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

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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Enquiries were made as to the character of the deceased who is
stated to have been a pundit of great ability, having when he
died about 10 students under tuition. It also appeared by the
evidence produced on the occasion that the brother and present
claimant assisted the deceased in the tuition of his students who
resided with him, and that they read the dharma shastra or
works on law. The information thus produced not seeming to the
Board of Revenue satisfactory, the Collector was directed to
make further enquiries respecting the origin and the extent of
the endowment and the service rendered, but his final report
does not appear on the records.
I have already mentioned the nature of the report, made by
the Judge and Magistrate of this district in 1801, that there were
no seminaries within the district in which either the Hindoo or
Mahomedan law was taught, and I have met with no direct
evidence to establish the existence of any Mahomedan
institutions. With a considerable proportion, however, of
Mahomedan population it seems exceedingly improbable that
they should be entirely destitute of such institutions of
education as are found to exist in other districts.
DACCA & JALALPUR: (p.85)
Hamilton speaks of certain schools in the district in which
the principles or rather the forms of Hindoo religion and law are
taught, but I have not been able to trace any further details
respecting them. I find not the remotest reference to Mahomedan
schools in a district remarkable for a large proportion of Moslem
inhabitants.
The public functionaries in 1823 reported to the General
Committee that no grants or endowments of any description for
the purpose of education were known to exist in the district.
BACKERGUNGE: (p.86)
I have not been able to obtain any information respecting
indigenous schools, either elementary or learned, in this district,
and I can only infer from the known state of education in other
districts that here also such institutions must exist, although
they have not in any way come under public notice. The
Collector in 1823 reported that no endowments or funds for the
purposes of education existed in the district.
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CHITTAGONG: (pp.88-89)
The official report of 1824 makes no mention of indigenous
schools of learning, and it is probable that few exist in this
district. It is, however, stated that there is much land that has
been appropriated to charitable purposes, some for churches
and some for the benefit of the poor, but no endowments were
known at that time to exist for the benefit of education.
In 1827, the Collector of the district was directed to make
enquiries respecting a native institution supported by
endowment, and to report the result to government. He reported
that Meer Hinja had bequeathed lands for the endowment of a
madrasa, and that they then yielded for the purpose of
education not more than rupees 1,570 per annum, two-thirds of
the endowment having been judicially assigned to the founder's
children in the year 1790; that with the remaining one-third the
then incumbent Maulavi Ali Machtulul Khan Kemoun professed
himself unable to keep up the institution on its then present
footing, which provided for the instruction of 50 students and for
the support of three teachers, one of Arabic and two of Persian;
that the number of students originally contemplated was 150;
and that the buildings consisted of a small mosque in good order
and two low ranges of attached houses for the dwelling of the
master and disciples, which were of little value. The Collector
suggested that the lands would realise twice their present rental,
if put up to the highest bidder by order of government; and
submitted that they should be so re-let, and the proceeds paid to
the Maulavi in monthly installments, who in return should
periodically submit his accounts and a report of the state of the
institution to the Board of Revenue for the information of
government. The Governor-General in Council approved this
suggestion and it was ordered accordingly.
TIPERA: (p.91)
I have no information regarding either common schools or
schools of learning in this district. Hamilton states, perhaps too
positively, that there are not any regular schools or seminaries
where the Hindoo and Mahomedan laws and religion are taught.
In reply to enquiries made by the General Committee the local
agents of government stated in 1823 that they could not discover
that any endowments or funds of a public nature exist in the
district, or that any grants have ever been made applicable to
the purpose of public instruction.
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MYMUNSING: (p.92)
Hamilton states that there are not any regular seminaries
in this district for teaching the Mahomedan law, but that there
are two or three schools in each pergunnah for instruction in
Hindoo learning. The district is divided into nineteen
pergunnahs and six tuppas, in all twenty-five local sub-
divisions, which will give from 50 to 60 schools of Hindoo
learning in the district. The scholars are taught gratuitously, it
being deemed disgraceful to receive money for instruction.
Indigenous schools for learning imply the existence of
indigenous elementary schools, but I find no mention of them in
any authority to which I have referred.
The alleged non-existence of Mahomedan schools in a
district in which the proportion of Mahomedans to Hindoos is as
five to two is incredible.
SYLHET: (p.93)
The information respecting the state of education in this
district is exceedingly scanty. Hamilton states that there are no
regular schools and seminaries for teaching the Hindoo or
Mahomedan law, but that in different places there are private
schools where boys are taught to read and write. Of Mymunsing
the reverse was stated, that it had schools of learning, but
nothing was said of elementary schools. It is probable that in
Sylhet the former are to be found as well as the latter, although
neither may be numerous or very efficient.
MOORSHEDABAD: (pp.94-96)
In 1801 there was said to be only one school in the district
for instruction in the Mahomedan law, while there were twenty
for instruction in the Hindoo laws and customs. It seems very
probable that the number both of Hindoo and Mahomedan
schools of learning was then and still is much greater.
In December, 1818, the Collector of Moorshedabad
forwarded to the Board of Revenue the petition of one Kali Kanth
Sarma, praying for the continuance to him of a pension of five
rupees per month, which had been granted to his father, Jaya
Ram Nyaya Panchanan, by the late Maha Rani Bhawani, former
zemindar of Chucklah Rajshahy, for the support of a Hindoo
college at that place. The Collector accompanied the petition by a
305

statement that the pension had, as represented, been enjoyed by
the father of the petitioner and confirmed to him by the
government on the report of the Collector in 1796, and that the
petitioner was of good character and qualified for the
superintendence of the college. The Revenue Board on
forwarding this petition and the Collector’s letter to the
government observed that the pension had in fact lapsed to the
government in 1811, the petitioner not being then qualified to
discharge the duties of the office, but that it was intended fully
to ascertain his fitness for the office and in the event of his
competency to give it to him. ‘On general principles,’ the Board
added, ‘we entertain the opinion that pensions granted for the
maintenance of public institutions for education and instruction
should not be resumed so long as they shall be appropriated
bona fide for the purpose for which they were assigned; and we
observe on reference to our proceedings that government has
generally been pleased to continue pensions for similar
purposes, the Board having previously ascertained the
qualifications of the persons in whose favour they have been
granted and we are accordingly induced to recommend the
present claim to the favourable consideration of his Lordship in
Council.’ On this recommendation the government confirmed
Kali Kanth Sarma in the receipt of this pension; and upon his
decease in 1821 it was by the same authority conferred on his
brother Chandrasiva Nyayalankara whose claim was undisputed
and who then maintained seven students, five of them resident
in his house.
In July, 1822, the Collector of Moorshedabad forwarded to
the Revenue Board a petition from Kishanath Nyaya
Panchanand, the son of Ramkishore Sarma, reporting the death
of his father, and praying the transfer and continuance to
himself of a monthly pension of five rupees which had been
granted in 1793 for the support of a Hindoo seminary at Vyspur
near Colapur. The Collector reported the petitioner to be the heir
and rightful claimant of the pension and well qualified for the
performance of the duties of the school. Under these
circumstances the transfer of the pension from the name of
Ramkishore Sarma to his son Kishanath Nyaya Panchanand was
authorised.
BEERBHOOM: (pp.98-100)
I find no account of the state of indigenous education in
this district. Hamilton is silent on the subject, and in reply to
inquiries made by the General Committee in 1823, the local
Agent of Government stated that there were no seminaries for
306

the instruction of youth in the district, either public or private,
and, as I suppose must be understood, either elementary or
learned. If, as I suspect, this statement is incorrect, it is the
more extraordinary, because the agent appears to have taken a
great deal of trouble to collect information regarding the means
existing in the district supposed to be applicable to the encour-
agement of education. From the analogy of other neighbouring
districts, it seems incredible that there should be no schools of
any kind amongst a population in which there is a proportion of
thirty Hindoos to one Mahomedan.
In 1820, a Hindoo named Sarbanand, who claimed
succession to the office of ojha or high-priest of the temple of
Baidyanath already mentioned, made an offer to the government
through the local agent to give 5,000 rupees as an endowment
for a Native school in the district on condition that his claim to
the succession of the ojhaship might be sanctioned and
established by the authority of government. From a notice of this
transaction contained in the records of the General Committee,
it would appear that he actually sent the money to the
Collector’s office, and that in addition to the establishment of a
school he wished it to be, in part, expended on the excavation of
a tank at Soory, the chief town of the district. The offer was
declined, and Sarbanand informed that he must abide the
regular adjudication of the law courts on his claim, which proved
unfavourable.
The acting Agent and Collector in Beerbhoom in 1823
seems to have considered that the funds of the temple were
liable to be applied to the establishment of public institutions,
but it does not appear on what grounds this opinion was formed.
According to one account the collections of the temple average
30,000 rupees per annum, the amount depending on the
number and liberality of the pilgrims. According to an official
estimate made in 1822, the resources of the temple were
supposed to be 1,50,000 rupees annually. A specific fact stated
is that in two months the collections amounted to 15,000
rupees, but it is not said whether the two months were in the
season of the year when the temple is most frequented. The
present appropriation of the revenue after providing, I conclude,
for the current expenses of the temple, is to the support of
religious mendicants and devotees.
The acting Agent and Collector also submitted two
statements of the quantity of land dedicated to various religious
purposes, expressing at the same time the opinion that the
produce
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of these endowments is generally estranged from the purposes to
which it was originally devoted, and enjoyed by persons who
have no claim to it. He seems to have considered that these
endowments also were applicable to purposes of education but
the reasons of the opinion are not given. The statements were
prepared from the public registries of land and I subjoin them
entire, noticing here only their general results. These are that in
twenty-two pergunnahs there are 8,348 beeghas, besides 39
separate mouzahs or villages of dewottur lands; 16,331 beeghas
of nazar lands; 5,086 beeghas of chiraghi lands and 1,015
beeghas of pirottur lands. In fifteen other pergunnahs that had
been then recently transferred from the district of Moorshedabad
to that of Beerbhoom, there are 1,934 beeghas of dewottur and
162 of pirottur lands, making the whole amount 32,877 beeghas
of land, besides 39 villages. I have added to the statements a
brief explanation of the distinctive terms employed to describe
the different sorts of endowed lands; and I have recorded these
endowments in this place because they were in some way
connected in the mind of the acting Agent and Collector with the
means existing in the district for the promotion of education; but
I would not be understood to express a concurrence in the
opinion, if it was entertained, that their application to such a
purpose could be rendered legally obligatory. As far as I can
ascertain from the terms employed to describe them, they are
religious endowments. With the voluntary consent of the
holders, they are, as I understand, capable of being applied to
promote education when viewed as a religious duty; but without
that consent it would be unjust to employ them for such a
purpose, and it would also be imprudent by the employment of
questionable means in pursuit of a great public object, such as
national education, to rouse the religious feelings of the country
against it.

RAJSHAHY: (pp.103-104)
There is no doubt that in this district there are several
schools of Hindoo learning, but I find no mention of any of them
except two which are supported by an allowance from
government. In June, 1813, the Collector of Rajshahy forwarded
to the Revenue Board a petition from Kassessur Bachusputy,
Govindram Sirhat, and Hurram Surma Buttacharjee, stating
that their father had received from Rani Bhawani an allowance
of 90 rupees per annum for the support of a college, which
allowance on the decease of their father had been continued to
their elder brother till his decease; and that since the date of
that event they

308

had kept up the establishment, and therefore, prayed that the
allowance might be continued to them.
The Collector corroborated the averments in this petition,
observing that Kassessur discharged the duties of one college in
the town of Nattore, and that his two brothers had established
another in the Mofussil.
The Revenue Board, in forwarding the Collector's letter and
the petition to government, observed that the pension had been
conferred by the authority of government on the late Chundar
Sikar Turkanshes for his life, on a representation from the
Collector that he had no other means of subsistence, and was
properly qualified and taught the sciences gratis; that he was
attended by many students; was the only capable teacher in
Nattore; and that the continuance of his pension might be
deemed a public benefit.
The Revenue Board further submitted that, as it appeared
the brothers maintained the institutions of their father in full
efficiency, the pension might be continued to them and their
heirs in perpetuity, on the condition of their continuing to
uphold these establishments under the supervision of the local
agents of the British Government. The Bengal Government fully
acquiesced in this suggestion, and sanctioned the payment of
the allowance of 90 rupees per annum on the condition stated by
the Revenue Board.
RANGPUR: (pp.106-107)
Hamilton on the state of learning in this district says that a
few Brahmans have acquired sufficient skill in astronomy to
construct an almanac, and five or six Pundits instruct youth in a
science named Agam, or magic, comprehending astrology and
chiromancy. The latter is reckoned a higher science than the
calculation of nativities, and is monopolised by the sacred order.
The Mahomedans, he adds, having no wise men of their own,
consult those of the Hindoos. This account of the state of
learning is very unfavourable and is not quite correct. The
Agama shastra does not merely teach astrology and chiromancy,
but is also occupied with the ritual observances of modern
Hindooism, and it is not the only branch of learning taught in
the schools.
From details furnished by the canoongoes, it appears that
in nine sub-divisions of the district there are 41 schools of
Sanskrit learning containing each from 5 to 25 scholars, who are
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taught grammar, general literature, rhetoric, logic, law, the
mythological poems, and astronomy, as well as the Agama
shastra. The students often prosecute their studies till they are
thirty-five and even forty years of age, and are almost invariably
the sons of Brahmans. They are supported in various ways—
first, by the liberality of those learned men who instruct them;
secondly, by the presents they receive on occasions of invitation
to religious festivals and domestic celebrations; thirdly, by their
relations at home; and fourthly, by begging, recourse being had
to one means when others fail. The instructors are enabled to
assist their pupils, sometimes from their own independent
means, sometimes from the occasional gifts they receive from
others, and sometimes from the produce of small endowments.
At least ten are stated to have small grants of land for the
support of learning, one of these consisting of 25 beeghas of
Brahmottur land, and another of 176 beeghas of Lakhiraj land.
The quantity of land in the other cases in not mentioned, but it
is not stated to be generally Brahmottur.
In one instance it is stated that the owner of the estate on
which the school is situated gave the Pundit a yearly present of
32 rupees, and in another instance a monthly allowance of 5 or
8 rupees. In a third instance the Pundit of the school lived on his
patrimony, and at the same time acted as family priest to the
zemindar.
DINAJPUR: (pp.112-114)
Of the twenty-two sub-divisions of the district, there are fif-
teen without any schools of learning, and the remaining seven
have only sixteen schools. Most of the teachers possess lands
which enable them to provide for their own subsistence as well
as that of their pupils, and they receive gifts from all Hindoos of
any distinction. There is, however, no necessity for a person who
holds these lands to instruct youth, and when the celebrity of a
teacher has procured large grants of land, his heirs, although
they continue to enjoy the estate, are not bound to teach. They
may retain the high title of Pundit without devoting themselves
to the business of instruction or they may even betake
themselves to the degrading affairs of the world without forfeiting
the property. Very much, however, to the credit of the
Brahmans, such a neglect is not usual, and one son of the
family continues generally to profess the instruction of youth. If
there are other sons they follow their natural inclination. With
such a system, however liberal it may be in appearance, and to
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whatever merit the individual professors are justly entitled, it
must be evident that the work of education will go on but slowly.
It is even to be feared that it would altogether stop, were it not
for the charity which usually follows considerable reputation as
a teacher.
Students usually commence the study of the Sanskrit
language about twelve years of age, after they have been
instructed in the knowledge taught in the elementary schools.
The principal studies are, as elsewhere in Bengal, grammar, law,
and metaphysics and less frequently the philosophical theology
of the Veds, the ritual of modern Hindooism, and astronomy, to
which may be added medicine or rather magic.
The Vaidyas or medical tribe, and even some rich
Kayasthas, are permitted to study such portions of Sanskrit
literature as have been composed by wise men; but they are
excluded from whatever is supposed to be of divine origin and
authority. Dr Buchanan remarks that the exclusiveness with
which Sanskrit learning has been appropriated to the sacred
tribe may have tended to increase the general ignorance; but
that there can be no doubt that those who possess it enjoy very
considerable advantages over their countrymen. The Brahmans
generally speaking have an intelligence and acuteness far
beyond other Hindoos; and he further thinks that they are
subject to fewer vices, and that those persons will be found to
approach nearest their good qualities who are admitted even to
the porch of science. Here as well as elsewhere it will be found
that although intellectual cultivation and moral excellence are
neither identical nor always concomitant yet the addiction to
intellectual pursuits and enjoyments, coeteries paribus, leads to
the elevation and improvement of the moral character. Amongst
the multiplied means, therefore, which civilisation and
philanthropy will suggest for the reformation of a whole people,
let us not altogether neglect one of which, however unfamiliar it
may be to our conceptions, experience has established the
utility, and which has in fact been the salt of the earth,
preserving the country for centuries past amid general
debasement and corruption from total ignorance and
depravation.
It does not appear that there is any school in which Arabic
or the sciences of the Mahomedans are taught,—a remarkable
fact respecting a populous district in which so large a proportion
of the inhabitants is Mahomedan.
Although some of the Mahomedan priests can read the
portions of the Koran that are appropriated for certain
ceremonies,

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yet Dr Buchanan heard a general complaint from the kazis that
few understood a single word of that language and that the
greater part had merely learned the passages by rote so as to
enable them to perform the ceremonies.
PURNEAH: (pp.119-122)
Throughout the district Dr Buchanan reckoned 119
schools of this description, possessing various degrees of
respectability. The subjects taught are grammar, logic, and law,
astronomy and the modern ritual, the teachers of the two latter,
although classed as learned men, being less respected than the
former. Some even of the most respected class were reputed to
possess but superficial acquirements. The students are said to
be inattentive and to take long vacations. About as many
students go to other districts from Purneah as are attracted to it
from other quarters. No Pundit had above eight scholars
altogether which is less than two for each teacher. The Pundits
in the district, including the professional teachers, amounted to
247, but the claims of many to the title were deemed
questionable. A great many other persons to the number of
1,800 or 1,900 assume the title of Pundit but are distinguished
from the former by the name of dasakarmas. They officiate as
priests to the Sudras, and towards the West they act in the same
capacity for very low castes; but in those parts few can read or
write any language. They understand, however, the poetical
legends when read, have acquired some knowledge of the
marvels they contain, have committed to memory the necessary
forms of prayer, and can perform the usual ceremonies. In the
eastern parts of the district, where the manners of Bengal pre-
vail, there is a class of Brahmans who officiate for the lower
castes of Sudras, and their knowledge is nearly on a level with
that of the dasakarmas. The dasakarmas, who act as priests for
the higher order of Sudras, can read and are able to pray from a
book. A good many of them have studied for a year or two under
a learned teacher, and have some slight knowledge of grammar
and law. Some of them can understand a part of the ceremonies
which they read, and some also can note nativities. A very few of
the medical tribe in the south east corner of the district have
studied the sacred tongue.
It is remarked that science is almost entirely confined to
two of the corners of the district, the old territory called Gour,
and the small portion situated to the west of the Kosi. In the
former case, the effect is attributed to the care of a native public
officer who had several estates in that vicinity, and still
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retained a part at the time of Dr Buchanan's investigation. He
appointed six pundits to teach, and gave them an allowance be-
sides the lands which they possess. They are reckoned higher in
rank than the other professors in the vicinity, and are called
rajpundits. The thirty-one pundits in that quarter addict them-
selves chiefly to the study of grammar, law, and the mythological
poems. Logic and metaphysics are neglected, as well as
astronomy and magic. In the western side of the district there
are no less than thirty-three teachers within a small space and
there astrology as well as metaphysics is studied; mythological
poems are not much read and magic is not known. The number
of the teachers is owing to the patronage of the Rajahs of
Darbhanga to whom the greater part of the lands belong; but
their patronage did not appear to be very efficacious, for, of the
thirty-three Pundits in the whole territory west of the Kosi, only
eight were considered well-versed in the sciences and learning,
which they professed to teach, viz., one in logic and
metaphysics, three in grammar, and four in astrology. All these
are Mithila Pundits.
Dr Buchanan has communicated some details of the
proportions in which the different branches of learning were
studied. Eleven Pundits taught metaphysics; of these six
confined themselves entirely to that branch; one also taught
grammar, another added law; two others with law also read the
Sri bhagvut; and one man included the whole of these within the
range of his instructions. There were no less than thirty-one
teachers of the law, of whom one only confined himself to that
pursuit; twenty of them taught one additional science; and of
these nineteen taught grammar, and one logic and metaphysics;
eight taught two additional branches, of whom three taught
grammar and explained the bhagvut, two taught logic and
metaphysics and also explained the bhagvut, two taught
grammar and the modern ritual, and one taught grammar and
astronomy. Two taught three other branches, one explaining
grammar, logic and the mythological poems, and the other
substituting the modern ritual for logic. Of eleven teachers of the
astronomical works, ten professed nothing else. Of seven
persons who taught the modern ritual, one only confined himself
to it, two professed the law, three taught grammar and the
metaphysical poems, and six were proficients in grammar. Only
five Pundits limited themselves to the teaching of grammar.
With regard to the state of medical education and practice,
Dr Buchanan ascertained that there were twenty-six Bengalee
practitioners who used incantations (muntras); thirty-seven who
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rejected them and administered medicine; and five Mahomedan
physicians who seemed to be little superior to the Hindoos. The
doctrines of both are nearly the same, and seem to be founded
on the school of Galen. Those who practice at large make from
10 to 20 rupees a month. They do not keep their recipes or
doctrines secret, but seemed to practice in a liberal manner,
although without having gained a high reputation. A
considerable number are servants, and attend on wealthy
families for a monthly pension. Many of them cannot read. There
is another class of medical practitioners who reject incantations
and exhibit herbs. They have no books, and the greater part
cannot read the vulgar tongue. They have been early instructed
in the use of certain herbs in certain diseases. Dr Buchanan
heard of about 450 of them, but they seemed to be chiefly
confined to the Hindoo divisions of the district, and they are held
in very low estimation. There is also a class of persons who
profess to treat sores, but they are totally illiterate and destitute
of science, nor do they perform any operation. They deal chiefly
in oils. The only practitioner in surgery was an old woman, who
had become reputed for extracting the stone from the bladder,
which she performed after the manner of the ancients.
According to Dr Buchanan the science of the Arabs has
been exceedingly neglected in this district, so that very few even
of the kazis are supposed to understand the Koran or any Arabic
work on grammar, law or metaphysics. He did not hear of one
man who attempted to teach any of these branches of learning,
and he expresses a doubt whether even one man employed in
administering the Mohammedan law and born in the district was
tolerably well-versed in the subject, or so well informed or
liberally educated as the common attornies in a country town of
England.
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III
W. ADAM ON STATE OF NATIVE MEDICAL PRACTICE
(pp.195-200)
The state of Native Medical Practice in the (Rajshahy) district is
so intimately connected with the welfare of the people that it
could not be wholly overlooked; and as the few facts that I have
collected tend additionally to illustrate their character and
condition, it would be improper to omit them. They are
submitted with deference to those who may have made
professional inquiries, and can form a professional judgment on
the subject.
The number of those, who may be called general
practitioners and who rank highest in the native medical
profession in Nattore is 123, of whom 89 are Hindus and 34 are
Mahomedans. The Medical School at Vaidya Belghariya
possesses considerable interest, since it is, as far as I can
ascertain, the only institution of the kind in the district, and the
number of such institutions throughout Bengal is, I believe, very
limited. The two medical teachers of this school are employed as
domestic physicians by two wealthy families, and they have each
also a respectable general practice. As a domestic physician, the
junior teacher has a fixed salary of twenty-five rupees a month;
while the senior teacher in the same capacity has only fifteen
rupees a month, and that only as long his attendance may be
required during periods of sickness in the family that employs
him. I have spoken of that family as wealthy, but it is only
comparatively so being in very reduced circumstances; and to
that cause rather than to the low estimation in which the
physician is held, we must ascribe the scant remuneration he
receives. At another place, Hajra Nattore, No.26, there are three
educated Hindu practitioners, all three Brahmans and brothers
and more or less acquainted with Sanscrit, having acquired the
grammar of the language at Bejpara Amhatti, and subsequently
applied their knowledge of it to the study of the medical works in
that language. The eldest has practised since he was eighteen,
and he is now sixty-two years of age, and employs his leisure in
instructing his two nephews. On an average of the year he
estimates the income derived from his practice at five rupees a
month, while one of his brothers who is in less repute estimates
his own income at three rupees. At a third place, Haridev
Khalasi, No.100, there are four educated Hindu practitioners,
three of whom appeared to be in
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considerable repute for skill and learning. They were all absent,
and I had not an opportunity of conversing with them; but their
neighbours and friends estimated their monthly professional
income at eight, ten, and twelve rupees, respectively. There are
at most two or three other educated Hindu physicians in
Nattore, and all the rest are professionally uneducated, the only
knowledge they possess of medicine being derived from Bengali
translations of Sanscrit works which describe the symptoms of
the principal diseases and prescribe the articles of the native
materia medica that should be employed for their cure, and the
proportions in which they should be compounded. I have not
been able to ascertain that there is a single educated Musalman
physician in Nattore, and consequently the 34 Mahomedan
practitioners I have mentioned, rank with the uneducated class
of Hindu practitioners, deriving all their knowledge of medicine
from Bengali translations of Sanscrit works to the prescriptions
of which they servilely adhere.
The only difference that I have been able to discover
between the educated and uneducated classes of native
practitioners is that the former prescribe with greater confidence
and precision from the original authorities, and the latter with
greater doubt and uncertainty from loose and imperfect
translations. The mode of treatment is substantially the same,
and in each case is fixed and invariable. Great attention is paid
to the symptoms of disease, a careful and strict comparison
being made between the descriptions of the supposed disease in
the standard medical works and the actual symptoms in the
case of the patient. When the identity is satisfactorily
ascertained, there is then no doubt as to the practice to be
adopted, for each disease has its peculiar remedy in the works of
established repute, and to depart from their prescriptions would
be an act of unheard of presumption. If, with a general
resemblance, there should be some slight difference of
symptoms, a corresponding departure from the authorised
prescription is permitted, but only as regards the medium or
vehicle through which it is administered. The medicines
administered are both vegetable and mineral. The former are
divided into those which are employed in the crude state, as
barks, leaves, common or wild roots, and fruits etc.; and those
which are sold in the druggist's shop as camphor, cloves, carda-
mums, etc. They are administered either externally or in the
forms of pill, powder, electuary, and decoction.
The preceding class of practitioners consists of individuals
who at best know nothing of medicine as a science, but practise
316