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

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
286

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
287

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

seminaries in which Hindoo law, grammar, and metaphysics
were taught. These institutions are stated to have been
maintained by the voluntary contributions of opulent Hindoos
and the produce of charity lands, the total annual expense being
rupees 19,500. No details are given, but it may be inferred,
although it is not expressly mentioned, that the statement rests
on the authority of official documents. No cause has been in
operation in the intermediate period to render it probable that
the number of such seminaries within this district has since
then been materially diminished. Mr Ward mentions that at
Juyunugur and Mujilee Pooru seventeen or eighteen similar
schools were found, and at Andoolee ten or twelve, these villages,
according to my information, being within the limits of the
district; but it is probable that they are included in the more
comprehensive enumeration mentioned by Hamilton.
I do not find any account on record of any private
institutions for the promotion of Mahomedan learning either in
Calcutta or in the surrounding district. Hamilton states that in
1801 there was one and but one, madrasa or college for
instruction in Mahomedan law, but he does not mention its
particular locality, and it is not improbable that he refers to the
institution endowed by Warren Hastings, and now under the
superintendence of the General Committee of Public Instruction.
There can be no doubt, however, that in this as well as in other
districts of Bengal in which he have no authentic account of the
state of Mahomedan learning, that loose system of private tuition
already described prevails to a greater or less extent.
MIDNAPORE: (pp.50-51)
Hamilton states that in this district there are no schools
where the Hindoo or Mahomedan laws are taught. There was
formerly a Mahomedan college in the town of Midnapore, and
even yet the establishment is said to exist, but no law is taught.
Persian and Arabic are taught by maulavis who in general have a
few scholars in their houses, whom they support as well as
instruct. These Persian and Arabic students, although of
respectable families, are considered as living on charity; and
they are total strangers to expense and dissipation. The alleged
absence of schools of Hindoo learning in a population of which
six-seventh are said to be Hindoos is incredible, and denied by
learned natives who have resided in the district and are
personally acquainted with several schools of that description
within its limits. They are not so numerous as the domestic
schools of learning
292

which prevail amongst the Mahomedan population; but they are
not so few as to be wholly neglected. There are probably, I am
told, about 40 in the district. It may be offered as a general
remark to account for such incorrect statements, that the
greater attention given by Europeans to the Mahomedan than to
the Hindoo languages and literature, combined with the
unobtrusive and retiring character of learned Hindoos,
sometimes leads the public functionary to overlook institutions
of Hindoo origin. It is probably from some such official authority
that Hamilton has borrowed the statement to which I refer.
CUTTACK: (p.54)
Mr Stirling, in the elaborate account of this district, from
which the preceding details are abridged, gives no information
whatever on the state of education as conducted by natives,
either in elementary schools or schools of learning. In the
description of the town of Puri Jugunnath, it is stated that ‘the
principal street is composed almost entirely of the religious
establishments called maths’, a name applied in other parts of
the country, both in the west and south, to convents of ascetics
in which the various branches of Hindoo learning are taught. It
may be inferred that they are applied to the same use in Jugun-
nath Puri.
HUGLY: (pp.57-59)
The number of Hindoo schools of learning in this district is
considerable. Mr Ward in 1818 stated that at Vansvariya, a vil-
lage not far from the town of Hugly, there were twelve or fourteen
colleges, in all of which logic was almost exclusively studied.
There were then also seven or eight in the town of Triveni, one of
which had been lately taught by Jugannath Tarka Panchanan,
supposed to be the most learned as well as the oldest man in
Bengal, being 109 years old at the time of his death. He was
acquainted in some measure with the veda, and is said to have
studied the vedanta, the sankhya, the patanjala, the nyaya, the
smriti, the tantra, the kavya, the pooranas and other shastras.
Mr Ward also mentions that Gundulpara and Bhudreshwuru
contained each about ten nyaya schools, and Valee two or three,
all villages in this district. Hamilton states that in 1801 there
were altogether about 150 private schools in which the
principles of Hindoo law were taught by Pundits, each school
containing from five to twenty scholars. There is no reason to
suppose that the number of schools is now less, and the
293

enquiries made in 1824 showed that there were some schools
with thirty scholars. According to the reputation of the teacher is
the number of the students, and in proportion to the number of
the students is the number of invitations and the liberality of the
gifts which the teacher receives on the occasion of the
performance of important religious ceremonies in Hindoo
families. The number of students has thus a double pecuniary
operation. As they always derive a part of their subsistence from
the teacher, they are a burden upon his means; and by the
increased reputation which they confer upon him, they enable
him to support that burden. Sometimes, however, students
capable of living on their own means return home after school
hours; and in other instances, the more wealthy inhabitants of
the town or village are found to contribute towards the support
of poor students whom the teacher cannot maintain. The first
three or four years are occupied in the study of Sanscrit
grammar and the next six or eight years in the study of law and
logic, with which the generality of students finish their
education, and are thenceforth classed among learned men,
receiving from the teacher when they are leaving him an
honorary title which they retain for life.
There are few Mahomedan schools of learning in this
district. Omitting reference to that at Hugly, supported by the
endowment of Haji Mohammed Moshin, under the orders of the
Board of Revenue, and about to be extended and improved
under the superintendence of the General Committee of Public
Instruction, I find mention made of only one other existing at
Seetapore, a populous town, situated 22 miles in the interior of
the district. It was originally supported by a grant of five rupees
eight annas per diem, made by the English Government in
consideration of the faithful services of Umsih-ood-din the
founder. After his death, and in consequence of divisions among
the surviving members of his family, who it seems had claim to a
part of the grant for their maintenance, it was limited to rupees
50 per month, which, as far as my information extends, it
continues to derive from government to the present day.
According to Hamilton, in 1801, this college had 30 students
who were instructed in Persian and Arabic, and according to the
report made to the General Committee in 1824, it had 25
students who were taught only Persian. This institution does not
appear ever to have come under the supervision of the
Committee or of any public officer. The report of 1824 further
alleges the existence of certain lands at Pandua in this district,
which should be appropriated to the support of madrasas, but
which have been diverted from that purpose. It is stated to be a
well known fact that grants
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were made to the ancestors of the late Mola Mir Gholam Hyder
Mutawali, attached to the shrine of Shah Suffud-din Khan
Shuhid at Pandua, together with Mola Myn-ud-din or Mola Taj-
ud-din and Mir Gholam Mustafa, private persons who had no
share in the superintendence. The grants are said to have
specified certain villages or tracts of land to be exclusively
appropriated to the support of three madrasas, in addition to
those granted for the personal benefit of the grantees. The
madrasas were kept up for a generation or two, but through
carelessness or avarice were afterwards discontinued. It is added
that there were persons then living so well acquainted with the
circumstances as to be able to point out the estates that were
specified in the grants for the support of the madrasas. The
Collector, in the letter enclosing the report, intimated his
intention to investigate the matter, and in the event of the
alleged misappropriation being substantiated, to pursue the
course directed in Regulation XIX of 1810. The result of the
enquiry I have not been able to learn.
BURDWAN: (pp.70-72)
Hamilton says that in this district there are no regular
schools for instruction in the Hindoo or Mahomedan law, and
that the most learned professors of the former are procured from
the district of Nuddea on the opposite side of the Hugly. The
same remark may be applied to this statement that has already
been made with reference to the state of learning in Midnapore.
All that can be fairly understood from it is not that there are no
native schools of learning in the district, but that there were
none known to the writer, or to the public officer on whose
authority the author relied. It is exceedingly improbable, from
the analogy of other districts, that there are not some of those
domestic schools of Mahomedan learning already described, and
still more improbable that in a population of which five-sixths
are Hindoos, there should not be a still greater number of
schools of Hindoo learning.
The following references to institutions of learning in this
district were extracted from the proceedings of the Board of
Revenue at Calcutta, and first published in the memoir prepared
at the India House which I have mentioned as one of my authori-
ties:—
In September, 1818, the Collector of Burdwan was required
to report upon a pension of rupees 60 per annum, claimed by
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Rambullubh Bhattacharjya, for the support of a religious
institution and seminary. The Collector deputed his ameen to
the spot, to enquire whether the institution on which the
pension was claimed was still maintained. The ameen reported
that the institution appeared to be kept up, that the number of
scholars generally entertained was about five or six, and that the
allowance had been sanctioned by the government during the
joint lives of Rambullubh Bhattacharjya and his deceased
brother. Under these circumstances, the Revenue Board
considered the claimant entitled to the full amount of the
pension during his life, or as long as he should continue to
appropriate it faithfully to the purposes for which it was
originally granted. They accordingly authorised the future
payment of this pension to Rambullubh Bhattacharjya, and the
discharge of all arrears which had accrued subsequently to the
decease of the claimant's brother.
In March, 1819, the Collector of Burdwan applied to the
Revenue Board for instructions respecting certain payments to a
musjid and madrasa in the district, respecting which a suit had
been instituted in the Calcutta Court of Appeal, and the question
ordered by that Court to be determined by the Collector under
Regulation XIX, of 1810. The establishment in question was in
the hands of Musil-ud-deen, who was called upon to produce his
accounts, which he appears not to have done satisfactorily. The
Collector, therefore, sent his ameen to the place to ascertain to
what extent the establishment was kept up. That officer reported
favourably of the establishment on the authority of the inhabit-
ants of the village in which the madrasa was situated, but with-
out any documents to corroborate his statements. Under these
circumstances, the Revenue Board desired the Collector to take
an opportunity of visiting the spot, in order that he might
himself ascertain the grounds on which a decision might be
come to. Nothing further appears relating to this madrasa.
In July, 1823, the Revenue Board reported an endowment
for a College in Burdwan of 254 sicca rupees per annum, which
was communicated to the General Committee of Public
Instruction.
JESSORE: (p.73)
I have met with no reference to indigenous schools, either
elementary or learned, in this district, but it is beyond all
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question that the number of both amongst Hindoos and
Mussalmans is considerable. This district is a perfect and entire
blank in as far as information regarding the state of indigenous
education is concerned.
NUDDEA: (pp.75-82)
The town of Nuddea was the capital of Hindoo principality
anterior to the Mahommedan conquest, and in more recent
times it has been a seat of Brahmanical learning. Hamilton
remarks that, as a seat of learning, it must have apparently
declined to a very obscure condition, as in 1801 the Judge and
Magistrate, in reply to the Marquis Wellesley’s queries, declared
that he knew not of any seminaries within the district in which
either the Hindoo or Mahomedan law was then taught. This
statement curiously contrasts with the following details, and
affords another illustration of a remark already made, that the
educational institutions of the Hindoos have sometimes been
most strangely overlooked.
The celebrity of Nuddea as a school of Hindoo learning is
wholly unconnected with any notion of peculiar sanctity as in
the case of Benares. Its character as a university was probably
connected with the political importance which belonged to it
about the time of the Mahomedan invasion, as it seems to have
been for a time the capital of Bengal. The princes of Bengal and
the latter rajahs of Nuddea endowed certain teachers with lands
for the instruction and maintenance of scholars, and the support
thus given to pundits and pupils attracted a number of
Brahmans to settle there, and gave a reputation to the district.
The loss of all political consequence and the alleged resumption
of most of the endowments have very much diminished the
attraction of the site, but it still continues a place of learning
and extensive repute.
In 1811, Lord Minto, then Governor-General, proposed to
establish a Hindoo college at Nuddea and another in Tirhoot,
and set apart funds for that purpose. The design, however, was
finally abandoned in favour of that of forming a similar
institution on a larger scale, the present Sanskrit College in
Calcutta. In the course of the correspondence which took place
between government and the Committee of Superintendence
provisionally appointed for the proposed college at Nuddea, the
Committee stated, under date 9th July, 1816, that there were
then in Nuddea 46 schools kept and supported by the most
learned and
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respectable pundits of the place, who invariably taught at their
houses or in the tols attached to them, where the pupils were all
lodged partly at their own expense and partly at the expense of
their preceptors. The total number of pupils who were at that
time so circumstanced amounted to about 380; their ages
averaging between 25 and 35 years. Few, it was observed,
commenced their studies until they had attained the age of 21
years, and they often pursued them for 15 years, when, having
acquired a perfect knowledge of the shastra and all its arcana,
they returned to their native homes and set up as pundits and
teachers themselves.
In 1818, Mr Ward enumerated 31 schools of learning at
Nuddea, containing in all 747 students, of whom not fewer than
five studied under one teacher. So many as one hundred and
twenty-five students are stated to have been receiving the
instructions of one teacher at the same time, but the accuracy of
Mr Ward’s information in this particular may be doubted. The
principal studies were logic and law, and there was only one
school for general literature, one for astronomy, and one for
grammar. The following are the details in Mr Ward’s words:—
‘Nyaya Colleges
Shivu-Nat’hu-Vidya-Vachusputee has one hundred and
twenty-five students
Ramu-Lochunu-Nyayu-Vhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kashee-Nat’hu Turku-Chooramunee, thirty ditto
Ubhuyanundu-Turkalunkaru, twenty ditto
Ramu-Shurunu-Nyayu-Vagesshu, fifteen ditto
Bhola-Nat’hu-Shiromunee, twelve ditto
Radha-Nat’hu Turku-Punchanunu, ten ditto
Ramu-Mohunu-Vidya Vachusputee, twenty ditto
Shri Ramu-Turku-Bhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kalee-Kantu-Chooramunee, five ditto
Krishnu-Kantu-Vidya-Vageeshu, fifteen ditto
Turkalunkaru, fifteen ditto
Kalee-Prusunu, fifteen ditto
Madhubu-Turku-Sidhantu, twenty-five ditto
Kumula-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, twenty-five ditto
Eeshwuru-Turku-Bhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kantu-Vidyalunkaru, forty ditto
Law Colleges
Ramu-Nat’hu-Turku-Siddantu, forty students
Gunga-Dhuru-Shiromunee, twenty-five ditto
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Devee-Turkalunkaru, twenty-five ditto
Mohunu-Vidya-Vachusuputee, twenty ditto
Gangolee-Tukalunkaru, ten ditto
Krishnu-Turku-Bhooshunu, ten ditto
Pranu-Krishnu-Turku-Vageeshu, five ditto
Poorohitu, five ditto
Kashee-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, thirty ditto
Kalee-Kantu-Turku-Punchanunu, twenty ditto
Gudadhura-Turku-Vageeshu, twenty ditto
College where the Poetical Works are read
Kalee-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, fifty students
Where the Astronomical Works are read
Gooroo-Prusadu-Siddhantu-Vageeshu, fifty students
Where the Grammar is read
Shumboo-Nat'hu Chooramunee, five students.’
In 1821, the junior Member and Secretary of the General
Committee of Public Instruction, H.H. Wilson, Esquire, in
prosecuting a special investigation on which he was deputed,
collected at the same time some general information respecting
the state of learning at Nuddea. At that period Nuddea contained
about twenty-five establishments for study. These are called tols,
and consist of a thatched chamber for the pundit and the class,
and two or three ranges of mud-hovels in which the students
reside. The pundit does not live on the spot, but comes to the tol
every day on which study is lawful at an early hour and remains
till sunset. The huts are built and kept in repair at his expense,
and he not only gives instructions gratuitously but assists to
feed and clothe his class, his means of so doing being derived
from former grants by the rajah of Nuddea, and presents made
to him by the zemindars in the neighbourhood at religious
festivals, the value of which much depends on his celebrity as a
teacher. The students are all full-grown men, some of them old
men. The usual number in a tol is about twenty or twenty-five,
but in some places, where the pundit is of high repute, there are
from fifty to sixty. The whole number is said to be between 500
and 600. The greater proportion consists of natives of Bengal,
but there are many from remote parts of India, especially from
the south. There are some from Nepaul and Assam, and many
from the eastern districts, especially Tirhoot. Few if any have
means of subsistence of their own. Their dwelling they obtain
from their teacher, and their clothes and food in presents from
him and the shop-keepers and land-holders in the town or
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neighbourhood. At the principal festivals they disperse for a few
days in quest of alms, when they collect enough to sustain them
till the next interval of leisure. The chief study at Nuddea is
nyayu or logic; there are also some establishments for tuition in
law, chiefly in the works of Raghunandana, a celebrated Nuddea
pundit, and in one or two places grammar is taught. Some of the
students, particularly several from the Dekhin, speak Sanscrit
with great fluency and correctness.
The account by Mr Wilson is the latest and probably the
most correct of the state of learning at Nuddea. The variations in
the number of colleges and students at the different periods are
deserving of attention. According to the respective authorities
there were in 1816 forty-six schools and 380 students; in 1818
thirty-one schools and 747 students; and in 1829 twenty-five
schools, containing from 5 to 600 students. It would thus appear
that, within the last twenty years, the number of schools has
diminished, and the number of scholars has upon the whole in-
creased. This would seem to support the inference that there is
now, in the class from which students are drawn, and increased
disposition to study Hindoo learning, accompanied by a
diminished ability or inclination in the class by which the
colleges are principally supported, to incur the expense of
encouraging new tols proportioned to the increased number of
students.
Several of those schools of Hindoo learning in Nuddea are
supported or aided by small annual allowances from the British
Government. Thus in 1813, Ramchandra Vidyalankara who
enjoyed an annual allowance of rupees 71, in consideration of
his keeping up a chaupari or seminary, died. Application was
shortly afterwards made to the Collector of the district, and by
him referred to the Revenue Board, for the assignment of his
allowance to a native who claimed it as the heir of Ramchandra
Vidyalankara, but the proofs of his right of succession or
qualifications not being satisfactory, it was not granted to him.
In 1818, Balanath Siromani preferred a claim to this allowance
as the son of Ramchandra Vidyalankara and his successor in
the chaupari. On reference of this claim to the Revenue Board,
the Collector was ordered to ascertain whether Balanath
Siromani did actually keep a seminary in Nuddea; and it
appearing on enquiry that he kept a chaupari in which he
educated eight pupils in the tarka or nyayu shastra, the
government determined in June 1820, that the pension of
rupees 71 should be continued to him and the arrears paid up.
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In June, 1818, application was made to the Revenue Board
through the Collector of Nuddea, on behalf of Sivnath Vidya-
Vachaspati, for a pension or allowance of rupees 90 per annum,
which had been enjoyed by his father Sukra Tarkavagis, in
consideration of his maintaining a seminary in Nuddea. The
Board ordered the continuance of the pension and the payment
of arrears.
In November, 1819, an application was made through the
Collector of Nuddea to the Board of Revenue, on behalf of Sriram
Siromani, for a pension or allowance of rupees 36 per annum, in
consideration of his keeping up a chaupari or seminary at
Nuddea, which had been founded and endowed by the rajah of
Nattore. It was in this case also ascertained that Sriram
Siromani did keep up the seminary in which there were three
pupils, and the allowance together with the arrears was
accordingly ordered to be paid to him.
A similar decision was passed in 1819 in favour of Ramjaya
Tarka-Bangka, confirming to him an annual allowance of rupees
62, in consideration of his continuing to maintain a seminary in
Nuddea in which he educated five pupils.
In 1823, it was represented to the Board of Revenue that a
Native College existed in the town of Nuddea in which
Ramchandra Tarkavagis taught the puranas, on account of
which he petitioned for the annual pension or allowance from
government of sicca rupees 24, which had been enjoyed by his
father while resident in Rajshahy, and which he solicited might
be continued to him in Nuddea. The Revenue Board directed
their nazir to make enquiry as to the facts stated, and to report
the result. He accordingly reported that Ramchandra Tarkavagis
did keep a seminary in the town of Nuddea in which he
maintained and instructed in the shastras 31 students, of whose
names a list was delivered in and that he had done so for nine
years then last past. Under these circumstances, the Board
recommended and the government determined that the pension
should be continued to Ramchandra Tarkavagis, and the arrears
which had accrued since the death of his father be paid to him.
In 1829, the Committee of Public Instruction received
orders to examine and report upon a petition to government from
certain students at Nuddea, claiming the restoration or
continuance of an allowance amounting to 100 rupees per
month. The Committee deputed their junior Member and
Secretary, and ascertained that all those students who came
from places more
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than three days’ journey from Nuddea had hitherto depended
very much upon this grant from government which gave them
from twelve annas to one rupee a month, and nearly sufficed to
procure them food. The amount of the grant that reached the
students was in fact but 90 rupees, 10 being set apart for some
ceremony. The number of foreign students was generally
between 100 to 150, and there were about the latter number at
that time at Nuddea awaiting the result of their petition. If not
complied with, they would have found it necessary to quit the
place. Mr Wilson made particular enquiry of the students with
respect to the distribution of the allowance and entire
satisfaction was uniformly expressed on this subject. A petty
suraf or podar accompanied by one of their number is deputed
to receive the allowance at the Collector’s Treasury. On his
return he divides it among the foreign students whose presence
in the town is perfectly well known. The podar, whom Mr Wilson
saw, keeps a shop for the sale of grain, and supplies the
students with food, advancing them occasional maintenance on
the credit of their monthly allowance. They are commonly in his
debt, but he is too unimportant a personage, and the students
are too numerous, and as Brahmans too influential, for him to
practice any fraud upon them. The allowance, he has, no doubt,
is fairly distributed; and although the value of the learning
acquired at Nuddea may not be very highly estimated by
Europeans, yet it is in great repute with the natives, and its
encouragement even by the trifling sum awarded is a gracious
and popular measure. There can be no doubt of its being a very
essential benefit to those students who have no other fixed
means of support. On Mr Wilson’s report it was determined to
continue the allowance of rupees 100 per month to the
petitioners.
Little is said by any of the authorities to which I have
referred of the schools of learning in this district beyond the
town of Nuddea; but there can be no doubt that such exist at
Santipore, Kishnaghur, and other places within the district. Mr
Ward mentions transiently that, at Koomaru Hutta and
Bhatpara, villages in this district, there are perhaps seven or
eight such schools. At Santipore there was formerly a small
Government endowment which appears to be at present in
abeyance. In 1824, an application was made through the
Collector of Nuddea to the Board of Revenue by Devi Prasad
Nyayu Vachaspati Bhattacharyya, as the brother of Kali Prasad
Tarkasiddhanta Bhattacharyya, who had died in the preceding
year, for an annual allowance or pension of sicca rupees 156-11-
10, in consideration to his keeping a seminary in the town of
Santipore.
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