaged in agricultural pursuits. It must be further
remembered that the teaching and learning of the Vedic
hymns in the manner in which it is done traditionally
was physically impossible when a storm or lightning was
thundering abroad. In later times when teachers were
well-to-do men living in towns and villages and not
directly concerned with active agricultural pursuits, it is
doubtful if studies were suspended when there was a
dust-storm or frost. When the howling of jackals, crying
of wolfs, screeching of owls, braying of donkeys or
barking of dogs was heard, teaching was temporarily
stopped, partly, on account of superstitious beliefs
and partly due to the notion that the Vedic study was so
sacred an affair that it could be prosecuted only under
ideally pure circumstances. It was apprehended that gods
would become angry if the sanctity of the Vedas was
defiled by their being studied on such occasions.¹
Curtailment of Holidays: In course of time most
of the holidays mentioned in the last paragraph were
abolished. Curriculum was getting heavier and some
reasons had to be found for departing from the old
tradition. Some authorities, therefore, started the theory
that prohibition of studies under abnormal weather condi-
tion referred only to loud recitations; silent reading was
1 Cf. छिद्राण्याहुर्द्विजातीनामनध्यायान्मनीषिणः ।'
छिद्रेभ्यः स्रवति ब्रह्म ब्राह्मणेन यदर्जितम् ॥
आयुः प्रजां पशून्मेधां कृन्तामि सुकृतं च यत् ।
अनध्यायेष्वभ्यसतः ब्रह्म व्याहरतस्तथा ॥
Quoted by Aparārka on Yāj. I, 142-151.