Our Educational Heritage

By D.G. Apte
20th January 1961

Dedicated to

All those who Love and Revere Indian Culture

Letter from (Translation)

HIS HOLINESS SHRIMAT JAGADGURU

SRI SHANKARCHARYA SWAMI MAHARAJ
ABHINAVASTCHIDANANDA TIRTHA OF DWARKA
GUJARAT STATE, INDIA

Indeed it is a matter of great satisfaction that Shri D.G. Apte who has
carefully studied the subject of ancient Indian education has written a
nice book on “The Back ground of Hindu Education.” The book
critically discusses items like the system of education in the
Gurukulas, the relations between the teachers and students and other
topics connected with Hindu education. Such books on the subject are
very rare, whichever are available are generally written from a
foreigners distorted viewpoint, But this book follows an independent
and pure line of treatment and therefore excels others of its kind in
authoritativeness.

Shri Apte‟s manner of writing and exposition is very happy and lucid
and will certainly be liked by readers.

We bless that Dwarakadhishvara and Chadramaulishwara will give

the author the power to write such books and happiness of every kind
and that present work will command the respect of all.

Baroda
Samvat 2013
Ashvina shukla purnima.
Letter from Shri C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar

My Dear Shri D.G. Apte,

On account of my other pre-occupations and engagements, it was not possible, until recently, for
me to peruse your carefully documented brochure on the “Background of Hindu Education.” I
have now completed it and consider your production to be a most valuable addition to our
knowledge of a very important topic.

At the outset I must congratulate you on having confined your attention to the Hindu cultural
background, pure and simple.

Proceeding on the basis that education in India has lost its traditional mooring and realizing the
decline in its efficiency, you have pointed out how our present system of education is essentially
sterile. You have rightly averted to the law of social differentiation and the social background
that characterize. Hindu society and profoundly influenced the ideas of education. You have
done a real service by demonstrating that the modern objectives of education are comprised in
the Hindu ideal. You have done a real service by demonstrating that the modern objectives of
education are comprised in the Hindu ideal. You have also propounded certain revolutionary
theories especially with reference to the teaching of what is called „general knowledge‟, and with
reference to the problem of fees.

While you have correlated the educational ideals and the structure of Hindu, society and rightly
emphasized that the aim of life is the aim of education and while, moreover, you have fully
adumbrated the institution of Brahmacharya and rightly accentuated what you have termed
motor memory rather than psychological memory, you have, I am afraid, not taken into account
the difficulties that arise from the pervasive universality of modern humanistic and scientific
apparatus and the needs to bring into existence not only specialists trained with a religious
background but persons capable of functioning in competitive technological atmosphere where
the claims of humanism tend to be relegated to the background.

As profound and sympathetic study of the past and as a pointer to some of the dangers in our
present scheme of educational training, your brochure is a valuable addition to knowledge

I congratulate you on your production and wish you all success.

Yours sincerely.

C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar

DELISLE
OOTACAMUND
NOVEMBER 19, 1956
PREFACE

There are already some books available in the market, which give elaborate
information in respect of almost every important detail of education as it existed in
ancient India. The present book is not an attempt to add to that number but to
provide a long felt need viz. to rationalize the various feature of the system by
pointing out their significance in relation to the social and cultural background of
India. A mere description will not enable a reader to understand the why and
wherefore of all the aspects and there is always a strong possibility that
predilection for the current trends in education in the world to-day will obstruct the
capacity to objectively evaluate the ancient system. It is for this reason that one
whole chapter (chapter 2) in the book has been devoted to the description of the
structure of Hindu society, which alone can enable one to appreciate the various
aims of preparing young citizens suited to the nationally accepted pattern of
society and it is against this background that the success or failure of a system of
education can be evaluate. Application of modern foreign standards to our ancient
system will be an anachronism.

For the above reasons the author has not remained satisfied with merely providing
information regarding various items but has tried to search out from the vast
Sanskrit Literature, the ideas that could explain the nature of various institutions.
For facilitating easy reference to source material, the translation or a summary of
the original quotation has always been incorporated in the text itself; the original
quotation has been given in the foot-note, for those who have the curiosity and the
capacity to study the original source. In quite a few cases there is a very wide
divergence between the opinions of our ancient authorities on education and the
modern ones, more particularly from the western world. The author believes that
the divergence is the result of the difference in the social objectives and structures,
and, it would be unsafe to appreciate one and find fault with the other on that
score. Unfortunately many of our educators have yet to realize this is then alone
that they will be able to appreciate whatever good there is in our ancient system. It
is for the purpose of bringing out in relief, important points of similarity between
ancient Indian ideas and our present ideas that profuse quotations from outstanding
personalities from the east as well as from the west have been give at various
places.

It is by no means to be considered that the author pleads for a blind following of

the aims and institutions of ancient India and for closing our eyes to everything
that has come from abroad. He does admit that western thinkers have contributed
very substantially to modern educational thought, but he certainly believes that
there are many good points in our ancient system too that have not received the
recognition they deserve and that is why our education has not been able to deliver
results expected from it. There is certainly a necessity to revise our notions about
the contribution of our ancients to this field of civilization as repeatedly pointed
out by our leaders and scholars.

A point arises as to how exactly our ancient ideals and methods could be followed
in modifying our system so as to suit the modern world situation. There is no
attempt made herein to provide a scheme of this type however desirable it may be;
firstly because the work cannot be finished off so lightly and so cursorily, and
demands a very thorough study and planning; secondly because we have not yet
reached a stability-political, social and economic when we shall be able to
formulate it and thirdly because we have not yet developed an objective attitude to
evaluate our educational objectives and achievements, independently of the
unconscious bias we have been carrying for western ideas and against ancient
Indian ideas for the last century and more. It is common knowledge that some
aspects of out educational system do stand in need of immediate change although
there is enough loose thinking about the new shape which the should take. A
synthesis of eastern and western ideas, if judiciously carried out, will certainly do
us immense good but wiser brains will have to be busy for achieving this, with all
necessary economic and other facilities. The idea does deserve to be taken in all
the seriousness it deserves.

The present book will enable a student of education in particular and an

enlightened citizen in general to get at the foundations of our ancient system of
education and clear his vision regarding certain misrepresentations about various
aspects depicted in books on the subject written by Indians and foreigners. It is
easily possible to remark that the book creates the impression of an avowed
advocacy of Hindu education; but we would simply say that it is only a
sympathetic study of the same. It will also enable our foreign readers to understand
the background of our educational ideas and institutions in clearer perspective.

The author is extremely grateful to Shrimat Jagadguru Shri Shankaracharya

abhinava-satchidananda-tirtha Swami Maharaj of Sharada Peetha of Dwarka
(Gujrat State, India) and to Dr. C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, a politician and scholar of
outstanding international repute for condescending to go through the manuscript of
the book and sending their very kind blessings. He is also deeply indebted to the
publisher Shri Jayantilal C. Shah whose interest in our national culture is deep
enough to inspire him to undertake the publication of the present book, which, but
for him, would perhaps have never seen the light of the day. Shri K.V. Marathe,
the owner of the Rama-Vijaya Press also has rendered us very valuable help by
doing the printing of the book to our entire satisfaction and we are grateful him.
We also owe a deep debt of gratitude to the numerous luminaries in the field of
education and culture, form both India and abroad, whose valuable works we have
often utilized in the course of discussions contained in the book.

Before we conclude we would like to express the hope that the book will play a
significant role in dispelling the misconceptions prevailing in the minds of people
regarding our culture and civilization, of which education forms a part.

D.G. Apte
Shankar Pole, Raopura,
Baroda, India
20-1-1961
Contents

Chapter 1- Introduction: There is an instinctive urge to learn about our ancient

system of education.- The evolution in various aspects of modern education is
clearly is clearly visible; not so in the system of ancient Indian education.-
Education has not succeeded in easing national tensions.-Education has failed to
purify the inner springs of behavior.-Both monarchic and republican forms of
government were in vogue in ancient India.-India‟s prosperity tempted numerous
invaders,-Two parallel systems of education exist to-day.-The ancient system has
remained unchanged for millenniums.

Chapter 2- The Structure of Hindu Society of Hindu Society: Western society

is yet striving to attain stability – Desire to dominate is the root cause of present
world tension – A fixed pattern of society has existed in India for several
Millennium. – Difference among castes was functional rather than racial. _ Varnas
and Ashramas – Higher castes were given higher punishment for the same crime –
Conquest did not mean the annihilation of the conquered. – Hybridization was
banned for maintaining types. – Ruskin on heredity – Nelson traces the fall of
Greece and Rome to Hybridization of Types. – Mahatmaji‟s views on heredity-
Thomson on heredity – The caste system is somewhat misunderstood. In
punishment and other social customs, inherent different in status was taken into
account – Differentiation pervaded all social customs and directives. – The four
Asramas – Brahmacharya – Garhasthya – Vanaprastha – Samnyasa – The propriety
of the Asramas – Renunciation is the basis of Indian life. – Deussen‟s
appreciation of the Asrama system – Renunciation is the easier road to happiness -
Hindu sacred books condemn aggrandizement and exploitation----the principle of
differentiation - Meaning of equality-Russel on inherent differentiation---
McDougall on inherent differentiation.

Chapter 3- Aims of Education: Aim of life is the aim of education. – That aim is
Dharma. - Dharma and religion – The Implication of the word Dharma – The
comprehensive nature of Dharma – Dharma controls natural instincts because they
cannot be uprooted. – Self-realization is possible only for a few. – Renunciation is
usually misinterpreted. – Dharma includes all educational aims. - Aims of
education in American democracy. – Aims of education in England and America. –
Aims of education as given by other eminent thinkers – Ancient Indian education
had fulfilled all the aims. Economic efficiency could not be an aim of education in
India . – The picture changed under the British regime. – We have examples of
excellent specimens of human relationship. – foreign travelers on character of
Indians – Yuan Chwang – Al Idrisi – Marco Polo – Colonel Sleeman – self-
realization is the highest aim of education – Such high aims are for a select few
only. – Education of the gifted was in vogue.

Chapter 4- Curriculum: Introduction - Non-Vedic subject were taught at the

early stage. – Vedas and auxiliary sciences were taught at the secondary stage. –
Only a very small minority was very highly educated. – Hearing was more
important than reading. – Writing and computing also occupied an important place.
– The narrow curriculum was sufficient because society was stable, - Character
occupied a higher place than information. – Thomson on the most important task
of education – Families cannot perform their important duty of educating their
children in these days of industrial civilization. – We are blindly imitating the
western forms of education. Dr. Rajendra Prasad on need of reconstructing our
educational system. –Ultimate utility of a subject, not immediate utility should be
considered. – A specimen of dangerously ambitions course in the subject of
general education - we in India should concentrate on saving our time and energy –
Only such subjects as possess high transfer value should be included in the
compulsory education.

Chapter 5- Women’s Education, Co-education and Sex Education:

Importance of the woman in Indian life-Dr. Annie Besant on Hindu Marriage
system – marriage aimed at stabilizing society. – The dominating position of the
woman – The mother‟s importance far exceeds that of the teacher or the father. It‟s
is the woman who makes or mars a happy family life. – The correct meaning of
equality between men and women – Their functions are complementary – Stanley
Hall on the true goal of woman‟s life – He women and she-women and population
– Woman should becomes a collaborator not a competitor. – Women who were
learned in Sastras were an exception not a rule. – The two spheres of woman‟s
activity – The ideal of womanhood – The Upanayana of women – The woman is
the permanent keeper of the home – Women in cultured and aristocratic families –
Ancient Indians on co-education – The Gita on Kama– Co-education was not the
vogue in ancient India. – Divergence of views regarding sex-education –
Precautions regarding sex-matters are necessary. – Nature is the best educator in
matters of sex. – Jung on sex-education.

Chapter 6- Teacher: the Guru occupied a higher position. No teacher was a paid
servant. – Charging fees is unanimously condemned by all writers. Every Sastra
had an Acharya - Acharyas taught in sylvan solitudes. – Teachers of spiritual
knowledge – This knowledge could be imparted only in cloistered seclusion. – At
this stage there was no restriction of caste, - Teachers were open-minded -
Philosophical studies was the principal target of such schools. – Time required for
self-realization – The period differed with individuals – India‟s greatness is due to
her philosophy of action. – Hinduism has no territorial boundaries. – Hutton on
Indian social system – Teacher enjoyed complete autonomy. – Knowledge could
be withheld in the absence of a qualified recipient. – Teachers served as models for
the society. – They were men of the world and did not live in cloistered seclusion.
– Teachers were generally Brahmanas. – Foreign writers often misunderstand the
situation. - Brahmanas and Kshatriyes worked shoulder to shoulder. – Professional
education - Teachers provided free boarding and lodging to all pupils. – Economic
sources of the teacher – Dakshina – Guru-dakshina – Other sources of economic
help to teachers.

Chapter 7- The Student: The meaning of the word Brahmacharin – Moral

implication of the word Brahmacharya – Control of desires was an important
objective – Drever on the internal conflict – Students‟ life was the golden mean
between frivolous enjoyment and self-mortification. – Two-fold disciplines –
Daily-discipline – Special observances – Importance of celibacy – marriage age for
boys and girls – Qualifications of students – Physical chastity – Humility –
Importance of curiosity – Freedom from temptation – The choice of students –
Brahmana Brahmacharins were specially liked. – Guru was all in all. – Yet Guru‟s
authority was not absolute – Auxiliaries to education – Application – Celibacy -
Faith

Chapter 8- Methods of Teaching: Methods of teaching did not change. –

Learning means hard work. – Memorization of Veda – Various methods of
reciting the Veda – Prakritis and Vikritis – Various methods of studying non-Vedic
subjects – Three steps of acquiring knowledge – Memorization – Memorization
followed or preceded comprehension. - Advanteges of memorization –
Memorization without understanding is advantageous – All knowledge was
versified for the convenience of memorization,- Means of retaining acquired
knowledge – Acquisition of highest knowledge – qualifications of a student
seeking higher knowledge – Similes – Parables – Discussion – students as teachers

Chapter 9- Mass Education: Mass education plays an important role in

educating a nation. – The objective of mass education – Formation of character is
the prominent objective of mass education. – The social tone reflects efficiency of
administration. – Rigorous discipline leads people to happiness. – Consciousness
of noble national traditions strengthens the feeling of nationalism. – Puranas, an
important agency of mass education – Modern institutions of mass education –
National festivals – Occasional religious cultural gatherings – These institutions
have no royal authority – automatic arrangement for financing these institutions. –
Prendergast‟s appreciation of the system of mass education in ancient India.

Bibliography
1 INTRODUCTION

After a perusal of books dealing with various aspects of education in western

countries as well as with the history of education in British India during the last
hundred and fifty years one generally experiences a sense of curiosity in regard to
the knowledge of the details of the system of education that had been in existence
for several thousand years among the Hindus. The curiosity becomes stronger
particularly in view of the fact that the achievements of the
There is an instinctive Hindus in various fields of education had been singular and
urge to learn about
our ancient system had been the object of admiration even of their political and
education religious opponents. Ancient India had been an
inexhaustible store of knowledge in every science and art
known in those times. To enumerate some of these we may mention astronomy,
astrology, mathematics, medicine, etymology, literature, philosophy, grammar,
iconography, architecture, chemistry, logic and engineering. Historical records in
Hindu books as well as those in other countries situated to the east and west of
India possess ample evidence which proves conclusively that most of these arts
moved from India to Europe via Arabia. During historical times also there was
going on a continuous movement of Hindu experts from India, through force or
consent, towards nations situated in the north-west of India like Arabia, Egypt,
Greece etc. In the east also the culture and the civilization of the Hindus had
conquered numerous countries like Java, Sumatra, Bali, Cambodia, Sayam, Burma,
Borneo, Philippines etc. The wide range of Hindu educational achievements and
the long period of their successful working are so striking that one feels
instinctively attracted to study the phenomenon in extensor. Some prominent
details which one likes to study comprise these problems among other : whether
there was anything like free education on a compulsory basis, what was the
curriculum being taught in the schools, what were the aims of education kept
before them by the leaders of society, what were the stages in which education was
evolved, what part the government played in sponsoring the cause of education,
what were the financial conveniences supplied by the government to the cause of
education, whether there was any arrangement for training of teachers, whether
there was any fee charged on a compulsory basis from students, whether there was
any admission test given to students, whether there was any provision for sex-
education given to the prospective house-holders, whether there was a complete
uniformity in education in all the kingdoms in the country, whether there was
anything like social, adult, moral, religious or technical education or an education
for citizenship.
Before we take up any these problems for discussion it is necessary to point out
that in all extant Sanskrit literature there is no trace of any significant evolution of
educational ideas and institutions in India. Evolution of any idea pre-supposes that
The evolution in various
there was a progress from a less efficient stage, that this
aspects of modern change is progressive, and, results from past
education is clearly experience and expects to reach a final stage which,
visible; not so in the
system of ancient Indian after it is reached, becomes perfect and no further change
education becomes necessary. We clearly see this process at work
in the field of education in our own country‟s
educational history of the last hundred and fifty years.

In the west also the same state of things exist. The evolution in the choice of
teachers is clearly seen in the history of European education. Formerly, for
example, clergymen used to teach. With the expansion of education in the
sixteenth century sextons, cobblers and disabled soldiers took up the work which
was later taken up by more intelligent people. Then training began to be given to
them. Thus there was an evolution. The aims of education have also evolved from
a narrow theological curriculum to the modern conception of education which
embraces the whole life of the child. From mere literacy it has now reached the
stage of „self-realization‟ as some would call it or „self-expression‟ as others would
put it. The control of education had been oscillating between the church and the
state finally to pass on to the masses.
In countries like Russia, political authorities completely guide and control
education. In others like England or America most of the direction and control of
education is left in the hands of the people. In Denmark, educational institutions
do not brook government interference of any kind even in the minutest detail of
education. The pattern of educational organization has been continuously
changing in the same country and varies widely in different countries. The
subjects to be taught in the school are also undergoing change, old ones making
room for new ones, they in their turn being replaced by newer ones. From the
original idea of restricting education to a willing and chosen few and that too
particularly to the clergy, education percolated to the lower classes ultimately to
spread over the whole population of the country. There was a time when education
aimed at improving the prospect of a clan, then it worked in the interest of a nation,
and now the ultimate aim of education is to create a healthy spirit of
internationalism. Formerly in all western counties kings had nothing to do with the
education of their subjects. Now ruling authorities go to the length of penalizing
those who avoid receiving education. Commissions after commissions are being
appointed for bringing about desired changes in education but in spite of these, a
state which would remain stable at least for some time is not yet reached. There is
always a chance for new commissions being appointed. All these changes clearly
show that ideas in respect of various aspects of education are gradually changing.
We cannot say they are evolving. Even if we take it for granted that there is a
constant progress towards the final ideal to be reached in the course of evolution
the day seems to be yet far off. There is hardly a quinquennium which does not
witness a change in one or more important particulars of educational system.

It is really a matter of pity that in spite of a generally accepted belief in the

improvement of world situation in general as a result of the
Education has not
succeeded in easing spread of education. Every thinker in the world is feeling
national tension. that thing is not what they should be. There is a political and
economic imbalance which has the potentiality of
jeopardizing world civilization. Our physical horizon is widening but mentally we
are getting cramped. While talking of giving freedom to every one, we are
concentrating on production of deadly weapons which have proved a curse to
several millions during the world war No. II. With the development of nuclear
weapons apprehension is mounting day by day, that the whole world may be
pulverized within a brief space of time in the near future. Our ideal of giving
freedom to all which we so vehemently preached is now shattered to pieces, and
powerful nations of the world have swallowed the freedom of so many smaller and
comparatively less advanced nations, and it is probable that in their insatiable thirst
for dominations they may get involved in a terrific conflict which will sound the
death knell of all the civilizations of the world.

We naturally ask what all this deterioration and this constant reign of terror are due
to. The diagnosis is not difficult. The caused are not in the world outside but in the
Education has failed world inside, in selfishness, in a craze for power and money
to purify the inner in the desire to dominate. Those very persons who sing
springs of behavior
ballads of freedom in season and out of season are
mercilessly throttling it. Referring to the present situation,
Philipson rightly remarks that “it is a society that proposes to follow the Christian
teachings and to pass them on to its children yet which allows every Christian tenet
to be violated in its fundamental human relationship; a society which hold fast to
„thou shalt not steal‟ yet ignores „thou shalt not exploit.‟ In short, it is a civilization
bold enough and sufficient hypocritical to persuade itself that if children can be
taught to believe what their elders do not practice.( Philipson, Herbert –
Education a Search for New Principles, P. 22) In spite of the most intelligent
brains yoked to the work of evolving an efficient system of education which should
bring hope and happiness to all, the world situation is fast deteriorating and even a
man in the street can tell that the so called progress in various abstract sciences like
economics and politics as well as that in physical sciences will lead the whole
world to its grave. The real function of education is to create and maintain an
equipoise in both mental and physical world so that it may result in bringing peace
and harmony for all. The world of to-day has been constantly oscillating between
extremes of ideologies, political and social and this uncertainty cannot but be
reflected in the system of education. In the absence of a stable and well planned
social ideology, the form of social institutions is constantly changing. Monarchy or
feudalism has been replaced by democracy or a totalitarian form of government. In
some countries monarchy still lingers but its fangs have been extracted. The
attractions that democracy offered to people are gradually on the decline because
of the constant changes the personnel of the government.

Throughout most of the periods of Indian history beginning from the early Vedic
Both monarchic and period and in most of the regions monarchy had been the
republican forms of accepted form of government. The institution of monarchy
government were in
vogue in ancient India had been extremely popular in India and Sanskrit
Literature enumerates thousands of monarchs who are
even to-day held in highest esteem. The love and enthusiasm exhibited in favor of
democracy by westerners may just be the result of the sad fact, that, their
countries were never blessed with a series of kings who were benevolent like those
in India, whose names every Hindu remembers with love and appreciation every
morning even now in the hope that their very remembrance will ward off crime
and injustice. In the country it was customary, till very lately, in every orthodox
family to recite with love and admiration a versified list of kings of solar and lunar
races. In a few regions the republican form of government had also been in vogue.
“The republican form of government in India came long after monarchy and after
the early Vedic age. It appears in the later Vedic literature, in the Rigveda
Brahmana, the Aitareya and the Yajurveda and its Brahmana, the Taittiriya-
brahmana. The word used for such a form of government is „Gana‟ although it has
been wrongly translated as „tribes‟ by Monier-Williams and Dr. Fleet. ( Jayaswal –
Hindu Polity, pp.23-23) Elected representatives of people used to be called
„Rajas‟ and their deputies as „Uparajas‟. The institution also existed in the day of
the Mahabharata war. Shri Krishna is referred to as the leader of the republic of the
Vrishnis and the Andhakas by Narada.3 Panini in the eight century B.C. refers to
the republican form of government in two sutras.4 In the days of Gautama Buddha,
in the sixth century B.C. the republic of the Licchavis was in existence. These
republics were federations, representative of many constituent clans making up the
total population. Smaller bodies were chosen to look after various departments of
the government. In Buddhist republics democratic procedures were applied in
every sphere of life, political, economic and, even religious. In Buddhist literature
we find a mention of other details regarding the working of a republic viz. the
quorum, the chairman‟s right to vote, the validity of the proceeding, the whip, the
rules of business, the method of recording assent and the record and nomenclature
for the resolution passed in assemblies, the rules of debate, the appointment of sub-
committees, the principle of Res Judicata, penalizing a person to opens a question
that has been once decided, the polling officer, the invalidity if voting and the
referendum, Kautilya, in the eleventh adhikarana known as Sangha Vritta discusses
the various details of the working of republics. He also refers to two kinds of
republics: the Kshtriya economic republic of Kamboja and Saurashtra and the
political republic of Licchavis, Vrijikas, Mallakas, Madrakas, Kukuras, Kurus and
Panchals over and above republics of Katha, Kshudrakas, Malavas,Yaudheya and
Sanghas or confederations of republic like Trigarta, Sangha of six republics and the
Andhaka, Vrishani Sangha.

Although we have referred to existence of some democracies existing in ancient

India’s prosperity India it is by no means to be supposed that that was the form
tempted numerous of government generally in vogue. In most of the regions
invaders
monarchy prevailed; and monarchy has been a very favorite
form of government in India . It is because of the existence of monarchies that it
became possible for India to continue the same system of education for ages. In
pre-face, as we pointed out before, there has been nothing like an educational
evolution in India known to have taken place during the historic period excepting
the addition of a few new subjects to curriculum as a result of foreign contacts in
later periods. The institutions working on ancient lines even to-day, in places like
Banaras, follow the same curriculum as of old. It is this stability that leads a nation
to happiness. It had always been the aim of Indian legislators and politicians to
create such stable institutions as would be conducive to the good of all. It is a
matter of pride for our nation that our ancestors had been singularly successful in
creating and maintaining such institutions for ages. Kalidasa has said that the
subjects of king Dilipa behaved like the felly of a cart-wheel which always moves
in a pre-existing fixed track laid by Manu and did not swerve a bit, in ancient days.
Generally speaking, it may be remarked that this state of affairs existed for several
thousands of years, and, had brought an all round prosperity to the country. This
prosperity continued up to the eighth century when India‟s neighbors, felt
attracted by her fabulous wealth and led expeditions to the country with the
intention of plundering her. Religious conversion coupled with the desire to
plunder India‟s wealth were the causes of all later expeditions. There are
references to the fact that Aryans had spread far and wide to the north-west and to
the east of India and that Aryan ideal had influenced even distant countries like
Persia, Egypt and Greece. The division of the entire society into four castes as in
India had been in existence in ancient Persia, as result of her contact with India
(Sacred Books of the East Series, Zend Avesta, Part I, Chapter 43 and
introduction).That Afghanistan had been an Aryan country can be easily seen from
the fact that Duryodhana‟s mother Gandhari was the daughter of the king of
Afghanistan (“Gandhar” of those days). The cultural influence of India had
spread also to the country known today as south America as shown in Diwan
Chamanlal‟s book, “Hindu America”. But in spite of all her cultural conquests,
her contact with the west gradually crippled India‟s prosperity. The in-roads by
foreign people like the Muslims, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and finally
the English, more particularly the first and the last, dealt extremely severe blows
on the social stability and prosperity of India. In the fanatical zeal as exhibited by
Moghul kings like Aurangzeb, Hinduism found no respite, and, although
politically almost dead, the flame of Hinduism kept burning until it found some
scope to burn ablaze during the days of Shivaji and the Peshwas. But this
movement for freedom from the shackles of the Muslims was limited in nature,
and, although in the middle of the eighteenth century it became a nation-wide
movement it could not last for a long time and before it could take a firm root, a
mighty and intelligent race viz. “Hindu” had succumbed to English domination
completely in A.D. 1818, when they had firmly established on the soil of India.
There are few countries in the world which have proved as great an attraction as
India to the foreign invader, and, have been attacked so frequently. In spite of
these numerous attacks coming in quick succession there is not a single occasion
on which the victor could succeed without meeting with very stiff resistance. Even
the mighty English had for some time lost all hopes of their empire when the first
War of Indian Independence broke out in A. D. 1857.

Despite these vicissitudes in the field of politics, the educational system had
Two parallel systems remained unaffected. The system of education introduced
of education of by the English rulers of our country deliberately sought to
education exist to-day
throttle the ancient system, and since then, two parallel
currents have been flowing in the country. One of these has generated in country a
class which has been brought up on the English pattern and is, as Macaulay, author
of the new system, aptly described, “a class of persons Indian in blood and color
but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect.” (Macaulay’s Minute
dated February 2, 1835) These persons believe, like Macaulay, that “a single shelf
of a good European library is worth the whole native literature of India”, and,
doubt whether the Sanskrit literature be as valuable as that of Anglo-Saxons and
the Normans. It is such people who vehemently condemn our ancient education in
terms as acrimonious and misleading as those used by Ram Mohan Roy in his
letter. Fortunately the number of such people is very small. The other current is
that of institutions running on ancient lines in thousands, in numerous places all
over the country. They have full faith in Hindu culture and also a good hold over
the masses who are generally conservative in nature. The institutions had been
trampled so far under the feet of the Englishman, but with his exit, they are
gradually asserting themselves. In spite of all these changes during the British
regime the educational system in these ancient institutions has remained more or
less unchanged and there is no exaggeration in remarking that the products of these
institutions have been in no way less efficient than those of the English system.

The foregoing account must have made it clear that the

The ancient system has ancient Hindu system of education must have been based
remained unchanged
for millenniums.
on such sound principles as could successfully withstand
the effects of time and olive. A perusal of the history of
education in modern countries shows that almost every detail of education
undergoes a change along with the socio-political environment of the nation.
Those who outlined the policy of education in ancient India did not miss the
inseparable connection between education and socio-political environment. As
socio-political organizers, the ancient seer‟s of India have no equals in the world.
They based the system of government on a solid foundation of the system of
monarchy, and, evolved into a form of society which was so stable, that, in spite of
the passage of several millenniums it continued to work with the same efficiency.
This is why no changes in the system of education were deemed necessary. By
nature, social environment is in a constant state of flux, and, it is only well-planned
and well-adjusted schemes that control its mobility, and, perpetuate an efficient
system. Ancient Indians could successfully achieve this difficult task and as a
result their system remained unchanged without getting out of date. Modern
leaders of the world also have been trying ceaselessly to evolve a system of social
equilibrium, but, have not yet been able to achieve much in that direction.

2 THE STRUCTURE OF HINDU SOCIETY

There is a very little similarity between the systems of education in ancient India
and the one prevailing in other countries, because of the
Western Society is
yet striving to attain fundamental difference in the structures of society existing
stability in these two regions. The society in the west is yet in a state
of formation, conceiving different ideas, and conducting
different experiments in respect of the pattern on which it should develop. In spite
of several centuries devoted to the working out of this problem, the solution does
not yet seem to be within reach. The Greek and the Roman ideals are valued and
honored in some quarters, but, there was something fundamentally deficient in
them that brought about the ruin of these two countries. Hence they cannot be
acceptable to them. Feudalism and monarchy also have not proved very useful
institutions in building up a stable and a healthy social structure. To ensure
popular freedom from their oppressors, the kings and the noblemen, numerous
attempts have been made during the last few centuries. It is these attempts that
cost one English king his throne and another his life. It is also this that led to the
storming of the Bastille and the execution of the family of the Bourbones at the
hands of people who were drunk with the slogans of equality, fraternity and
freedom. It is also these that overthrew the Tsar in 1917 and transformed Russia
into a Communist state. Despite a comparatively stable rule, England has not
made much progress in the direction of the achievement of the goal although
economic stability has been achieved for the present, she has not been able to
evolve a society on a solid foundation in which the interest of everyone is soundly
guarded, and, a permanence of society is ensured. Moreover mere economic
adjustment cannot be the objective of an ideal state. It must leave scope for an all
sided development of every person in society and provide for his growth, material
and spiritual, to his fullest stature and also provide such means as would maintain
the same for all time to come. As in England, in the U.S.A., the richest state in the
world, little has been achieved in this direction. France burst like a volcano in
1789, only to become a prey to Emperor Napoleon even before a quarter of a
century had elapsed. The Russian experiment has been simultaneously an
attraction and a terror to the rest of the world. It is yet too early to predict anything
about its future. Recent happenings in the various countries of the world Indicate
not very impressive prospects for the UNO in easing tensions of World War No.2.
It came and went off, and, left the world in a more miserable state than before
World War No.2, shattering all the hopes of happiness. The ghastly horrors of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki will ever remain haunting every human heart. It is no
pessimism to prophesy that the world has a grim future if the same state of things
continues for long. In fact if such a reign of terror becomes a permanent
feature of modern civilization, little will be left that will distinguish the human
world from the world of brutes. But the prospect seems
Desire to dominate very dismal and the catastrophe seems to be, as the recent
is the root cause of
present world trends indicate, not far away. One probable reason of such a
tension state of eternal tension is the insatiable desire to dominate
over the less advanced people, with the help of material
advancement achieved. Every country that matters today is busy singing ballads of
peace and happiness for all. It is all the while waiting to find out the most
convenient place and method of dealing a death-blow which will wash out its
opponents. The west has yet to realize that all happiness results from renunciation,
and, that material prosperity is but a means to an end. But alas, the world is so busy
whetting its arms that the voice of conscience is hardly audible. Encroachment
upon the rights of others in social, economic, political and religious fields has
become the order of the day. How poor must be the brain that expects happiness to
prevail in this
pandemonium!

In India a state of social equilibrium existed for thousands of years before the
English conquered the country. This equilibrium was the result of the division of
A fixed pattern of
the whole society into four castes or classes each based
society existed in upon heredity. (Ya. S. 1-90) Historians have no evidence to
India for several ascertain the date when this division came into existence
millenniums
because even our oldest literature makes a mention of this
four-fold division. The Sooktas from Rigveda 1-104-2, 1-179-6 and 2-12-4
mention the word Varna and 4-42-1, 7-64-2 and 8-67-1 mention the word
Kshatriya. The Vaishya is referred to in one mantra and all the four Varnas in
another. Although the Bhagavadgita says, that, chaturvarnya was created in
accordance with gunas (qualities) and karmas (actions), the division obviously
depends upon heredity. The constant state of uncertainty resulting from transfer of
Difference among
varnas would undermine the stability of a nation, for the
castes was functional establishment of which the four-fold division had come into
rather than racial existence. The varna to which one belonged was decided
by birth alone. No transfer from one varna to another was
allowed except under exceptional circumstances. There was no sense of
superiority or inferiority attaching to any of these caste (varnas) as has often been
wrongly assumed, for each of the varnas was considered as equally important. “It
would be difficult to show that any one of these groups was superior to the others,
or was regarded as such. The difference was functional rather than racial.
Numerous different rules had to be laid down for Brahmanas, Rajanyas and
Vaisyas in accordance with the objective of each. The Brahmana had to conserve
his energy for intellectual, religious and philosophical duties. Therefore, immunity
from disturbance, even in times of war, a certain cloistered seclusion, the rigidity
of discipline implied in satya, ahimsa, aparigraha and brahmacharya i.e.
truthfulness, harmlessness, poverty and continence were prescribed for him as
helpful in his line of evolution. The Rajanya had to develop power and the
discipline for him consisted in physical exercises and military training. The
Vaishya had to seek popularity rather than power, gentle influence over his
fellowmen.” (Venkateshwara, S.V. – India Culture Through the Ages, Part II, P.
283)

Chaturvarnya is one of the two divisions that constitute Hindu dharma. Another is
Varnas and Asramas division of life into ashramas which are four in number viz.,
Brahmacharya, Garhasthya, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa,
which constitute the four principal stages of life. The first concerns itself with the
life of the student, the second with that of the householder, the third with that of
the hermit and the last with that of the ascetic absorbed in contemplation. The
first stage covers the period of studenthood i.e. generally from the eighth year to
the twentieth, and the second from twenty to fifty. The third begins when one sees
wrinkles on one‟s body, when the hair start turning gray, and, when one has
become a grandfather. While going to the forest in this stage he was allowed to
take his wife with him or to leave her with the family. The last or Samnyasa stage
covers the fourth quarter of life and comes only after the three debts are
liquidated. The debt to gods is liquidated by sacrifice, to the fathers by creation of
progeny and to the Rishis by the daily study of Vedas.” This last stage of life is
meant as a preparation for its end through the severing of all possible worldly ties.”
It is however very depressing to note that “the principle of caste-system which is
an outstanding peculiarity of India is much misunderstood…….Unfortunately
more emphasis has come to be laid on caste than on the Ashrama. Caste
segregates on the basis of birth. But the Ashrama system unites, binding all castes
in its common rules to lead life along a regulated course of development by natural
stages. (Mookerji, R.K. – Hindu Civilization, p.60)

The four varnas referred to above did not mean any special honor or privilege to
the highest caste nor any humiliation to the lower ones. Each of these is treated as
equally important, just like each of the four legs of a table or each of the two
wheels of a chariot.* There is no privilege attached to the higher castes nor any
handicaps to the lower ones. In fact, the words „higher‟ and „lower‟ simply show
the order and not their relative importance. All the four castes are treated as
equally important for maintaining the social equilibrium. In some cases we do find
harsher punishments prescribed for some in the laws of Manu and Yajnayavalkya,
yet there is no partiality found in any place, because, it has been accepted as a
general principle that the first three castes should be given a higher punishment
than the fourth.

Attempts are constantly being made by persons who fail to understand the
principle underlying this division, to mention this as an act of partiality towards
the higher castes and a neglect and condemnation of the lower castes. Whereas
sometimes such actions are deliberate, they are many times also the result of
ignorance. The religious and social paralysis inflicted on Hindu society in 1835
during the period of Macaulay‟s domination in the British East India Company,
was in full swing for about fifty years later. The next fifty years showed some
hopes of cure, and, since the achievement of independence, the cure is more
remarkable. All the same, even if it keeps up the speed, a period of at least fifty
years more for a complete cure from disease would be necessary. The self-
realization of the nation when completely achieved, will bring the nation the glory
which was hers for the past several thousand years.

The punishment to be given to a king is to be a thousand times more serious than

Higher castes were that given to a layman. The ratio of the amount of
given higher punishment for the same crime in the case of Shudra,
punishment for the
same crime.
Vaishya, Kshatriya and Brahmana has been prescribed in
multiples i.e. 8, 16, 32 and 64 or 100 or 128 times that for
shudra, the principle being, that, those who are more educated and enlightened
deserve a higher punishment. These varnas were based on the principle of
heredity and not upon the relationship of the conquerors and the conquered ,
because a “conquest” connoted an entirely different
Conquest did not
mean annihilation of phenomenon in India from that in other countries. Most of
the conquered. the wars in ancient India were the result of personal
animosities rather than national and after a war was over, all enmity between the
two opposite armies immediately vanished. Sri Rama is reported to have said to
Bibhishana, when the question of the disposal of the dead body of Ravana came
up, “He is as much mine as he is yours.” In many countries conquest meant
annihilation, immediate or gradual, of the conquered people, slavery being the only
option that was offered to them. Manu has stated in unequivocal terms that
immediately after a battle is over, the successful king should announce a general
amnesty to subjects of the defeated king, should consult the ministers of the
defeated king and appoint a descendant of the defeated king as the ruler of the
country and lay down adequate procedure for the government of the country.

Ancient Indians believed that for building up a strong, civilized and cultured
Hybridization was nation, the importance of heredity is immense ,because,
banned for physical as well as mental traits are transmitted from one
maintaining types
generation to another. For keeping up the physical and
intellectual efficiency, hybridization was carefully guarded against. The four
castes referred to above were the four principal types which constituted society.
Restrictions in marriages and other important items like
Ruskin on heredity eating and drinking aimed at the maintenance of these types,
the creation of which requires a long and careful social
planning. In India, we have these types since times immemorial. Similar types
have been maintained in many European countries by educated persons who
married only within their own professional circles such as clergy, lawyers and
military officers. Creation of types in a society is the first outlook of the social
leader. Afterwards, special care has to be taken not to allow these types to
deteriorate. Ever since the history of India is known to us these clearly marked
types have existed and arrangements made for keeping up these types. The four
varnas beginning with the Brahmana must have been the products of the deliberate
attempts of our ancient Rishis, who intuitively visualized the importance of
maintaining types and laid down laws leading to isolation of each type. According
to their ideology, it seems wrong to brand the division into castes as a social
stigma as many students of sociology often tend to do to-day. Biology does not
care what the sociologist says because its laws are irrevocable. Stressing the
importance of heredity, Ruskin has wisely said, “ But apricot out of currant, great
man out of small, did never yet art or effort make”. Nor is it possible to argue
that education can change capacity given by heredity, it can only develop it.

“Eminent mental ability in general, is mainly the result of germ inheritance, not of
nurture or education”.( Thorndyke – Human Nature Club p. 184) That
hybridization leads to ruin has also been clearly mentioned
Nelson traces the fall by Nelson who (Nelson – Eugenics, p. 238) discusses the
of Greece and Rome downfall of Greece and Rome from a social and biological
to hybridization of
types point of view. He points out that both countries apparently
took their origin by establishment of races by isolation and
inbreeding after a mixture had taken place. There was a great diversity of races in
the Roman Empire and the Roman rule tended to mix them up. Previously
isolation and inbreeding had kept them relatively fixed and developed them as
relatively pure races. Under the shelter of Roman peace and roman administration
they mingled, and, the result was unlimited hybridization of types destroying the
many fixed types which had existed and given rise to the stability of disposition
and culture. This blending of many races is regarded as the most destructive
agency in the downfall of Rome.( Talwalkar, V.D. –Chaturvarnya (Marathi),
quote on p. 231)

Justifying the division of society into the Varnas. Mahatma Gandhi said that, “It is
Mahatmaji’s views
a law of spiritual economics. Nations of the west and Islam
on heredity itself are unwillingly obliged to follow that law. It has
nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. It was a law
discovered by your ancestors and my ancestors, the Rishis, who saw that if they
were to give the best part of their lives to God and the world, and, not to
themselves. They must recognize it as the law of heredity. It
Thomson on
heredity is a law designed to set-free man‟s energy for higher pursuits
in life.”( Gandhiji, Young India dated 22-9-1927, p.319 )
Plato also supports this division into classes in as much as he has said that the
happiest world would be the one in which every man would be doing the work for
which he was best fitted by nature. It has to be mentioned however that his view is
but a reflection of the Indian ideology, because, it is now well known that Plato
and Aristotle had come to India and had drunk deep at her fountain of knowledge.(
Bhatta Chandrabhai-Nutan Shikshan and Manovijnana, p. 19 ) Another great
educationist of to-day also refers to the experiment conducted on the relative
influence of environment and heredity on either intelligence or school
achievement, and says, “the verdict is not unanimous, but the general conclusion
drawn by the editors, that nature is more potent than nurture in the production of
both intelligence and achievement is borne-out by the balance of evidence.”
(Thomson, G. H.--- A Modern Philosophy of Education, p.143)

It has become necessary to give such a large number of quotations from men of
eminence because, for the last many years there is a growing
The caste system
is somewhat tendency to misunderstand the division of the ancient
misunderstood community into four castes. The English-knowing Indians
misunderstand it, because their masters, the English-men do
so. The westerner misunderstood it because it is not found in his country, and,
because he had no capacity or desire to judge the propriety of the institution either
due to lack of critical estimation or to his sense of political superiority which did
not allow him to take an objective view of the institution. The intelligentsia of the
world have now gradually started realizing the desirability of accepting the
fundamental inequality of men. It is because of the correct knowledge of the
nature of society, that, no Hindu law book attempts any sort of codification. Our
present Hindu law is a queer mixture of Hindu and western ideas because, although
in a large number of cases, it applies Hindu law, the fundamental basis of
distinction in the amount of punishment to be meted out to different persons is not
acceptable to it. Until very recently, when cases of marriage, inheritance,
adoption etc. were to be decided, the system of law acceptable to the Hindus of a
particular part of a country was treated as the sole decisive factor. One law was
not applied to all people uniformly. In the state of Bengal, for example, the
Dayabhaga system of inheritance, which transfers the ownership of property to
those entitled to a share of patrimony only after the owner‟s death (uparamat
swatva) was in vogue. (M.S. 8-38) In other states the method followed was
Mitakshara which entitles one to a share of patrimony immediately he is born in a
family, (janmana swatva). It may be recalled in this connection that not only under
the sovereignty of the Muslim foreigners, but also in the day of the British East
India Company and the Crown it had been customary to employ Hindu pundits for
dispensation of justice in vogue in the province concerned. Although in the case of
inheritance Hindu law was meticulously being followed, in the case of punishment
given for civil and criminal offences, the Hindu system was neglected and a
Differentiation uniform scale was applied. This was very queer. It seems
pervaded all social difficult to explain why the policy should not have been
customs and
directives uniform. As already shown above, in connection with the
gradually ascending scale of punishment, is an important
factor in Hindu society. Another illustration to support the theory of differentiation
would be, that of the sentences to be used at the time of examining witness in law
courts. The modern form is to ask a witness to swear by god Almighty or to declare
solemnly that he would tell the truth alone. According to Hindu law-books, a
Brahamana witness was to be asked, “Supply the information”, to Kshatriya, “
Supply the correct information”, the Vaishya, “If you tell the untruth you will
incur the sin resulting from the theft of cows, corn and gold”, and to the Shudra,
“You will incur all the sins if you tell the untruth”.( M.S. 8-38 ) Similar
differentiation is also visible in many other details. At the time of begging alms a
Brahmana Brahmacharin was to say Kshatriya Brahmacharin and

A Vaishya Brahmacharin. (M.S. 8-49) When a person was to be complimented the

method different according to the varna to which the person to be complimented
belonged. ( M.S. 2-127 ) In the case of marriage too the differentiation was
maintained. After narrating the eight types of marriages in vogue it has been
clearly mentioned in the Manusmriti that the varnas have no liberty to choose any
one of the eight forms and that there is a restriction. Some of them are desirable
only for Brahmanas, some only for Kshatriyas and some only for Vaishyas and
Shudras. (M.S. 3-23 and 24) Differentiation thus, has been a fundamental factor in
Hindu social organization, because it is believed that difference is the law of nature
and not similarity, inequality and not equality and that it pervades the whole
creation. The ladder showing the ascending order in which differentiation in
creation appears has been clearly given by Manu. (M.S. 1-96 and 97 )According to
these verses the gradually ascending scale would be as follows : Inanimate things
animals, intelligent animals, men Brahmanas, learned Brahmanas, those who know
their duties, those who follow their duties and finally, those who know the
Brahman ( The ultimate truth.)

The life of being also is not on uniform whole according to Indian sociology. Just
The four Asramas as according to modern scientists, a man‟s life is
biologically divided into various stages like infancy, child-
hood, adolescence, adulthood, maturity and senility the Indian law givers divide
life into four principal stages in accordance with the capacities and duties of man.
This division into four Ashramas is the other principle of the Hindu social life, the
Brahmacharya first being the four-fold division into varnas. These two
constitute Hinduism. The name of the four Ashramas are
Brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha and sanyasa. The first of these covers a
period of about twelve years in the case of the normally intelligent pupils. Its
length varies according to capacities of pupils. The eighth year marks the
beginning of this period in the case of the Brahmanas, the eleventh year in the case
of the Kshartiyas and twelfth in the case of the Vaishyas The
Vanaprastha ritual which marks the beginning of this period is known as
Upanayana, which means taking the pupil to the house of the Guru for studies. It
can be performed even earlier in special cases. A Brahmana can perform the
upanayana ceremony of his son at the age of five (i.e. three years earlier) if he
wishes his son to acquire Brahmanic luster. In the case of
Samnyasa
the Kshatriya boy it can be performed at the age of six (i. e.
five years earlier) and in the case of a Vaishya boy in the eighth year (i. e. four
years earlier). The period following the upanayana is to be treated as the period
of student-hood wherein it is incumbent upon the student to observe certain
ceremonials which speed on the process of education by whetting his intelligence
and by developing in him the capacity of sustained application to study. This
period is also particularly important in evolving desirable tendencies in pupils
resulting from the spiritual atmosphere which pervades the hermitages of the
gurus. This stage lasts for a period of twelve years normally and for twenty-four or
thirty-six years in the case of those who study more Vedas than one. Snana or the
sacred bath indicates the termination of the first Ashrama and then the boy enters
the second stage viz. the life of the householder. He is generally twenty years of
age at this time. The life in the second Ashrama is compulsory in as much as there
is an injunction which lays down that one must get married. The householder is to
live a straight-forward and selfless life, full of self-control. It is during this period
that he has to liquidate the three debts due to Rushis, fore-fathers and gods and
then alone he becomes eligible to pass on to the next Ashrama, i.e. Vanaprastha
leaving the responsibility of running the household on his sons. ( M. S. 4-257 ) At
another place it has been pointed out that one should retire into the forest for
leading the life of a hermit when wrinkled and when he has become a grandfather.
He should then live a life of strict renunciation, self mortification and penance.
During summer he should sit in the midst of five fires, during the monsoon, under
the open sky and should wear wet clothes in winter. He should thus increase his
penance gradually. (M. S. 6-23) Passing the third quarter of the life as a hermit, he
should enter the fourth Ashrama in the fourth quarter, breaking as under all his ties
and completely indifferent to pleasure and pain.

A study of the four Ashramas, their duties and divisions will convince even a
casual observer that the scheme is best adjusted to the physical, intellectual, social
and spiritual development of man. The first quarter of life is the most convenient
period for growth of body and intelligence, inculcation of right habits and mastery
of knowledge and was therefore to be devoted to that work. Various types of
vratas and observances, which would lead to the physical
The propriety of and spiritual development of the youth were strictly to be
Asramas observed. He was taught the restraint of senses, the absence
of which led to frustration. The second Ashrama was the period when full
capacities are developed in the first Ashrama were to be utilized for man‟s social
and spiritual good. This Ashrama is in fact the key-stone of the arch of an Indian‟s
life. It was on the house-holder that all the Ashramas depended for their
maintenance as beings upon life-breath. (M. S. 3-77) This is therefore properly
called the noblest of the Ashramas. The third Ashrama was to be devoted to the
practice of penance and control of passions so that a way would be paved for a
final slipping-off to the fourth Ashrama which aimed at a complete renunciation of
everything.

The description of the system of Ashramas given so far must have made it clear
Renunciation is the that the only one principle on which Indian philosophy of
basis of Indian life life is based is that of renunciation. Brahmachrya,
Vanaprastha and samnyasa are full of renunciation even to a
casual observer but the life of the house-holder also is not less so. This Asrama is
not meant for enjoyment of life as supposed by many. It has been pointed out that
there are six passions ever-waiting for an opportunity to swoop down upon every
unwary soul like a vulture and tear him spiritually to pieces. (Bhag 5-1-17) The
“Bhagawata” used an excellent simile to explain the mental torture which one is
required to suffer while keeping aloof from attractions offered by senses by
comparing him to a person who is tormented by many co-wives. This Ashrama is
the most difficult particularly because one is constantly required to move among
attractions without succumbing to them where as in the remaining three stages the
attractions are not present to disturb one‟s mental equipoise. It is thus a grim duty
and not enjoyment. In fact there is little scope for enjoyment in any Ashrama
according to the Indian view of life. The whole life is full of sacrifices and
whatever a householder did was an act of sacrifice.
The theory of Ashramas was truly a sublime conception and if owing to the
Deussen’s exigencies of the time, the conflicts of interests and
appreciation of the distraction of life, the scheme could not, even in ancient
Asrama system
times be carried out fully by every individual and seems to
have failed in modern times the fault does not lie with the originators of this
conception. Deussen was constrained to say “how far the practice corresponded to
this theory given in Manu and other law books we do not know; but we are free to
confess that in our opinion the whole history of mankind has not much that equals
the grandeur of this thought”.( Kane, Mm. P.V. – History of Dharmasastra, Vol
II, Part I, p.423 ) The whole cultural background of the Indian is different from
that of the westerner. Both aim at happiness but the means used by the two vary.
If the amount of happiness be indicated by desires fulfilled divided by desires
cherished i. e. Happiness =Desires fulfilled / desires cherished. The westerner
wishes to increase the numerator, that is, wants to enjoy life and its blessings to the
highest possible extent whereas the Indian would reduce the denominator, that is,
reduce his cherished desires. Although mathematically the fraction may be the
same in both processes, the way of the Indian seems to be easier than that of the
other. Increase in the numerator means adding to one‟s possessions, which
ultimately leads to eternal material prosperity as envisaged in the increase of the
numerator does not necessarily mean dissatisfaction. But practical experience has
amply shown that one fulfillment of a desire brings many more in its train and this
train goes on endlessly. The “Bhagawadgita” describes the process thus:
Enjoyment of pleasure creates attachment to them, attachment creates a passion,
which when not fulfilled leads to anger.

Anger generates infatuation which begets loss of memory. Loss of memory brings
Renunciation is the loss of discretion which ends in ruin.( B. G. 2-62 and 63)
easier road to Desires are unending and therefore it is never possible for
happiness
any one to reach the final destination of happiness. Any
prosperous nation in the world will clearly indicate this tendency of human mind
which ends only in a disaster. The Indian way of becoming happy is to renounce
as much as possible. This is certainly an easier and a nobler way. It is the way of
exploiting one‟s own self instead of others, refusing all pleasures instead of
thirsting for them. This renunciation is more mental than material. It is an attitude
to be developed, although one may be externally surrounded by objects of senses.
External renunciation is less important, it is the internal that
Hindu sacred books really matters. The first without the second is worth
condemn
aggrandisement and nothing. An Indian stresses this aspect of renunciation and
exploitation extols it as divine. It is impossible to find any single
passage in the whole Hindu literature where the gospel of
possession is extolled. All great men in India became great because they were
renounced. Rich persons, kings, householders, samnyasins were all to give, even
their very life if need be. A guest was always welcome in the house of a
householder and not offering food to him was treated as spiritually degrading.
Sacrifices were prescribed for giving away wealth, so were hundreds of rituals
where the principal item was giving away. This avoided concentration of wealth
and any consequent disruption of society. Every one considered himself safe
because of this national trait and hence, India‟s long history of several thousands
of year, covering the reigns of thousands of kings, does not provide a single
example where the exploitation of the poor led to rebellion by impoverished
people. In the world of to-day the instinct of possession and domination has
reached its culmination which only results in destruction of millions, and slavery
for tens of millions. It is this tendency of self-aggrandizement that is so
vehemently condemned in Hindu sacred books in the following words : “This to-
day by me has been won, that purpose I shall gain; this wealth is mine already and
also this shall be mine in future. I have slain this enemy, and others also I shall
slay. I am the god, I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, powerful, happy. I am wealthy,
well-born; what other is there that is like unto me ? I will sacrifice, I will give
alms, I will rejoice. Thus deluded by un wisdom, bewildered by numerous
thoughts, enmeshed in the web of delusion, addicted to the gratification of desire,
they fall downwards into a foul hell”.( B.G. 16-13 and 16) It is this tendency again
that presented two catastrophes to the world in the form of two world wars and,
god forbid, way is being paved towards the third one which will, as developments
indicate, leave no trace of any civilization behind. Everyday we hear of a new
conference for an amicable settlement of heterogeneous ideologies but all these
conferences do not lead anywhere. The brotherhood of man is accepted by all but
every one wants to become the eldest who alone, according to the principle of
primogeniture, can inherit the whole property. World famous institutions like the
U. N. O. aim at bringing peace and harmony to the world but the last ten years‟
developments in the world show that despite sincerest attempts made by the
institution hatred, war, competition and exploitation are rife all over. The
institution has not been able to relieve the tension and aggression to any
considerable extent. The world has been permanently, at last it seems so to-day,
divided into two naturally rival groups, each one justifying its belligerent activities
merely as defense against the aggression of the other.

Like the principle of sacrifice and renunciation discussed above, there is another
The principle of equally important principle accepted by the Indian thinkers.
differentiation That is the principle of inequality, the principle of
differentiation. It does not mean partiality for one and a negation of the right of
others to live a happy life as is wrongly interpreted by people. It means that it is
impossible to base a stable structure of society on the fond but socially and
anthropologically wrong principle of equality of all creatures. The differences,
according to this theory, have to be reckoned with and the structure of society
adjusted to them. On the metaphysical side, the Indian is not satisfied with loving
only his neighbor as his self but accepts every object in the world be it animate or
inanimate, as a manifestation of god, “sarvam khalu idam Brahma.” But in spite of
this the extent of God‟s manifestation is not the same in every being. He accepts
that the world was created as a result of the desire of God but that by no means is a
justification for believing that every one thing is equal in all respects to every
other. It is the misconstrued idea of equality that has become the basis of modern
developments in many countries to-day and those at the helm are not ready to leave
this questionable assumption. It is believed that just as in the case of an electric
bulb, the main source of power is the same but yet the luminosity of every bulb
differs in accordance with the inherent capacity of the bulb to utilize the
inexhaustible store of light, so although every human being is a manifestation of
the same divinity, the capacity to become luminous, differs. This is a fundamental
principle which can never be denied. But the modern inclination of thought is just
the other way round and instead of finding fault with their workmanship,
politicians are fighting with their tools. As the “Bhagawadigita” says, “sages look
with eye of equality on a Brahmana adorned with learning and humility, a cow, an
elephant, a dog and an outcaste. (B.G. 5-18) But it would obviously be wrong to
expect that the philosophers of India expected all those to be capable of doing the
same functions.

What is then the meaning of equality according to Indian philosophers ? Equality

Meaning of equality does not mean sameness in capacities, sameness in physique
but an equal right for all to be reckoned with, an equal right
to demand justice and equal right to live a happy and prosperous life. This is the
fundamental equality enjoined by Indian philosophers, not the superficial equality
of modern thinkers. From an Indian philosopher‟s view point a gift of one Rupee
given by a poor person for a charity fund is equal to a gift of hundred by a
millionaire. A story in the “Ramamyana” will clarify the position. When Rama
was busy building the bridge to Lanka, the capital of Ravana, all beings great and
small participated in the project, each according to his own capacity. Big monkeys
brought huge rocks for filling in the ocean. A squirrel also, it is said, wanted to
help Rama in his work of destroying Ravana. It used to wallow in the sands on the
shore and slowly walk to the place where the bridge was being built and empty the
content of sand on its body at the place. The spiritual value of the help rendered by
the squirrel and the huge monkeys was the same according to Indian philosophers.
It has been pointed out times without number that a Shudra doing his prescribed
duties gets the same amount of merit (punya) as a Brahmana who does his duty of
studying the Vedas. Demanding the same duties from all regardless of their
physical, mental and spiritual capacities was considered as unjustifiable on any
account for capacities, intellectual and physical, do differ among men and animals.
The best that one could do for his own good and for that of his fellowmen was to
do his own duty. Sri Krishna has said that man reaches perfection by performing
his own duty. (B.G. 18-45) Thus there is no difference in the spiritual status of
persons.
A critical study of nature will suffice to show that the claim of those who support
equality on the ground that it is the law of nature, cannot be proved. It is outcome
of an opportunist philosophy, a temporary remedy for mobilization of public
opinion against a growing evil.

Many eminent scientists and philosophers of Europe to-day have exposed the
Russel on inherent hollowness of the idea of equality. While discussing the
differentiation problem of positive eugenics which consists in the attempt
to encourage desirable parents to have a larger number of children, Bertrand Russel
has passed the following remarks :-

“It would probably, however, be impossible, either in England or in America for

the state to adopt any measure really adequate to cause professional men to breed
large families. The ideas of eugenics are based on the assumption that men are
unequal while democracy is based on the assumption that they are equal. It is,
therefore, politically very difficult to carry out eugenic ideas in a democratic
community when those ideas in a democratic community when those ideas take
form not of suggesting that there is a minority of INFERIOR people such as
imbeciles but of admitting that there is a minority of SUPERIOR people. The
former is pleasing to the majority, the latter unpleasing. Measures embodying the
former fact, can therefore, win the support of the majority, while measures
embodying the latter cannot.”

William Mc Dougall also has spoken in the same strain. He has said ,‟‟One step of
McDougall on advance we have made: namely we have learnt that it is not true
inherent that „all men are created equal‟ in the sense that they are of
diiferentiation
equal natural endowments; rather some men and some races of
men are more highly endowed than others have reached a higher level in the
evolutionary scale.”43 The ideas of unqualified equality of all persons stand in
need of revision in the light of these remarks.

3 AIMS OF EDUCATION

A question is often asked : What were the aims of education in ancient India. One
Aim of life is the aim naturally gets bewildered when one is required to reply to
of eduction such a question. There is no book written by any of our
Rishis on this topic. Does this mean that all education of the Hindus was aimless,
left to take care of itself like an orphan ? If this question cannot be answered, it is
remarked, all the tall claims made in respect of Indian culture lose their value. But
we need not feel so embarrassed because the very question put to us is faulty, for
education is but one of the many aspects of life. We can talk of the aim of life
and then whatever is the aim of life will also be the aim of
That aim is Dharma every aspect which forms a part of life. In ancient India, life
had not been divided into compartments, like social life,
political life, economic life, academic life, religious life etc. because all these are
inextricably mixed up. Whatever therefore was the aim of life was also the
political aim, the social aim, the economic aim and the academic aim. Life was
treated as an integrated whole and every aspect therefore had to be interlinked. In
the case of our body all the organs seem to be spatially different and therefore not
integrally connected with each other, but they are internally connected by means of
the central nervous system. So in life all the aspects, though seemingly different,
have an integral connection. How this process works can be illustrated by an
example from life. A person walking in a street finds that the cricket ball hit by a
boy who is playing cricket on the street is moving rapidly in the direction of his
eye. According to the working of the instinct of self preservation, even before the
person becomes conscious of the impending danger, the legs have already dragged
his body to one side, the hands have already moved upwards and shielded the eyes,
the muscles of the eyes have already closed the eyelids and the head is already bent
down, the month has already uttered words of threat addressed to the children
playing at an improper place and the mind has already heaved a deep sigh of relief
from the impending danger of being required to go without one eye. All these
protective movements have been organized by some agency which we know little
about, but which controls every movement of our body. So in the opinion of
Indian thinkers there can be one aim of life, the same aim being common to every
activity connected with life. This aim of life is observance of Dharma. We
deliberately prefer the use of the Sanskrit word to the usual but wrong practice of
translating the word as „religion‟. Religion and Dharma are two entirely different
ideas, the former being narrow in its connotation when compared with the latter.
Because the two words are being used more or less as synonyms, the correct
connotation of the word Dharma is not understood by many of the people.
„Religion‟ conveys to an Indian mind, a set of ideas entirely different from those
conveyed to the followers of other religions.

According to the latter a religion explains the nature of God, discusses the problem
Dharma and religion of life after death, contains preachings regarding conduct,
has one authoritative scripture like the Bible or the Avesta,
prescribes certain ceremonies, rituals and highest authority in all matters, creates
strong sentiments through injunctions and finally becomes a determining factor of
a social group called a theophratry. All these religions are personal i.e. have been
given to their followers by individuals who were directly or indirectly connected
with God. If Jesus or Gautama are left out of consideration their religions will
have no authority. Hindu Dharma does not depend on any individual like Rama or
Krishna, Manu or Yajnavalkya, Vyasa or Vasushtha. It is a set of laws which are
sanatana i.e. ever-lasting in nature and no personality is indispensable. Hinduism
The implication of has no temporal or territorial affiliations. Hindu Dharma is
word Dharma an ideology spread over hundreds of Hindu works covering
millions of verses, which enable every person to live a spiritually prosperous life.
Etymologically the word Dharma means “that which sustains”. (M. Bh. , Santi
Parva) This sustenance has two aspects according to a Hindu; sustenance in this
life and in the life hereafter. (Vaiseshika Sutra- 1-1-2) Therefore, according to
Hindus, dharma permeates the whole life here and hereafter, and gives an
extremely prominent position to behaviour. Dr. S. V. Ketkar makes the following
observations in this respect. He says : “The words „Hindu Dharma‟ are being used
to-day. But the import of the word is not settled. It is in a state of confusion,
which is by the way due to the fact that the English conception of the word
„religion‟ is trying to displace the old meaning of the word „Dharma‟ in order to
appropriate that word for itself. It is not likely that the conception of religion will
be ever poured into the word Dharma successfully. All that it has achieved to-day
is that it has created temporary confusion in ideas, which is bound to disappear
before the march of science and scholarship. According to the orthodox usage, the
words „Hindu Dharma‟ and „Arya Dharma‟ are synonymous. The words „Hindu
dharma‟ were used in the vulgar or ordinary conversation, while the words „Arya
Dharma‟ were used in a dignified conversation. In the orthodox usage the word
Dharma kept its original meaning. „Arya Dharma‟ simply means the conduct and
usage that are proper for a gentleman (Arya). The word „Arya Dharma‟ refers
neither to any gods of Hindu pantheon nor to any of the philosophical tenets. It
refers primarily to the question of conduct. The great difference between the
Hindu conception of „ Dharma‟ and the European conception of „religion‟ is this.
To a European, Christianity of Christian religion are self-defined terms and the
acceptance of those ideas and practices indicated by the word would make a man
Christian. In the case of Hindu Dharma the relation is different. Hindus are a
definite body and Hindu-Dharma is that indefinite thing which the Hindus
consider their own Dharma.” ( Ketkar, Dr. S.V. – An Essay on Hinduism – Its
Formation and Future ) Dr. Radhakumud Mookerji also brings out the all
embracing nature of Hindu Dharma in the following passage :- “A singular feature
of ancient Indian or Hindu civilization is that it has been molded and shaped in the
course of its history more by religious than by political or economic influences.
Religion as the ancient Hindus understood it, practically dominated every sphere of
their national life. The fundamental principles of social, political and economic
life were welded into a comprehensive theory which is called religion in Hindu
thought The total configuration of ideas, practices and conduct is called Dharma
(religion, virtue or duty) in this ancient tradition. Thus it is religion that gave its
laws to the social life and organization of the ancient Hindus and regulated even
their economic activities and pursuits. In politics its influence has been no less
profound and pervasive, though not so apparent and explains much of the political
history of ancient Hindus. From the very start they came under the influence of
their religious ideas, to conceive of their country as less a geographical and
material than a cultural or spiritual possession and to identify, broadly speaking,
the country with their culture. The country was their culture and the culture their
country…… The political and social reality for Hindus is not geographical, nor
ethnic but a culture pattern”. (Mookerji, Dr. R. K. – Ancient Indian education,
Prologue, p. xix )

Dharma is the root of every aspect of life, according to the Hindus, and therefore,
The comprehensive whatever is the aim of Dharma is also the aim of education,
nature of Dharma sociology, politics, economics etc. Life is a composite-
whole made up of all these aspects which can never be considered in isolation. All
these have to be mutually adjusted and have to pull in the same direction, so that,
their forces may not cancel each other. It is the adjustment of all these that will
lead to a happy life. The Indian seers were successful in the mutual adjustment of
all these claims and the evolution of a unique cultural synthesis of all these.
Instead of giving a long list of aims of education as has been given by many
modern writers, Indian seers formulated a four-fold scheme which aimed at giving
vent to all instinctive desires and sublimating them so as to lead a person towards
divine life from which he moves away, owing to worldly passions. The Indian
does not believe in the theory of original sin. He believes that man is born from
god and the end of his life should be the realization of one-ness with god. He
believes that he was identical with god-head but has some how or other been
separated from him and his attempt always is, therefore, to regain his former
position. The whole Hindu literature has this principal aim, which they call the aim
of self-realization. There are three aims which culminate in the fourth i.e. moksha.
These four aims are together called the four Purusharthas. They are Dharma,
Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma means the discharge of one‟s duty as rationally
conceived as an aspect of social ethics. Artha means the ordering of one‟s worldly
concerns so as to conduce to happiness. Kama means the enjoyment of pleasure
without coming into conflict with Dharma. Moksha means the disentangling of
oneself from ephemeral pleasures and joy‟s because the pleasures have ceased to
please and joys have become void of content, as higher and more permanent forms
unfold themselves to mental vision.

Dharma as pointed out before means observance of duty in general whereas

Moksha is the final stage into which the first three
Dharma controls
natural instincts automatically culminate. Out of these four aims, the second
because they can and the third i.e. Artha and Kama deserve a critical
not be uprooted consideration. The instinct of possession and the instinct of
sex have to be reckoned with. Unless these are properly directed, regulation of life
would not become possible. So there is provision in Hindu life for a controlled
working of these two instincts. Hindu thinkers knew very well that instinctive
desires cannot be starved to death because they are inborn. Buddhism tried it and
failed. From the ideology of moving in solitude like a rhinoceros. Buddhism
gradually slid back to life in viharras (literally meaning „sports‟ but conventionally
translated as „Buddhist monasteries‟). These Vihars provided all amenities of
enjoyment of rich life, and the life lived by Bhikkus therein left little scope for
renunciation. The „Sanghas‟ possessed large properties and ceased to be schools
for intellectual progress and virtue and were thronged with the worthless and the
idle. Decent clothes, regular food, nice shelter, noon-day rest and medical
treatment by best physicians and a daily massage whetted desires and passions
instead of uprooting them. Instinct, as Buddha desired, can never be uprooted, they
can be kept within limits and the energy thus saved can be diverted to higher
channels of activity. Hinduism could do this very well. There was no opposition to
Kama (desire) but it was to be directed property Sri. Krishna has said that he is
Kama or desire, which does not conflict with Dharma.5. to the highest goal could
be achieved. The „Bhagawata‟ makes the point clear when it says that, even
without any directive, people have an instinctive liking for sexual pleasure, flesh-
eating and liquor-drinking. These activities are given a place for exercise in the
institution of marriage, in the sacrifice, and the Sautrmani-Yagna. It is desirable to
completely abstain from them . (Bhag 11-5-11 ) Artha and Kama have to be given
their proper place in life, only they are to become servants not masters. The
„Katha‟- Upanishad rightly compares the Atman (soul) with the master of the
chariot, the body with the chariot, conscience with the charioteer, the mind with
the reins, the organs with the horses and the objects of senses with the path they
traverse. It further says that one whose charioteer is knowledge and mind the
reins, he alone goes to the successful end of the passage (of life). (K. Up. 2-2, 3, 4
and 9 ) Artha and Kama are to be controlled by means of Dharma which gives
equipoise to everything. (Narayana Up. 17-16 ) .

The final stage is emancipation from all worldly bondage, self-realization, the
realization of one‟s identity with the one eternal, supreme principal of life, the
uncaused cause of the world. It is by no means to be
Self-realization is
possible only for a few supposed that every one is temperamentally fitted to reach
this final end but this is the theoretical path and like birds
traversing the wide expanse of the sky according to their own capacity, each one is
expected to develop himself to the best of his ability. But for the common man the
last stage was superfluous. For him the proper direction of instincts, so as not to
come into conflict with higher and nobler ideals of life was sufficient. This is what
is termed in modern usage as the „development of character‟ which creates eternal
harmony and which is, in fact, the only aim of life and therefore of education.

It is necessary to draw the attention of the reader to one popular misconception

Renunciation is usually according to which the aim of Hinduism is the
misinterpreted renunciation of the world. Renunciation is the
distinguishing feature of Buddhism and certain other older sects, later tagged on to
Hinduism and has done irreparable wrong to the nation. Renunciation is doubtless
the very backbone of Hinduism but it is more mental than material. What matters
in spiritualism or philosophy is the former, not the latter. Worldly actions are
enjoined upon all, even upon men of knowledge Renunciation of material
possessions is not allowed during the stage of the house-holder, the Gruhastha.

Only all action is to be performed without attachment or bondage. As Sri Krishna

says, “One who leaves off all attachment and relinquishes all actions in Brahma
does not get polluted like a lotus leaf by water, I have nothing to do in these worlds
nor anything that yet remains to be attained but still I continue to act (for the
people)”( B. G. 5-10 ) Renunciation is the core of the life of a Hindu but material
renunciation cannot be stressed in the life of the house-holder. It has therefore to be
mental. In the remaining three Ashramas it is material. It is true that many Hindus
even today believe that material renunciation is a feature of the second Ashrama,
i.e. the house-holder stage also. But it is a misconception which can be explained
as a wrong application of Shri Shankaracharya‟s renunciatory philosophy by half-
baked Shankara-philosophers. Shankaracharya‟s philosophy is meant only for the
specially gifted few as pointed out in his Vivekachudamani. Such persons must
have the capacity to distinguish between what is transient and eternal, must have a
fully developed capacity of renunciation must have the six qualifications like
„sama‟ and others and finally a desire to become free from worldly bondage.
(Sankaracharya- Vivekachudamani, 17) The number of persons who possess
these qualifications is necessarily microscopic. Renunciation can never have
universal application. It is therefore necessary to be very cautious in this respect.

It can be easily seen from the above discussion that „Dharma‟ is so comprehensive
Dharma includes all an ideal that all the aims of education we shall describe later
educational aims and which are accepted in many advanced countries can be
included in this comprehensive aim. All the aspect of life, social, political, moral,
individual , national and international are covered by the ideal of Dharma in
Hinduism. A glance at law books, like the one of Manu will easily convince one of
the propriety of the above remarks. No detailed description of how every aim, as
presented by modern educationists, is included in our law books is possible in a
short essay like this but after a perusal of the aims of education as laid down by
modern authorities, some indication in this respect, will be given.

Although a bit lengthy, we consider it worthwhile to give below a list of the

Aims of education in principal goals of learning in a democratic society. One of
American democracy the best of these efforts is that described in the publication
of Education policies Commission entitled „ The Purposes of Education in
American Democracy‟. The Committee finds four educational objectives in the
democratic society.( Boynton, P.L. et al –Elementary Educational Psychology, P.
20)
1. The objectives of Self - realization
2. The objectives of Human Relationship
3. The objectives of Economic Efficiency
4. The objectives of Civic Responsibility

Under the first objective of self-realization are included the inquiring mind,
knowledge of speech, reading, writing and numbers, health knowledge, health
habits and public health, recreation i.e. participation and spectatorship in sports and
pastimes, intellectual interests involving use of leisure, aesthetic interests and
charter. Under the second objective of Human Relationship are included respect
for humanity, rich sincere and varied social life, co-operation, courtesy,
appreciation of home and family as a social institution, conservation of home,
home making and democratic family relationship. Under Economic Efficiency are
included good workmanship, occupational information choice, efficiency and
appreciation, personal economics, consumer Judgment, efficiency in buying and
consumer protection. Under Civic Responsibility are included social justice, social
activity, social understanding, critical judgment, tolerance of honest differences of
opinion, critical judgment , tolerance of honest differences of opinion,
conservation, social activity, social understanding, critical judgment, tolerance of
honest differences of opinion, conservation social application of science, world
citizenship, law-observance, economic literacy, political citizenship and devotion
to democracy. This is a lengthy list indeed and the items ate by no means mutually
exclusive. They overlap too often. Yet this is useful for giving an adequate idea of
what are treated as the purposes in education in that country.

We also have two shorter list, one from England and another from U.S.A. “The
Aims of education in English Code says : The purpose of the elementary school
England and America is to form and strengthen the character and to develop the
intelligence of children entrusted to it and to make the best use of the school years
available, in assisting both boy and girls, according to their different needs, to fit
themselves practically as well as intellectually, for the work of life. The Americans
also have in recent years given us an example of a list of the aims of education
which is thoroughly practical. Their list is this: Worthy home membership,
vocation, citizenship, leisure, health, command of fundamental processes, ethical
character.”(Thomson G. H. Modern Philosophy of Education p.64-65)
Thorndike in his Principles of Teaching says, “These aims of education in general,
goodwill to men, useful and happy lives, and noble enjoyment are the ultimate
Aims of education aims of school education in particular. Its proximate aims
as given by other are to give boys and girls health in body and mind,
eminent thinkers
information about the world of nature and men, worthy
interest in knowledge and action, a multitude of habits of thought, feeling and
ideals of efficiency, honor, duty, love and service…the school must prepare for
efficiency in the serious business of life as well as for the refined enjoyment of its
leisure. The ideal is the capable man - capable in scholarship still, but also capable
in physique and in the power to manipulate things. And very recently thinkers
about education have dwelt more upon this importance of aiming …. Also to adapt
(Children) to the life of childhood itself.( Thomson G. H. , Modern Philosophy of
Education p.66) Over and above the comprehensive lists given above, we find
the aims of education enumerated in other ways also “The grandeur and work of
human life at its best are emphasized by idealism. Human personality is of
supreme value and constitutes the noblest work of God.

From such consideration we reach the aim of education specially associated with
idealism namely the exaltation of personality or self-realization, the making actual
or real, the highest potentialities of the self….. It is the main task of education to
foster that perfection of each individual which already exists in him. Self-
realization should be for all, not for a favored few‟ (Ross, J.S. – Groundwork of
Educational Theory, p..115) Another aim of education is also enunciated by
some. It is self-expression. Differentiating between self-realization and self
expression. Ross says: “Self-realization is the aim according to idealists. The
difference between the idealistic and naturalistic aims is just the difference
between self-realization and self-expression.( ibid, p. 122)

Joad says, “Education has a number of ends of which three are outstanding: (1) To
equip a boy or girl to earn his or her living. (2). To equip him to pay his part as the
citizen of democracy and (3). To enable him to develop all the latent powers and
facilities of his nature and so to enjoy a good life. These aims are complementary
and not exclusive and a satisfactory education will seek to secure all the three.”(
Joad, C.E.M. – About Education, p 23)

Ruediger briefly describes the aim thus : “To educate a person means to adjust him
to those elements of his environment that are of concern in modern life, and to
develop, organize and train his powers so that he may make efficient and proper
use of them.”( Ruediger, W.C. – The Principles of Education, p.39)
Dr. Radhakrishnan says, „the quality of civilization depends not on the material
equipment or the political machinery, but on the character of man. The major task
of education is the improvement of character.”( The Report of the University
Education Commission, P. 48)

An analysis of the rather too numerous and lengthy passages quoted above will
Ancient Indian show that the principle aims of education as envisaged by
education had modern education as envisaged by modern educationists fall
fulfilled all the aims
under the same four heads as enumerated before viz. self-
realization, human relationship, economic efficiency and civic responsibility. It has
to be remembered in this connection that these four aims ate not mutually
exclusive, they overlap to a certain degree. A study of ancient Hindu society will
clearly show that all these aims had been well-nigh realized in the ancient Hindu
society. Civic responsibility was fully developed in as much as every one knew
well what part he had to play as a member of society. We find innumerable stories
in our epics and even modern history where civic demands on men are highly
respected. It is because of this that Harishchandra abandoned his kingdom, even
though promised in a dream, that Shri Rama left Sita even though she was dearer
to him than his very life but had become an object of scandal, that the sage
Dadhichi gave his bones, for forging a weapon to kill Vritra, against the desire of
his wife who would not allow him to do so, that Dharmaraja left his kingdom, in
no way interior to the kingdom of god Indra, that Chhatrapati Shivaji put behind
bars his very son and that Nana sahib rose in revolt against the Englishman in
1857, knowing fully-well that he was fighting against heavy odds. The culture
traditions of the nation had (and have) been so strongly built up that these traits
were unconsciously inherited and therefore, no attempt was necessary to impart
them in schools.

Economic efficiency could never have been an aim in India because she has been
Economic efficiency the favored land Gods. India of old had been so rich in
should not be an aim everything that conduces to worldly prosperity that earning a
of education in India
living had never been a problem in this country. Al
throughout Sanskrit literature we find an appreciation of this unique position of our
land. Not in vain did our Puranas refer to oceans of honey, curds and milk. India
had every been a land of plenty as a result of her large territorial extent her
perennial streams of plenty which are at once the highways of commerce and
culture, her agricultural and mineral wealth, and her live-stock. Most of these have
remained unaltered even to-day but the economic position of India has been
extremely pitiable because of the drain of wealth which continued throughout the
period of British domination in the country. India was literally the land of gold and
deaths of starvation were unheard of. This could be achieved because the people
had developed a sense of renunciation. Accumulation often resulting in
exploitation tarnishes the grandeur of modern civilization and worst of it is that all
these wicked crimes are perpetrated in the name of
The picture changed civilization. Men‟s capacities are increasing but the wolf
under the British within them is not affected. The history of our economic
regime
progress and the onward march of civilization is a sad
history of robbing of other nations. It is a stigma on civilization. It is particularly so
because our civilization has rudely shocked the economic foundation of may an
industrially less civilized people. The machine has proved to be a blood-sucking
instrument in the case of many nations. The scientific inventions and discoveries
also have helped to economically strangle weaker and less advanced nations. The
economic stability of life in India which had remained unaffected even under the
rule of Muslims, received a violent shock under the British. The vocations were
greatly affected by British trade with India and millions were thrown out of jobs
and the harmony that prevailed for ages disappeared. Just as the family is the social
unit in India, so the village was the economic unit. Even in spite of wars raging in
cities, the village continued to be unaffected in its routine. But as a result of the
economic policy of the rulers, villages gradually began to degenerate and a
continuous flow of manpower towards cities started. There has been a cry raised
now by our leaders and very correctly too, asking villagers to go back to their
villages but there is no vocation left for them in the villages now on which they can
subsist. The vocations have to be created and much attention is being devoted to
the development of the village-crafts. But the impact of machine will not allow
villages-craft to develop. The weaver, the carpenter, the smith, the cane worker and
the laborer have no work in villages now; they are thrown out of employment. In
ancient Hindu days every person got work, and money and food were ample and
easily within reach. Economically the whole nation had been tuned up to such a
high level of moral behavior that people were vying with each other in giving
donations and felt miserable if no one was available for receiving the donation.
Every ceremonial was associated with free distribution of wealth. Sovereigns also
used to take part in such offerings and we have instances of numerous kings who
performed the sacrifice known as „Viswajit‟ which was sarvasva-dakshina (all-
giving) and retired into the forest and utilized only earthen pots. Kalidasa
describes one such king in Raghu.( R. V. 5-2 ) The whole Sanskrit literature is full
of injunctions to give and the most unique feature of Hindu life is that this practice
of giving donations continued unabated for several thousands of years known to
history. In fact it is partially this indiscriminate hospitability that has proved
suicidal to the nation. Under these circumstances economic efficiency could never
have been the aim of Indian education.

In so far as human relationship was concerned India had been pre-eminently

We have examples of successful. Men generally speaking behaved in a way
excellent specimens befitting the noblest work of God. We have ideal example
of human relationship
of a wife in Sita, a brother in Lakshmana, a donor in
Karna, a friend in Shri Krishna, a king in Dharmaraja, a Kshatriya in Bhishma a
minister in Vidura, and an ideal king in Rama, who, for duty abandoned his very
wife. Mutual co-operation and help had made the nation into a veritable heaven.
Vice was unheard of in the country. King Janashruti Pautrayana said about his
subjects that there were no thieves, no misers, no drunkards, none who had left off
fire-worship, none who was ignorant, no adulterers, much less adulteresses. This
was not an empty vaunt. (Chha. Up. 5-11). Building up such a society could
become possible because of the great ideal of renunciation followed in India. Real
peace cannot be achieved through greed, possession and plunder. Not only is there
no relationship between the objective and the means, but there is a positive
contrast. Peace and possession can never co-exist. It is the ancient Rishis of India
who had found the master-key to happiness. The Narayana Upanishad says, “ Men
attained immortality not through deed, not through progeny, not through wealth,
but through renunciation alone.” (Narayana Up. 8-14) The modern world has yet
to realize the wisdom of old as contained in this pithy sentence. But unfortunately
the signs are clearly visible that not before long, the mad race for domination and
power will bring a veritable disaster on humanity. The world is as it were sitting
on the crater of a terrible volcano, every moment expecting the volcano to burst.
Unless this greed is purged, none can save the world from destruction.

India had been pre-eminently successful in developing the aspect of human

Foreign travellers’ relationship. We have ample evidence of many travelers
views on character from other nations who have recorded what they found in
of Indians
India. The earliest record of such a brilliant testimony to
Indian character is from Megasthenes, who had come to India in circa 324 B. C.
His appreciation of Indian character is particularly important because over and
above being a foreigner he belonged to the race of India‟s political opponents. He
has said that “Indians have never been convicted of lying. Truth and virtue they
hold in high esteem. They are not litigious. Witness and seal are not necessary
when a man makes a deposit, he acts in trust. Their houses are usually
unguarded.(Megasthenes,Fragment 35)

Yuan Chwang who came to India in the 7th century A. D. thus sums up his
Yuan Chwang impressions of Indian character as a whole. He says, “They
are of pure moral principles. They will not take anything
wrongfully and they yield more than fairness requires. They fear retribution of
sins in their lives…..They do not practice deceit and they
Al Idrisi keep their sworn obligations.”(Watters-I, p. 171) The Arab
traveler Al Idrsi says of the Indians that :”the Indians are naturally inclined to
justice and never depart from it in their actions. Their good
Marco Polo
faith, honesty and fidelity to engagements are well known
and they are so famous for these qualities that people flock to their country from
Colonel Sleeman every side.”( Elliot- History, Vol I, p.88) The Italian, Marco
Polo came to India in the thirteenth century. Referring
particularly to the character of the Brahmanas, he says “ you must know that these
Brahmanas are the best merchants in the world and the most truthful, for they
would never tell a lie for anything on the earth. If a foreign merchant, who does
not know the ways of the country applies to them and entrusts his goods to them
they would take charge of these and sell them in the most zealous manner, seeking
zealously the profit of the foreigner and asking no commission except what he
pleases to give.”( Yule- Marco Polo, Vol II, p. 363 ) Colonel Sleeman, even as
late as the 18th century has paid homage to the character of the Indian in the
following words : “Lying between members of the same village is almost
unknown. I have had hundreds of cases before me in which a man‟s property,
liberty and life depended upon his telling a lie and he has refused to tell
it.”(Maxmuller- India, what it can teach us, p.50 ) Is it conceivable to expect
any better specimen of development of character ?

The modern list of aims of education, it will be easily seen, includes the aims of
education as pointed out by ancient Greek educators like Socrates and Plato.
According to Socrates “the general aim of education
Self-realization is the was to develop in each individual the power of
highest aim of education
formulating universals, of developing the power of
thought”.( Monroe, Paul –History of Education, p.126) According to Plato “To
attain to this virtue, this knowledge of the good, is the aim of the individual life; to
develop this knowledge, this appreciation of the good, is the aim of
education”.(ibid. p. 132). These aims are more or less abstract when compared
with some of those quoted before and aim at objectives higher than those
previously mentioned. But the highest of all the objectives of education is the
objective of self-realization. The term connotes the idea that man should develop
to his fullest possible potentialities. But even then the term continues to be vague,
for there is no clear indication of the heights that a man can possibly reach. The
highest spiritual conceptions differ widely in different cultures in accordance with
the philosophy acceptable to them. Indian philosophy had reached a very high
level. According to this philosophy the highest stage of human development is the
realization of one‟s unity with God Almighty. A person who reaches this stage is
described as a person who is free from all bondage. Such a person, it is said,
reaches such a state of mental equilibrium, as cannot be disturbed by any external
agency. When a man reaches this stage, “He attains peace, into whom all desires
flow as rivers flow into the ocean which is filled with water but remains unmoved
– not he who desires”. According to Hindu philosophy every man is potentially
divine and hence can become the divine. The aim of all Dharma according to
Hindu scripture is to raise one to a high level culminating in his deification. This is
the state where a real equality can be realized in the true philosophical sense. It is
such a person who is educated in the real sense of the term. It is under the
guidance and control of such a person that the world can attain happiness. This
state is such as cannot be comprehended by any of the organs of sense for it is
beyond the senses. Such a man, it is said, possesses the third eye of knowledge
and can comprehend things which ordinary men cannot. Such a man crosses the
stages of sensation and perception and possesses an extra-ordinary power of
intuition which needs no experimentation and logical argumentation. This stage
represents the consummation of education and has ever been the ultimate target of
Hindu education. Patanjali refers to such a stage of mystic power in one of his
Sutras. Such a high ideal presupposes very exacting type of discipline which has
been provided for in Hindu law books. Although it has to be admitted that this aim
cannot be prescribed for all and sundry, it still continues to be the aim of education.
The worth of such a kind of education imparted to a few selected persons is much
Such high aims are more than that of ordinary education imparted to thousands.
for a select few only Some enlightened educationists in Europe, of comparatively
modern age, have also realized the desirability of such a position and prefer it to
shallow education imparted to larger numbers. “It is common to bewail the
elimination of so many from school life and to rejoice at any numerical increase in
the proportion of children at any age who are under school influence. These
opinions are probably justifiable, but the more important cause for regret or
satisfaction lies, not in the quantity of those who continue school work, but in their
quality. Out of a thousand six-year olds, there are a score whose higher education
is of more value to the community than that of a hundred of their fellows” (
Quoted from Thorndike on p. 27 in Ruediger’s Principles of Education). It is
because of such unique scholars, though few in number, that Indian education had
proved so singularly successful. It should serve as an eye-opener to many, to-day,
who think that India was educationally backward because the percentage of
literacy was low. A person who has realized himself is a reservoir of all moral and
social virtues, is the fountain head of all that is good and is capable of bringing
happiness to all.

But there is another question that would confront us here. That is whether it is
Education of the gifted possible to expect all to reach this stage of development.
few was in vogue The answer to this question is a categorical „no‟. All
cannot reach this stage of development for all are not equally gifted. But as has
been previously shown the social structure of Hinduism which was perfectly in
accordance with nature, attached importance only to a select capable few. The
Hindu philosopher did not want to fight with nature because it differentiated
between a rose and a hawthorn, a donkey and a horse, a dullard and a genius. He
considered it wisest to pick up the natural capacities where they were available in
plenty and create an environment convenient for their growth to the fullest
capacity. That is why Manu also insists upon not imparting knowledge to one who
does not possess the necessary qualities of head and heart for that is like sowing
seeds in a desert. The Veda which is the highest authority, also points out that
capacities of men differ widely although they possess all the senses alike. self-
realization, therefore, is the final and the supreme aim of education, an aim that
includes all minor ones. Like the sky that encompasses everything. It is this aim
where-in excellences converge, like all creatures in God Almighty.

4 Curriculum

The subjects included in the curriculum to be taught in schools indicate the aims of
Introduction education that the leaders of society wish to be fulfilled. In
modern days for example the curriculum contains subjects
like civics, elementary world history, geography, physics, etc., which indicate that
the pupil should possess the amount of knowledge necessary for making him a
properly qualified citizen of the world of to-day. The same consideration must
have weighed even in ancient India. Although there was no division of education
on a watertight basis like primary, secondary or university, some sort of a line of
demarcation did exist even then. It was somewhat similar to the present one.

We have already seen before that Upanayana generally took place at the ages of
Non-Vedic subjects eight, eleven and twelve in the case of Brahmanas,
were taught at the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas respectively. This does not mean
early stage
that up to that period the child was left completely uncared
for; for Upanayana marked the beginning of Vedic studies. The Chaula ceremony
usually took place at the age of three when children started learning subjects other
than the Veda. The „Uttara rammacharita‟ mentions that three Vuduyas excepting
the three Vedas were taught to lava and Kusha after their Chaula ceremony was
performed. This period may be styled as the period of primary education when
pupils learnt the three R‟s. The Upanayana marked the beginning of the period of
secondary education at this stage the pupil was required to stay at his Guru‟s
place. This period was to be devoted to the study of the Veda and its auxiliary
sciences. The primary stage of education was compulsory for all though not in the
modern sense. There was no extraneous force that made education at this stage
compulsory, but every Dwija, voluntarily imparted the education in the three R‟s to
Vedas and auxilliary his children for keeping up the social dignity that attached
sciences were taught at to his standing in society. What was taught at this stage to
the secondary stage children was the barest minimum that was necessary for
children of Dwijas. In most cases it was the elements of reading, writing and
computing which form a background necessary for the study of every subject. The
three Vidyas viz logic(anvikshiki), administration of justice(dandaniti) and
agriculture(varta) must not have been commonly taught though we have these
mentioned in connection with the education of royal children in the quotation. The
education at the secondary state also was more or less compulsory but the duration
and the amount of knowledge to be acquired at this stage were very rigorous and
only those who could control their innate desires and exhibit utmost keenness of
intellect could finish off the course. The study at this stage consisted of the
recitation and comprehension of Vedic Mantras and the six auxiliary sciences viz.,
phonetics , the rules of the performance of sacrifices, grammar, astronomy,
prosody, and etymology. Manu-Smruti makes it quite clear that those who had
capacity could study more Vedas than one but generally one Veda was studied by
many. It was generally believed that a period of twelve years is necessary for the
study of one Veda, yet those who were more intelligent and could master the Veda
in a shorter period were allowed to leave the Guru‟s house even earlier. But Vedas
were not the only subject studied at this stage. After some acquaintance with the
portions of the Veda necessary for daily worship, some other sciences were also
studied as can be seen from various list of Vidyas available in various places. In
one place we find the following list mentioned : Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda,
Atharvaveda, cosmological accounts and stories of old heroes, grammar, rituals
concerned with manes, arithmetic, the knowledge of portents, the science of
divination, theological discourses, science of conduct, the science of worship,
pronunciation, ceremonial, prosody, demonology, art of war, astronomy, the
science of snakes, music and medicine. It is also customary to refer to the fourteen
Vidyas. These are the four Vedas, six auxiliaries to Vedic study (mentioned
before), sacred and secular law, Puranas, science of exegesis and logic. The lists
enumerated above are merely indicative of the variety of subjects taught in ancient
Indian educational institutions. Many of these institutions of higher education
corresponded to our present institutions of secondary education although there
were some which also taught higher courses, which are at present taught in
colleges, and which were even in old days taught in special institutions for higher
education like Takshas‟ila and Nalands. Along with these literary subjects other
vocational courses also used to be taught by master craftsmen in institutions
corresponding to out secondary and collegiate institutions.

If we attempt to find out how much of the various types of knowledge formed the
Only a very small compulsory curriculum, we shall be surprised to find it was
minority was very very small. After the Upanayana was performed students
highly educated
used to go to their Guru‟s houses but how long they were to
stay there was not rigidly prescribed, so that students stayed there according to
their convenience and capacity, and returned. That very few finished off their
course is clear from the immense reverence in which one who had finished his
study in the house of the Guru, the snataka was held . He was treated as superior
in luster even to the sun, who it was believed could shine only with the luster
borrowed from the snataka. 5. It was such a very highly educated minority that
guided the society not by framing new laws but by leading a life of discipline
which was a model for others to follow. It has been already pointed out in chapter
two that in Hinduism there is normally no provision for enacting new laws. They
have been there from times immemorial, as codified in Manusmruti and have
proved a blessing to society. The only work that remains to be done is to keep
living models before society, which will serve as examples to be imitated. The
common masses of people, however, concentrated only on the three R‟s because
beyond that nothing was necessary for the common man. Even the three R‟s it
could be easily proved were treated as an intellectual luxury by common people,
because hearing was the principal means through which knowledge was gained.

It is generally pointed out to-day that the knowledge of reading is necessary

Hearing was more because it is a means to get knowledge. But in old days the
important than arrangements made to disseminate knowledge through oral
reading
means were so perfect and efficient and the stock of
knowledge necessary for happy life so limited that no one found it necessary to
develop the capacity to read for oneself. The work of taking knowledge to the
masses was done by the castes known as sootas, Magadhas and Bandins. The
Bandin‟s duty was to praise the particular king he was serving; the Magadhas
narrated the stories and exploits of various ancient kings in the country, the Sootas
were the repositories of every type of knowledge regarding the cultural and
traditional history of the Aryan race. The Bhagawata Purana explicitly mentions
that Sootas were not versed in the Veda but were custodians of knowledge.
Shaunaka there says to Soota, “You narrate to me whatever you are asked; I
consider you an authority in respect of all knowledge, excepting the knowledge of
the Vedas”. Like modern dramatic companies, these people moved from one place
to another, singing the glories of their national heroes. These people were also
good poets and often added didactic, geographical, scientific and philosophical
material to the stock of knowledge already in their possession. The work
continued with undiminished intensity for thousands of years. These institutions
gradually went on expanding. In order to ensure that this national culture
incorporated in the Puranas spread evenly in the country, it was laid down in the
Sastras, that, men and women should attend the reading of Puranas every day This
arrangement, as we all know well, is working to some extent even to-day. The
credit for the cultural knowledge our older men and women doubtlessly goes to
this institution.

Writing is treated as an essential part of the accomplishments of people to-day

Writing and computing because it enables on to communicate one‟s own ideas to
also occupied an others. It has however to be admitted that writing is much
important place
less important than reading even in Modern days because
writers who conceive thoughts worth being communicated to other are very few,
readers are legion. It is only for the purpose of communication information that
writing can be used. It is worthwhile to note that most of the noblest and abstruse
thoughts conceived by Indian seers were not reduced to writing for millenniums.
The Rig Veda gives a clear evidence of the fact that the alphabet was well-known
in those days. One Sukta says that there are some people who see the speech and
see it not, others there are who hear it and hear it not. 7. Yet the thoughts were
deliberately not reduced to writing because letters written on paper were dead
matter and therefore did not confer the advantage of living inspiration. Even in
later periods when there was no paucity of writing material, writing did not occupy
an important position as a source of knowledge. Computation was necessary for
man because it facilitated exchange of commodities and counting of money,
numbers, calculation of interest, etc. Capacity to count occupied a more important
place than writing because many opportunities offered themselves in daily life
where the knowledge of counting could be utilized.
These three were thus the fundamental subjects, although varying in their
The narrow curriculum importance, which formed the common core of
was sufficient because compulsory curriculum. This barest minimum could
society was stable
suffice because the socio-religious regulation had
established a very healthy routine of every-day conduct and problems of social
nature like instruction in civics recently every introduced in our schools, did not
worry the thinkers of those days. The knowledge of these three was sufficient
background for the mastery of any of the sciences. It was not considered necessary
to introduce a long list of subjects in schools as we find to-day in countries where
education is imparted on a compulsory basis. It is only when a society has not been
able to establish any stable form and is affected by every small social changes that
a very bulky, ambitious and changing curriculum becomes necessary. Many a well-
known writer on education has condemned the vastness of the list of compulsory
subjects to be taught at the primary stages. We have yet to evolve a pattern of
society where all this unnecessary burden on the growing child can be avoided. It
is then alone that the curriculum in Indian primary schools will be reduced.

We have pointed out above that a very narrow curriculum was sufficient as a
Character occupied background for all individual development. That however
a higher place than does not mean that the knowledge that three „R‟s was the
information
only subject to be concentrated upon. It was necessary but
not the most important task of the education. The most important task was to hand
over to the youth, the long continued traditions of benevolence, generosity and
virtue. It is because of this that on a comparative evaluation of character or
accomplishment as the aim of education. Manu ( Manusmruti, 2-118) has very
significantly pointed out that a person with the knowledge of only one Mantra, the
Gayarti, but with self-controlled behavior is to be preferred to a person indulging
in unbridled enjoyment of worldly pleasures although knowing the tree Vedas. 8.
Character development had been achieved by the ancient Hindu almost to an
incredible extent as will become clear form the various reference made to character
of Hindus quoted before as well as from a perusal of stories in Puranas which are
not mere mythology but contain knowledge of antiquities. The Puranas and other
national literature of Hindus have never missed this polar star of all human
development.

It is agreed on all hands that formation of character is the principal aim of

Thomson on the education and therefore, the curriculum should be only such
most important task as would lead to the development of this important aspect.
of education
They admit other subjects in the list only because there is no
other way out. But that has made their list of objectives of education exceedingly
long as shown in the previous chapter. It is pointed out that “although the primary
task of the school is to give letters, yet this is not its most important task. That in
the opinion of many, is training of character and it is duty which has been more
and more thrust on the school by the changes accompanying the progress of
civilization. Under these circumstance the school has a task it did not have before,
the task of supplying environment which will approximate, in opportunities of
character trading to that pioneer environment, a task, which if we value social
solidarity and comprehending co-operation, we still rate as more important than its
primary task of supplying letters.” ( Thomson, G. H.- A Modern Philosophy of
Education pp. 46 and 48)

The quotation must have made it clear that the world is gradually landing itself in
Families cannot an undesirable state of its most important duty namely to
perform their important educate the child so as to develop a proper moral
duty of educating their
children in these days character. Such a state of things is the result of the
of industrial civilization progress of industrial civilization, a civilization that
comes into conflict with the development of culture.
There are two ways of improving this undesirable situation, one is to set aside the
civilization which comes into conflict with the most natural form of a family as a
unit of society or to continue to allow the evil to spread and to put up new
institution in the form of schools to counteract the evil effects. But schools can by
no means be half as useful as the families for imparting real education.
Unfortunately the world has chosen the other way of starting educational
institutions and allowing families to break. It is veritable Pandora‟s box; it has
been opened, and, now it is difficult for the world to save itself. The world
theoretically accepts the importance of family life for building up of character but
with its greater leaning towards economic advance, has shown readiness to neglect
it, and started discussing what curriculum would be necessary for inculcating in
children those traits which it voluntarily chose to neglect by elimination of family
life. A critical study of the various subjects included in the curriculum given in the
previous chapter will clarify this point.

We cannot help remarking that the world will have to pay heavily for this
unnatural life that it has chosen only because it is convenient. This wrong choice
has made a very simple process of bringing up children very difficult. It has made
the life of children impossible. They do not enjoy any freedom under the
burdensome curriculum which is heavy enough to drain all natural energy of
childhood. As in ancient India the compulsory curriculum should be as limited as
possible and ample scope should be left for children to develop in the most natural
way, without any hindrance from schools which are extremely artificial
institutions.

Even in India, there is at present a very remarkable tendency to increase the burden
We are blindly of curriculum. Because of peculiar social structure resulting
imitating the western from highly industrialized life which leaves little time for
forms of education
parents to take care of their little children, and to impart to
them the knowledge of a healthy social life this width of curriculum has a
justification in the highly industrialized countries of the world. Thinkers of the
countries, however, do dislike the present heavy curriculum but they have no
control over changing environment and they suffer it as necessary evil. In India the
joint family system is mostly in vogue and hence much of the curriculum of the
west is superfluous for us. But our whole educational policy is being guided by
western ideology and little attention is being paid to whether it can do any good to
our country in her present social and economic context. The British followed an
educational policy which was foreign to India because they wanted to anglicize the
Indian intelligentsia. It is now for the government of Independent India to convert
the system to suit India conditions. Many a leader of India has repeatedly pointed
out that the system of education existing in India at present needs and immediate
and thorough overhaul, not a mere tinkering, but when it comes to action we find
there is a snag somewhere. The commissions appointed for suggesting changes in
the educational policy, are satisfied by a few change. This can be traced back to a
domination of foreign ideology and unreadiness for facing the various problems
associated with reconstruction. It would be interesting to recall in this connection
some observations made by thinkers from our own country, in regard to drawback
and harmfulness of the present system of education.

In this connection Dr. Rajendra Prasad has passed the following remark : - “My
Dr. Rajendra Prasad own view is that unless fundamental changes are made in
on need of the current system, the sad state of affairs that we see to-day
reconstructing our
educational system will become sadder. The feeling of discontent among the
educated and utter dissatisfaction with life will continue to
grow. The system of education right from the first primary to the highest university
class, which is followed in India to-day is the same as introduced by the British
government in this country. (The president Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s speech at
Sanosara (Saurashtra). The India Express dated No. 15. 1954)

“One serious complaint against the system of education which has prevailed in this
country for over a century is that it neglected India‟s past, that it did not provide
the Indian students with a knowledge of their own culture. It has produced in some
cases the feeling that we are with out roots; in others, what is worse, that our roots
bind us to a world very different from that which surrounds us. A revolutionary
period is not generally inclined to respect the wisdom of the past but to cultivate
this disrespect would be to fore-go our spiritual heritage. There are treasures of
spirit which may not be of any conceivable use in the struggle for material comfort,
but if we are to be qualified to assist or resist the dominant tendencies of our age,
we cannot afford to ignore the standard and ideals built by the austerity and
abnegation of our ancestors across the centuries. The chief source of spiritual
nourishment for any people must be its own past perpetually rediscovered and
renewed.” ( The Report of the University Education Commission, 1949 11. 55-56
)

The aim of including a subject in the curriculum should not be its immediate utility
Ultimate utility of a but the development of a mental capacity which will enable
subject, not one to face any kind of situation that may arise. Inclusion of
immediate utility
should be considered everything that is immediately useful, in the curriculum, is
very highly objectionable because the number of situations
one meets with in the world are immense and it would be puerile to attempt to
include all this in the school curriculum. The curriculum has been expanding
incredulously during the last half a century. That it should be felt necessary to do
so is a sure sign of an inadequate social structure. Every thing cannot be taught in a
school. In fact the school is the most artificial institution the existence of which is
to be suffered as necessary evil. Reliance upon school for the development of
every little capacity means a failure of the social organization. In India, the
institution of the joint family has been in existence for ages. The joint family
system has immense advantage associated with it and progress lies in other
countries following the Indian joint family system, rather than Indians leaving
aside this excellent institution which has saved them from disintegration for
thousand of years. Cooking, sewing child-care, washing, nursing, etc. have now
become school subject, which shows the terrible disadvantage of the absence of the
family system. This mania for making the school a warehouse of all types of
knowledge can be clearly seen in the demand coming from educationists of repute
who want to include in the curriculum, a subject known as general knowledge to
equip our young generation to face the various situations they will have to meet
with in life.

As an illustration, indicative of the modern rash attitude towards the widening of

A specimen of a the curriculum we give below the details of the course in
dangerously ambitious General Knowledge as proposed at a conference of Indian
course in the subject of
general education Headmasters a few years ago.

1. General information about the working of the various Govt. Departments such
as (a) Posts and Telegraphs, (b) railways, (c) airways, (d) Waterways, (e)
Police, (f) Agriculture, (g) Education, (h) P.W.D. etc.

2. General information about: (a) film Industry, (b) Cottage Industry, (c) Factories,
(d) Mills, (e) Workshop etc.
3. General information about the working of: (a) Banks, (b) Insurance
Companies, (c) Cooperative Society, (d) Corporations, (e) Municipalities, (f)
Local Boards etc.

4. General information about: (a) Newspapers, (b) Magazines, (c) Press, (d)
Publications, (e) Journalism.

5. General Information about: (a) Physical Training, (b) Sports, (c) Matches, (d)
Games, (e) Military Training etc.

6. General information about famous (a) Dramatists, (b) Novelists, (c) Prose
writers, (d) Poets etc. and their works

7. General Information about the use of : (a) Patent Medicines, (b) Fruits, (c)
Vegetable, (d) Vitamins, (e) Herbs, etc.

8. General information about: (a) Heavenly Bodies, (b) Principles of Astronomy,

(c) Working of the Observatory

9. General information about: (a) Universities and the various course they cater
for, (b) Schools and colleges teaching various branches of knowledge

10.General Information about: (a) The codes of conduct, (b) The code of laws
affecting our daily life, (c) The teachings of various religions and mythology

11.General information about the working and procedure of: (a) Meeting, (b)
Conferences, (c) Elections

12.General information about: (a) Political Bodies and their creeds, (b) Forms of
Governments.

13.General information about the Current Topics: (a) Villages Uplift, (b) State
Transport, v) Census, (d) Merged Indian States, (e) Pakistan, (f) Postwar
Reconstruction, (g) International Problems.

14.General information about great men of the world as: (a) Scientists, (b)
Politicians, (b) Inventors, (d) Explorers, (e) Excursions, (d) Philosophers

15.Practical knowledge about: (a) Mechanics, (b) Repairs, (c) Excursions, (d)
Trips, (e) Hiking, (f) Marketing etc.

The ideology of the ancient Indian in this respect is hardly in agreement with the
modern ideology, reflected in the proposals like the one shown above. The modern
ideology aims at supplying to the young student separate keys for opening every
We in India should separate lock, whereas the ancient Indian system provide
concentrate on saving one master key which fails not anywhere. It believes in the
our time and energy
development of such faculties in the young students as will
stand in good in good-stead in the comprehension of every imaginable subject.
Under the scheme of the ancient Indian system, acquaintance with the cultural
tradition of the nation and the development of a capacity to calculate simple
examples in Arithmetic were treated as core subjects and after the mastery of these
subjects was achieved students were considered sufficiently competent to live in
the world. The modern curriculum involves a tremendous waste of time and
energy. We in India have to be specially careful in this regard because of the most
miserable fact that the average duration of life ( life-expectancy ) in our country is
lower than thirty years. Also taking into consideration the fact that full physical
and mental growth in man requires a very long time as compared with that in lower
animals, it is not desirable to cramp the process of natural growth by the easily
avoidable burden of learning a large number of subjects. It seems difficult to
support this almost unending increase in the curriculum, because all great men of
the world in the past both in the east and west could become great in spite of the
narrow curriculum which was in existence during their days.

The idea that a narrow curriculum is adequate for all purposes of education is
expressed by the term “Faculty psychology” . Although the passage describing the
implications of the term is a bit lengthy we consider it necessary to quote it here in
full. It runs thus:

“A particular activity or experience, especially of an intellectual character, if well

Only such subjects as selected, produces a power or ability out of all
possess high transfer proportion to the expenditure of energy therein; a power
value should be included
in compulsory curriculum that will be serviceable in most dissimilar experiences or
activities, that will be available in every situation, that
will be applicable to the solution of problems presented by any subject, however
remote in kind from the one furnishing the occasion for the original disciplinary
experience. More specifically the theory posited that one or two subjects,
thoroughly taught and mastered, were of much greater educational value than five
or six subjects demanding the same amount of time and energy. The disciplinarians
believed that those subjects which, through generality of their principles, such as
mathematics and logic, or through the formal nature of their content and
arrangement, such as the classical languages, furnished a formal training for the
various „faculties‟ of the mind were of such subjects irrespective of their relation to
life or of their final mastery or use by the pupil. It was further implied, so far as the
period of complete dominance of this theory was concerned, that these subjects
were peculiarly adapted to the development of the memory and the reason, and that
these „powers of the mind‟ were preeminently the ones demanded for success in
any walk of life. The special demands which the various callings or needs of life
make upon education were to receive no special consideration; for all were to be
met by the simple turning of the ability generated by the formal training of the
school in the desired channel. Nor were the special aptitudes or ineptitudes of
pupils given any consideration; for since these studies with their appropriate
discipline furnished the best possible preparation for every obligation that life
made upon education, those pupils that were unable to meet the demands of such a
training were ipso facto incapable of fulfilling any of these higher offices or
functions in life or of meeting the requirements of any of its greater opportunities.”
(Monroe, Paul – A Text Book in the History of Education, pp. 508-509) There is
thus a clear case for narrowing down our present curriculum so as to embrace only
such subjects as possess a high disciplinary value.

5. WOMEN’S EDUCATION CO-EDUCATION AND SEX EDUCATION

The woman occupies the position of the keystone in the arch of Hindu social
Importance of the structure. From the earliest records that we have of the
woman in Indian life Aryan civilization we find that the woman has been an equal
partner with the man in all religions and social duties. There is also good
justification for saying that, to a degree, the woman had certain privileges which
were refused to the man. In the harvest sacrifice, for instance, it was the woman
alone, who was necessary for the performance of the sacrifice.(1). In all other
capacities she was an equal of man as without her, no sacrifice could be performed.
It is well known that at the time of the Ashvamedha-sacrifice, Rama, as he had
lost his wife had to prepare a golden image of his wife, Sita, because no sacrifice
could be performed without the wife. “Valmiki Ramayan” refers to the instruction
given by Rama to Bharata to prepare a golden image of his wife.(2). The wife
plays such an
role in the Hindu-society because the marriage institution is a sacrament to the
Dr. Annie Besant Hindus, not a contract. Appreciating the grandeur of the Hindu
on Hindu marriage ideal of marriage, Dr. Annie Besant said, “Nowhere in the
system
whole world, nowhere in any religion can you find a nobler, a
more beautiful, a more perfect and ideal form of marriage than you can find in the
early writings of the Hindus.” ( Quoted on pg 47 in Bharata Matechi Sresthata
(Marathi) by D.G. Sarolkar ) The Hindu system of marriage does not aim at mere
enjoyment of pleasure but also at fulfillment of duties, towards family, nation,
fathers and culture. The institution of marriage also exists in other countries and
among other people of the world but it is unique among the Hindus. In fact the core
of Hinduism is not enjoyment but sacrifice; not right but duty. The wife is the
equally important half of a person. She is the empress of the home the counselor, a
friend who can be confided in.(4). The sacrifice to be performed at the time .of the
marriage and the performance of the sacrifice continues even to-day makes the
bride and the bride-groom walk seven steps, keeping the fire as witness of their
marriage and at this time, every new step expresses a blessing that the wife should
bring to the house. 1. Par. Gr. Su. II-20 2. V.R.7-91-25 . 3. Quoted on p.47
in Bharata Matechi Shresthata (Marathi) by D.G. Sarolkar 4. R. V. 8-67.

At the first step the husband desires her to enable him to possess ample food and
makes her the mistress of the house. At the second he bids her develop her strength
so that she may enjoy life and give birth to strong progeny . At the third step he
wishes that her auspicious entry into his house should enable him to acquire much
wealth. At the fourth step he requests her to live in such a way as to make the
household a place of unmixed pleasure. At the fifth step he exhorts her to take all
possible care of the household and cattle so that ample food might be available in
the form of corn and milk. At the sixth step he enjoins upon her the duty to take the
necessary care of the family by adjusting life to the differences in atmosphere
caused by the different seasons. The seventh step contains a request to the bride to
behave like a good friend and companion. ( This is the basic concept of a Hindu
marriage as stated in the ritual known as “Saptapadi” i.e. The Seven-Steps,
detailing the seven oaths, the seven-fold foundation of married life.)

It is the observance of the life of a householder, the most onerous and honorable
Marriage aimed at way of life, that is enjoined upon a Hindu, not a subjection
stabilizing society to carnal drive which unmistakably brings untold miseries in
its train. Stability of society and through it, of a noble and beneficial culture
tradition, was the aim of Indian leaders and that is why there is always a conscious
all out attempt to keep baser instincts under rigorous control and to direct them to
the good of all. For the accomplishment of this object it was necessary to establish
a form of society with a permanent basis. This was secured by the idea of
perpetuation of a marriage once celebrated and leaving no provision for its
dissolution. The bridegroom, when he holds the hand of the bride as indication of
his accepting her as a companion for life says that he is dong so at the instance of
The dominating various deities. (6) There are other hymns also which
position of the indicate the position of the Hindu women in the household.
woman
It is believed that the sacrifice of the Hindu wife for
maintaining the household is the greatest and therefore she is treated as the all-
powerful entity in the Hindu household even to-day. The occasion of the newly
married bride‟s entry into her husband‟s house is even now celebrated as the most
auspicious occasion, because it is believed that the new entrant is the precursor of
every kind of good and happiness that will come to the family. When the newly
married bride enters the house certain mantras (Rg.v.10-85-43to 468) are chanted,
which indicate what the family expects of her. She treated a bringer of all
auspiciousness and happiness to the two-legged as well as the four-legged. She is
expected to become a mother of heroes and a beloved of gods. God Indra is prayed
for blessing her with prosperity and ten brave sons. She is honored as the empress,
the dominating over the father-in-law, the mother-in-law, the sister-in-law and the
brother-in-law.

According to Vedas, Smrutis and convention, a wife is the half of the husband, and
Mother’s importance shares his merits and demerits. (Dayabhaga, 149). The
far exceeds that of teacher and the father have always been the objects of
the teacher or the
father worship, but the mother is considered as far superior to them
in point of respect to be shown to her. In one place Manu
gives a table of respect to be shown to these. He says that an Acharya deserves
more honor than should be shown to ten Upadhyayas put together; a father should
be honored more then a hundred Acharyas put together, but the amount of respect
to be shown to the mother should exceed the amount of honor to be shown to the
father a thousand times.( M.S. 2-145) The unique importance of the mother in the
Hindu family can also be made clear by referring to the excellent advice which the
Gurus in India gave to the departing disciple. These disciples used to stay with
their Gurus for a dozen long years and naturally the teachers loved their disciples
like their own sons. The choicest advice that the Gurus gave being with an
injunction regarding respect to the mother in the society. The father, the teacher
and the guests came later in priority. ( Tait. Up. 1-11 )

Manu, the most prominent Hindu law-giver has thrown ample light on the
It is the woman who importance of women in a Hindu family, who according to
makes or mars a him, constitute the core of Hindu society. Impressing upon
happy family life
the readers the position of unique importance that the
woman occupies in the family he says the following :-

They should be worshipped and decorated by father brothers, husbands and

brother-in-law who desire to have prosperity the family. Gods indeed revel where
women are honored. Life becomes barren where they are not worshipped. That
family indeed perishes where women bewail but happiness dwells in those families
where they are not required to bewail. Houses cursed by women because they are
not honored go to rain as if by black magic. Therefore those who wish to have
prosperity should always honor them, and particularly on days of festivities by
offering them ornaments, clothes and nice Food. Everlasting happiness indeed
dwells in those families where the husband and the wife are satisfied with each
other. (M.S. 3-55 to 60 ). Bhagwan Shri Krishna also stresses the importance of
women in maintaining good heredity and through it the continuity of a high level
of social life and points out that hybridization occurs when women cease to
maintain their family traditions and goes astray.( 12 B.G.1-41.)
All this description of the important position that women occupy in Hindu society
The correct meaning does leave scope for a differentiation in the spares of work
of equality between of men and women, There is no between the men and
man and woman
women in the sense in which it is demand by the so-called
progressive thinkers of our country. Harmonious functioning does not mean
identity of functions. Equality in all respects between men and women is not
supported on any grounds biological, social or psychological. The
uncompromising assertion of equality in all respects even any certain geniuses of
India smacks of the influence of certain institutions of the west, regardless of the
most dangerous problems that such ideas of (equality) have created in those
countries. The present trend is to accept the social institutions of politically
dominating countries of Europe as the ideal ones and to run down our own social
institutions when they are found to be dissimilar to them, and associate with them,
without critical examination, real or imaginary evils looming large in our country
to-day. In respect of respect of women‟s education, for instance, it has become a
fashion to condemn the Indian tradition of giving boys and girls two different types
of education , without paying any attention to the havoc that education of women,
on the same lines as those of men, has played in the west . The difference between
men and women is made by nature and any attempt to eliminate it is bound to fail.

Nature has created the two species to be complementary to each other; it is the ego
Their functions are of men that wants to make them identical. The only result is
complementary that there is encroachment on the fields of activity of both of
them. There are certain functions that go to make a happy home-life which man
alone can perform; there are others which a woman alone can. The Germans
rightly believe that the principal function of the woman is three “K‟s” i. e. cooking,
clothes and children. These natural inclinations and natural provisions have to be
reckoned with while evolving the philosophy of social equality. Women are more
emotional and, therefore, should not be allowed to play any important role in
politics. From actual facts we find that in spite of the recognition of the rights of
equality, the number of women holding posts of high responsibility is negligible
even in advanced countries. Besides , the woman has one peculiar capacity, the
capacity of becoming a mother, which nature has refused to man. Until it becomes
possible for a man to take up that work, the present state of things, however
unpalatable it may be to social reformers, must continue. Man is physically
stronger, more stable, more rough and therefore more fit for physical work, and it
is but meet that such duties as would fit in with these qualities should be taken up
by him. Woman is more emotional, physically less developed and tender and she
should be responsible for duties that she can adequately perform.

Stanley Hall has made the whole undesirable situation in this respect very clear.
Stanley Hall on the He says, “the woman‟s body and soul are made for
true goal of woman’s maternity and she can never find true repose for either
life
without it. The more we know of the contents of young woman‟s mind, the more
clearly we see that every thing conscious and unconscious in it points to this as the
true goal of the way of life. Even if she does not realize it her whole nature
demands first of all children to love, who depend on her for care, and perhaps a
little less, a man whom she heartily respects and trusts to strengthen and perhaps
protect her in discharging this function. This alone can complete her being, and
without it, her sphere, however she shape it is but a hemisphere; she is a little
“detraque” and her destiny is more or less disarticulated from her inmost and
deepest nature. All ripe, healthful and womanly women desire this, and if they
attain true self knowledge confess it to themselves, however loath they may be to
do so to others, and some who attain it too-late wear their lives out in regret.
Nothing can ever quite take its place, without it they are never completely happy
and every other satisfaction is a little vicarious. To see this is ample common
sense and to admit it only common honesty. In an ideal society with ideal men in
it, women‟s education should focus on motherhood and wifehood and seek in
every way to magnify these functions and to invest them with honor.” (Stanley
Hall-Adolescence Vol.II p.610-611)

“Modern conditions have favored the evolution of one intermediate sex, the he-
woman.” (Inge - More Lay Thoughts, p. 121.) This class can perform most of the
functions of a man and prides itself on this achievement. But, even if every she-
woman can become a he-woman, she cannot become a he-man. The result of such
an attempt will be that, to a certain extent, some he-men will have to become she-
men. There are certain functions which women alone can do, some others which
men alone can. Take for example the function of procreation. The duties in this
regard cannot be interchanged; at least so far no scientist has achieved this If this
function is such as a woman alone can do, wisdom lies in developing capacities
which will enable her to do her duty in the best possible way. A woman must
procreate, must bring up the child, must create an internal and external
environment for its healthy growth, must dress it, must bathe it, must give it
medicine, must maintain a moral and educational atmosphere consistent with her
own position in society. And this she has to do until some scientist helps her out of
this predicament. It is because of this prime importance of the woman that she is
revered so much in Hindu society. But in some advanced countries to-day, the
situation in this respect has become very dangerous. With a view to avoiding the
responsibility of mother-hood, millions of women prefer the life of a spinster to
that of the house-wife. Man cannot become a substitute of the woman in this
respect, even though, by sheer force of necessity, he becomes ready to do the
woman‟s work in certain other respects. The moral effects of such a procedure are
indeed abominable, but, drunk with the fundamentally wrong conception of
equality and freedom, the average person cannot tolerate the Hindu ideology,
although it is acceptable to biologists, sociologists and politicians alike. John
Morley has pointed out somewhere that there is a distinct and un-mistakable
lowering of the level of social life because, in Europe, social convenience is put in
the first place and respect for truth in the second. It is because the fundamental
duty is neglected by western women that the whole social structure of their country
is cracking. The wrongly cherished idea of independence, resulting from the same
type of education as that of boys, being given to women has one bad result. Many
of the educated women refuse to marry and are content to live an abnormal yet
externally satisfied life. Those who marry possess neither the vigor nor the
capacity necessary for child bearing because they are much grown up by the time
they choose to get married.

Prof. S. J. Holmes pointed out that only fifty per cent of educated women get
Women and married and, among those who do get married, intelligent and
population capable women are very rare. Scientists have shown that fecundity
decreases among women with growth of age, fifteen to twenty years being the
period when fecundity is at its highest. Those women who marry at all, marry very
late and consequently population suffers. R. A. Fischer in his “Genetic Theory of
Evolution” has pointed out that a woman who gets married at thirty can give birth
to only 38 per cent of the number of children she would have begotten had she got
herself married at twenty. In the case of marriage taking place at thirty five the
number would have been only 19 per cent. Thinkers of the west are greatly
alarmed at the prospect which they consider very dismal. We may read the
following two extracts in this connection. “During the past century, however,
among human kind in Western Europe there has been a steady decrease in the birth
rate of the more educated classes and this, if continued, would tend to breed them
out.” ( Thomson G.H. -A modern philosophy of Education-p.25) “The fall in the
birth-rate has been rapid and nearly universal throughout Western
Europe……..There is no particular reason why it should stop at the point where it
produces a stationary population. It may easily go on until the population begins to
diminish and the ultimate result may, for aught we can tell, be a virtual extinction
of the most civilized races.” ( Bertrand Russel- Marriage and morals, p. 164 )

It can thus be clearly seen that there is a fundamental difference between men and
Woman should become women and a society can thrive only if it falls in line with
a collaborator and not a nature. The ancient Indians did it and as a result they
competitor
could provide an ideal situation. The woman in ancient
Indian society was not an unhealthy competitor of man but a willing collaborator
and the two were jointly to work out a heaven from which all happiness emanated.
This ideology had been in vogue for thousands of years and proved wonderfully
successful until it started receiving rude shocks of modern ideology. The harmful
effects of the new ideology have already started becoming visible, and it is a matter
of great satisfaction, that in certain quarters an attitude of suspicion about the real
worth of the new ideology has begun to develop. It is interesting to study how
even our own geniuses refuse to view the ancient Indian books in the proper
perspective and pass inadvertent remarks about our ancient institutions either
because they do not care to examine them properly or because they are too
obsessed by the glamour of modernism or because they find it convenient to fall in
line with popular trend of thought. As an instance in point we may mention that
one great scholar of Sanskrit has remarked that in Manusmriti-II-verses 213-14
there is a severe condemnation of women. The verses referred to, when translated
stand thus : “ It is the nature of women that women entice men, hence wise people
are very cautious while dealing with women. They have the power to lead astray,
both enlightened as well as ignorant persons, yielding to lust or anger.” ( M.S. 2-
213 and 214) By any stretch of imagination it is not possible to see how this can be
called a “severe condemnation of women.” It is just a statement of a fact,
universally true. Particularly looking to the context in which the verses occur, one
feels there is no justification for such a remark as this. The verses occur when the
Manusmriti is describing how the Guru‟s wives are to be revered. After giving an
instruction that the feet of Guru‟s wife are to be touched while prostrating before
her, the instruction is not to touch the feet in case the Guru‟s wife happens to be a
young woman. With due deference to the great scholar we do humbly submit that
the remarks are wholly unwarranted by facts.

Whenever the topic of the education of women in Ancient India is discussed it is

Women who were customary to quote the names of certain women who were
learned in Sastras distinguished scholars in various fields of knowledge. It is
were an exception,
not a rule pointed out that there were certain Risikas like Romasha,
Lopamudra, Apala, Kadru, Visvavara, Ghosha, Paulomi,
Yami, Gargi, etc., referred to in the various parts of the Rigveda. But it must be
borne in mind that the list quoted above only proves the rule, as exceptions always
do. It simply means that normally women did not compose mantras. It has also
been pointed out that some women are described as performing auspicious
sacrifices or offering twilight-worship. The Valmiki Ramamyana says that on the
morning of her son‟s proposed installation as the heir apparent, Kausalya, who
knew Mantras, had put on a silken garment and was performing a sacrifice. (V.R.
II-20-15) Sita also is described as offering her evening Vedic prayer during days of
her captivity in Lanka. Maruti says, “Janaki will certainly come here because it is
time for offering evening prayers.” ( V.R. V-15-48) These referenced to women
performing sacrifices and offering prayer indicate simply that there were certain
rituals which were performed by both men and women. It would not however be
quite correct to treat these as indexes of education which was received by all
women in general.

In India, every girl of to-day is the house-wife of tomorrow and the education that
The two spheres of is to be imparted to her must be such as would enable her to
woman’s activity play her part well in her later life. Moreover, there is so
much diversity in the Hindu society, working in perfect accord with the underlying
unity, that one common type of or agency for educating girls for household duties
will not succeed. The education that is imparted to our girls must cover two
The ideal of spheres. One will be to prepare them for duties and
womanhood responsibilities as the prominent member of the household and the
only chain that can link up the family with the posterity. The
development of all the physical and mental traits that are to play an important role
in the future life of the girl have to be paid utmost attention to. The second would
be to impart to her the knowledge of certain ceremonials that form the
distinguishing feature of that particular family (Kula-dharmas) and the customs
prevalent in the particular region (Desha-dharmas). This is possible in a natural
atmosphere i. e. under the paternal roof, not in a highly artificial institution like the
school of the present day which is a bundle of children varying in mental and
physical capacities as well as in social and cultural background. The model
woman according to the Hindu ideal, is one who gives birth to a number of healthy
children, inheriting the culture of the race, possessed of intelligence self-control
and application. She should be the co-coordinating factor among the various
members of the family and should concentrate upon service not on enjoyment. In
fact this feature is common to every other member of the family and the society
also. She should be able to educate her children properly and should integrate the
family into a composite whole trough her abiding sense of love and duty. In short
she is to be the highest authority in the home. Her field of activity is nobler and
much more important than that of man whose principal function in the household is
to supply the economic needs of and protection to the family. She is primarily
responsible for the upbringing of young children and developing desirable traits in
their character. All this she has to do through affection. How many Shastras she
knows, whether she knows history or geography or takes part in debates is totally
unimportant. Shastras or sciences which are merely mental gymnasium do not find
place in a woman‟s accomplishments. She is to be an embodiment of everything
that is noble and desirable and her very association should suffice to inculcate all
good habits and inspire all godly thoughts in the household. It is mainly women in
India that have maintained whatever is good in India‟s traditions to-day. This was
the ideal of women in general although we do find mention of a class known as
Brahmavadinis who devoted their life to philosophical studies. But such women
formed a microscopic minority. They were the product of educational discipline of
Brahmacharya. All the remaining women belonged to the class of Sadyodwahas
who got married India is a land of universal marriage and women who voluntarily
choose to remain unmarried can be met with very rarely.

Shastras have recorded the tradition of performing the Upanayana (sacred thread
The Upanayana of ceremony) of women. As in case of boys, in the case of
women girls also this was a period which was to give a definite turn
to the life of the girl. But the ceremony differed in the case of Sadyodwahas and
Brahmavadinis. Brahmavadinis were required to go through Upanayana, keeping
fire, Vedic study and begging under the parental roof. But in the case of
Sadyodwahas, marriage was to take place immediately after the Upanayana. There
were no Vedic Mantras to be recited while this ceremony was being performed as
in the case of a boy. In their case the attendance on their husband amounted to
serving a Guru and performance of domestic duties amounted to worship of fire.
(Y.S. and M.S. 2-27) Taking into consideration this formal nature of the
Upanayana in the case of girls, Kullluka the well-known commentator of Manu-
Smruti, remarks that Upanayana was not to be performed in the case of women and
that in their case there were certain substitutes for the duties of the Brahmacharin.
Her service of her husband is considered as an equivalent to her stay in the house
of the Guru. In the case of students who used to stay in the house of the Guru, far
away from the parental roof, this could not have been the case, for in that case,
even marriage would have been impossible. This therefore refers to cases where
the husband was learning in the house of his own father as it used to be in a
number of cases or in the house of a teacher in the vicinity, as a day student. The
husband himself was observing vows and such a husband‟s service also meant
observation of vows for the young bride. But there was some other duty also that
the married girls had to perform, and that was a more important one viz., getting
initiated into household work and family traditions. Brahmacharya in the case of
girls continued for a period of at least half a dozen years. During this period the
young bride learnt many things which were so essential for keeping up the tradition
of the family.

It is the woman, the permanent keeper and guardian of the home who maintains the
The woman is the tradition, and training in this subject was automatically
permanent keeper of given to the young maiden by the elderly women in the
the home
house. During this period she was initiated into the various
periodical, annual and special rites and rituals to be performed, she studied the
social standing of the family and the means and need to keep it up. She learnt to be
hospitable to guests and strangers, kind and affectionate to children, devoted to
elders, and thus to keep up the continuity of the noble tradition of the home.
During this time she also developed a keen sense of the importance of
subordinating her own desires to the interests of the family. She studied the nature
of her mother-in-law, the father-in-law and other older and younger members of
the family including the husband and got many opportunities of adjusting her
desires, likes and dislikes to those of others. All this is by no means less difficult
than the actual performance of penance. The training that she thus received in the
husband‟s house was an advanced type of training, the primary training being that
which she received in her father‟s house which had already prepared the necessary
background. In her father‟s house she got the necessary training in modesty, she
got the necessary training in modesty, she learnt how to conduct herself with grace
and formed excellent habits. There she learnt to perform her domestic duties and
also that life was not for enjoyment but for the fulfillment of duty enjoined upon
her by society. She learnt to surrender her individuality in the interest of the
family. The most important lesson that was impressed upon her was that she was
to become a fit mother and nurse and a competent matron.

This is the type of education that was generally imparted to girls. We do come
Women in cultured across a few instances of girls who well acquainted with
and aristocratic literary knowledge. This was the case usually in cultured,
families
aristocratic or royal families. In the houses of learned
persons, young girls often over-heard lessons being taught to young students and
they often learnt the subjects without being taught. „Bana-bhatta‟ refers to the fact
that in the house of the teacher, described in the opening verses of the
“Kadambari”, parrots shut up in cages used to correct the mistakes committed by
pupils receiving instruction from the Guru.( Kadambari, Benedictory verse 12)
Under these circumstances it was very easily possible that some young girls, who
were in no way less intelligent than boy students must have learnt all the shastras
being taught in their homes. In richer families special teachers used to be
employed for teaching various arts which were treated as feminine embellishments.
These arts included toilet and ointments, music, dancing, painting, garland making,
ornaments, sewing, patching, composing poems, magic and preparation of toys
among many others. We have some very well-known scholars, and philosophers
too in old and later periods like Gargi who was the adversary of Yajnavalkya in
esoteric philosophical discussion and Bharati who was accepted as the judge at the
time of the famous debate between her husband Mandanamishra who championed
the cause of sacerdotalism and Shankaracharya who championed the cause of
monistic philosophy. In spite of such accomplishments visible in the case of a few
exceptional women, household duty was the chief attainment of a woman. Ideal
womanhood did not culminate in an unhealthy competition with man and
encroachment on his field of activity.

It is necessary to refer to the subject of co-education in connection with this topic.

Perhaps the idea of co-education must not have occurred to the ancient Hindus,
because the pattern of society as it existed then, differed entirely from that which
exists in countries where co-education is being practiced. It is enough to point out
that even in countries where it exists to-day, co-education is suffered to exist
because it is an economic necessity. ( Hughes and Hughes – Learning and
teaching p. 313 ) Perhaps the number of those who support it spontaneously and
brand an attempt at segregation of the sexes as injustice, is very small. Elimination
of sex differences yet seems to be the watchword of modern civilization and few
have time to study and practice what scientists and thinkers have to say in this
respect.

Co-education means the education of boys and girls in schools, on a footing of

Ancient Indians on complete equality, particularly during the stage of
coeducation
adolescence. Some people think that from age of 18 years‟ onwards, boys and
girls begin to realize their own responsibility particularly in relation to sexes and
hence there are no dangers associated with co-education after the period of
adolescence. Many more believe that before girls reach puberty there is no harm if
they are allowed to mix freely with boys of their age. Almost every one feels that
free mixing of boys and girls during adolescence leaves ample scope for morally
undesirable results. From the foregoing description it must have become clear by
this time that Indians believe not in giving free vent to inherent beastly passions
but in subduing them. Annihilation of these passions is impossible and hence
much stress has been laid in our scriptures on control of these passions. The
Bhagawata compares the passions that are ever on the alert to attack an unwary
individual to co-wives and says that, like co-wives, they are always trying to
destroy their husband, i.e. the individual. It says that tongue, just, skin, stomach,
ear, nose, etc., are dragging a person in different directions like so many co-wives.
( Bhag. 11-10-27 ) The ubiquity of these instincts is also made clear at another
place in the same book where it is remarked that even if a person who has no self-
control goes to a forest, he is in danger of being overpowered by the six enemies in
the form of just, anger, avarice, infatuation, intoxication and jealousy. ( Bhag.5-1-
17 )

Out of all these senses, Kama or sexual appetite is believed to be the strongest of
The Gita on Kama all and the aspirant after knowledge is given unequivocal
instruction to subdue it. The Bhagawadgita raises the
problem by making Arjuna put the question : “ But dragged on by what does a man
commit sin, reluctantly indeed, as it were by force constrained?” to this Sri
Krishna replies thus : “ It is passion, it is wrath begotten by rajas, all consuming,
all polluting, know then this as our foe here on earth. As a flame is enveloped by
smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo is wrapped by the amnion, so the
universe is enveloped by it. Enveloped is wisdom by this constant enemy of the
wise in the form of desire, which is insatiable as a flame. The sense, the mind and
the reason are said to be its seat; by these enveloping wisdom, it bewilders the
dweller in the body. Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, mastering first the senses,
do thou slay this thing of sin, destructive of wisdom and knowledge. It is said that
the senses are great, greater than the senses is the mind, greater than the mind is the
reason but what is greater than the mind is the reason but what is greater than the
reason is “He”. Thus understanding “Him” as greater than the reason, restraining
the self by the SELF, slay thou the enemy in the form of desire, difficult to
overcome” .( B.G. 3-36 to 43 ) It is true that the word here is „Kama‟ which,
taken literally means any type of desire. But looking to the fact that sexual desire
is the most prominent and the most powerful among them, by a well established
convention the word connotes sexual-desire. This extract brings out in great relief
the pre-eminent position that Kama or sexual desire occupies in human life and
how it pervades the mind, intellect etc. But the final advice is to extirpate it
altogether unless it serves some important purpose. Kama is bad as master but
good as a servant. It is power, which if not properly directed and controlled will
lead one to rain. The Hindu civilization has devoted greatest attention diverting the
energy possessed by this instinct to the best possible use by bridling and
controlling if and by giving it a limited scope resulting in the continuance and
perpetuation of the race. Shri Krishna has in one place pointed out that he himself
is Kama, which does not come into conflict with the performance of one‟s duty.
(B.G.7-11) In fact Kama is the subtlest of all desires as pointed out in one famous
Sukta of Rigveda which contains a mystical attempt at knowing the origin of the
world. ( Rig V. 10-129 )

To come back to the topic of co-education, we find that there was no necessity for
Coeducation was not discussing the desirability or otherwise of co-education in
the vogue in ancient Indian scriptures as it was not in existence at all. Whenever
India
girls were taught, strict injunctions were laid down about
the choice of the teacher. Only the father, uncle or brother was allowed to teach
them.( Y.S.) As Ashramas ( Hermitage-schools ) were located in sylvan solitudes
young boys and girls had no chance of coming together. Ancient Indian thinkers
realized the tremendous power of the sex-urge and had been ever on the alert to
keep it under control. They knew that the desires, including the sexual-desire, are
unending and happiness will come from controlling them, and not from attempting
to gratify them.” Freud also has talked in the same tune. “However strange it may
sound, I think that the possibility may be considered that something in the sexual
nature itself is unfavorable to the achievement of absolute gratification.” (Freud as
quoted by Roback is ‘Sex in Civilization’ p. 207). Eastern social thinkers made
such arrangements that the two young people of different sexes could not get any
opportunities of coming together and as a result both could develop healthily both
physically and mentally. Yadnyavalkya Smriti when discussing what type of girl is
to be selected for marriage mentions it as an important condition that she must be a
virgin. The boy also had to be a bachelor. Manu also says the same.( Y.S. 1-52;
M.S. 3 -2 and 5. ) Even in the case of such boys as used to learn in their own house
or city, contact with young girls was always to be avoided. People knew very well
that when two adolescents of different sexes come together the effects will almost
always be bad. They believed that a young boy is like fire and a young girl like a
pot of ghee (Padma-purana, Srushti Khanda, 49 to 21.) and it would be
preposterous to expect that undesirable sex-relationship will not develop if they
come together. There is, therefore, no place for co-education according to Hindu
education and social ideology. The effects of co-education in countries where it has
been in existence do demand clearer thinking in this respect.
There is one more important problem that finds place in some of the books on
Divergence of education. It is whether it is necessary to give sex-instruction
views regarding to children in schools and if at all it is to be given what method
sex education
should be followed. Some thinkers of to-day believe that it is
necessary to give sex-instruction to young people, because, in the absence of such
instruction they will not be adequately prepared for the onset of puberty. In the
absence of such instruction they will acquire the information in undesirable ways;
if not frankly they will get it surreptitiously. Some it should be given on individual
basis. Some believe that parents alone should give it, other that respected grown
ups other than parents, also may give it. Some believe that while imparting this
instruction, some reserve is inevitable, others that there should be no reserve. Some
believe that knowledge of biology and written accounts should suffice for sex-
indispensable if the instruction is to be given in an effective way. It is but natural
that national leaders should try to restrain the evil turn that adolescents of the
nation are taking, knowing full well that it will lead to a major national disaster.
Frantic efforts are necessary in the matter but except a few thinking persons all
others seem to be drifting headlong into s terrible crisis.

In the opinion of some thinkers cure lies in trying to sublimate the ugly expression
Bertrand Russel on of the working of the instinct by instructing young men and
sex education women properly in the matter. Many have expressed an
differentiation
opinion that it is the duty of the elders of the family or the society to impart the
necessary knowledge so that undesirable effects might be avoided. We find for
example an eminent scholar expressing himself thus : He says, “A child should,
from the first, be allowed to see his parents and brothers and sisters, without their
clothes whenever it so happens naturally. No fuss should be made either way. He
should simply not know that people have feelings about nudity. It will be found
that the child presently notices the differences between brothers and sister. But as
soon as the subject has been explored to this extent it becomes uninteresting like a
cup-board that is often left open. If you do not actually say „Hush Hush‟ about sex
questions, at least you will answer them briefly and drily perhaps with a trifle of
embarrassment in your manner. The child at once notice the nuance and you have
laid the foundation of prurience. You must answer with just the same fullness and
naturalness as if the question had been about something else. If you do not, your
feeling will communicate itself to him. He will think, necessarily that there is
something nasty in the relations of his parents, later on he will conclude they think
ill of the behavior which led to his existence. All things, like everything else must
be told without solemnity…. But it is very important that the child should know of
this first from parents or teacher, not from children whom bad education has made
nasty.” ( Bertrand Russel - On education p.210.)
The ancient Indian view is almost and antithesis of the above. The Indian believes
Precautions regarding that this instinct is a powerful instinct and the energy that it
sex matters are possesses cannot be allowed to be trifled with. According
necessary
to Indians, not only is sex-relationship not to be permitted
before marriage ritual but even sight and descriptions that would excite the instinct
are to be avoided. The celibacy that was insisted upon in the case of both boys and
girls was to be physical, mental as well as vocal. The Daksha-Smriti ( D.S. 7-
31and 32 )mentions the following eight stages of copulation which are always to
be avoided. They are: remembering, mention, sport, looking, secret conversation,
desire, resolve and the actual operation. The suggestion that the matter should be
explained without „hush hush‟ for avoiding bad effects cannot lead to good result.
It is just as futile as explaining on logical and legal grounds, the undesirability of
committing thefts. Every thief knows thieving is bad but still indulges in the act. In
sexual matters also the method is bound to fail. Wisdom lies in eschewing talks,
actions, and sights that will excite sex-instinct.

Indian thinkers believed that there is no necessity to give any instruction to

Nature is the best adolescents in regard to sex, in a social structure planned
educator in the with sufficient caution. Sex, like other senses, develops of
matters of sex
its own accord, in course of nature. Adolescents will learn
everything about sex aspects as a matter of course intuitively. Nature has been kind
enough and careful enough to teach the growing organism, the proper use of
everything. In fact all child development is the result of the kindness of nature and
the boasting of educationists that their interference in all development is
unavoidable is true only to a limited extent. The child begins to breathe the worldly
air immediately after it is born, it sucks at the breasts of its mother, it learns to
smile, to move its hand and feet, to see, to smell and to taste, adjusts itself to the
family, to its friends and feet, to see, to smell and to taste, adjusts itself to the
family, to its friends and to every new environment instinctively. The importance
that educationists claim in the development of the child is of the child at very high
level is also easily possible under normal conditions even in the absence of
education. There is no ground to suppose that absence of sex-education will lead to
a misuse of sex. There is, on the other hand every ground to suppose that if the
child is not left to nature in matters sex-education, ugly effects will inevitably
follow. The best way is to leave nature to work out its own perfection and not
dabble with it. History has not yet recorded any arrangements made to impart
sexual instruction to horses, dogs, cats, mice, birds, and beasts. In spite of this their
sexual development has been quite normal.

It is not at all necessary to make much ado about imparting sex-education. It is

Jung on sex interesting to read what Jung ( Quoted on p. 401 in The
education
Fundamentals of Psychology by Benjamin Dumville ) says in this connection. He
contends that a child whose natural childish instincts are satisfied, and who is
surrounded by parents and elders rationally and harmoniously oriented in relation
to the sex function, will required practically no sex instruction, for the whole
understanding of the subject will gradually unfold in a perfectly natural way to its
growing intelligence. Jung even goes so far as to agree that very young children
may be told the usual fantastic tales about their origin. Such tales, he declares, are
more natural and satisfying to childish minds than concrete reality. The affinity of
opinion between Jung and Indian thinkers on this subject is really astonishing.

6 The Teacher

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in one of the Mantras has said that the mystical
The guru occupied a knowledge contained in it could be comprehended by those
high position alone, who are extremely devoted to both God and the
Teacher ( Svetashwatara Upanishada. 3 ) This shows the extremely honorable
position the Guru occupied in ancient India. In fact the word „Teacher‟ has a two-
fold meaning attached to it in ordinary parlance to-day and in which sense the
word is to be interpreted depends upon the context in which it is used. It is used in
highly dignified sense as well as in an ordinary sense. In the first sense it is used
when it applies to great world teachers of higher philosophies like Shankara, the
founder of monistic philosophy. In the second it connotes an ordinary paid teacher,
who has nothing new to teach to the world but imparts worldly knowledge, on
condition that he would get a stipulated salary from his employers.

In ancient India the word connoted only the first sense particularly when higher
education was concerned. There are references to education at a lower stages
where the teacher is referred to as Adhyapaka as against Acharya (Guru) But
whether it was the higher type of education or lower, employment of a paid teacher
by a king for education of the public, was never the vogue. Rich persons used to
employ private teachers for higher or lower education on payment but in that case
the higher education was in subjects different from philosophical. We find a few
instances of teachers like Drona in Mahabharata who taught the art of warfare and
allied subjects as servant of Dhrutarashtra.
But it is not possible to find any teacher of philosophy who was a paid servant of
No teacher was a any king or rich person. At a lower stage there were
paid servant Adhypakas who used to collect fees, either in cash or kind,
from the guardians of children coming to them for getting instruction in the three
R‟s and for learning elementary rituals. But they were still independent. The
Government did not run any department for the purpose. The Adhyapakas could
live a life of self-respect. Even though they charged fees, the respect shown to
them by their pupils and the guardians was tremendous. This was because of the
fact every one of them did not pupil‟s guardians was tremendous. This was
because of the fact that every one of them did his work very conscientiously and
honestly as a duty given to him by God and not forced upon him by any human
authority or force of circumstance. What pupils learnt from
Charging fees is
unanimously these teachers was not merely their three R‟s but firmness of
condemned by all character, simplicity in life and consciousness of one‟s duty,
writers
which was to be acted up to even at the cost of one‟s life.( B.G.
3-35 ) Out of the six duties enjoined upon a Brahmana, three were allowed to be
used as means for getting economic conveniences. They were teaching, conducting
the performance of sacrifices by householders and accepting donations given by
people. These were usually sufficient for enabling teachers to get as much income
as was necessary for living a simple life. This however does not mean that fees
were levied by them on compulsory basis because all scriptures of Hindus have
unequivocally condemned the system of charging fees knowledge is regarded as
too sacred a thing to be bartered for money and it is not possible to find its
equivalent in money. But the teacher needed some money for himself and his
family and whatever was given to him was accepted by him. It desirable to
remember in this connection that Brahmanas were not allowed to amass wealth
because they were always expected to lead a life of poverty. Penance and self-
denial were to be their constant objectives and not the ephemeral pleasures pursued
by common men. (Bhag. 11-18-42) This was very high idealism indeed. And
curiously enough the system is in vogue even to this day. We have hundreds of
s‟astris and pundits all over the country who are the repositories of Hindu learning
but are not getting any economic relief because of general apathy of the people to
all ancient learning. The ancient Hindu teacher was devoted to his work and not to
the monetary return. Society also honored him only so long as he followed these
injunctions of the scriptures. The Smiriti of Atri says that a teacher who teaches on
payment becomes a jackal in his next life. The Prajapati Smriti condemns such a
teacher as being unfit for being invited at Shraddha ( the yearly rites in the memory
of the departed souls). Brihad Yama Smriti condemns such a teacher as a dealer in
Veda. The Veda Vyasa Smruti calls him the murderer of a Brahmans. Other
authors of more prominent Smirutis also talk in the same tune. Manu says that such
a teacher is unworthy of being invited at any ceremonial performed in honor of
gods or manes. Manu, it is very interesting to note, condemns here not only the
person who charges fees on a compulsory basis but also the pupils who learn from
such a teacher. This attitude is an unmistakable expression of how bitterly people
hated the system of bartering knowledge with money ( M.S. 3-156 ). Yajnavalkya
calls it an Upapataka (a secondary type of sin) and puts such a teacher in the same
category as persons who kill cows, commit thefts, practice adultery, sell children
etc.( Yaj.S. 3 -234,235)

The Acharya occupied a higher position that the Adhyapaka. He used to impart a
Every Sastra had an higher type of knowledge to pupils. Knowledge of various
Acharya Vidyas and kalas (arts) used to be imparted by this class of
teachers. These also used to live a life of renunciation although most of them used
to lead a family life. Hindu cultural historians ascribe the authorship of every
Shastra to one such Acharya or the other. Because they led a life of contemplation
and dedication to the service of a particular science, they are also, in some cases
styled as Munis – the contemplators. A few of the well-known names among them
are Vatsayana, the author of a work on erotics; Charaka and Susruta, the authors of
works on medicine and surgery; Bharata, the author of a work on dramaturgy;
Pingala, the author of a work on prosody; Patanjali, the author of the great Bhashya
on grammar; Jaimini, the author of aphorisms relating to the science of ritualism;
Badarayana, the author of aphorisms on the interpretation of the Upanishads and
Yaska, the author of a work on Vedic etymology. As pointed out earlier students
came to these teachers to receive advanced knowledge in the subjects they had
learnt at the earlier stage or in subjects which they wanted to learn anew. Students
went to these Gurus or Acharyas after their Upanayana ceremony was performed.
Because of the fact that mere birth in a Brahmana family is not very important
without the possession of knowledge. The Guru, because he gives the second birth,
is styled as the father of the student. Devala mentions the Acharya as one of the
fathers in his list, in which he includes four others also who are as good as fathers.
(D. S. 1-35 ; M. S. 2-170) In another place there is more detailed description given
of the function that an Acharya is expected to perform. He is expected to perform
the Upanayana of the child, where the Gayatri is the young student‟s mother and
the Acharya is his father, and teach Vedas to him, not excluding the Kalpas and the
secrets. ( M.S. 2_140 ).

The word „Kalpa‟ according to Kulluka means the science of sacrifice and the
Acharyas taught in word „Rahasya‟ means the philosophical knowledge as
sylvan solitudes contained in various books on philosophy and more
particularly the Upanishadic literature. These Acharyas usually lived outside
populous places to avoid inconveniences of city life, to facilitate concentration on
studies and to inculcate the habit of renunciation and simple living among pupils.
The two disciples who accompanied Shakuntala to the palace of Dushyanta, in the
course of their conversation, very beautifully express how uneasy they were
feeling because of their entry into the new environment of luxurious city life.
Sharngarava remarks that because he is accustomed to perpetual solitude he
regards the populous place as a house encircled by fire ( Shakuntala 5-10) His
friend Sharadvata expresses his uneasiness still more effectively by remarking that
he regarded the pleasure-seeking people of the city as those who had their bath
regard the anointed, as those who are pure regard the impure, as those who are
awake regard the sleeping and as one who is free regards those who are in chains.
(Shakuntala 5-11) The number of students learning in such places was sometimes
very large and there must have been several of such teachers working in
educational colonies, presided over by one who commanded the respect of them all
on account of his penance, erudition and character. Such a person was known as
the Kulapati. Kanva or Kashyapa in the Shakuntala has been described as Kulapati
which according to the accepted definition means a sage who teaches ten thousand
pupils with free boarding and lodging. Mystical practices and philosophical
discussions and teachings were not tabooed in their Ashramas but the level of such
knowledge imparted was very elementary, as such subjects played an unimportant
role in these institutions. These institutions concentrated on mundane subjects,
study of various arts, crafts and sciences both manual and mental. But although
the knowledge imparted dealt more with this-worldly things than the other-
worldly, a strict cultural atmosphere was maintained and a proper background was
prepared for perpetuation of cultural traditions.

There was the third type of teacher who served as the spiritual guide and helped
Teachers of spiritual pupils in dispelling the darkness of ignorance. In fact it was
knowledge under the supervision of such teachers that pupils realized
what they always prayed for by the Mantra, “lead me from untruth to the truth, lead
me from darkness to light, lead me from death to immortality”. ( Br. Up.1-3-28 ).
All knowledge was expected to culminate in this knowledge of the uncaused cause.
This state of unity with the Paramatman ( The Creator ) was the polar star of all
worldly activities. The Bhagwadgita calls this knowledge “the king of all
knowledge” and says that it leads to the cessation of all worldly ills and when one
has reached this stage even insurmountable sorrow does not affect him.(B.G. 6-22)
So long as this final unity with Paramnatman was not realized all knowledge
gained was a waste , similar to the waste involved in maintaining a cow that does
not yield milk.(Bhagawat, 11-11-18) These teachers had no bookish knowledge to
impart but devoted themselves to the work of training disciples in experiencing the
truths which they themselves had experienced. They always kept themselves
absorbed in metaphysical speculation. Right from the earliest days the Hindu mind
has an inclination for recondite philosophical thinking which resulted in the
experience of the final truth. There was doubtless some book-knowledge
necessary as a background but greater stress was to be laid upon certain physical
exercises described in the Yoga Shastra which alone brought to the aspirant the
mystical experiences which the Guru had experienced.
This knowledge could not be imparted in popular institutions and therefore, the
This knowledge places chosen by the mystics for imparting esoteric doctrines
could be imparted to the disciples were always far removed from cities. The
only in cloistered
seclusion disciples also were required to observe very rigorous
discipline involving mental and physical mortification. It
has been said in one place that an aspirant for philosophical knowledge must avoid
all contact with people, as does the snake; he must learn to renounce to such an
extent that a beautiful lady should be looked upon as a corpse by him. It was
impossible that such mystical experiences should become easily possible even for
the learned, in the absence of a guide who had first-hand experience of the
absolute. Hence the paramount importance of the Guru in this field of philosophy.
Hence is the Guru identified with Brahma, Vishnu Maheshwara and even with the
Brahma, the absolute. Enlightenment by a great philosopher was and
indispensable condition for mystical experience. It could not be had even by
severe austerities, by the performance of sacrifices., nor by getting one‟s head
clean shaven i. e. by becoming a samnyasin, not by becoming a householder nor by
the study of the Veda, nor by mortification through water, fire and the sun.( Katha
Up. 2-8 ) The students that came to such teachers were spiritually ripe for
experiences prescribed by their Gurus.

In this field, there was no restriction of birth or accomplishment. We have

At this stage there descriptions of Brahmnanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and
was no restriction of Shudras having these mystical experiences. Even the great
caste
exponent of Hinduism like Adya Shankaracharya had to
admit the possibility of the existence of some persons even among the Shudra-class
who were enough qualified for this knowledge because of the meritorious deeds in
their previous life, in whose case, there could be no question of prohibition from
knowledge. Shankaracharya also quotes a quarter of a verse to support the fact that
persons belonging to all the four Varnas were eligible for reaching a high state of
philosophical experience and refers to Vidura and Dharmavyadha as illustrations in
point. (Sariraka Bhashya on 10-3-38 ). There could be no restriction of age for
such an experience, because whoever was mentally and spiritually ripe for
reaching these high experiences felt inspired to follow the path. It has been
pointed out that not all scholars felt inspired to follow this path but there were only
a few who were fortunate enough, in whom the desire for these experiences arose
as a result of good deeds of their previous births or those who were favored by God
Almighty. There is thus a very clear distinction between men of knowledge and
men of realization or men of mystical experience. Mystical experience. That the
problem of who should cherish a desire for these experiences is itself a riddle
which defies human capacities has been accepted even by the authors of the
Upanishads as well as by the author of the Bhagawata. The former says that the
knowledge of Atman can be gained only by those who are chosen by God. The
Bhagawata, in the same strain, states that only those who become the receptacle of
God‟s favor cross the magic of God and become able to cut asunder their bondage
of the body which is nothing but a food of dogs and jackals (Mun. Up. 3-2-3)

The investigation and discussion at this stage went on very freely and we find
Teachers were open- references to well-known teachers of philosophy,
minded accompanying the inquirers to better enlightened persons in
search of the real truth. One man, however intelligent he may be cannot
comprehend everything in the world and there is always a scope for replenishing
the old stock by new ways of thinking and experience. There is no scope for ego
in this field. The Prashna Upanishad gives the names of six of such teachers who
were experts in Brahma-lore yet searching for highest Brahma, approaching
another great teacher for acquiring knowledge. The answer that the sage gave to
these aspirants also clearly shows the consciousness on his part of the vastness of
knowledge in as much as he very humbly says to them that he would expound to
them what they wanted if he knew it. It is such freedom in the domain of
philosophy that has made India the land of wonderful philosophy.( Pra. Up.1-1and
8)

The students who came to learn from such philosophers were not a homogeneous
Philosophical class. They differed in age, knowledge and caste, the one
study was the thing common to all was aspiration for knowledge of the
principal target of
such schools absolute. Some who came to learn were masters of various
branches of knowledge or were qualified otherwise, i. e.,
possessed qualifications like the knowledge of the distinction between the eternal
and non-eternal, complete renunciation of enjoyment of pleasures, the external and
internal control of senses and a desire for salvation, as enumerated by
Shankaracharya in his commentary on Shariraka Sutra 1-1-1. Every Darshana or
system of philosophy is ultimately related to the absolute, but in some cases it does
so indirectly. But the schools of philosophy dealt with this question directly and
therefore nothing but philosophy played an important role in the teaching of these
teachers. The ultimate aim of the students was not a mere verbal knowledge of the
doctrines regarding the absolute as by various mystics but the realization of the
stage where one becomes one with the absolute. All books on Hindu philosophy
are at one in admitting that this stage does not leave any scope for knowledge as
such. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that for the realization of the absolute
one has to leave off all desires for worldly pleasures as well as book-knowledge
and to leave in all humility like a child. Then he should leave off that stage also
and devote himself entirely to contemplation. Then ultimately he becomes the
Brahmana that means becomes non-different from the absolute.(Br.Up. 3-5-1) It
can be clearly seen that the aim of learning under these teachers was freedom from
worldly bondage as well as from the internal bondage of three gunas or attributes.
This is the stage described as immortality which has been the target of all Indian
philosophers.
The period required for reaching this state of ultimate unity with the absolute has
Time required for not been mentioned at any place. The absolute state could
self-realization be reached in accordance with the keenness of the aspirant
and the sharpness of his intellect. In this realm of knowledge the method to be
followed was introspective and not descriptive because the experiences of others
had to be realized by the aspirant. It was tapas or austerity that was the only
instrument for realization. Tapas is the master-key to unlock all secrets of Hindu
way of life. It means austerities and penances which involve the conquest and
sublimation of the baser instincts which generally dominate in human life. These
have to be controlled by mind alone and hence mind-control plays a very important
role in all the achievements of knowledge. There is an anecdote which points out
the importance of tapas, in the Bhrigu-Valli of the Taittiriya upanishad. Once
Bhrugu approached his father Varuna and requested him to propound the nature of
The period differed
Brahma. Varuna asked him to perform penance. After the
with individuals penance Bhrugu came to one conclusion but as it was not
correct Varuna asked him to perform more penance. This
was repeated four times before he reached the final truth. The process must have
required a long time but there is no explicit mention of the time required by
Bhrugu for the realization of the final knowledge. There is another passage which
makes clear that in some cases, the period was very extensive. The Chhandogya
Upanishad 8-7-2 to 8-11-3 narrates the story of Indra (from the camp of gods) and
Virochana (from the camp of demons) who approached Prajapati for receiving the
knowledge of the absolute. Indra gave them some idea in regard to the same after
both of them had stayed with him for a period of thirty-two years and asked them
to go. Virochana reached the Asuras( demons) straight without entertaining any
doubt in regard to the doctrine that had been taught to him. But Indra, while on his
way home found out that the doctrine that had been taught to him could not stand
common sense. So he returned to Prajjapati and told him about his doubts.
Prajapati asked him to stay with him for a further period of thirty-two years and
taught him a new doctrine. While on his way back to his home he found out the
defects of the doctrine and again returned to Prajapati. The same happened the
third time and he was asked to stay for a further period of thirty-two years. When
he returned again Prajapati asked him to stay for a further period of five years, in
all making a total of a hundred and one years. This shows that there was no fixed
period prescribed for the attainment of the highest knowledge and that it differed
with earnestness and capacity of individuals concerned. It has to be borne in mind
in this connection that, very few of those who attempted to reach these dizzy
philosophical heights succeeded in their attempts because the qualities demanded
of aspirants for self-realization were extremely difficult to attain. The
Bhagawadgita (7-3) makes this point very clear when it says that out of a thousand
men, hardly one attempts to achieve this stage and even from among those who
attempt, hardly a few can reach that stage.(B.G. 7 -3)
It has been often remarked that India has won the appreciation of the world
India’s greatness is because of the heights of philosophy that were reached by
due to her her intellectual stalwarts particularly in the realm of
philosophy of action
philosophy. It is true that long before Plato and Aristotle
started their journey in the realm of intellectualism India had already reached the
zenith of her achievements in the field of philosophical speculation. But to believe
that philosophical speculation alone made India great in the past and makes it so in
the present is far from truth. To a very large extent India‟s greatness is due to her
unique philosophy of „Karma‟ which teaches one how to behave in this world, as a
house-holder making himself a part and parcel of the world around and playing his
part properly and with dignity so that it may help the development of a harmonious
life and build the society into an integrated organism. This society was to be such
as left scope for each of its members to develop to his fullest stature. In order that
this whole social machinery should operate healthily a regular procedure had been
laid down and the whole frame-work of society had been arranged in such a way
that the traditions once set up continued for ever without loss of efficiency. It is
this social structure, described in Chapter II that has won the admiration of the
thinking world. Hindus are probably the largest stock of human beings where the
ways of living and thinking followed by the ancestors of the race thousands of
years before the Christian era are being practiced even to this day with more or less
the same devotion. Thanks to the foresight of the ancient sages of India, the social
aspect of Hindu life may prove exemplary to all the other nations and races of the
world. The principal aim of her ancient seers had been to build up a corporate life
which would leave no scope for disintegration, without coming into conflict with
individualism.

It is because of this that Hinduism has no territorial boundaries but is fit to become
Hinduism has no a religion of the universe. The real secret of India‟s
territorial boundaries greatness is her social structure which took note of this
world as well as the other. As the earlier European writers
on India had been brought up in the Christian traditions which more or less
followed the renunciatory inclination of Buddhism and refused to take note of or
attach any importance to this life it is but natural that the philosophical literature
which treats the world as a mere shadow should have affected them more
prominently. According to Hinduism this life is a step to the next and the life after
death is a mere continuation of this life in the same sense in which the subsequent
acts in a drama are the continuation of the theme taken up in the previous act. As
Christianity had spread over almost the whole of Europe, the earlier students of
Indology failed to realize the grandeur and the wisdom of the Hindu way of life
which was entirely new to them. To this were added the attempts of the Indian
rulers from the west, the more intelligent of whom like Macaulay, vied with each
other in vilifying every aspect of Hindu life and culture, directly and indirectly,
under protection and inspiration of the rulers.

Some western sociologists also have now come to believe that the social system as
it prevails in India is the best form in which society should be arranged.

It would be interesting to quote a few extracts of this type here.

(1) It will be understood that the one important function of caste, perhaps the most
Hutton on Indian important of all its functions, and the one which above all
social system others makes caste in India a unique institution, is or has
been to integrate the Indian society, to weld into one community the various
competing, if not incompatible groups comprising it.

(2) A second important function of caste is to act as a political stabilizer. It was

this function apparently of the caste system which so moved the admiration of
Abbe Dubois who considered the caste system of Hindus „ the happiest effort of
their legislation.‟ He regarded the caste system as being responsible for the
preservation of India from complete barbarism, and as the sure basis of orderly
government, as a defense against despotism, as a means for preserving the arts and
as a sure means of preserving the Hindu pattern of culture under the regime of
alien conquerors.

(3) Indian society has survived a vast number of invasions, famines, revolutions
and social upheavals of all kinds, including conquests of invaders by alien religions
essentially antagonistic to Hinduism and there can be no doubt that this is largely
due to the caste system in which society has constructed itself, a system which
often survived even conversion to Islam or Christianity.”( J.H.Hutton-‘Caste in
India’p.119 and 120 )

This is not the proper place to discuss at length what advantages they find in this
system but the most important of them may be enumerated as follows :- (1) This
arrangement leaves scope for the inherent differences which exist among men. (2)
It helps to maintain a high standard of intellectual and moral traits by restricting
marriage. (3) By restricting vocations on a hereditary basis, leaves scope for the
development of vocational skill. (4) It makes for Prosperity and happiness by so
adjusting the various grades of people that each one has a fixed source of
maintenance and there is no possibility of anybody encroaching upon any body
else‟s field, and finally, (5) It bases the whole structure on duty and love rather
than on right. Hinduism stresses a gradual evolution from one Ashrama to another,
emphasizing the householder‟s life which it compares with the mother in the
family and honors renunciation only when all the previous Ashramas have been
lived through. No frog-leap to Sanyasa is allowed. There have been numerous
forms of philosophy, theistic and atheistic, Vedic and non-Vedic preached in this
land but what form of philosophy is acceptable to one, has never been an important
point so long as Dharma (duty) is observed by persons. That this is the correct
aspect which forms the most distinguishing feature of Hinduism has now been
realized by some of the outstanding scholars of this country as well as those in the
west.

The teacher‟s authority in parting with his knowledge was absolute. He was not
Teacher enjoyed the servant of anybody else. Whom to teach, what to teach,
complete autonomy how to teach and when to teach was to be decided by him
alone. Rulers of the country had no control in this field. Kings had to follow
certain traditions which helped the teachers in their work One short verse in the
Vasistha-dharmashastra beautifully brings out much important information in this
respect. It says that Vidya (learning) came to the Brahmmana and requested him to
protect her as she was his most valuable treasure. She also besought him not to
give her to a person who is jealous, crooked in behavior and un-self-controlled.
Manu Smriti also speaks more or less in the same strain ( Va. Dh. 2-8 ) ( M.S.2-
214) (The primary duty of the teacher was to add constantly to his knowledge as
can be clearly seen from the fact that “ Adhyayana or learning always occurs at
the beginning of the list of six duties of Brahmanas. Their devotion to this duty
was proverbial and hence it is in the fitness of things that their authority in this
field should have been supreme. In fact, every one who possesses some kind of
knowledge always desires to impart it to some one else provided he is satisfied
Knowledge could be with the capacities of the person concerned. Just as there
withheld in the were disciples thirsting for knowledge there were also
absence of a
qualified recipient
teachers thirsting for properly qualified students.
Knowledge was the heritage that the teachers used to leave
to their disciples and it is impossible to think of a person who desires to die
without leaving behind any heir to the property. The Veda contains prayers
offered by teachers of ancient times wherein they are found praying for students.
One of the teachers prays to the creator to send him Brahmacharins, young
students, in streams like waters flowing from the mountains or like months
following each other in succession. (Tait. Upa. 1-4-7) But such exceptionally
brilliant men as would prove a proper receptacle for the new learning to be
imparted to them were always few and authorities are unanimous in deciding that
in case no proper disciple was available, it was desirable to die with the knowledge
but not to impart it to one who was not properly qualified, for that was like sowing
seeds in a barren land. (M.S. 2,113 ) This was the more so in regard to
philosophical knowledge. Unqualified persons, when knowledge is imparted to
them, are always prone to miscomprehend and create a dangerous situation and
hence such a precaution was badly necessary. It was because of this control that
Indian tradition did not favor writing down the works in various sciences and laid
great stress on memorization. Summing up the discussion of this topic it will be of
interest to readers to study the following from an authority in this respect. He says,
“ The spread of the sacred texts was completely controlled by those to the keeping
of whose memory they were committed. Written works, like most other material
things, are economic goods, traffic in which cannot be controlled. But the
knowledge that is carried in the head is a monopoly of the knower and is devoid of
that externality and materiality which would make it capable of appropriation by
others. The spread of such knowledge is thus absolutely determined by the choice
and sweet will of the knower who has the liberty to dictate on what terms he would
exercise his choice. In the inner chambers of his soul have been stored up the
literary treasures to which no one can have access unless he consents to unlock
them with the key he holds. Thus, the system could logically lay down conditions
of admission which would eliminate all those who were not deemed to be
sufficiently qualified, by aptitude, temperament and character, to receive
instruction in the sacred learning.” ( Mookerji R.K. “Ancient Indian Education
p.215 ) Thus, the very conditions of teaching helped to make the teacher absolutely
independent as regards the selection of his pupils.

The teacher occupied a very high position in society in ancient India. This was so
Teachers served as not only because he was the custodian of knowledge but also
models for the because he was a man of character and discipline. An
society
Indian considers as worthless a person who indulges in
idealistic talk but does not act up to the ideal because it demands negation of one‟s
self. He will first of all try to know what a man is before lending his ear to what he
says. According to him what is important is action, not so much knowledge un-
translated into action. All the religious and ethical precepts are very pleasant to
preach but acting up to them is extremely difficult. The teachers deserved
gratitude of students because they taught them certain subjects but society in
general also was grateful to them because they lived among the students as
embodiments of social and moral ideals, during the long stay of the students at
their houses. This gratitude that society owed to these teachers was recognized on
all hands in as much as, the Acharyas or the teachers figure in the list of people to
whom religious offering of water is to be offered by a devout Hindu, while
performing his morning duties. It is of course not possible that the name of every
individual Acharya should be included in this list but that, some prominent
Acharyas are represented in the list is a sufficient indication of the recognition of
their invaluable service to the society. They were honored more particularly
because of the ideal of humility, nobility and simplicity that they presented to the
society. This can be clearly seen in the final advice that they gave to their students
at the time of parting which, in normal cases, came after both had stayed together
for a large number of years. The teacher, in one such advice, confesses to the
student that he also might have certain defects which the student must have seen in
him, but these were to be left out and only whatever was good in him was to be
imitated.(Tait.Upa. 1-11-2 )
This very consciousness of the possibility that there could be shortcomings in his
They were men of behavior and an open confession of the same is a sufficient
the world and did proof of the nobility of their soul. The teachers could
not live in cloistered
seclusion command respect from society also because of the fact that
the education they imparted was not dissociated from life.
Like teachers of Greece they were not afraid “There was, in fact, even in the age,
when Greek life seems to have been purest, a definite cleavage between
philosophical precept and social practice. And this cleavage made necessary the
seclusion of the youth from society, during the period of his education.” ( Herbert
Philipson – Education a search for new principals p.2 ) All Indian education was
meant as a preparation for life to come and the Guru considered it his duty to
prepare his students for discharging properly their duties as householders. They
did not believe in escapism from life but in facing life‟s realities squarely and
courageously and in trying to live in the noblest possible way without fighting shy
of the various responsibilities it involved. In fact this is the most striking feature of
Hinduism; the householder‟s life and the renunciate‟s life have been merged
together as the one is incomplete without the other. In Hinduism no value attaches
to a renunciate who disregards householder‟s life, in the same way in which a
householder who does not appreciate renunciation is to be despised. In Kalidasa‟s
„Abhidnyan Shakuntala‟, Kashyapa, the foster-father of Shakuntala and the
Chancellor (Kulapati) in charge of the education of thousands of students, passed a
remark before uttering a verse containing advice for Shakuntala. It was but natural
that his students who were there, should have considered it inadvertent on the part
of a hermit to impart advice to Shakuntala, who was on the verge of becoming a
queen. It was exactly in anticipation of this misgiving that the sage has been
required to tell his pupils, “though we have our abode in the forest, we know what
is appropriate in worldly life.” (Abhidnyana Shakuntala- 4)

The question of the caste to which a teacher belonged is an important problem that
Teachers were claims our attention. It is not possible to give an
generally Brahmanas unqualified reply to the question. As pointed out before,
there were three principal stages of education, the pre-
Uppanayana stage, the Post-Upanayana state and the stage of higher education. It
is in regard to these three separate stages that the question has to be considered. At
the pre-Upanayana stage, it was the elderly member of the family who worked as
the teacher and hence there can be no question in regard to the caste of the teacher
at this stage. At the post-Upanayana stage the young pupil had to be sent to the
house of the Guru who was generally a Brahmana. We rarely come across a
Kshatriya who was running an Ashrama for educating the young. Teaching was
one of the functions of a Brahmana, although not the primary function. Teaching
along with the performance of sacrifice for others and accepting gifts was allowed
principally as the means for maintenance whereas the principal duties of the
Brahmana were offering sacrifices, study and giving. ( M.S. 10-75 and 76) A
Kshatriya was not expected to work as a teacher, not to perform sacrifices for
others and not to accept any dakshina. Also it does not mean that he was
intellectually or spiritually inferior to Brahmanas. The arrangement was based on
a certain order that is necessary in shaping a society and on the natural competence
of one to perform a certain-type of function on a hereditary basis. The duties of
kshatriyas constitute, warfare, prowess, splendor, firmness, dexterity, not flying
away from battle, generosity, and rulership. (M.S. 10-77;10-78; and B.G. 18-43).
Looking to the above list of duties that were enjoined upon the Kshatriya, it can be
easily seen that he would find it inconvenient to work as a teacher, even though he
might be intellectually competent to do so.

It is convenience and adjustment rather than superiority or inferiority that have

Foreign writers often made this arrangement necessary, practicable and
misunderstood the successful. Foreign writers have often failed to appreciate
situation
this aspect of Hindu society, which stresses duties rather
than rights, and have passed remarks which reflect their ignorance of facts and
lower Indian tradition in the eyes of the world. When, for example it is laid down
that the Upanayana of a Brahmana boy should be performed at the age of 8 years,
as against 11years and 12 years in the case of Kshatriya and Vaishya boys, they
will ascribe it to partiality for the Brahmanas and condemnation of others.
Referring to the fact that Drona was the teacher of young princes, Keay remarks,
“The purpose of the author may have been to exalt the dignity of the Brahmana
caste by showing how the Kshatriyas learnt even their own special functions from
the Brahmanas.” (F.E.Keay–‘Indian Educationnin Ancient and later times, p.51 )
Referring to the age of Upanayana which came earlier in the case of a Brahmana‟s
son than that of Kshatriya‟s or Vaishya‟s the same author says. “It seems probable
however that the difference in age was to emphasize the intellectual superiority of
the Brahmana” In fact the purpose of the description is not to show how the
Kshatriyas learnt even their own special functions from the Brahmanas but to
show that, in some cases, Brahmanas also were experts in the science of war, and
had recourse to it for maintaining themselves. Dr. Altekar( Dr.A.S.Altekar –
Education in ancient India,- Foot-note on p.274) has refuted the second remark by
pointing out that there was no idea of emphasizing the intellectual superiority of
the Brahmanas “The selection of these particular ages seems to have been due to
the rather fortuitous circumstance of the syllables of each line of the S‟avitri
Mantras of these casted being 8, 11 and 12 respectively. ( ibid p.30 ) The
reference here is to a passage which says that Gayatri, Trishtubh and Jagati are
metres of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas respectively. (Taittiriya
Brahmana, 1-1-8)

Coming to the field of higher or specialized education we find Brahmana teachers

Brahmanas and working side by side with Kshatriya teachers. As pointed
Kshatriyas worked
shoulder to shoulder
out before, philosophical speculations could not be the guarded preserve of any
caste and all the four castes had equal right to participate in the development of this
type of literature. Nor do we find any kind of animosity among thinkers in this
field. Free ventilation of ideas regarding the ultimate cause is visible all through
this literature, although the contribution of Vaishyas and Shudras to this type of
literature is not very considerable. Brahmanas and Kshatriyas have labored in this
field as colleagues even from the earliest days and there is nothing like a revolt of
one caste against another. All Upanishadic thought is rampant during that period
but describing it as a revolt of one caste against another is perversion of facts. A
study of things as they existed at the time the Upanishads were composed, shows
that there were many other ideologies also that did not agree with the philosophy
of the sacrifice, and the Upanishadic philosophy is only one of many such
ideologies. The thesis that Upanishadic literature represents a revolt by the
Kshatriyas against the Brahmnanas can be accepted only on the assumption that
difference of view in regard to certain item means animosity. “As regards the share
belonging to the Kshatriyas in this so called revolt, it may be quite true that
Pravahana Jaivali (Ch. Up. I-8 and V-3.7), Ashvapati Kaikeya (Ch.Up. V.11),
Ajatashatru (Br.Up.II-I), Chitra Gargyayani ( Kaus. Up. I.1) and Janaka (S‟B.XI-3-
1) were all Kshatriyas in possession of certain Vidyas unknown to the Brahmanas,
but we must not forget that Yajnavalkya, the teacher of king Janaka, and Uddalaka
Aruni, the father of proud Shvetaketu, the two most outstanding Upanishadic
personalities were Brahmanas; and what is yet more pertinent to note that Kavasha
Ailusha in the newly edited Chhagaleya Upanishad was a Shudra, and that,
Sayugva Raikva (meaning, Raikva with the cart) was even an Atishudra or a
pariah. We can on the strength of last mentioned cases, no more say that the
Upanishads, in their present form, represent the wisdom of the depressed classes
than, on the strength of the earlier set of examples, declare that the Upanishads
represent the wisdom of the Kshatriyas and not of the Brahmanas, especially when
it is remembered that the form in which some of the admittedly Kshatriya Vidyas
(e.g. the „Panchagnividya‟ in Ch.Up. V.3.)are presented is quite sacerdotal or
Brahmanic.” (Dr.S.K.Belwalkar – Basu Malik Lectures on Vedanta p.38) At this
higher stage of specialization, it can now be clearly seen, that whoever contributed
to thinking became a teacher and there was nothing like a monopoly belonging to a
particular caste. In a sense it is no use trying to assign any caste to them because
they had passed to a stage where caste-system ceased to operate. Castes had no
place in their domain.

In the field of vocational or professional education where knowledge counts less

Professional than performance, it was the master artist who was the teacher.
education This teacher imparted to his apprentice-disciple the secrets of his
trade according to the latter‟s capacity. We find references to a few traders‟ guilds
also, run by persons belonging to various professions, and the teachers in these
guilds must naturally have been non-Brahmana. It is however interesting to note
that in the development of the professions also Brahmana thinkers played an
important role. High class workers were experts not only in vocational education
but also in liberal education. It is noteworthy that some of the Brahmanas used to
be skilled in mining and metallurgy, medical and military sciences, as indeed they
were in many other sciences also. With the disappearance of the Brahmana
element in these fields, the growth of the fine, useful and industrial arts became
arrested.

Teacher‟s finance is also an aspect which deserves our critical attention. The
Teachers provided teacher had several dozens of students studying at his place
free lodging and and it was customary for him to supply free boarding and
boarding to all pupils
lodging to each one of them. This must have necessitated
large amounts of money or large amounts of money or large supplies in kind.
Some writers on ancient Indian education have stated that these expenses were met
by teachers from the fees which they regularly collected from students studying
under them. They gave a preferential treatment to paying students, imparted
instruction to them at a more convenient time of the day whereas those who had no
capacity to pay fees were made to labor in the house of the Guru by day and were
taught at night. If, as expressed above, the system left scope for economic
distinction in imparting knowledge, there is no reason why anybody should
appreciate the ancient teacher. The teacher, it means, was as much a slave to
monetary obligation as the modern teacher and the system therefore stands self-
condemned. There is absolutely no evidence to show that this distinction was
made by any of the teachers because there is no mention of this practice in any
place, Sutras, Smritis, Puranas or the Veda itself. It is not possible that the books
which deal with even insignificant details of every aspect of education should not
have referred to this important aspect. There is indeed a mention of the fact that
students were required to do menial duties in the Guru‟s house but they were
meant as an aspect of discipline, not as a penalty for economic incapacity. There is
a mention of the guru. The duties include bringing fuel for his sacred fire and
begging but they were to be performed by every one of the students. There is also
a mention of the fact that knowledge was to be imparted to one who pays money
but it does not mean that those who could not pay money were not to be taught.
According to Manu, the following ten types of students were to be taught by the
teacher as a matter of duty : The son of one‟s Acharya, a person who is desirous of
learning, one who exchanges knowledge, one who follows the religious precepts,
one who is pure in behavior, a relative, one who possesses the capacity to
comprehend and retain, one who gives money, one who is a well-wisher and one
who belongs to one‟s community ( M.S. 2-107). This verse makes it clear that
along with the capacity to pay money there were other considerations also that
weighed with the teacher while undertaking to teach a student. It has to be
admitted that the teacher did not refuse to accept money when it was offered to
him, but taking into consideration the economic demands that he had to meet, he
cannot be found at fault with for the same.

What then must have been the economic resources of the teacher ? There must
Economic sources have been some resources because otherwise we could not
of the teacher have found this system of free education working
continuously and successfully in the country for several millenniums. Making
grants in cash or kind to teachers for the sake of enabling them to conduct their
institutions is not mentioned any-where among the duties of
Dakshina
the king. In Manu-Smruti it has been mentioned that
Guru Dakshina teaching was useful for the teacher to maintain himself but it
cannot be forgotten that there are also two other sources,
(Yajana and Pratigraha) performance of sacrifice and accepting Dakshinas,
mentioned in that very verse. Such Dakshinas used to be offered by every
householder at the time of the Shraddha, which occurred every month. There are a
number of sources mentioned at various places from which the teacher could get
all the money necessary for running his educational institution. One very common
source was the Dakshina that the Brahmanas used to get whenever a religious ritual
was performed. The society realized the importance of the work that the
Brahmana was doing and custom had established the belief that no ritual was
complete unless Dakshina was offered to deserving Brahmanas. It has often been
remarked that this partiality towards Brahmanas has become a convention because
people followed blindly whatever was written down by the authors of the Smritis
who were actuated by motives of enriching the Brahmana community at the cost of
others. But that such motives cannot be attributed to injunctions for giving
Dakshinas will be amply clear when other injunctions condemning unworthy
Brahmanas are also studied. It has been remarked that a Brahmana who does not
devote himself to learning and penance and who is greedy for Dakshina, sinks like
a person who enters water, seating himself in a stone boat. At another place it has
been pointed out that even water should not be offered to a Brahmana who is a
hypocrite (M.S.4-190 and 4-172). Along with the Dakshina that teachers used to
receive on ceremonial occasions we must also mention the Guru Dakskhina, which
consisted of some offering made to the Guru at the end of one‟s studies, on
departing from the gurukula. Many people think that this is nothing but a fee on
modern lines, the only difference being that whereas at present fees are collected
monthly, here they were to be paid at the end of the course. But if we consider the
nature of the Dakshina offered, we shall easily see that the two things do not stand
comparison. The Dakskhina thus given consisted only of very simple articles and
could not be commensurate with the benefits that the pupil had received in the
Guru‟s house. The Manu-Smriti enjoins that nothing should be given in the
beginning to the teacher by way of fees, perhaps because, such a procedure might
lead to the teacher‟s partiality for one and neglect of others, in accordance with the
amounts they have paid but, one may give, according to one‟s studies, and that too
with Guru‟s permission. The objects to be presented on such an occasion were not
to be treated as the price of the knowledge received, for they used to be very
simple and cheap articles like a few acres of land, gold, a cow, a horse, an
umbrella, a pair of shoes, an antelope skin, corn, vegetables or clothes (M.S. 2-245
and 246). It was just a favor done by the Guru to the students when he consented
to accept the donation. There are cases of Gurus who were considerate enough to
refuse the offer of a Dakshina in case they found that the payment would land the
student in difficulty. We have one such illustration in Kautsa, the student of
Varatantu described in detail in Kalidasa‟s Raghuvams‟a Canto V. The story says
that Kautsa asked his Guru what Dakshina he wanted from him. But the Guru
refused to have anything saying that he was thoroughly pleased with his devotion
to him. But on being repeatedly pressed by him, in a slightly angry mood, he
asked for fourteen crores of golden coins as Dakshina for fourteen Vidiyas that he
had taught. Then the student approached king Raghu and got the amount from
him. The story also shows how rich people in general and kings in particular,
deemed it a slur on their reputation in case they found they had failed to help a
student collecting money for honorarium to be paid to the Guru.

That the people in general acknowledged with gratitude the Brahmanas‟ service to
Other sources of society is also clear from one unique institution which has
economic help to been in existence in India from times immemorial. It was
teachers
considered as the duty of every householder to offer cooked
food to students. In order that this may not be a heavy burden to any one Shatatapa
has mentioned that the offering should be only one morsel. (Shatatapa Smruti 5).
Manu enjoins the offering of food to students accompanied by the proper ritual
(M.S. 3-94). The student was not to beg for his own sake alone but submit the
proceeds of his begging to the teacher. In order to help the teacher in his work
indirectly help was also given to him in the form of copies of manuscripts.
Apararka (on Yajnavalkya Smriti 1-212) refers to the practice of getting
manuscript copies of certain important books made by scribes at one‟s own cost
and then handing them over to the teacher for use in his Ashrama. Another
important source was the money earned by the teacher in intellectual tournaments
held by various kings. The purpose of holding such functions was two-fold:
dissemination of knowledge possessed by the geniuses of the nation and the
offering of necessary help to them for continuing their work. Every sacrifice
performed meant rich offerings of money to learned people. One incident when
Yajnavalkya appropriated the prize of victory offered by king Janaka, viz., one
thousand cows to each pair of whose horns were fastened ten padas of gold, is very
well known (Br.Up. 3-1). There are also instances galore when we find
description of bountiful Dakshinas being given to Brahmanas. Indirect help also
was given to Brahmana teachers. They were not required to pay any taxes to the
king even if the king was in great difficulty about money. It is always to be borne
in mind that all these privileges could be enjoyed only by those who were
following the rigorous life demanded of a Brahmana; the function of teaching
being one important function included in the list along with constant application to
knowledge. Bhavabhuti in his Malatimadhava has defined a S‟rotriya as a person
who is eternally busy with knowledge of the real truth. There was one other source
also from which Brahmanas got economic relief and that was the money given to
them when somebody died intestate. Of course care was taken to see that the
Brahmanas who inherited such property were men of attainment, purity and self-
control. It was because of these eternal unfailing sources of money that a
Brahmana teacher was never required to humiliate himself before men of money
and could maintain the dignity of his profession.

7 THE STUDENT

The word “Brahmacharin‟ is synonymous with the word „student‟ in English. Just
Meaning of the word as the world „student‟ in English denotes a learner receiving
‘Brahmacharin’ higher education so in Hindu terminology „Brahmacharin‟
means a learner receiving a higher type of education. Brahmacharya period began
at about eight in the case of Brahmanas and a bit later in the case of the other two
castes. Although there was some education that a boy used to receive before
Upanayana was performed, it was of a lower type when compared with what he
learnt later. Before Upanayana, he was simply a pupil, not yet purified by blessings
of Gods and by acceptance as a son by the teacher or Guru. The word
„Brahmacharin‟ connotes two meaning which point to two different aspect of life.
According to one meaning it means a boy who studies the
Moral implication of the Veda because the word „Brahma‟ is commonly used in
word Brahmacharya
Sanskrit for the Vedas learnt from fire, wind and the sun
respectively by Paramatma, the Hiranyagarbha.(M.S. 1-23) In the same sense. The
word is also mentioned elsewhere, where it has been pointed out that unless the
Upanayana is performed, a boy should not recite the Veda, except at the time of
shraddha because, he is as good as a Shudra so long as his Upanayana is not
performed. (M.S. 2-172 ) This restricted meaning became more comprehensive
when later the word „Veda‟ came to mean any kind of knowledge in general, with
reference to its philological meaning. The word Veda is derived from the root Vid
which means “to know” and hence whatever is known became knowledge and
there fore the Veda. The second sense of the word Brahmacharya is moral, as
different from educational. It refers in general to the control of instincts and in
particular the instinct of sex which is the most predominant and powerful of all.
The discipline prescribed by Manu for a Brahmacharin makes it clear that an all
round restraint is to be observed by the Brahmacharin during this period.
Brahmacharya in this case means a restraint of all desires which lead a man astray
if not properly controlled and which are, in their turn, trying to control man. There
is a constant struggle going on between the higher self of the man and his lower
self, and the person in whom Buddhi (reason) subdues the Manas man is doomed
to perdition. Reason seeks for happiness, mind for pleasure. The first leads to
freedom, the second to bondage. The Katha Upanishad says that happiness And joy
come to a person; a man of courage (discretion) distinguishes between the two. He
prefers happiness to pleasure. A dull person prefers joy because he derives pleasure
from it. (Katha Upa. 2-2) The same Upanishad elsewhere says that a person whose
charioteer is reason and the mind the reins can reach the end of his worldly journey
i.e. the place which is the great abode of God Vishnu. ( Katha Upa. 3-9 )

The Brahmacharya period, according to Hindu view of life, is to be used for

Control of desires controlling lead men astray and make them unhappy in the
was an important end, although they do give temporary pleasure. Those who
objective
do not attempt to control these desires ultimately rain
themselves. The scuffle that is going on among the three qualities Satva, Rajas and
Tamas, that a man consists of, is going on eternally, in the mental world. The first
quality called the Satva, makes one crave for happiness, aside knowledge goads
one to darkness or ignorance or misbehavior. The state in which all the three are
completely balanced is, according to Sankhyas, the state that existed prior to the
creation of the world and that will exist after its cessation. When the Satva
dominated, it represses the Rajas and Tamas. Similar is the
Drever on the case when the remaining two dominate. (B.G.11-10).
internal conflict
Whereas freedom from all the three bondages is the final
aim of all Hindu philosophy, the process is very difficult and can be reached only
gradually. The first step is to make the Rajas and Tamas subserve the Sattva. When
Sattva begins to dominate permanently, much has been achieved, because the
lower instincts are thereby permanently repressed, that is become subservient to
the master instinct. James Drever describes the same conflict in the following lines
:- “When at any time two emotional tendencies are operating simultaneously the
outcome in behavior will depend upon the tendencies in question and their relation
to one another. If the two tendencies are capable of existing together, the behavior
will be complication of the behaviors appropriate to each, any difference in
strength between the tendencies, or in intensity between the emotions, showing
itself by an emphasizing of the corresponding elements in the combined behavior.
If, on the contrary, the two emotional tendencies are incapable of existing together,
or practically so, as when one tendency prompts towards behavior of a kind
antagonistic to or inconsistent with, the behavior to which the other tendency
prompts, conflict must arise, and the conflict will only be resolved when the
stronger tendency succeeds in temporarily repressing the other and translating
itself into action.” ((James Drever - The psychology of every day life, p.38)

The Hindu Knew well that if at all the undesirable control of instincts over reason
Students’ life was was to be avoided and instincts were to be subordinated to
the golden mean
between frivolous
enjoyment and self-
mortification
reason, the work has to be taken up as early as possible. The family system and the
observance of mental controls in the household had already created a background
for the rigorous life which the student was expected to live. Self-control resulted
from renunciation and renunciation is the backbone of Hindu life. It does not
however mean that the student was to live a hermit‟s life, but it does mean that he
was to live a life which erred neither on the side of frivolous enjoyment nor on the
side of criminal mortification. The school - the Guru‟s house – was place where he
learnt from books and that was indeed an important achievement. But there was
another trait that he had to develop, a trait immensely more important than that. He
was to develop his moral-self here. This was the infinitely important part of
education. The whole atmosphere of the Ashramas was so conditioned as to
inculcate desirable traits and eradicate the undesirable ones. As an auxiliary to this
environment there was another means also to be used for the same purpose and that
was the observance of various Vratas enjoined upon the students. The modern
thinker may brand such practices as detestable orthodoxy but taking into
consideration the immense advantages of such traditions, it can be easily seen that
such criticism is not justifiable. No nation should pay attention only to the
development of literary or scientific knowledge of students, choosing to connive at
their moral degradation. In fact, there is complete unanimity among thinkers of the
world that if character is lost, everything is lost. The vast amount of knowledge
possessed by an immoral person is of no avail.

The type of discipline that the student was required to undergo was two-fold. One
Two-fold discipline type was the restrictions and formalities that he was
restrictions and formalities that he was required to observed
daily life; the second being some special observances that were prescribed for him.
The following is the list of restrictions and formalities falling under the first
category : taking the daily bath, offering the Tarpana (offering water daily) to
Daily discipline Devas, Rishis, Acharyas, and Pitris, worship of deities,
abstention from taking wine, flesh, fragrant flowers and
women, killing of animals, eating sour objects, using unguents and collyrium, use
of shoes and umbrellas, expressing love, anger or avarice, dancing, singing and
using musical instruments, gambling, scandalizing, reproaches. Raise hood looking
to women and harming others. The Brahmacharin was to beg from various houses
because eating food thus begged for was as good as observing a fast.( M.S. 2-176
to 180) The List will make it clear to inculcate healthy habits, self-control, faith in
one‟s Dharma, avoiding luxuriousness and wickedness
Special observances avoiding all habits that will develop passion in young boys,
acquaintance with hard and toilsome life and developing all
social decency. There were some special observances too. These were known as
the Vratas. The Savitrivarta was part of the Upanayanan ceremony. It marked the
opening of the study of the Veda by a Brahmana student. In a few cases the Vrata
was not observed at all and Savitri was taught immediately after Upanayana was
performed. This was the first Vrata which a Brahmacharin was required to observe.
There are various periods mentioned as the duration of this Vrata. They are one
year, six months, twenty four days, twelve days, six days or three days, the last
being the normal duration. During the observance of this Vrata the student was to
live on begged food which was not to be either pungent or saline or milk. There
were other special vratas also connected with special of study and constituted the
course of the study itself. These were known as the Veda-vratas and were specially
prescribed for the study of the four Kandas namely, Prajapatikanda, Somakanda,
Agnikanda and the Upanayana ceremony was performed before different text
comprising the courses of studies could be taught. For studying the main portion of
the Veda the student was required to observe the Sukriya Vrata which lasted for
three days or one year or any other period of time according to the teacher‟s
discretion. “Finally came the Sakvara, Vratika and Aupanishada observances, each
of which has to last one year, and which refer to the different parts of Aranyaka.
These three are special Vratas connected with the character of mystical secrecy
attributed to Aranyakas. After the lapse of the year through which the Vrata is
kept, a ceremony called Uddikshanika i.e. the giving up of Diksha or preparatory
observance for the study of the Aranyaka texts is performed. This Eddikshanika
consist chiefly in the teacher‟s ascertaining whether the student has fulfilled the
duties involved in the Vrata. Besides that, a repetition of the Upanayana also
formed part of preparatory rites for the study of the Aranyakas. After this, the
teacher went out of the village in the north-eastern direction and sat down in a
clean spot, turning his face to the east. Then when the sun had arisen be recited, in
the way prescribed for the Veda study (i.e. the anuvachana), the Aranyaka texts, to
the student or the “ Rahasya” as termed by Manu.” ( Mookerji, R. K. – Ancient
Indian Education, pp 189-190 )

It is interesting to note, that Hindu writers have paid special attention seeing that
Importance of celibacy the Brahmacharin was to be kept aloof from thoughts,
sights and actions that excite sex consciousness. In regard
to the girls as well as boys the same care was taken (Mookerji, R.K. – Ancient
Indian Education, pp 189-190) . All this was prescribed with the idea that at time
of marriage both of them should be bachelors. Yajnavalkya Smriti has made a clear
mention of the fact that at the time of marriage both the bride and the bridegroom
must be bachelors. Both Manu and Yajnavalkya used the word „Avipluta
brachmacharya‟(of unaffected chastity as the qualification for the bridegroom. The
bride also had to be „Ananyapurvika‟, that is, perfectly chaste. ( Ya. S.1-52, M.S.
3-2, Va. Dh. 8-1)

The marriage age in the case of girls was laid down as eight but we should
Marriage age for remember that marriage did not mean sex-relationship as it
boys and girls usually means to-day. As pointed out in the chapter on
Women‟s Education, marriages took place with the prime object of the
preservation of the race as well as for the preservation of regional and family
traditions, which had been handed down for hundreds of generations. Before the
girl came of age she was to imbibe the cultural traditions of the family and develop
a healthy physique so as to make her a fit mother for children, a fit housewife,
capable of taking the responsibility of the matron when the mother-in-law and the
father-in-law would retire to Vanaprastha Ashrama. The boy also was required to
stay in the house of the Guru, and as all excitements to sexual impulse were
studiously avoided, was, at the time of marriage, a blooming bachelor. With luster
on his youthful face, by the time he returned home from the Guru‟s house. He was
about twenty years of age and the girl sixteen. The Ashtanga Rhudaya (Sharira-
sthana 1- 8 and 9). mentioned that best sons are born from such matches. This
conclusion of the ancient Hindu medical authorities disapproves the new common
belief that early marriage is harmful to society because of its bad effects. In their
report on the Indian Census of 1901 Messrs Risley and Gait have remarked that the
martial-spirit of Punjabi regiments gives a lie to the theory of bad effects of early
marriages.

Selection of qualified students was the vogue, because, it was believed that
Qualifications of knowledge imparted on a compulsory basis many times
students proves wasteful. The inequality that is clearly visible in
nature is to be reckoned with and it is real intelligence to adjust efforts to the
material. Be dealt with. The energy of the teacher must be spent usefully.
Bhavabhuti has pointed out that the teacher imparts the same amount of knowledge
to the intelligent as well as the dull; he does not help on or
Physical chastity retard their capacity to comprehend. Yet there is much
difference in so far as the result is concerned. For instance a
jewel can reflect the light received form the sun, not a clod of earth. (Uttara. 2-4.)
Intellegence, however was not the only qualification sufficient for admitting a
student to the school. Mental and physical chastity was also treated as an important
qualification. Mental chastity included telling the truth, non-vilification,
gratefulness, respect towards elders and the learned, non-
Humility stealing non-killing etc. Physical chastity keeping it clean by
washing and bath and non-defilement by touch of animals
and things as prescribed in the scriptures. Onion, garlic, flesh, alcoholic drinks etc.
were forbidden and had to be avoided. All other restriction e.g. about the time, the
place and method of eating also had to be observed. This physical purity also
included Brachmacharya or celibacy which occupied the place sovereign
importance in the student‟s discipline. It was believed that celibacy greatly
heightened the stamina and sharpened the intelligence of students and a lapse in
this respect could not be tolerated (Va.Dh2-1). Humility also played and important
help in acquisition of knowledge. The teachers were not dependent upon any one
and, unless humility was shown, nothing could be forced out of them. There is
always an element of satisfaction in the teacher that affects the comprehension of
the student although it cannot be demonstrated by experiments in test-tubes,
Humility on the part of the student is always a helpful factor in all real learning.
The Upanishads always describe even men of learning approaching other better
knowing teachers, with Samidhs ( Dried sticks, having about 6-10 inches length, of
twigs of three ficuses – F, bengalensis Linn., F. relegiosa L. F.glomerata L.) in
their hands. According to ancient Hindu tradition taking Samidhs into one‟s hand
while approaching a senior in knowledge was treated as s sign of studentship. The
Bhagawadgita has remarked that knowledge can be had by prostrating oneself
before the Guru, putting him questions and by serving him.( B.G. 4-34; Pr.Up 1-1)

Along with all these qualifications that were taken into consideration while
Importance of selecting a student, the one that played a very important part
curiousity was the desire and the curiosity to learn on the part of every
learner. Unless there is a curiosity to learns it. The student must feel the need for
learning and then alone will his attention become possible. The word that is used in
the Sanskrit language to indicate this very ardent desire in Jignyasa or the desire to
know This desire for knowledge spurs the pupil on to activity, and where there is
no desire, all external efforts are sure to fail. It has been well said that you can take
a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. We find a number of teachers
whetting this desire in the student so that what ever they taught may be easily
grasped and become the students‟ permanent possession. There are a number of
stories wherein we find Gurus assigning such work to students as would demand
great physical strain like the bringing of wood from forests or water from wells and
lakes. These were necessary for the running of the establishment but the
Freedom from educational value of assigning such duties to students was
temptation also immense. If the students could apply themselves
studiously and strenuously to this work, they could apply
themselves to their studies also with equal vigour. Those who failed here, failed
there also. There is thus a justification for Gurus keeping their students under
discipline for months together, without imparting to them any kind of knowledge.
Just as an artist who possesses a sharp instrument does more work with less labor,
so in education a keen curiosity leads to easy and complete comprehension. The
higher the sphere knowledge, the stronger was the necessity of this desire. It is
often seen that some attractions were also offered studying philosophical doctrines
so that, only if they could withstand the temptation, they could attain knowledge,
In the Katha Upanishad, for example, Yama offered numerous attractions and
luxuries to dissuade Nachiketa from demanding knowledge of the highest truth. He
offered long lived sons and grandsons, elephants, gold and horses, the empire of
the earth, beautiful damsels, chariots and trumpets and everything that goes to
make life full of pleasures. But Nachiketa was fit for receiving the knowledge in-
as-much as the various allurements offered to him could not divert his attention.
(K. Up. 1-2-4)
There were certain classes of students who seem to have been particularly favored
The choice of by the teachers. The most valued stock of students came
students from the Brahmana caste. It was quite natural in view of the
fact that the other two communities viz. the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas were too
busy with their professions, the saddle and the scales. The teachers ascertained,
before they undertook to give to a novice the knowledge they possessed, the cast to
which the prospective student belonged. It is quite natural that a teacher should be
keen on seeing that the knowledge should be imparted only to persons who had the
necessary capacities. There is one very well-known story which indicated the
means used by an intelligent teacher to ascertain the caste of one student who had
come to him to learn. It is the story of Satyakama Jabala ( Chha. Up 4-45) When
questioned by the teacher Haridrumata Gautama about his caste (Gotra) he said to
him, “I do not know but I shall ask my mother.” So he went and asked his mother.
She said, “In my name is Jabala, your name is Satyakama. So you are Satyakama
Jabala. You may tell this to your Guru.” The Guru decided that the boy was a
Brahmana because he had told the truth and accepted him as his student. The
Gurus, because they specially liked the Brahmana Brahmacharins, must not have
become an object of Jealousy or hatred or charged with partiality, because most of
the Kshatriyas must have followed the practice of staying with the Guru for a
smaller number of years and later transferred themselves to Gurus teaching special
subjects. which distinguished them from the Brahmana students. Wealth was
treated as a great hindrance to the acquisition of knowledge and as such, because
the kshatriya and the Vaishya could not find it convenient to lead the life of
renunciation, the Brahmana boy was always in demand. The Katha Upainshad calls
persons attracted by monetary consideration „children‟ and „infatuated by money‟
and passes a verdict that the path to freedom will never be open for them. (K. Up.
1-2-6)

Form the description given above the rules of discipline for the student one may
Guru was all in all feel that the student in the Hindu system of education, was a
mere slave, who was to observe very rigorous moral, mental
and physical discipline. His only master was the Guru whose authority could not
be questioned. But all the same it must be borne in mind that untruth and injustice,
wherever they could be found, were always traded as vices to be opposed tooth and
nail. A sin is after all a sin and deserves condemnation. Moral values are absolute.
Telling a lie for example is a sin and whoever commits it, it is to be categorically
condemned. Yudhishthira, the famous devotee of truth, once told a lie in his life
because it was inevitable. Yet our scriptures do not justify that action. The
Mahabharata points out that, after he had told that lie his chariot started moving on
the ground whereas formerly it moved four fingers above the ground. He had also
to go to hell, even though for moment, because of that. (Mahabhatata,Drona-
parva191-57 and 58) Arjuna also had to suffer a defeat at the hands of his son
Babhruvahana because he killed Karna by injustice. It is necessary to note here that
observance of truth has been insisted upon uncompromisingly in Hindu Shastra.
Moral Values have always been accepted as absolute. Even the authority of the
Guru is restricted in that sense. He is not independent of rules laid down by
scriptures and even if he transgresses the authority of the Shastras, the student is to
observe the Shastra, which is the authority higher than the Guru. ( G.D.S. 3-1-15)
This demand for absolute devotion to truth visible in Hindu scriptures is an
important phenomenon in India‟s history. It has been unequivocally and
unanimously mentioned by all Hindu writers that even the Guru is subject to the
laws of morality and in case get transgresses the limits of good behavior he is also
to be subjected to punishment like any other ordinary person, even at the hands of
his own students. It is rather a duty as pointed out in the verses which run as
follows. “Even a Guru deserves punishment if he is full of pride, does not
distinguish between the desirability and the undesirability of actions and goes by
wrong path. He indeed is Kshatriya who kills, on the field of battle, Gurus
(teacher) or elderly persons
Yet Guru’s authority
who leave aside all decent behavior, are greedy and sinful.”
was not absolute ( V.R.2- 21-13; M.Bh. Sauti Parva 55-16). The first verse
occurs in four places in the M. Bh. with a little variation in
the fourth quarter which is a mere paraphrase of the present one. As instance in
point, it is pointed out that, it was in accordance with this rule that Bhishma fought
with his Guru Parashurama. This also justifies the behavior of Pralhada with his
teachers who were teaching an ungodly doctrine. It is interesting to see even the
teacher himself advising the student not to imitate his ungodly actions if ever he
has committed any and to follow only the moral ones. (Tait. Upa.1-11-2 ). The
highest principle in respect of behavior is one enunciated in the verse which points
our that if Dharma is protected, it protects one; if it is killed it kills one. ( M.S. 8-
15 )

Finally, it may be pointed out that there were three important qualities that a
Auxiliaries to student was expected to possess, in the absence of which he
education could not become a fit recipient of any type of knowledge.
Those who did not possess all the three were treated as unfit for receiving any type
of knowledge. The first of these qualities which a student was expected to possess
was Tapas (austerity). Austerity has a very broad meaning but in the context of
education it means constant application, mental and
Application
differentiation physical, to studies, by refusing to yield to pleasures and
temptations. Tapas in this sense, may also be taken etymologically to mean „heat‟.
There is always mental „heat‟ (friction) produced whenever there is mental conflict
between desires for pleasure and happiness and taking into
Celibacy
differentiation
consideration the natural instinctive tendencies which love
life at a lower level, living a noble life always means a mental conflict between the
nobler inner self and lower desires. Nor is this conquest finished once for all
because instincts are elastic in nature and although it may seem that they have been
controlled, eternal vigilance is badly necessary. This means a constant state of
penance. Brahmacharya is another qualification that is necessary. It means
physical celibacy which helps to keep all mental and physical capacities
unimpaired. The third quality necessary is Shraddha. The word means implicit
faith in the word of the Guru. Doubters have been condemned by the Hindus in a
number of places. The Bhagwadgita has said that an ignorant person who has no
faith, a skeptic by nature goes to ruin. Neither this world nor that beyond, nor
happiness is there for the doubting self. (22- B.G. 4-40). This instruction to have
faith in the Guru has been repeated times without number in the Upanishads. It
can be very easily seen that one cannot learn everything at first hand, firstly
because, one‟s field of experience is very limited by time, space and capacity, and.
secondly because there is, in independent thinking, always a chance to arrive at
incorrect conclusions. The demand that every one should learn by experience is
impracticable. The faith, however, that is demanded by the Hindu authorities, had
to be very critical. The Hindu believes in the word of an Apta (a relative/well-
wisher) and his word is to be treated as authoritative. But there are certain
qualities that are necessary in an Apta, and hence, the number of such Aptas is very
limited. One great logician defines an Apta as a person who tells the truth, i. e. is
not affected by any factor other than the truth. It is through such truth alone that
one can have knowledge of transcendental things. The powers of the organs of
sense are necessarily limited and nothing except faith will help in such matters.
Even leaving aside this transcendental province, there are many types of wisdom
which a young and inexperienced student cannot understand, because his range of
experience and mental maturity is very limited. In such cases therefore, faith in a
deserving person is the only guide. The necessity of this faith has been stressed
throughout the Sanskrit literature. When the six great sages, approached Pippalada
for discussion of the nature of the soul, he advised them to stay with him for a year
and observe the three disciplines of Tapas, Brahmacharya and
Shraddha(faith/trust). Another teacher known as Uddalaka Aruni while
expounding the nature of the soul to his son Shvetaketu, with the help of the seeds
of the fig tree and suspecting that the latter could not comprehend what he was
saying, advised him to have faith in his teacher viz. himself. (Prashna Up.1-2;
Chha.Up.8-12-3). It is to be noted in this connection that the faith referred to is in
a person whose knowledge, truthfulness and intelligence are unquestionable.

8 METHODS OF TEACHING

The educational achievements of the Hindus in the various fields of knowledge and
Methods of teaching the efficiency of the means they used to perpetuate it are
did not change remarkable in the history of the world. One peculiar aspect
that we note with astonishment in regard to Hindu education is that the methods
that were followed for teaching continued to be the same without loss of
efficiency, for millenniums. In fact, even to this day, the same methods are being
followed in schools working on traditional lines. The methods followed for
teaching various subjects differed according to the aspect emphasized in that
particular subject. In the study of the Veda, for example, it was the capacity to
recite correctly that was stressed. In other literary subjects it was comprehension.
In philosophical subjects one had to go beyond the stage of comprehension to the
stage of experience.

While dealing with Hindu education it must be borne in mind that the process of
Learning means education is always described as being full of hard work. In
hard work fact there is supposed to be an antithesis between pleasure
and education. The well known Subhashita (i.e. a good quote) which means “How
can one who seeks for pleasure, learn?”, briefly but pointedly describes the
situation. The application and hard work demanded from students were easily
available in those days. Because the students were born in three higher castes, they
were endowed with high intelligence and cultural background transmitted to them
from their ancestors. In every society, the intellectual classes always form a very
small minority. Among Hindus also the three castes put together must have
occupied hardly about thirty to thirty-five percent of the population. Even from
among these thirty percent, about twenty to twenty-five per cent left education
after learning the barest essentials, and therefore, the number of those who stayed
with the Gurus longer to drink deep was hardly about five to ten per cent of the
younger population. With such a small number of brilliant, cultured youths to
teach, the teachers must have found it easy to maintain a high standard of
efficiency. In Chapter VI we have described the extremely important position
which the teacher occupied. Society gratefully recognized the work that the
teacher was selflessly doing and hence the teacher could not be trifled with.
Students had to approach teachers with utmost humility and depend upon the
teacher‟s grace before they could learn anything. In rare cases the Gurus were so
gifted, spiritually and mystically, that even without uttering a letter they could
dispel the ignorance of pupils, but these were exceptions.( Dakshinamurti Stotra,
12)

We have already pointed out that teaching methods differed according to the
Memorization of emphasis laid on one or the other aspect of a subject. In the
Veda study of the Veda, the aspect to be emphasized was that of
memorization. The young student, after finishing his study was expected to be
able to recite the ten books, Dasha-granthas, without missing an accent.( The
dasha-granthas are: One‟s own veda, it‟s Brahmana-Aaranyaka-Nighantu, and
it‟s six angas i.e.Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Jyotisha,Chhandas and Jyotisha) Of
these ten books, the Samhita texts were treated as very important and all efforts
were concentrated on the study of these parts. Over and above the mastery of
words of the Veda, the peculiar method of pronouncing it had to be mastered
because it was believed that mis-pronunciation of words led to disastrous results.
It has been mentioned that a mantra pronounced with a mistake of a syllable or
accent, is like a thunderbolt. It kills the sacrificer. Vritra was killed through a
mistake of an accent.( Shiksha, 52) This meant that the students would be
required to continue the loud recitation of the Veda for hours together every day.
Such exactness in pronouncing the vast collection containing 10,552 stanzas and
3,97,2265 letters must have required several years to learn. But all this was done
willingly by students in ancient days and the practice continues even to-day,
although on a much smaller scale, even in-spite of the utter neglect and ridicule in
which such scholars are held by English educated people. Such a strategic, but
tragic devotion to the Veda is a phenomenon unparalleled in the history of the
world, and no appreciation of the work of the Brahmanas in keeping up the
traditional chain of Vedic-recitation, even against tremendous odds will ever be
adequate. It is not impossible to find hundreds of Vedic scholars to-day who can
recite one whole Veda correctly.

But over and above the recitation of the Veda, one other aspect also engaged the
Various methods of attention of scholars. It was the maintenance of the texts
reciting Veda intact without corruption. Corruption was easily possible
because there were hundreds of Shakhas (branches) of the Veda and the methods
of recitation differed from one another. It was also easily possible that some
portion of the Veda might get lost as a result of neglect. Correct recitation was
also insisted upon according to Jaimini.(Purva Meemansa 1-2-32 ). Words of
Mantras must be recited in the prescribed manner to achieve their full fruit.
Correct recitation of mantras had a spiritual and mystical effect. In order to guard
against all these dangers, the Vaidikas invented various methods of reciting the
Veda. These devices principally aimed at the timely conservation against changes
or corruptions. These devices came later. The text of the
Prakritis and Samhhita was originally presented in the form called
Vrikritis
„Nirbhuja-Samhita‟. It was followed by a formation of a
new text of the Samhita called the „Pratrinna‟ in which every single word is shown
in its independent and phonetically unmodified form and compounds are separated
into their elements. This is technically called „Pada-patha‟, i.e. „word-text‟. To
make assurance doubly sure, a second device was resorted to in what is called the
„Krama-patha‟ i.e., „Step-text‟, where every word of the Pada-patha appeared twice
to be pronounced both after the preceding, and before, the following one. Thus a,
b, c, d, as representing the first four words would be read as, „ab, bc, cd‟. The full
scheme of Vedic recitation ultimately developed various forms as means of
preserving the purity of the original Vedic texts. The „Samhita‟ and „Pada‟ or
„Krama‟ Pathas are classed under “Prakriti” while other Pathas come under what is
called “Vikruti” which are eight in number, viz., (1) Jata, (2) Maala, (3) Shikha, (4)
Rekha, (5) Dhvja, (6) Danda, (7) Ratha and (8) Ghana. Of these, the primary ones
are the aforesaid Jata and Danda. Under Danda are grouped Nos. (2), (4), (5) and
(7), while Jata includes (3). In Jatapaatha, the two words a, b, will be pronounced
as ab, ba, ab. The Ghana Paatha combines the features of both Jata and Danda as
in ab, ba; abc, abc.” (.Mookerji,R.K. Ancient Indian Education, p.21).

Coming to another field of study namely literary subjects we find that the aspect
Methods of studying stressed in these studies was comprehension. Under this
non-Vedic subjects category came law, logic, ritualism, and allied sciences,
rhetorics, grammar, Meemansa (science of exegesis) prosody, medicine, astronomy
and astrology, politics, agriculture, Economics, etc. There were three stages which
were supposed to result in comprehension. The first of these was Shravana or
hearing. Word of mouth was attached much importance to under the Hindu
system. It would not be correct to argue that word of mouth occupied this
important position because writing material and written manuscripts were rare. It
was so because it was believed that the knowledge received directly through the
medium of Guru‟s breath was holy and living, whereas that received from books
was dead. This argument is correct not only from a sentimental point of view but
also from a factual point of view. The intervention of dead, dull, inert matter like
paper or leaves was always avoided and education was
Three steps of
acquiring knowledge defined as the transmission of life from life. The student
was entirely dependent upon the teacher for his educational
salvation. The living touch of the teacher helped to make education a vital process
and not a mechanical and monotonous one. This method also enabled the teacher
to control the traffic of knowledge, which was his monopoly. It was because the
teacher could dictate his own terms that undeserving persons could be
automatically excluded. Another very important advantage that is associated with
this method is that knowledge can be safeguarded against political vandalism, of
which instances galore have been recorded in the history of the world. This is why
Shravana or hearing is the first step. This step was to be followed by the second,
namely Manana. The word means reflection, which is always to be treated as an
important part in real education. Reflecting/contemplating upon a certain idea that
has been imparted, means scrutinizing all its important aspects and testing whether
it stands logic. If the knowledge came into conflict with logic, the doubts had to be
referred to the Guru and got dissolved. Unguarded students many times
understood wrongly what the teacher had taught, stopping only at the hearing
stage. The third step of Nididhyasana followed the second, in which the principles
taught were to be profoundly mediated and confirmed. The word means frequent
uninterrupted concentration on the topic learnt. This process led to the
consolidation of the knowledge that had been newly mastered by the student, so
that, it could be always ready at hand.
There is one peculiar feature that demands special attention in regard to both the
Memorization topics of study viz. Vedas and sciences, that we have
mentioned before. This feature is that of memorization.
Education in India was inseparably associated with memorization. Memory has
probably not occupied so important a place in any other country as it did in India.
Taking into consideration this unique importance of memory it is but natural that
much stress should have been laid on cultivation of memory. Pradnya and Medha
were two distinct capacities to be cultivated. Pradnya meant the power to
understand, Medha the power to retain. Medha-janana was a special ritual which
had to be performed at the end of the Upanayana ceremony, by the student who
had finished the Savitri Vrata ( Bh.Gr.Su. 1-10 ) The Medha-janana ritual aimed at
sharpening the Memory of the student. The prayer was offered that the student
should possess power of retention which is as attractive as cows, as vigorous as
studs and as powerful as sun‟s rays. This memory was to be identical with that of
the Rhubhus, Asuras and the Rishis who were specialists in mechanical, material
and spiritual spheres. (A.V. 6-104-1 and 3 ). All this precaution was taken because
it was realized that obliviousness was always at work and whatever was learnt
might be forgotten in the course of time. The work of memorization, both in Veda
and other subjects, occupied the earlier years of studenthood which was found to
be the period most convenient for memorization. In some cases memorization
followed comprehension, in others it preceded. In the study of Veda memorization
was the only aim and therefore there is no question of memorization preceding or
succeeding. But in cultural subjects sometimes it must have come earlier than
comprehension, in others, later. In literature (Sahitya) it must have come later,
after the text to be studied was comprehended. So also must have been the case
with sciences like astronomy. Even after the topic was thoroughly grasped
memorization could not be avoided, because the Hindu teacher believed in
complete mastery and ready recall. Those who were required to refer To books for
reference became objects of ridicule because, as one Subhashita has said, learning
contained in books is as useless as money kept in the bank, which is not at hand the
moment it is required.

Moreover it was believed that memorization depended upon the physiological

Advantages of aspect of memory i. e. habit-memory or motor-memory as
memorization against image-memory or psychological memory. When
physiological memory is developed the learner repeats the old process or chains of
events by virtue of motor-habit. This means complete relief to consciousness.
Psychological memory means a conscious attempt to retain what is learnt, which
means a constant burden to the brain. Motor-memory simply means formation of
grooves in the brain which assume permanence as a result of numerous repetitions.
Loud chanting for this purpose was the vogue in ancient days and is even now the
vogue in institutions running on ancient lines. The mind was to work as a
refrigerator, where knowledge was to be stored so that it could be recalled in tact,
Memorization without
understanding is
adavntageous
without being decayed or corroded, whenever it had to be used. In fact the minds
of students were like so many store-houses of every aspect of knowledge. In some
subjects like grammar for instance, memorization must have come both in the
beginning and later. According to the tradition of grammarians, the sutra-patha of
Panini‟s Ashtadhyayi i. e. the aphorisms of Panini‟s grammar were to be learnt
(memorized) before any comprehension had dawned. The work of exposition
started only later. After the exposition of the text along with the commentary was
learnt memorization had to be taken up again. In fact whatever was learnt had to
be memorized forthwith. In literature, for example a student was made to
memorize the whole of Amarakosha, Samasachakra and Rupawali before the study
began. The Amarakosha contains about fifteen hundred verses and is a sufficient
test of the tenacity and the capacity of the pupil. All this meant memorization of
matter which was not understood by students. Memorization of verses is easily
possible even though the meaning is not known. Comprehension is not an
invariable concomitant of memorizing, as can be clearly illustrated with reference
to students who are learning according to the ancient Hindu method. The method
succeeded signally in old days. We have therefore no justification to condemn the
practice. Memorization has proved a godsend to pupils in the perpetuation of their
knowledge. Memorization, whether it comes before or after understanding, helps
one to make the knowledge a part of himself, just like his hands or feet which are
integral parts of his body, so that their burden is not felt. Matter memorized in
childhood without understanding is like the money deposited in a bank by a loving
father so that it may become useful to his son in future. The son who is very young
does not know the importance of this action of his father; he may not even be
conscious that any such thing exists. But later when he grows up, and is in need of
money gets overjoyed to find large amounts of money available for use. Similar is
the process when a child is made to memorize in childhood, matter which he
cannot then understand. Nor is there any strain involved in this procedure. The
youthful vigor of the young boy enables him to master whole texts mechanically
without any feeling of exhaustion. If at all strain exists, it exists only in the
imagination of the academician. Only that person who has himself been in such a
position can realize how overjoyed one feels to find the hidden treasure of
knowledge which existed in him in a dormant form all these days but the
significance and the meaning of which he realizes only now. The Hindu has
always tried to adjust his life with nature without coming into conflict with it. He
found that memorization was easier at the earlier age, so without waiting for the
child‟s comprehension power to develop he started the process of memorization at
the most convenient time. He also realized that knowledge becomes permanent
when it develops into habits, so instead of relying on comprehension of the why
and where-fore of everything, he mechanized as much of knowledge as possible.

This system of memorization of extensive material necessitated the casting of

All knowledge was knowledge into a versified form. The universal acceptance
versified for the
convenience of
memorization
of this scheme in the whole sub-continent of India is very clearly visible from the
fact that almost in every subject we possess versified books. This is based on the
experience that versified material is more convenient for memorization than prose
material. There are versified text-books in grammar, law, rhetorics, medicine,
surgery, ritualism, astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and lexicons etc. Although,
versified material proved very convenient for memorization, the un-versified
portions also, were not neglected. They were also memorized in prose form. The
prose parts of the Vedas and the Brahmanas, the numerous commentaries on
various Sutras, Shrauta, Grihya and Dharma, Panini‟s Ashtadhyayi with the
commentary Siddhanta-kaumudi, the Mahabhashya of Patanjali, Yaska‟s Nirukta
were also committed to memory. This meant the promotion of narrow deep
tendency as against shallow-wide. But it can be easily seen that this tendency
proved wonderfully helpful to the preservation and the propagation of all
knowledge. Specialization with necessary general grounding was the accepted
principle and as can be seen from facts, the policy proved immensely successful.
All this did mean considerable repetitions and rehearsals of texts. The powers of
verbal memory developed to an extent almost incredible in modern times. As
further helps to memorization came a type of literature known as the sutra
literature, containing information in short sentences. The word „Sutra‟ means a
„thread‟ which when memorized is useful in recalling the whole yarn.

It was because of this wonderful aspect of Hindu education that the scholars
Means of retaining produced under the system were very thorough in their own
acquired knowledge subjects. But whatever was mastered in youth had to be
kept in-tact for the whole lifetime; merely having mastered it once in youth was
not sufficient. In some cases this became easily possible, if the person concerned
became a teacher after completion of his education, but even others who took to
the life of the householder were required to keep all the knowledge that they had
acquired, afresh through the means known as Swadhyaya. The word means a daily
repetition of some portion of memorized or studied material so that it may be ready
for use whenever required. It was for this purpose that Upakarma ritual was
intended. In the samkalpa or the preamble to the ritual it has been mentioned that
the ritual is intended to strengthen the study of the Veda (and also other
knowledge) which, in the absence of daily repetition becomes stale. It is important
to note that this ritual is compulsory for householders and even now it is possible
to find tens of thousands of devout brahmanas participating in the traditional
function. The most important part of this ritual, is to refresh the study of the Veda
and other religious books. The Rigvedins, even to this day, will be found, reciting
the opening sentences of all important books at time of this ritual despite the fact
that thousands of years have elapsed, since the institution of Upaakarma must have
come into vogue. Only the opening sentence of each of these important works was
to be recited on the day by way of Swadhyaya, the remaining portions being
recited according to convenience later. The books represented in this daily
worship are the Rig Veda, its Brahmana, its Aranyaka, its Upanishad; Yajurveda,
Samaveda, Atharvaveda, S‟rauta Sutra, Nirukta (etymology), Nighanatu, Vedic
astronomy, Phonetics, Grammar, Mimansa, Smriti(Law), History, and Vedanta.

The highest type of education was the education of the various philosophical
Acquisition of doctrines as a preparation for finally taking to the life of an
highest knowledge ascetic and experiencing the truth of all the various
philosophical theories. All the philosophical literature is contained in older
Upanishads and works like the Yoga-Vasishtha and certain portions of works like
the Mahabharata. There was a large variety of philosophical doctrines that the
young pupil had to study. Although there is a sort of parochialism dwelling in the
minds of Hindu scholars about the acceptability of one or the other, it is a
noteworthy feature of Hindu education that some acquaintance with every school
of philosophy was compulsory for every student to whatever sect/school of thought
he belonged. The special feature of this stage of education was that it was more
abstract than concrete, more subjective than objective, more introspective than
material, more transcendental than experimental. It is in this type of literature that
we come across certain typical aspects of teaching method. One very important
feature of education at this stage was that it was meant for only a few mentally and
morally qualified people having special philosophical inclinations. The aspirant
for studies at this stage was a person who had the capacity to distinguish between
what is permanent and what is evanescent, an absence of desire for enjoyment of
pleasures here or in the other world, the possession of six qualities, viz. Shama,
Dama, Titeeksha, Shraddha, Samadhana and Mumuksha. (Shankaracharya,
Brahma-sootra Bhashya 1-1-1) Shama means drawing back the senses from
objects of senses and concentrating on the self after realizing the evanescent nature
of the world. Dama means keeping them under proper control, Titeeksha means
suffering all physical and mental troubles, without complaining. Shraddha means
complete faith in the words of the scripture and the Guru. Samadhana means
stationing of Buddhi in the pure Brahman. Mumuksha means a desire to become
free from all bondages, external as well as internal. At this stage of learning
knowledge of mere words is harmful as it promotes skepticism, hence the Guru has
to be approached. One beautiful illustration in this respect viz., of the realizing of
one‟s self is that of a person who wants to find out an underground treasure. Just
as in this process on has first to learn from some Aapta (reliable person), about the
existence of the underground treasure, then one has to dig and remove the
obstacles like stones etc, which lie in the way of getting at the wealth, so glib talk
is of no use in realization. The pure self can be realized only through instruction,
reflection and meditation.(Shankaracharya – Viveka-chudamani–67)

At this stage of education, it was recondite material that had to be mastered and the
Similes Guru was required to have capacity to illustrate the
principals under considerations with apt illustrations,
parables etc. The Bhagawata Purana while enumerating the qualifications of the
Vakta or the person who is to narrate the history, places first his capacity to
illustrate aptly, the principles being discussed. (Bhagawata Mahatmya 6-20) It is
because of the importance of verbal and material illustrations in comprehending
abstractions that we come across very numerous illustrations in the Upanishadic
literature. Under verbal illustration similes are very often available. Referring to
the theory of creation, for example, it has been pointed out that the universe is
created from the Brahman in the same way in which the spider creates the thread
and draws it in, in which herbs grow on the earth, in which hair grow on the head
and body of a person (Mun. Up.1-1-7). At another place illustrating the same
trading the same point me point, it has been pointed out that various forms are
produced from Brahman and are finally absorbed in it like so many sparks similar
in nature to fire, being produced from fire. (ibid 2-1-1) Yama explaining the nature
of the highest truth to Nachiketas, says that as rain water falling in the caves or on
precipices of the mountain moves in various currents, so a person who sees
difference between the individual soul and the universal soul has to pass through a
series of births and deaths. Just as pure water poured in pure water becomes
identical with it so one who knows his unity with the soul realizes it (Katha Up. 2-
4-14 &15) To illustrate how the activities of the mind are controlled by Prana the
example quoted is that of a bird tied to a rope. Just as a bird tied to a rope, flies in
this direction and that but not finding a permanent place of rest, ultimately returns
to the point to which it is tied so does the mind wandering in various directions and
not finding a resting place anywhere, returns to Prana.(Chha. Up. 6-8-2)

Like verbal illustrations material illustrations or experiments were also utilized for
clarifying the point under discussion. In order to impress upon the mind of the
student how Brahman which was small in size was also the cause of the extensive
universe, the Upanishad quotes the following dialogue :

Guru – Fetch a fig.

Disciple – Here it is, sir.
Guru – Break it open.
Disciple – I have broken it open, sir.
Guru – What do you perceive there-in ?
Disciple – These seeds small like atoms.
Guru – Break open one of them.
Disciple – I have broken it open sir.
Guru – What do you perceive there-in ?
Disciple – Nothing, sir.
Guru –This huge fig tree has grown from the small Seed which you are not able to
perceive. From that which is so small, is all this world born, that is truth, that is
soul, you are that.(Chha.Up. 6-12-1)

Clarifying the theory of trans-migration the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that

just as a mango or a fig, after it is ripe, falls down from the stem, similarly when
the body gets weakened by old age or disease, the life leaves it and repairs to
another place. (Br.Up 4-3-36)

Another important feature that is visible in Upanishadic teaching almost at every

Parables step is that of introducing parables very often. Parables are
allegorical fables from which a moral is drawn for
instruction. The use of this device creates life in the narration which is otherwise
coarse and subtle. The Kena-Upanishad describes how Gods wrongly considered
themselves to be powerful, but when Brahma appeared before them they were
proved to be powerless. Ultimately Uma (consort of Lord Shiva) appeared before
them and told them that the thing which was supreme in power was Brahma. The
story of Vajashravasa‟s son Nachiketas, who did not like that his father should
have given as donation only feeble cows and who therefore went to Yama‟s (lord
of death) house and learnt the knowledge of Brahma is also another case in point.
The main aim of the story is to illustrate how an aspirant after Brahmavidiya has to
refuse to be tempted by all worldly attractions. So also may be the frequent
reference to rivalries between gods and demons as introductions to discussions of
philosophical problems and the story of Indra and Virochana going to Prajapati to
learn the nature of the soul, which when known, yields all lokas and all desires.

In higher teaching and in the teaching of sciences (Shastras) the most common,
Discussion popular and useful method was the dialogue or the
discussion method. Lecture method does not seem to have
been very popular because of its very important and obvious disadvantage viz. that
it cannot adjust the problem under discussion to the capacity of the learner. The
dialogue method may demand a longer time but it is immensely more useful
because it can adjust the explanations or clarifications given by the teacher to the
level of comprehension of the individual concerned. Individual attention is
possible only in this method, where the teacher stresses on point or the other
according to necessity, lowers or raises his voice to impress matter on his students‟
mind and leaves the student to work out problems for himself. The whole
Upanishadic literature is replete with such homely methods of instruction and
hence, although the topics being discussed are generally abstruse they never
become dull and un-interesting Such a free ventilation of ideas and arguments
maintained a high level of discussion and it is because of this simplicity of style
that the Upanishadic literature has become so popular.

Just as the high standard of efficiency was maintained by this method in the realm
Students as teachers of philosophical education, it was maintained in the realm
of Shastras by this method as well as by the method of
using the student as a teacher, in which students learning at higher stage. It need
not be pointed out that something which we teach to others becomes perfect. So
this method was used with immense advantage in Shastric schools. It is an irony
of fate that in modern educational terminology, it has come to be known as the
Monitorial system of Bell and Lancaster. In fact, the Lancastrian system is an
imitation of the student-teacher system which had was in India and who, realizing
the advantages of the method, introduced it in schools in England. It was because
this system was in vogue that examinations were not necessary. The students were
always ready with what-ever they had learnt.

9. MASS EDUCATION

In the previous chapters we have dealt with most of the important aspects of
Mass education plays education as they existed in the ancient Hindu system of
an important role in education. A reference to ancient Indian history shows that
educating a nation
the system of education described in the previous chapters
had been in existence for several millenniums before the impact of the British.
Even a casual observer will easily see that every-where in the modern world there
is a cry being raised or the education of the masses, which alone, it is believed, will
be an effective stabilizing agent in an oscillating world. Ignorant masses, they say,
are a potential danger to any state and a nation that neglects the education of its
people is as it were, digging its own grave. Large scale schemes of mass education
are therefore being launched in all nations and vast sums are being spent for the
purpose. Literacy is now treated as the first step in mass education and everywhere
attempts are afoot for the eradication of illiteracy. In ancient days however literacy
as such did not play a very important role in civilization. What was needed was
enlightenment which could come even without letters, through hearing. Even at
present literacy is not important for its own sake but as an unavoidable step
towards education of the masses. It is universally believed that the success of a
democracy depends entirely on the enlightened masses and therefore, every citizen
has to be educated to such an extent that he may be able to perform all his duties
usefully and efficiently. It is true that there is an invariable concomitance between
national stability and mass enlightenment. It would therefore be interesting to
study what provision had been made by ancient Hindu society for mass education.
That the system of monarchy had been the vogue among Hindus has already been
The objective of pointed out in the previous chapters. Even then, it cannot be
mass education assumed that kings could afford to neglect the education of
their subjects. It is significant in this connection to read what King Ashvapati
Kaikeya said when learned persons approached him for knowledge. He said, “In
my kingdom there is no thief, no miser , no drunkard, no one who does not keep
the sacred fire, no ignorant person, no adulterer, much less an
adulteress”.(Chha.Up. 5-11-5) This quotation shows that the people in his
kingdom were free from all vices and possessed the necessary amount of
knowledge about national and family traditions and culture. It is common
knowledge that people, in order to become good citizens should (i) practice virtues
leading to a healthy development of national character, (ii) should possess a deep
knowledge of their national history and about their ancestors, and, (iii) should
follow their cultural traditions. All national traditions have to be scrupulously
maintained, irrespective of political upheavals which are of an evanescent nature.
It was because all these three were meticulously catered to that the nation could
effectively withstand cultural and political attacks for centuries together.

National character depends upon individual character. Character usually means

Formation of non-transgression of limits of decency in regard to matters
character is the regarding sex; but it need not be taken in such a restricted
prominent objective
of mass education sense. Character connotes everything that is valued and
respected by meritorious persons in total human-behavior.
In fact there is nothing like a social immorality differing from sexual immorality or
political or religious immorality. Immorality is one in whatever field it may
manifest itself. It was believed that if character is lost everything is lost. It is
character that is valued more than one‟s very life and therefore to be protected at
any cost. It is because of this that Charudatta said, “ I am not afraid of death; I am
afraid that my good name will be stigmatized” ( Mriccha-katika 10-27), and,
Dilipa said to the lion, “Be kind to my body in the form of my good name.”(
Raghuvamsha of Kalidasa 2-57). People cared more for what a person was than
for what he said or believed because belief or opinion, not translated into action,
carries no value. It has been said that even the Vedas will not purify a person of
bad character. ( So says a Sanskrit saying) The accounts given by foreign
travelers regarding the standard of morality in India that have been mentioned
before, show clearly that the standard of morality among ancient Indians was
extremely high. Kalidasa has described this high standard of morality in a number
of places. In one place he has said, “theft was only to be heard of.”
(Raghuvamsha, 1-27) In another place he has said, “King Dilipa had no prisoner
to set free, to indicate his joy at the birth of his son.” (Raghuvamsha, 3-20)

Ancient writers have stated that the standard of morality of a people depends upon
The social tone the impartiality and strictness in the administration of justice
reflects efficiency of
administration
because it is the responsibility of the king to maintain a high level of morality
among his subjects. If any one went astray it was the king‟s fault. So he had to be
always on the alert to see that people did not even entertain any immoral thoughts.
There was no partiality or sympathy to be shown towards moral delinquents. Even
if they happened to be very near and dear ones they were to be punished forthwith
like a finger bitten by a serpent which has to be immediately cut off.
(Raghuvamsha, 1-28) It was believed that a king who was partial and connived at
the lapses of his favorites went to hell. One illustration should suffice to show
how rigorously this rule was observed. Valmiki Ramayana relates a pathetic
incident when Rama had to abandon his brother Lakshmana at the behest of
Vashishtha for a breach of discipline, although he knew that he would not be able
to bear his brother‟s absence and that he would ultimately die. Vashishtha, who
knew that every crime, whoever might commit it, has to be punished, said to Rama
“Let not your promise of administering justice without partiality become false. If
it is falsified, Dharma will be destroyed. When Dharma is destroyed the world
including gods and Rishis will meet with destruction. So you, O best of men, let
the world be at ease by disappearance of Lakshmana.” ( Valmiki-Ramayana, 7-
106, 9 to 11)

People also believed that their own misbehavior or some sin committed in the
Rigorous discipline kingdom brought calamities upon them and so both kings
leads people to and people had always to be very cautious in this respect.
happiness
Valmiki Ramayana narrates an incident where an old
Brahmana brought his dead-body of his young son to Rama‟s court and said that
his son had met a premature death as a result of some sin committed by somebody
else because he himself did not remember having committed any sin. (Valmiki-
ramayana, 7-73-7 & 8) Society also could not tolerate any injustice or moral lapse
committed even by the king. There were no two different codes of morality, one
meant for the king and another for the commoners. The king was respected like a
divinity but had no divine right of any kind and he was subject to the same code of
discipline as was applicable to any other person. That is why it is mentioned that
Rama abandoned his wife, Sita, even though much advanced in pregnancy.(Uttara-
ramacharita, 1-45) The incident is more particularly pathetic because of the fact
that Rama had to do so although he believed that she was as chaste as ever.
(Raghuvamsha,14-40) Hindu scriptures make no provision for justifying any
moral lapse committed by any one, whatever his station in life. There is always a
prescription of expiatory rites whenever a lapse occurs. It is this rigorous idea of
discipline that was expected to keep society happy. There is no scope for any
compromise with the untruth. We always meet with a categorical condemnation of
untruth, irrespective of the status of a person who committed it and the
circumstances which led to it. In case the king neglected his duties in this respect,
society could directly punish such an offender by using the most potent weapon
which it possessed, viz. deposition. Commoners were punished or
excommunicated. As a result of all these, a very high level of moral excellence
was maintained. All this could be effected because of a certain conditioning of
environment which developed a type of automatism in behavior. It is habit that
plays a more important role in developing behavior patterns than we imagine.
Rationalization of behavior is an unreliable crutch because its working is often
marred by subjective elements. If this automatism is once established the purpose
of social planners is served.

A good citizen must possess an adequate knowledge of his national history. It has
Conciousness of noble been pointed out that glories of the past are an important
national traditions incentive to the maintenance of a high standard of
strengthens the feeling
of nationalism citizenship and every country with glorious past traditions
has to see that people are rightly proud of them. Healthy
national traditions provide innumerable examples for citizens to emulate. For
providing the knowledge of these national traditions, ancient Hindus had evolved
the institution of bards known, according to the difference in their functions as
Magadhas, Bandins and Sootas. As pointed out in Chap. IV, the Magadhas
undertook the task of perpetuating the glories of ancient royal families and
narrating their genealogies and exploits. The Bandins sang the exploits of living
kings. But a much more powerful institution was that of the Soota who was the
traditional narrator of all Puranas. Puranas are not puerile stories as many believed
a few years ago; they contain the most ancient and important records of the
civilization of the Aryans. Hindu tradition assigns to the Puranas a place side by
side with Itihasas or histories and the Vedas. Vyasa is also another institution
serving the same purpose viz. of popular education. It is believed that Vyasa
composed all Puranas, and Soota narrated them to Rishis, usually to one Shaunaka.
The origin of this type of literature can be traced back to the attempts to spread
Hindu culture among the masses. The Veda was the divine revelation for the
Hindus and as such was supposed to contain every type of knowledge secular or
metaphysical. But the knowledge contained in the Vedas could not be available to
those who are outside the pale of Dwijas (the first three castes), and as a result, a
major part of the Hindu community, including women too at a later period, had to
be left out without this cultural polish.

It is the common religious ideas and ideals, social standards and moral
Puranas, an important conceptions, history, traditions and mythology that
agency of mass together constitute the culture of a race and those who
education
wish to avoid its disintegration have to be very cautious in
keeping these ties strong. In order to maintain that unity the ancient Hindus
refused to leave the ignoramus to their fate and found out ways and means to make
that knowledge accessible to them. It was with such an intention that the Puranas
came to be written. They are not merely commentaries on the Veda, they have also
to serve a different purpose. Lauding national heroes and the commemoration of
their exploits plays an important part in cementing the ties of unity and this was the
work that the Puranas very creditably performed under the direction of an
institution called Vyasa of which the most eminent representative was
Dwaipayana. (Bhagawata 11-16 28). The Puranas contain, over and above
historical portions, much didactic and informative material included in them with
the object of making them as encyclopedic as possible. That is why the Soota,
their narrator, is described as the custodian of all types of knowledge comprising
Puranas, histories, legends and scriptures. (Bhagawata,1-1-6) As the stories of
these kings became popular a class of rhapsodists came into existence, a class that
took it as their profession to sing these Puranas to the public. This class was not
merely a class of chanters and reciters; they often composed hundreds of verses,
which they sang in big religious and social assemblies. These later additions are
many times clearly visible in Puranas. The Bhavisihya Purana, for example,
clearly mentions that Bharata passed through five stages and the Puranas through
four stages. (Bhavishya Purana, 1-1-26) These later additions comprised
information regarding cosmology, astronomy, astrology, various philosophical
doctrines, ethics and morality, science of administration and justice, common
principles of law and equity and rules of everyday conduct, each supported by an
anecdote to make it palatable to the lower strata of society. It was thus that the
essence of Hindu culture filtered down to the masses. It was been laid down by the
sage Vaishampayana in his Nitiprakashika that every one was to study the
Dharmsutras and Puranas at noon so that the principle purpose for which the
Puranas were composed might be served. The institution of the Puranika, the
substitute of the chanters of old days is still living in India and still thousands of
them may be seen all over the country performing their traditional function to the
best of their capacity, although, in urban areas, they do not attract large audience
now, as a result of the impact of our civilization with the western civilization. Yet
the net outcome of the teaching of the Puranas may be expressed thus : “the whole
of India bears the impress of certain common movements of thought and life,
resulting in the development of certain common ideals and institutions which
distinguish the civilization of India from all other civilizations of the world”.
(Mookerji R.K.- Hindu civilization. P.63)

In comparatively modern days, a few more institutions have evolved, aiming at the
Modern institutions same ideal. They are the Kirtana, or Katha, Bhajana, public
of mass education speeches in various religious festivals etc. developed in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Powadas, Lallita, Tamashas, and the
like came a bit later. The Kathas or Kirtanas consist of two parts : (I) The
enumeration and exposition of a principle in philosophy or ethics, and, (II) the
illustration. The first part is utilized for critically explaining the principle in all its
aspects whereas the second part consists of some historical or historical-cum-
mythological story to illustrate the point discussed in the first part. The
Kirtanakara is usually a man of knowledge as well as a good singer and has a few
assistants who facilitate his work of singing by playing on various instruments to
the accompaniment of his song and thus adding to the popularity and attractiveness
of the program. The Bhajans comprise the singing of poetical compositions called
Abhangas or Padas, written by devotees and saints like Tulasidasa, Ramadasa,
Dnyananeshwara, Tukarama, and Mirabai, to the accompaniment of the lyre and
the tabor. Povadas or ballads deal with the exploits of comparatively modern
heroes like Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi and are sung by
professional bards in public festivals. Lalita is a drama, wherein enthusiastic
devotes, young as well as old, stage incidents in the lives of great national heroes
like Rama and Krishna. Tamashas are primarily meant for teaching principles of
ethics and religion. They resemble dramas of modern type. Now-a-days, however,
the principal feature of the Tamasha has been its ludicrous and humorous
situations. The Ramalila is even now extremely popular in North India, and
consists of dramas dealing with certain incidents in the life of that great national
hero, Rama, depicting the success of truth and the destruction of evil.

The maintenance of cultural traditions is another measure to be adopted for

National festivals enabling people to acquaint themselves with their culture
and teach them how they owe a debt of gratitude to those
who lived and died for the maintenance of their culture and who contributed their
best towards its evolution. A reference to the Hindu almanac will show that there
are several days on which, certain events of importance to the Hindu culture took
place. These days, on which usually Pravachanas (lectures), Kirtans, Bhajans, etc.
dealing with the particular incident/story are arranged in thousand of places all
over the county, and, are celebrated even now with great éclat. India‟s cultural
history is the longer even known to historians. The number of followers of
Hinduism is very large, and the various theophratries that constitute Hinduism are
so skillfully welded together that most of the great celebrations are common to all
the parts of the country. The following important days of festival may be
mentioned here : (1) The birth day or Shri Ramachandra, (2) The birth day of Shri
Ganesha (3) The birth day of Shri Krishna, (4) The Vijaya-Dashami, indicating the
march for conquest, (5) Naraka chaturdashi, the day on which Shri Vishnu killed
the demon Naraka, (6) Bhau-bij (Yama-dwitiyaa), the day to strengthen the love
between brothers and sisters and (7) The Hutaashani, on which day great bonfires
are made (symbolically burning to ashes every type of sin and evil). These are
observed over all the provinces of India. A list of minor festivals includes the birth
of various incarnations of Vishnu viz. fish, tortoise, boar, the man-lion,
Parashurama, Vamana, etc. It also includes days associated with the sacred names
of great teachers like Shri Adya-Shankaracharya, Madhvacharya and
Vallabhacharya, devotees like Hanuman, heroes like Bhishma and saints like
Tulsidasa, Tukarama, Eknatha and Dnyaneshwara. Among this list also must be
mentioned the day popularly associated with the renewal of the sacred thread, on
which the venerable ancient sages and scholars who have contributed substantially
to the development of Hindu culture are remembered with gratitude and the study
of the Veda is resumed.

To this list may be added occasional gatherings like the Kumbha-mela, having
Occasional religious and cultural significance where thousands of saints
religious-cultural incessantly do the important work of cultural education by
gatherings
arranging lectures in an unbroken chain. These are held in
thousands of places spread over all the parts of the country and associated with one
incident or the other in the cultural history of Hindus. The congregations
assembling at such places number from several millions to few thousands. Many of
them are being held since times immemorial and have played an important role in
strengthening the cause of Hinduism by refreshing its religious traditions. There
are also several religious observances (vratas) prescribed for virgins,
Brahmacharins and married men and women. The observances prescribed for
virgins aim at enabling them to get a properly qualified and long-lived husband,
those for Brahmacharins aim at enabling them to master ample knowledge with
ease. Those prescribed for women aim at enabling them to wash away sins, to
secure, long-life for their husbands and enable them to live a life of plenty and
happiness. This objective of these observances is clearly indicated in the narrations
which are associated with these vows and are recited with devotion by religious-
minded women. There are certain other observances which are prescribed for men
and women both. These aim primarily at developing self-control, leading finally to
self-realization. These usually consist of fasts on certain days of the month, as cold
early-morning baths in winter along with other of a less rigorous type. To this list
may also be added the institution of shraddha ceremonies, viz. the feeding of holy
Brahmanas on days on which the deaths of one‟s near relative have occurred. In
some communities, the form of performing the shraddha differs, but this institution
has been in vogue since time immemorial and indicates love and reverence for
one‟s ancestors. From the description given above it can be clearly seen that the
arrangements made by Hindus to disseminate the knowledge of their cultural
traditions were quite effective. It is not possible to determine with any amount of
precision the time when these institutions were first introduced but that they have
been in existence from very early days cannot be gainsaid. It is these arrangements
that could build India into one solid whole by, effecting a healthy compromise of
different viewpoints. It was again these that could create a real unity underlying
apparent diversity. It seem indeed the work of superhuman brains that could build
this edifice which could withstand the on roads of merciless iconoclasts for
millenniums There are two very wonderful features of this arrangement which
deserve special attention.

The first of these is the authority behind the process of weaving this cultural web.
These institutions have The authors of this web were not kings but leaders of
no royal authority but society, famous for their supernatural power and genius as
religious authority
well as for that inspired them to conceive and practice their wonderful ideas of
building up an enlightened and well-knit society must have been the good of all
human beings residing in the land. The process seems especially wonderful
because of the fact that its evolution must have taken several hundreds or even
thousands of years and all throughout this period the brains of hundred of these
leaders living in places separated by vast tracts of land must have been working in
perfect unison. Kings came and went. Their work was to follow the rules and
traditions that had been evolved. They could not alter even one screw in the whole
social frame-work. The Indian seers‟ grasp of the effects of the social customs and
controls they had introduced seems to have been extra-ordinary for we have no
records of any experiment conducted in the past for achieving this object. Under
these circumstances it is natural that people should feel inclined to believe that the
leaders could foresee effects of the institutions they had started in some
supernatural, mysterious, intuitive ways with the help of their intelligence which
never erred. Hindus believe that such occult powers had been developed in them as
result of Yogic practices prescribed in Hindu books. Patanjali has said that when a
man can control thoughts his buddhi ( power of thinking ) becomes extremely pure
(Patanjali’s Yoga Sootras, 1-47 ). It has also been mentioned elsewhere that
control of senses develops superhuman powers in one‟s Budddhi (power of
thinking). (Patanjali’s Yoga-sootras 3-5)

The second feature is the financing of this work of mass education. All the
Automatic institutions we have discussed above have worked with unique
arrangements for success, without a lapse for the last thousands of years. They
financing these
institutions could do their work of educating the masses because they were
not dependent upon the whims of one individual or an
institution which supported them. In fact, such work cannot be left to the mercy of
the vagaries of political or social upstarts. In order to secure the devotion of
workers to their duty it is necessary to make a permanent arrangement to finance
their duty it is necessary to make a permanent arrangement to finance their labors,
so that, they can be sure of their maintenance and can
Prendergast’s
appreciation of the perform the duties assigned to them with confidence and
system of mass interest. The leaders of ancient Hindu society were
education in ancient successful in inventing and founding a healthy social
India
mechanism with an inherent capacity to work automatically
for any length of time with out any external supply of energy. Unless there is a
permanent adjustment and security of one-self, it is impossible that people will
stick on to their duties. Take for example the grants of lands known as Agrahaaras
to Brahmana teachers who were to look after the educational welfare of the village.
The teachers did their work honestly and sincerely only because they could rely for
ever on the gifts of land made to them and were not affected by the frets and
frowns of others. The state of indigenous education in India before the advent of
the British system bears eloquent testimony to the efficiency of the system of mass
education as it had been in existence in our country. “The condition of mass
education in those days is well described by Mr. Prendergast, a member of the
Governor‟s council in the following words : “I need hardly mention what every
member of the Board knows as well as I do, that there is hardly a village, great or
small, throughout our territories in which there is not at least one school and in
larger villages more; many in every town and in large cities in every division;
where young natives are taught reading, writing and arithmetic. There is hardly a
cultivator or petty dealer who is not competent to keep his own accounts with a
deal of accuracy, in my opinion, beyond what we meet with amongst the lower
order, in our own country….” (Naik J.P. Studies in Primary Education, First
Series, p.3&4) The Hindu has developed healthy traditions which have financed
the various institutions described above. Whenever one attended Pravachanas or
Kirtanas or in fact any religious function, he helped the cause by making a small
offering of money or a handful or corn. This gave sufficient economic relief to
persons concerned and enable them to stick on to this work of educating society.
This practice continues even now. Over and above the economic relief which these
people got, they enjoyed a position of respect in society which was also one
important cause that made them stick to their hereditary professions. These
arrangements could work for thousands of years because the ancient Hindus had
been able to evolve a pattern of society which accommodated the interests of all
and could be adjusted to people‟s mental and physical capacities. Their social
structure was in consonance with nature and therefore has lasted for so many years.
Most of these institutions have been working even now but with a limited success
because the social background necessary for their working is changing with
extreme rapidity as a result of contact with foreign countries, accelerated by the
inventions like the radio, the cinema and the press.
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