द ब्यूटीफुल ट्री: १८वीं सदी में भारत की स्वदेशी गुरुकुल शिक्षा (धर्मपाल)

advanced ages, considering the nature and amount of the
instruction communicated.
The teachers consist both of young and middle-aged men,
for the most part simple-minded, but poor and ignorant, and,
therefore, having recourse to an occupation which is suitable
both to their expectations and attainments, and on which they
reflect as little honor as they derive emolument from it; they do
not understand the importance of the task they have
undertaken; they do not appear to have made it even a subject of
thought; they do not appreciate the great influence which they
might exert over the minds of their pupils; and they
consequently neglect the highest duties which their situation
would impose, if they were better acquainted with their powers
and obligations. At present they produce chiefly a mechanical
effect upon the intellect of their pupils which is worked upon
and chiseled out, and that in a very rough style, but which
remains nearly passive in their hands, and is seldom taught or
encouraged to put forth its self-acting and self-judging
capacities. As to any moral influence of the teachers over the
pupils—any attempt to form the sentiments and habits, and to
control and guide the passions and emotions—such a notion
never enters into their conceptions, and the formation of the
moral character of the young is consequently wholly left to the
influence of the casual associations amidst which they are
placed, without any endeavour to modify or direct them. Any
measures that may be adopted to improve education in this
country will be greatly inadequate if they are not directed to
increase the attainments of the teachers, and to elevate and
extend their views of the duties belonging to their vocation.
The remuneration of the teachers is derived from various
sources. Two teachers have their salaries wholly, and another
receives his in part, from benevolent individuals who appear to
be influenced only by philanthropic motives; a fourth is
remunerated solely in the form of fees; and the remaining six are
paid by fees and partly by perquisites. There are in general four
stages or gradations in the course of instruction indicated by the
nature of the materials employed for writing on, viz., the ground,
the palm-leaf, the plantain-leaf, and paper; and at the
commencement of each stage after the first a higher fee is
charged. In one instance the first and second stages are merged
into one; in another instance the same fee is charged for the
third and fourth: and in a third, the first, second, and third
stages are equally charged; but the rule I have stated is observed
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in a majority of cases, and partially even in those exceptions.
Another mode adopted in two instances, of regulating the fees is
according to the means of the parents whose children are in-
structed; a half, a third, or a fourth less being charged to the
children of poor than to the children of rich parents in the
successive stages of instruction. The perquisites of the teachers
vary from four annas to five rupees a month; in the former case
consisting of a piece of cloth or other occasional voluntary gift
from the parents; and in the latter, or in similar cases, of food
alone, or of food, washing, and all personal expenses, together
with occasional presents. Those who receive food as a perquisite
either live in the house of one of the principal supporters of the
school, or visit the houses of the different parents by turns at
meal-times. The total income of the teachers from fixed salaries
and fluctuating fees and perquisites varies from three rupees
eight annas to seven rupees eight annas per month, the average
being rather more than five rupees per month.
The school at Dharail (No.34) affords a good specimen of
the mode in which a small native community unite to support a
school. At that place there are four families of Chaudhuris, the
principal persons in the village; but they are not so wealthy as to
be able to support a teacher for their children without the
cooperation of others. They give the teacher an apartment in
which his scholars may meet, one of the outer apartments of
their own house in which business is sometimes transacted, and
at other times worship performed and strangers entertained.
One of those families further pays four annas a month, a second
an equal sum, a third eight annas, and a fourth twelve annas,
which include the whole of their disbursements on this account,
no presents or perquisites of any kind being received from them,
and for the sums mentioned their five children receive a Bengali
education. The amount thus obtained, however, is not sufficient
for the support of the teacher, and he, therefore, receives other
scholars belonging to other families—of whom one gives one
anna, another gives three annas, and five give each four annas a
month, to which they add voluntary presents amounting per
month to about four annas, and consisting of vegetable, rice, fish
and occasionally a piece of cloth, such as a handkerchief or an
upper or under garment. Five boys of Kagbariya, the children of
two families, attend the Dharail school, the distance being about
a mile, which, in the rainy season, can be travelled only by
water. Of the five, two belonging to one family give together two
annas, and the three others belonging to the other family give
together four annas a month, and thus the whole income of the
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master is made up. This case shows by what pinched and
stinted contributions the class just below the wealthy and the
class just above the indigent unite to support a school; and it
constitutes a proof of the very limited means of those who are
anxious to give a Bengali education to their children, and of the
sacrifices which they make to accomplish that object.
I have spoken of the emoluments of the teachers as low;
but I would be understood to mean that they are low, not in
comparison with their qualifications, or with the general rates of
similar labour in the district, but with those emoluments to
which competent men might be justly considered entitled. The
humble character of the men, and the humble character of the
service they render, may be judged from the fact already stated,
that some of them go about from house to house to receive their
daily food. All, however, should not be estimated by this
standard; and perhaps a generally correct opinion of their
relative position in society may be formed by comparing them
with those persons who have nearly similar duties to perform in
other occupations of life, or whose duties the teachers of the
common schools could probably in most instances perform if
they were called on to do so. Such, for instance, are the Patwari,
the Amin, the Shumarnavis, and the Khamarnavis employed on a
native estate. The Patwari, who goes from house to house, and
collects the zemindar's rents, gets from his employer a salary of
two rupees eight annas, or three rupees a month, to which may
be added numerous presents from the ryots of the first
productions of the season, amounting probably to eight annas a
month. The Amin, who on behalf of the zemindar decides the
disputes that take place among the villagers and measures their
grounds, gets from three rupees eight annas to four rupees a
month. The Shumarnavis, who keeps accounts of the collection
of rents by the different Patwaris, receives about five rupees a
month. And the Khamarnavis, who is employed to ascertain the
state and value of the crops on which the zemindar has claims in
kind, receives the same allowance. Persons bearing these
designations and discharging these duties sometimes receive
higher salaries; but the cases I have supposed are those with
which that of the common native school-master may be
considered as on a level, he being supposed capable of under-
taking their duties, and they of undertaking his. The holders of
these offices on a native estate have opportunities of making
unauthorised gains, and they enjoy a respectability and
influence which the native school-master does not possess; but
in other respects they are nearly on an equality; and, to
compensate for those disadvantages, the salary
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of the common school-master is in general rather higher, none of
those whom I met in Nattore receiving in all less than three
rupees eight annas, and some receiving as high as seven rupees
eight annas a month.
There are no school-houses built for, and exclusively
appropriated to, these schools. The apartments or building in
which the scholars assemble would have been erected, and
would continue to be applied to other purposes, if there were no
schools. Some meet in the Chandi Mandap, which is of the
nature of a chapel belonging to one of the principal families in
the village, and in which, besides the performance of religious
worship on occasion of the great annual festivals, strangers also
are sometimes lodged and entertained, and business transacted;
others in the Baithakkhana, an open hut principally intended as
a place of recreation and of concourse for the consideration of
any matters relating to the general interests of the village; others
in the private dwelling of the chief supporter of the school, and
others have no special place of meeting, unless it be the most
vacant and protected spot in the neighbourhood of the master’s
abode. The school (a) in the village numbered 4 meets in the
open air in the dry seasons of the year; and in the rainy season
those boys whose parents can afford it erect each for himself a
small shed of grass and leaves, open at the sides and barely
adequate at the top to cover one person from the rain. There
were five or six such sheds among 30 or 40 boys; and those who
had no protection, if it rained, must either have been dispersed
or remained exposed to the storm. It is evident that the general
efficiency and regularity of school-business, which are promoted
by the adaptation of the school-room to the enjoyment of comfort
by the scholars, to full inspection on the part of the teacher, and
to easy communication on all sides, must here be in a great
measure unknown.
Respecting the nature and amount of the instruction
received, the first fact to be mentioned is that the use of printed
books in the native language appears hitherto to have been
almost wholly unknown to the natives of this district, with the
exception of a printed almanac which some official or wealthy
native may have procured from Calcutta; or a stray missionary
tract which may have found its way across the great river from
the neighbouring district of Moorshedabad. A single case of each
kind came under observation; but as far as I could ascertain, not
one of the school-masters had ever before seen a printed book,
those which I presented to them from the Calcutta School-Book

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Society being viewed more as curiosities than as instruments of
knowledge. That Society has now established an agency for the
sale of it publications at Bauleah, hence works of instruction will
probably in time spread over the district.
Not only are the printed books not used in these schools,
but even manuscript text-books, are unknown. All that the
scholars learn is from the oral dictation of the master; and
although what is so communicated must have a firm seat in the
memory of the teacher, and will probably find an equally firm
seat in the memory of the scholar, yet instruction conveyed
solely by such means must have a very limited scope. The
principal written composition which they learn in this way is the
Saraswati Bandana, or salutation to the Goddess of Learning,
which is committed to memory by frequent repetitions, and is
daily recited by the scholars in a body before they leave school
all kneeling with their heads bent to the ground, and following a
leader or monitor in the pronunciation of the successive lines or
couplets. I have before me two versions or forms of this
salutation obtained at different places; but they are quite
different from each other, although described by the same name,
and both are doggrels of the lowest description even amongst
Bengali compositions. The only other written composition used
in these schools, and that only in the way of oral dictation by the
master, consists of a few of the rhyming arithmetical rules of
Subhankar, a writer whose name is as familiar in Bengal as that
of Cocker in England, without any one knowing who or what he
was or when he lived. It may be inferred that he lived, or if not a
real personage that the rhymes bearing that name were
composed, before the establishment of the British rule in this
country, and during the existence of the Mussalman power, for
they are full of Hindustani or Persian terms, and contain
references to Mahomedan usages without the remotest allusion
to English practices or modes of calculation. A recent native
editor has deemed it requisite to remedy this defect by a
supplement.
It has been already mentioned that there are four different
stages in a course of Bengali instruction. The first period seldom
exceeds ten days, which are employed in teaching the young
scholars to form the letters of the alphabet on the ground with a
small stick or slip of bambu. The sand-board is not used in this
district, probably to save expense. The second period, extending
from two and a half to four years according to the capacity of the
scholar, is distinguished by the use of the palm-leaf as the
material on which writing is performed. Hitherto the mere
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form and sound of the letters have been taught without regard to
their size and relative proportion; but the master with an iron-
style now writes on the palm-leaf letters of a determinate size
and in due proportion to each other, and the scholar is required
to trace them on the same leaf with a reed-pen and with
charcoal-ink which easily rubs out. This process is repeated over
and over again on the same leaf until the scholar no longer
requires the use of the copy to guide him in the formation of the
letters of a fit size and proportion and he is consequently next
made to write them on another leaf which has no copy to direct
him. He is afterwards exercised in writing and pronouncing the
compound consonants, the syllables formed by the junction of
vowels with consonants, and the most common names of
persons. In other parts of the country, the names of castes,
rivers, mountains, etc., are written as well as of persons; but
here the names of persons only are employed as a school-
exercise. The scholar is then taught to write and read, and by
frequent repetition he commits to memory the Cowrie Table, the
Numeration Table as far as 100, the Katha Table (a land-
measure table), and the Ser Table (a dry-measure table). There
are other tables in use elsewhere which are not taught in the
schools of this district. The third stage of instruction extends
from two to three years which are employed in writing on the
plantain-leaf. In some districts the tables just mentioned are
postponed to this stage, but in this district they are included in
the exercises of the second stage. The first exercise taught on the
plantain-leaf is to initiate the scholar into the simplest forms of
letter writing, to instruct him to connect words in composition
with each other, and to distinguish the written from the spoken
forms of Bengali vocables. The written forms are often
abbreviated in speech by the omission of a vowel or a consonant,
or by the running of two syllables into one, and the scholar is
taught to use in writing the full not the abbreviated forms. The
correct orthography of words of Sanscrit origin which abound in
the language of the people, is beyond the reach of the ordinary
class of teachers. About the same time the scholar is taught the
rules of arithmetic, beginning with addition and subtraction, but
multiplication and division are not taught as separate rules—all
the arithmetical processes hereafter mentioned being effected by
addition and subtraction with the aid of a multiplication table
which extends to the number 20, and which is repeated aloud
once every morning by the whole school and is thus acquired not
as a separate task by each boy, but by the mere force of joint
repetition and mutual imitation. After addition and subtraction,
the arithmetical rules taught divide
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themselves into two classes, agricultural and commercial, in one
or both of which instruction is given more or less fully according
to the capacity of the teacher and the wishes of the parents. The
rules applied to agricultural accounts explain the forms of
keeping debit and credit accounts; the calculation of the value of
daily or monthly labour at a given monthly or annual rate; the
calculation of the area of land whose sides measure a given
number of kathas or bigas; the description of the boundaries of
land and the determination of its length, breadth, and contents;
and the form of revenue accounts for a given quantity of land.
There are numerous other forms of agricultural accounts, but no
others appear to be taught in the schools of this district. The
rules of commercial accounts explain the mode of calculating the
value of a given number of sers at a given price per maund; the
price of a given number of quarters and chataks at a given price
per ser; the price of a tola at a given rate per chatak; the number
of cowries in a given number of annas at a given number of
cowries per rupee; the interest of money; and the discount
chargeable on the exchange of the inferior sorts of rupees. There
are other forms of commercial account also in common use, but
they are not taught in the schools. The fourth and last stage of
instruction generally includes a period of two years, often less
and seldom more. The accounts briefly and superficially taught
in the preceding stage are now taught more thoroughly and at a
greater length, and this is accompanied by the composition of
business letters, petitions, grants, leases, acceptances, notes of
hand, etc., together with the forms of address belonging to the
different grades of rank and station. When the scholars have
written on paper about a year, they are considered qualified to
engage in the unassisted perusal of Bengali works, and they
often read at home productions as the translation of the
Ramayana, Manasa Mangal, etc., etc.
This sketch of a course of Bengali instruction must be
regarded rather as what it is intended to be than what it is, for
most of the school-masters whom I have seen, as far as I could
judge from necessarily brief and limited opportunities of
observation, were unqualified to give all the instruction here
described, although I have thus placed the amount of their
pretensions on record. All, however, do not even pretend to teach
the whole of what is here enumerated; some, as will be seen from
Table II, professing to limit themselves to agricultural, and
others to include commercial accounts. The most of them
appeared to have a very superficial acquaintance with both.

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With the exception of the Multiplication Table, the rhyming
arithmetical rules of Subhankar, and the form of address to
Saraswati, all which the younger scholars learn by mere
imitation of sounds incessantly repeated by the elder boys,
without for a long time understanding what those sounds
convey—with these exceptions, native school-boys learn
everything that they do learn not merely by reading but by
writing it. They read to the master or to one of the oldest
scholars what they have previously written, and thus the hand,
the eye, and the ear are equally called into requisition. This
appears preferable to the mode of early instruction current
amongst ourselves, according to which the elements of language
are first taught only with the aid of the eye and the ear, and
writing is left to be subsequently acquired. It would thus appear
also that the statement which represents the native system as
teaching chiefly by the ear, to the neglect of eye, is founded on a
misapprehension, for how can the aid of the eye be said to be
neglected when with the exceptions above-mentioned, nothing
appears to be learned which is not rendered palpable to the
sense by the act of writing? It is almost unnecessary to add that
the use of monitors or leaders has long prevailed in the common
schools of India, and is well known in those of Bengali.
The disadvantages arising from the want of school-houses
and from the confined and inappropriate construction of the
buildings or apartments used as school-rooms have already been
mentioned. Poverty still more than ignorance leads to the
adoption of modes of instruction and economical arrangements
which, under more favourable circumstances, would be readily
abandoned. In the matter of instruction there are some grounds
for commendation for the course I have described has a direct
practical tendency; and, if it were taught in all its parts, is well
adapted to qualify the scholar for engaging in the actual
business of native society. My recollections of the village schools
of Scotland do not enable me to pronounce that the instruction
given in them has a more direct bearing upon the daily interests
of life than that which I find given, or professed to be given, in
the humbler village schools of Bengal.
ELEMENTARY PERSIAN SCHOOLS: (pp.148-153)
The Persian schools in Nattore are four in number,
containing twenty-three scholars, who enter school at any age
varying from four and a half to thirteen years, and leave it at an
age varying from twelve to seventeen. The whole time stated to
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be spent at school varies from four to eight years. The teachers
intellectually are of a higher grade than the teachers of Bengali
schools, although that grade is not high compared with what is
to be desired and is attainable. Morally, they appear to have as
little notion as Bengali teachers of the salutary influence they
might exercise on the dispositions and characters of their pupils.
They have no fees from the scholars and are paid in the form of
fixed monthly allowances with perquisites. The monthly
allowances vary from one rupee eight annas to four rupees, and
they are paid by one, two or three families, who are the principal
supporters of the school. The perquisites, which are estimated at
two rupees eight annas to six rupees a month, and consist of
food, washing, and other personal expenses, are provided either
by the same parties or by those parents who do not contribute to
the monthly allowance. The total remuneration of a teacher
varies from four to ten rupees per month, averaging about seven
rupees. The principal object of the patrons of these schools is the
instruction of their own children; but in one instance a worthy
old Mussalman, who has no children, contributes a small
monthly allowance, without which the teacher would not have
sufficient inducement to continue his labours; and in another
case besides two children of the family, ten other boys are
admitted, on whom instruction, food, and clothing, are
gratuitously bestowed. Two of the schools have separate school-
houses, which were built by the benevolent patrons who
principally support them. The scholars of the other two assemble
in out-buildings belonging to one or other of the families whose
children receive instruction.
Although in the Persian schools printed books are
unknown, yet manuscript works are in constant use. The
general course of instruction has no very marked stages or
gradations into which it is divided. Like the Hindus, however, the
Mussalmans formally initiate their children into the study of
letters. When a child, whether a boy or a girl, is four years, four
months, and four days old, the friends of the family assemble,
and the child is dressed in his best clothes, brought in to the
company, and seated on a cushion in the presence of all. The
alphabet, the form of letters used for computation, the
introduction to the Koran, some verses of Chapter LV, and the
whole of Chapter LXXXVII, are placed before him, and he is
taught to pronounce them in succession. If the child is self-
willed, and refuses to read, he is made to pronounce the
Bismillah, which answers every purpose, and from that day his
education is deemed to have commenced. At school he is taught
the alphabet, as with
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ourselves, by the eye and ear, the forms of the letters being
presented to him in writing and their names pronounced in his
hearing, which he is required to repeat until he is able to
connect the names and the forms with each other in his mind.
The scholar is afterwards made to read the thirteenth section of
the Koran, the chapters of which are short, and are generally
used at the times of prayer and in the burial service. The words
are marked with the diacritical points in order that the
knowledge of letters, their junction and correct orthography and
their pronunciation from the appropriate organs may be
thoroughly acquired; but the sense is entirely unknown. The
next book put into his hands is the Pandanameh of Sadi, a
collection of moral sayings, many of which are above his
comprehension, but he is not taught or required to understand
any of them. The work is solely used for the purpose of
instructing him in the art of reading and of forming a correct
pronunciation, without any regard to the sense of the words
pronounced. It is generally after this that the scholar is taught to
write the letters, to join vowels and consonants, and to form
syllables. The next book is the Amadnameh, exhibiting the forms
of conjugating the Persian verbs which are read to the master
and by frequent repetition committed to memory. The first book
which is read for the purpose of being understood is the Gulistan
of Sadi, containing lessons on life and manners and this followed
or accompanied by the Bostan of the same author. Two or three
sections of each are read; and simultaneously short Persian
sentences relating to going and coming, sitting and standing,
and the common affairs of life, are read and explained. The pupil
is afterwards made to write Persian names, then Arabic names
and next Hindi names, especially such as contain letters to the
writing or pronunciation of which difficulty is supposed to
attach. Elegant penmanship is considered a great
accomplishment, and those who devote themselves to this art
employ from three to six hours every day in the exercise of it,
writing first single letters, then double or treble, then couplets,
quatrains, etc. They first write upon a board with a thick pen,
then with a finer pen on pieces of paper pasted together; and last
of all, when they have acquired considerable command of the
pen, they begin to write upon paper in single fold. This is
accompanied or followed by the perusal of some of the most
popular poetical productions such as Joseph and Zuleikha,
founded on a well-known incident in Hebrew history; the loves of
Leila and Majnun; the Secundar Nameh an account of the
exploits of Alexander the Great, etc., etc. The mode of computing
by the Abjad, or letters of the alphabet, is also taught,
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and is of two sorts; in the first, the letters of the alphabet in the
order of the Abjad being taken to denote units, tens, and
hundreds to a thousand; and in the second the letters
composing the names of the letters of the alphabet being
employed for the same purpose. Arithmetic, by means of the
Arabic numerals, and instruction at great length in the different
styles of address, and in the forms of correspondence, petitions,
etc., etc., complete a course of Persian instruction. But in the
Persian schools of this district, this course is very superficially
taught, and some of the teachers do not even profess to carry
their pupils beyond the Gulistan and Bostan.
In a Persian school, after the years of mere childhood,
when the pupils are assumed to be capable of stricter
application, the hours of study with interval extend from six in
the morning to nine at night. In the first place in the morning
they revise the lessons of the previous day, after which a new
lesson is read, committed to memory, and reported to the
master. About mid-day they have leave of absence for an hour
when they dine, and on their return to school they are instructed
in writing. About three o’clock they have another reading lesson
which is also committed to memory, and about an hour before
the close of day they have leave to play. The practice with regard
to the forenoon and afternoon lessons in reading, is to join the
perusal of a work in prose with that of a work in verse; as the
Gulistan with the Bostan and Abdulfazl’s letters with the
Secundar Nameh, the forenoon lesson being taken from one and
the afternoon lesson from the other. In the evening they repeat
the lessons of that day several times, until they have them
perfectly at command; and, after making some preparation for
the lessons of the next day, they have leave to retire. Thursday
every week is devoted to the revision of old lessons; and when
that is completed, the pupils seek instruction or amusement
according to their own pleasure in the perusal of forms of prayer
and stanzas of poetry, and are dismissed on that day at three
o’clock without any new lesson. On Friday, the sacred day of
Mussalmans, there is no schooling. In other districts in
respectable or wealthy Mussalman families, besides the literary
instructor called Miyan or Akhun, there is also a domestic tutor
or Censor Morum called Atalik, a kind of head-servant whose
duty it is to train the children of the family to good manners, and
to see that they do not neglect any duty assigned to them; but I
do not find any trace of this practice in Rajshahi.
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Upon the whole the course of Persian instruction, even in
its less perfect forms such as are found to exist in this district,
has a more comprehensive character and a more liberal
tendency than pursued in the Bengali schools. The systematic
use of books although in manuscript is a great step in advance,
accustoming the minds of the pupils to forms of regular
composition, to correct and elegant language, and to trains of
consecutive thought, and thus aiding both to stimulate the
intellect and to form the taste. It might be supposed that the
moral bearing of some of the text books would have a beneficial
effect on the character of the pupils; but as far as I have been
able to observe or ascertain, those books are employed like all
the rest solely for the purpose of conveying lessons in language—
lessons in the knowledge of sounds and words in the
construction of sentences, or in anecdotal information, but not
for the purpose of sharpening the moral perceptions or
strengthening the moral habits. This in general native estimation
does not belong to the business of instruction, and it never
appears to be thought of or attempted. Others will judge from
their own observation and experience whether the Mussalman
character, as we see it in India, has been formed or influenced
by such a course of instruction. The result of my own
observations is that of two classes of persons, one exclusively
educated in Mahomedan, and the other in Hindu literature; the
former appears to me to possess an intellectual superiority, but
the moral superiority does not seem to exist.
ELEMENTARY ARABIC SCHOOLS: (pp.152-153)
The Arabic schools, or schools for instruction in the formal
or ceremonial reading of certain passages of the Koran, are
eleven in number, and contain 42 scholars, who begin to read at
an age varying from 7 to 14, and leave school at an age varying
from 8 to 18. The whole time stated to be spent at school varies
from one to five years. The teachers possess the lowest degree of
attainment to which it is possible to assign the task of instruc-
tion. They do not pretend to be able even to sign their names;
and they disclaim altogether the ability to understand that
which they read and teach. The mere forms, names, and sounds,
of certain letters and combinations of letters they know and
teach, and what they teach is all that they know of written
language, without presuming, or pretending, or aiming to elicit
the feeblest glimmering of meaning from these empty vocables.
This whole class of schools is as consummate a burlesque upon
mere forms of instruction, separate from a rational meaning and
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purpose, as can well be imagined. The teachers are all Kath-
Mollas, that is, the lowest grade of Mussalman priests who
chiefly derive their support from the ignorance and superstition
of the poor classes of their co-religionists; and the scholars are
in training for the same office. The portion of the Koran which is
taught is that which begins with Chapter LXXVIII of Sale's
Koran, and extends to the close of the volume. The Mollas,
besides teaching a few pupils the formal reading of this portion
of the Koran, perform the marriage ceremony, for which they are
paid from one to eight annas according to the means of the
party; and also the funeral service with prayers for the dead
continued from one to forty days, for which they get from two
annas to one rupee, and it is in these services that the formal
reading of the Koran is deemed essential. The Mollas also often
perform the office of the village butcher, killing animals for food
with the usual religious forms, without which their flesh cannot
be eaten by Mussalmans; but for this they take no
remuneration. In several cases, the teacher of the school
depends for his livelihood on employment at marriages and
burials, giving his instructions as a teacher gratuitously. In one
instance a fixed allowance is received from the patron of the
school, fees from some of the scholars, and perquisites besides,
amounting in all to four rupees eight annas per month, and in
this case the patron professes the intention to have the scholars
hereafter taught Persian and Bengali. In another the patron
merely lodges, feeds and clothes, the teacher who receives
neither fixed allowance nor fees. In three instances the only
remuneration the teacher receives is a salami or present of five
or six rupees, from each scholar when he finally leaves school. In
two instances the teachers have small farms from which they
derive the means of subsistence in addition to their gains as
Mollas. They give instruction either in their own houses, or in
school-houses, which are also applied to the purposes of prayer
and hospitality and of assembly on occasions of general interest.
No institutions can be more insignificant and useless, and
in every respect less worthy of notice, than these Arabic schools,
viewed as places of instruction; but, however worthless in them-
selves, they have a certain hold on the Native mind, which is
proved by the increased respect and emoluments as Mollas,
expected and acquired by some of the teachers on account of the
instruction they give; the expense incurred by others of them in
erecting school-houses; and by the general employment by the
Mussalman population of those who receive and communicate
the slender education which these schools bestow. In the eye of
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the philanthropist or the statesman no institution however
humble, will be overlooked, by which he may hope beneficially to
influence the condition of any portion of mankind; and it is just
in proportion to the gross ignorance of the multitude that he will
look with anxiety for any loop-holes by which he may find an
entrance to their understandings—some institutions, which are
held by them in veneration and which have hitherto served the
cause of ignorance, but which he may hope with discretion to
turn to the service of knowledge. I do not despair that means
might be employed, simple, cheap, and inoffensive, by which
even the teachers of these schools might be reared to qualify
themselves for communicating a much higher grade of
instruction to a much greater number of learners without
divesting them of any portion of the respect and attachment of
which they are now the objects.
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II
W. ADAM ON INDIGENOUS SCHOOLS OF LEARNING
GENERAL: (pp.16-23)
Ward in his work on the Hindoos has given, on the whole, a cor-
rect account of the state of indigenous learning and of the
institutions by which it is preserved among the Hindoos. The
principle which secures the perpetuation of these institutions, as
long as the Hindoo religion subsists and is professed by the
mass of the people and by a majority of the wealthy and
powerful, is that it is deemed an act of religious merit to acquire
a knowledge of the Hindoo shastras, or to extend the knowledge
of them either by direct instruction or by pecuniary support or
assistance given either to scholars or teachers. Hence the priva-
tions to which the students submit in the prosecution of the
prescribed course of study; the disinterestedness of the teachers
in bestowing their instructions gratuitously with the addition,
always of shelter, often of food, and sometimes of clothing; and
the liberality of landholders and others shown by occasional
endowments of land and frequent gifts of money both to teachers
and scholars on the occasion of funeral feasts, weddings, dedica-
tions, etc. The number of such institutions throughout the
country is unknown nor are sufficient data possessed on which
to rest a probable conjecture. In the district of Dinajpur, Dr
Buchanan found only 16, and in that of Purniya not less than
119—a difference between two neighbouring districts in which
some mistake may be suspected. The estimates of the number in
other districts, besides those reported on by Dr Buchanan, are
not the results of personal inquiries, and less dependence is,
therefore, to be placed on them. If I were to hazard a conjecture
founded on all the facts and statements I have met with, I
should say that there are on an average probably 100 such
institutions in each district of Bengal, which would give 1,800
for the whole province. An estimate of the total number of
students must depend upon the approach to correctness of the
conjecture respecting the total number of schools; but the
following facts may help towards the formation of a correct
opinion respecting the average number of students in each
school. In 1818, Mr Ward enumerated 28 schools of Hindoo
learning in Calcutta, in which 173 scholars received
instructions, averaging upwards of six scholars to each school.
He also enumerated 31 schools of Hindoo learning at Nuddea, in
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which 747 scholars received instruction, averaging upwards of
24 scholars to each school. In 1830, Mr H.H. Wilson ascertained
by personal inquiry at Nuddea, that there were then about 25
schools in which between 5 and 600 scholars received
instruction, and taking the number of scholars at 550 the
average to each school will be 22. The average of these three
estimates would give 17½ scholars to each school. The lowest or
Calcutta average, that of six scholars to each school, I consider
more probable than the others, for the instances are numerous
throughout the country in which a learned Hindoo teacher has
not more than three or four pupils. Assuming the Calcutta
average and the previous estimate of the total number of
schools, there will appear to be 10,800 students of Hindoo
learning throughout Bengal. The total number of teachers and
students of Hindoo learning will thus be 12,600; and this
number is exclusive of a large class of individuals who, after
having received instruction in a school of learning, and become
in the technical sense of the term Pundits or learned men, from
various causes decline to engage in the profession of teaching. If
further inquiry should show that the lowest estimate, which is
that I have assumed, is one-half in excess of the truth, there will
still remain a large and influential class of men who either have
received or are engaged in giving and receiving a Hindoo
collegiate education.
The Hindoo colleges or schools in which the higher
branches of Hindoo learning are taught are generally built of
clay. Sometimes three or five rooms are erected, and in others
nine or eleven, with a reading-room which is also of clay. These
huts are frequently erected at the expense of the teacher, who
not only solicits alms to raise the building, but also to feed his
pupils. In some cases rent is paid for the ground; but the ground
is commonly, and in particular instances both the ground and
the expenses of the building are, a gift. After a school-room and
lodging-rooms have been thus built to secure the success of the
school, the teacher invites a few Brahmans and respectable
inhabitants to an entertainment at the close of which the
Brahmans are dismissed with some trifling presents. If the
teacher finds a difficulty in obtaining scholars, he begins the
college with a few junior relatives, and by instructing them and
distinguishing himself in the disputations that take place on
public occasions, he establishes his reputation. The school
opens early every morning by the teacher and pupils assembling
in the open reading-room, when the different classes read in
turns. Study is continued till towards mid-day, after which three
hours are devoted to bathing, worship, eating and sleep; and at
three they
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resume their studies which are continued till twilight. Nearly two
hours are then devoted to evening-worship, eating, smoking and
relaxation, and the studies are again resumed and continued till
ten or eleven at night. The evening studies consist of a revision
of the lessons already learned, in order that what the pupils
have read may be impressed more distinctly on the memory.
These studies are frequently pursued, especially by the students
of logic, till two or three o’clock in the morning.
There are three kinds of colleges in Bengal—one in which
chiefly grammar, general literature, and rhetoric, and
occasionally the great mythological poems and law are taught; a
second, in which chiefly law and sometimes the mythological
poems are studied; and third, in which logic is made the
principal object of attention. In all these colleges select works are
read and their meaning explained; but instruction is not
conveyed in the form of lectures. In the first class of colleges, the
pupils repeat assigned lessons from the grammar used in each
college, and the teacher communicates the meaning of the
lessons after they have been committed to memory. In the others
the pupils are divided into classes according to their progress.
The pupils of each class having one or more books before them
seat themselves in the presence of the teacher, when the best
reader of the class reads aloud, and the teacher gives the
meaning as often as asked, and thus they proceed from day to
day till the work is completed. The study of grammar is pursued
during two, three, or six years, and where the work of Panini is
studied, not less than ten, and sometimes twelve, years are
devoted to it. As soon as a student has obtained such a
knowledge of grammar as to be able to read and understand a
poem, a law book, or a work on philosophy, he may commence
this course of reading also, and carry on at the same time the
remainder of his grammar-studies. Those who study law or logic
continue reading either at one college or another for six, eight, or
even ten years. When a person has obtained all the knowledge
possessed by one teacher, he makes some respectful excuse to
his guide and avails himself of the instructions of another. Mr
Ward, from whom many of the preceding details have been
copied estimates that ‘amongst one hundred thousand Brah-
mans, there may be one thousand who learn the grammar of the
Sunskritu, of whom four or five hundred may read some parts of
the kavyu (or poetical literature), and fifty some parts of the
ulunkaru (or rhetorical) shastras. Four hundred of this thousand
may read some of the smriti (or law works); but not more than
ten any part of the tuntrus (or the mystical and magical treatises
of modern Hinduism). Three hundred may

288

study the nyayu (or logic), but only five or six the meemangsu,
(explanatory of the ritual of the veds), the sunkhyu (a system of
philosophical materialism), the vedantu (illustrative of the
spiritual portions of the veds), the patunjulu (a system of
philosophical asceticism), the vaisheshika (a system of
philosophical anti-materialism), or the veda (the most ancient
and sacred writings of Hindoos). Ten persons in this number of
Brahmans may become learned in the astronomical shastras,
while ten more understand these very imperfectly. Fifty of this
thousand may read the shree bhaguvutu, and some of the
pooranas.' At the present day probably the alankar shastras and
the tantras are more studied than is here represented. The
astronomical works also receive more attention. The colleges are
invariably closed and all study suspended on the eighth day of
the waxing and waning of the moon; on the day in which it may
happen to thunder; whenever a person or an animal passes
between the teacher and the pupil while reading; when a
honorable person arrives, or a guest; at the festival of Saraswati
during three days; in some parts during the whole of the rainy
season, or at least during two months which include the Doorga,
the Kali, and other festivals, and at many other times. When a
student is about to commence the study of law or of logic, his
fellow students, with the concurrence and approbation of the
teacher, bestow on him an honorary title descriptive of the
nature of his pursuit, and always differing from any title enjoyed
by any of his learned ancestors. In some parts of the country,
the title is bestowed by an assembly of Pundits convened for the
purpose; and in others the assembly is held in the presence of a
raja or zemindar who may be desirous of encouraging learning
and who at the same time bestows a dress of honour on the
student and places a mark on his forehead. When the student
finally leaves college and enters on the business of life, he is
commonly addressed by that title.
The means employed by the Mahomedan population of
Bengal to preserve the appropriate learning of their faith and
race are less systematic and organised than those adopted by
the Hindoos; and to whatever extent they may exist, less enquiry
has been made and less information is possessed respecting
them. It is believed, however, that in the Lower as well as the
Western Provinces, there are many private Mahomedan schools
begun and conducted by individuals of studious habits who have
made the cultivation of letters the chief occupation of their lives,
and by whom the profession of learning is followed, not merely
as a means of livelihood, but as a meritorious work productive of
moral and religious benefit to themselves and their fellow
289

creatures. Few, accordingly, give instruction for any stipulated
pecuniary remuneration, and what they may receive is both ten-
dered and accepted as an interchange of kindness and civility
between the master and his disciple. The number of those who
thus resort to the private instruction of masters is not great.
Their attendance and application are guided by the mutual
convenience and inclination of both parties, neither of whom is
placed under any system nor particular rule of conduct. The
success and progress of the scholar depend entirely on his own
assiduity. The least dispute or disagreement puts an end to
study, no check being imposed on either party, and no tie
subsisting between them beyond that of casual reciprocal
advantages which a thousand accidents may weaken or dissolve.
The number of pupils seldom exceeds six. They are sometimes
permanent residents under the roof of their masters, and in
other instances live in their own families; and in the former case,
if Mussalmans, they are supported at the teacher’s expense. In
return, they are required to carry messages, buy articles in the
bazar, and perform menial services in the house. The scholars in
consequence often change their teachers, learning the alphabet
and the other introductory parts of the Persian language of one,
the Pandnameh of a second, the Gulistan of a third, and so on
from one place to another, till they are able to write a tolerable
letter and think they have learned enough to assume the title of
Munshi, when they look out for some permanent means of
subsistence as hangers-on at the Company’s Courts. The chief
aim is the attainment of such a proficiency in the Persian
language as may enable the student to earn a livelihood; but not,
unfrequently, the Arabic is also studied, its grammar, literature,
theology and law. A proper estimate of such a desultory and
capricious mode of education is impossible.
The number of institutions of Hindoo learning, now existing
in Calcutta and the Twenty-four Pergunahs, is not accurately
known. Mr Ward in his work published in 1818 enumerates 28
schools of Hindoo learning in Calcutta, naming the teacher of
each school, the quarter of the city in which the school was
situated, and the number of students receiving instruction.
These institutions are also mentioned as only some amongst
others to be found in Calcutta. The nyaya and smriti shastras
chiefly were taught in them; and the total number of scholars
belonging to the colleges actually enumerated was 173, of whom
not less than three, and not more than fifteen, received the
instructions of the same teacher. The enumeration to which I
refer is subjoined in Mr Ward’s words:—
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‘The following among other colleges are found in Calcutta;
and in these the nyaya and smriti shastras are principally
taught—
Ununtu-Ramu-Vidya-Vageeshu, of Hati-Bagan, fifteen
students—
Ramu-Koomaru-Turkalunkaru, of ditto, eight students—
Ramu-Toshunu-Vidylunkaru, of ditto, eight ditto—
Ramu-Doolalu-Chooramunee, of ditto, five ditto—
Gorru-Munee-Nyayalunkaru, of ditto, four ditto—
Kashee-Nathu-Turka-Vegeeshu, of Ghoshalu-Bagan, six
ditto—
Ramu-Shevu-Ku-Vidya-Vegeeshu, of Shikdarer-Bagan,
four ditto—
Mrityoon-juyu-Vidyalunkaru, of Bag-Bazar, fifteen ditto—
Ramu-Kishoru-Turku-Chooramunee, of ditto, six ditto—
Ramu-Koomaru-Shiromunee, of ditto, four ditto—
Juyu-Narayunu-Turku-Punchanum, of Talar-Bagan, five
ditto—
Shumbhoo-Vachusputee, of ditto, six ditto—
Sivu-Ramu-Nayayu-Vageeshu, of Lal-Bagan, ten ditto—
Gouru-Mohunu-Vidya-Bhooshunu, of ditto, four ditto—
Huree-Prusadu-Turku-Punchanunu, of Hatti-Bagan, four
ditto—
Ramu-Narayunu-Turku-Punchanunu, of Shimila, five
ditto—
Ramu-Huree-Vidya-Bhooshun, of Huree-Tukee-Bagan, six
ditto—
Kumula-Kantu-Vidyalunkaru, of Aru-koolee, six ditto—
Govindu-Turku-Punchanunu, of ditto, five ditto—
Peetamburu-Nayayu-Bhooshunu, of ditto, five ditto—
Parvutee-Turku-Bhooshunu, of T’hunt’-huniya, four ditto—
Kashee-Nathu-Turkalunkaru, of ditto, three ditto—
Ramu-Nathu-Vaschusputee, of Shimila, nine ditto—
Ramu-Tunoo-Turku-Siddhantu, of Mulunga, six ditto—
Ramu-Tunoo-Vidya-Vageeshu, of Sobha-Bazar, five ditto—
Ramu-Koomaru-Turku-Punchanunu, of Veerupara, five
ditto—
Kalee-Dasu-Vidya-Vageeshu, of Italee, five ditto—
Ramu-Dhunu-Turku-Vageeshu, of Shimila, five ditto.’
Hamilton states that in 1801 there were within the limits of
the Twenty-four Pergunnahs, and as I suppose must be
understood beyond the limits of the town of Calcutta, 190
291