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

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.

88 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
not intended to be interdicted.¹ Others held that non-
Vedic works could be studied on the official holi-
days.² It would appear that in later times discretion
was given to different institutions as to what holidays
should be permitted by them to their students. Holidays
allowed to the youngsters were to be more numerous than
those to be allowed to advanced students.³ This was
certainly a very sound educational principle. In the case
of serious students, apart from the four monthly holidays,
studies seem to have been suspended since early times
only when they themselves or the place they were study-
ing was impure.⁴
Organisation of Courses: The modern reader will
be surprised to learn that in ancient India there were no
central bodies like the senates or boards of studies to
prescribe a clear cut course of a definite duration in
different subjects. This was a natural consequence of
the circumstance that education was mostly imparted by
private teachers: they did not belong to any institution, nor
were they controlled by any government. There was also
another reason for this phenomenon. Ancient Indians
regarded knowledge as unlimited and no period that one
could spend for its acquisition was regarded as adequate
for the purpose.⁵ The duration and contents of the
1 B Dh.S, I, 11, 40:मनसा चानध्याये । A.D.S, I . 3. 11 24 .
2 Manu II. 105. ; cf. also, Kûrmapurāna;
नानध्यायोस्ति चांगेषु नेतिहासपुराणयोः ।
न धर्मशास्त्रेष्वन्येषु पर्वेण्येतानि वर्जयेत् ॥
3 तत्र सर्वत्र प्राज्ञाप्राज्ञाध्येतृविषयेण गुरुलघुकालानां व्यवस्था ज्ञेया ।
V. M. S., p. 536.
4 T. A., II, 15 ; Manu, IV. 127.
5 There is an interesting parable in this connection in Tai. Br.,
III. 10. 11. 3 A Brahmana named Bhāradvāja spent three
P. T. O.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 89
course were therefore largely determined by the will,
capacity and convenience of the student. Some students
who wanted to get an all-round mastery used to read for
as many as 25 or 30 years. Others who were home sick
or were content with a superficial knowledge, used to
return home in six or even three years. Intelligent stu-
dents, who could master the course in a shorter time,
were allowed to return as soon as their studies were over.
Normal Duration of the Course: The course of
higher education usually began with Upanayana at about
the age of ten and extended over about 12 years. The tra-
dition is quite definite about the Vedic course extending
over that period. This period was necessary for the
study of one Veda along with its subsidiary branches.
The duration of the courses of non-Vedic studies like
philology, logic, philosophy, poetics, Dharmaśāstra, etc.
is not definitely known. The students of these subjects
had to study a few Vedic hymns, necessary for their
religious duties, and a good deal of grammar in order to
get the facility for understanding works in advanced
Sanskrit prescribed for their courses. The full grammar
course extended over ten years in the 7th century A. D.;
but the students of poetics, philosophy or sacred law
(Continued from the last page)
successive lives in attempting to master all the Vedas. On
learning that he proposed to spend his fourth life also for
the same purpose, Indra appeared before him, shewed him
three hillocks of corn, and taking a handful from each, told
him that the three Vedas were infinite and what he had
learnt of them in three lives bore the same proportion to
what remained to be mastered as his three handfuls bore to
the hills of corn lying in front.
Sanskrit literature is full of sayings to the effect that
knowledge is infinite and cannot be mastered in one's life:—
अनन्तपारं खलु शब्दशास्त्रं स्वल्पं तथायुर्विपुलाश्च विद्याः।

90 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
(Dharmaśāstra), may have finished their grammar course
in five or six years and devoted about ten years for
getting a mastery in the subject of their choice. A person
who wanted to be regarded as cultured and well educated
had thus to spend about 15 or 16 years for his education,
subsequent to the time of his Upanayana at about the age
of eight or nine.¹ Usually he could finish his education
and become an expert in one particular branch at about
the age of 24, which was regarded as the ideal age for
marriage. It is interesting to note that in medieval
Europe also, the complete course of Latin education
covered a period of about 15 years (Raymond, Principles,
p. 193).
Longer course for special experts : Those however
who wanted to become special experts² or get the mastery
of several Vedas or wanted to specialise in more than
one branch of knowledge had to devote a much longer
period for their studies. They had to spend another
10 or 12 years and their studentship continued to the
age of 35 or 40. Megasthenes³ and Colebrooke⁴ refer
to such students, when they both refer to scholars
prosecuting their studies even at the age of 37. Society
however did not approve of the devotion of so great a
part of life to the cause of studies, if the person
eventually intended to marry. One authority states that
a person ought to be married in the prime of his life;
to postpone marriage to the age of 35 or 40 would be a

1 I-tsing, pp. 170-77
2 Twenty years were required for mastering the Krishna
Yajurveda and the enormous number of sacrifices and rituals
connected with it. Education Commission Report, Madras Prov.
Committee, 1882, p. 6.
3 Fragment No. 41,
4 Nadia Gazetteer p, 182,

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 91
folly.¹ Specialisation had come into field early; it was
not necessary for a person to master several Vedas or
several branches of knowledge. It was feared that if
this was indiscriminately encouraged, some students
would be tempted to prolong their education indefinitely,
especially since society used to provide them with free
boarding and lodging.² The case of teachers and
professors was different; they had already become
earning and useful members of society. They were
expected to be life-long students and acquire efficiency in
several branches.
Life-long studenthood: Actuated by spiritual
motives, some persons in ancient India used to observe
life-long celibacy and devote their time entirely to
religion and education.³ They were known as Naisṭhika
Brahmachārins. Their primary motive was spiritual
salvation, but it was to be achieved not by penance or
meditation, but by the dedication of a life of chastity to
the cause of the sacred lore. Unmoved by praise or
reproach, they carried on their work, without mixing
much with the mundane world and its affairs. Their
sole concern was a thorough acquisition of knowledge.
1 Cf. कृष्णकेशो ह्यग्नीनादधीतेतिश्रुतेः । Bau. Dh. S., I, 2, 31.
Śabara thinks that only eunuchs can contemplate the
'postponement of marriage to the age of 48. Cf. अपुंस्त्वं
प्रच्छादयन्तश्चाष्टाचत्वारिंशद्वर्षाणि ब्रह्मचर्यं चरितवन्तः । On P.M., 1, 3,
2 Cf. विना कुटुंबभरणात्तपोविद्यार्थिनः सदा ।
द्वीपे निवासितव्यास्ते बद्धा दुर्गेऽदरेऽथवा ॥ Śukra, IV. 1, 105.
3 Some of the medieval writers, who did not know the real object
of Naishthika Brahmacharya, have recommended it to dumb,
deaf and impotent persons, who could not marry. पंग्वादीनामनंशत्वा-
दसामर्थ्याच्च शास्त्रतः।नियतं नैष्ठिकत्वं स्यात्कर्मस्वनधिकारतः ॥ V M S. p. 551.
Aparārka, Madana and Mādhava have however pointed out how
this view is wrong.

92 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
'Forgetting fatigue', says Yuan Chwang, 'they expatiate
in arts and sciences; seeking for wisdom..they count not
1000 li (roughly equal to 200 miles) as a long journey.
Though their family may be in affluent circumstances,
such men make up their minds to be like vagrants and
get their food by begging, as they go about. With them
there is honour in knowing the truth and there is no
disgrace in being destitute' (I. 160-1). Smṛitis require a
Naisṭhika Brahmachari to serve his teacher throughout his
life; in actual practice however they used to establish new
centres of education after some time. Famous teachers
like Kaṇva and Divākarasena (of the Harshacharit) were
such Naishṭhika Brahmachāris. This ideal of Naishṭhika
Brahmacharya, which is peculiar to India, enabled her
to make striking progress in learning and philosophy.
EDUCATIONAL FINANCE.
Introduction: We have seen already that the item
of students' fees was a minor one in the income of the
private teacher and did not figure at all in the budgets of
public colleges and universities. The question therefore
naturally arises as to how education was being financed
in ancient India. Society, which had frowned upon the
practice of charging regular fees as a mercenary and
unworthy procedure, used to succeed in getting ample
support for the cause of education by appealing to the
religious and charitable instincts of the public. Vidyādāna
or a gift in the cause of education was pronounced to be
the best of gifts, possessing a higher religious efficacy
than even the gift of land (bhūmidāna).¹ Religion had a

¹ सहस्रसंमिता धेनुरनडुवान्दशेभवः । दशानुडुत्समं यानं दशयानसमं हयः ॥
दशवाजिसमा कन्या भूमिदानं च तत्समम् । भूमिदानात्परं नास्ति विद्यादानं
ततोऽधिकम् । Bṛihaspati quoted in SCS., p. 145.

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 93
great hold over the public mind in ancient times and this
spiritual exaltation of Vidyādāna secured so wide and
ample a response to the cause of education, both from the
public and the government, that it used to become possible
to impart free education at least to all poor students,
wishing to derive its benefits.
Help by Society; the Quota of Ordinary Men:
There is ample evidence to show that society was always
anxious to help the cause of education in a variety of
ways. Even the poorest family was required to support
the cause of education by giving a morsel of food to the
poor and hungry student coming to beg food at the door
at midday; to turn away such a student was pronounced
to be the gravest of sins.¹ Men of ordinary means used
to support the cause of education in a variety of ways.
They used to offer presents only to learned Brahmanas
on the occasion of Śrāddha; these presents were fairly
numerous and frequent for the Śrāddha was performed
in ancient times once in a month and not once in a year,
as is the case now. On the occasion of religious feasts
as large a number of students and teachers as possible
was invited: the citizens of Taxila, for instance, were
particular to follow this practice (Jātaka No. 498). On
auspicious occasions like Upanayana and marriage,
families used to give donations in cash or kind to teachers
and educational institutions.²
The Quota of Richer Citizens: Rich persons
used to help the cause of education in more substantial
ways. They would often engage the services of a teacher
¹ स्त्रीणां प्रत्याचक्षाणां समाहितो ब्रह्मचारी इष्टं दत्तं हुतं प्रजां पशून्ब्रह्मवर्चस-
मन्नाद्यं वृङ्क्ते । Ap. Dh. S., I. 1, 3, 24-25 G. Br., 2. 5-7 has a
similar warning.
² The citizens of Salotgi, for instance, used to follow this
practice; see E. I., IV, p. 60.