English
Max Muller : India, what am it teach us ? Max Muller : Lectures on the Origin of Religion • Kirkpatrick : Fundamentals of Child Study. Froebel : The Education of Man. W, C. Bagley : The Educative process Lieutenant Governor of tho United Provinces thus remarks about the Gurukul School : “I have been more than rewarded by visiting one of the most wonderful, interesting and stimulating institutions. Hero we have a band of ascetics, devoted to their dut} 7 , and working in the wilderness following the traditions of the Ancient Rishis, combined with the most modern scientific methods, and working practically for nothing, and a set of students of strong physique and obedient, loyal, faithful and devoted, extraordinarily happy and extraordinarily well. * * * * f # I will not talk of the political aspect of the question where politics are unknown.” VII UNIVERSITIES IN ANCIENT AND MEDIAEVAL INDIA. ANCIENT PERIOD. We have seen that north-west India was the cradle of early Hindu civilisation. Hence !l had been for a long time the centre of Hindu learning. Kashmere and Badarika- ^rara long enjoyed the reputation of having controlled it. Takshasila In the 6th century b. c., however, the chief centre of learning seemed 10 have been transferred to Takshasila (7c ixila). It was the head quarters of Ht'ahmanical learning. It is said that Slx teen branches of learning were taught here ' n the different schools each of which was P> esided over by a special professor. There AVeie schools of painting, sculpture, image¬ waking a nd handicrafts at Takshasila. The gieat grammarian Panini and Chanakya {AcVulva ), the minister of Chandra Gupta EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. are said to have had their education in the university. The student here had to pay for his education. The university was specially’- reputed for the success it attained in medicine. The royal physician Jivaka who had cured the king Bimbisara of Magadha and also the great Buddha himself of some painful diseases, had studied medicine here under the great Bishi professor, Atreya. He had been in the university for seven years after which he had to undergo an examination in which he was asked to describe the medicinal use of all the vegetables, plants, creepers, grass, roots etc , that could be found withiu a radius of fifteen miles round the city of Taxila. Jivaka examined them for four days and then “submitted the results informing his professor that there was hardly a single plant which did not possess some medicinal property.’’ The above description enables us to form some idea, of the system of examination of the time. 1 Univer :ue in Ancient India by Rai bar at Chandra Das B tlnrlur (The Hindustan Review, March, 1906). THE UNIVERSITIES. The university maintained its reputation for several centuries and was in the most flourishing condition even in the 3rd century b. c. when Asoka the Great, was the reigning Emperor of India. In describing the condi¬ tion of India during Asoka’s reign Vincent Smith writes, “the sons of people of all the upper classes, chiefs, Brahmans, and merchants flocked to Taxila, as to a University town, in order to study the circle of Indian arts and sciences, especially medicine.” As the wave of civilisation travelled towards the east and south, the seat of learning was transferred to the various o viharas which had arisen in the different parts of the country since the time of Buddha. These viharas developed from the groves called Aroma where under the shelter of trees spiritual training was publicly imparted and where the Buddhist monks then called Anogarika resided. In fact, education in those days was spread at home and abroad by the Buddhist monks. Wherever they clustered together in monasteries or viharas EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. -a university grew up and each of these viharas was presided over by a Kulapati corresponding to the principal of a modern college. Sridhanya Katak '.—The university of Sridhanya Katak which was situated on the banks of the Krishna in Vidarbha (modern Amaraoti) attained celebrity as the seat of both Brahmanical and Buddhist learning during the time of siddka Nagarjuna. The great monastery of Du-pong near Lhasa which contains a university with six colleges was erected after its model. Nalanda :—The university which long enjoyed the reputation of being the most reuowned seat of learning in ancient India and attracted students from different parts of Asia, was that located in the great Vihara of Nalanda. It was then known all over Magadha by the name of Dharmaganja. When it was at the height of its glorv and was the resort of foreign students and scholars numbering 10,000 Europe was in the darkest watch of the long night of the middle ages. The Saracenic schools and Arabic learning also bad not yet been founded. It had been in existence for seven centuries when the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited it (in the 7th century). It is said that four kings viz. Sakrdditya, Buddha Gupta, Tathagatagupta and Baladitya successively had devoted their pious efforts to this great architectural work 1 Its genuinely historical period, however, begins with the time of Baladitya who flourished in the middle of the 5th century a.d . 2 The great college stood in the middle and was surrounded by eight other halls. The priests resided in the courts which lay beyond these. The observatories stood within the premises. Its three grandest buildings were called Rotnasagara, Ratnadadhi and Ratnaranjaku. Of these Ratnadadhi was nine storeyed and in it was located the library then considered the largest in India. 3 1 Civilisation in Ancient India—R. C. Dutta Yol. II pp. 148-49. * Dacca Review Vol. 2 No, 7 Oofc., 1912 (University of Nalanda by 8. Datta). * S. C. D&s’s Universities in Ancient India. miSTffy EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. <SL The principal of the monastery when Hiuen Tsang resided there was Silabhadra , the renowned disciple of Dharmapala. 1 Curriculum \—The education imparted at Nalanda was both religious and secular. Again, not only the Buddhist canonical books, but the doctrines of all the eighteen sects of Buddhism and even the Vedas and other works were studied ; and no attempt was even made to stifle or discourage the literature or learning of the rival sects. The subjects taught here were (i) Grammar, (ii) Logic, (iii) the Science of Medicine (special!'/ Tantric), (iv) Philosophy and Metaphysics 2 and other miscellaneous subjects which in¬ cluded probably Sanskrit and Pali prose and poetical literature. 0 It is not too much to suppose that in a university like Nalanda where the utmost freedom of intellectual exercise was allowed, all the subjects should have attained con- o siderable development. However,its greatest 1 Dacca Review Yol. 1 No 9 Doe. 1911. a Ihirt Vol. 1. No. 4, July 1911 Sand' Vol. 1, No. 5. August, 1911. The Uni verity of Nalanda by S. Dutta. 6 lbkl Vol. 1, No. 9, Dec., 1911. WNIST/ff ■and most, brilliant achievements were in the field of Logic ; and it is said that of the ‘schools’ of Nalanda the most difficult'..ere the Schools of Discussion or Logic. The biographer of Hiuen Tsang says : “Of those from abroad who wished to enter the Schools of Discussion, the majority beaten by the difficulties of the problems withdrew ; and those who were deeply versed in old and modern learning were admitted only two or three out of ten succeeding.” Organisation ;—The University of Na¬ landa like the modern Tibetan Universities was a monastic university. Hence, as a rule, it admitted those who embraced mo¬ nastic life. Monks from China, Tibet, Central Asia, Bokhara, Corea found free board, lodging and instruction here. 1 Each of the subjects was taught and discussed by a separate professor in one of the six colleges comprising the university. Those among the venerable monks who 1 “ The land in the posset s ion of the Nalanda monastery contained more than 200 villages. They were bestowed upon it by king-! of many generations/’ Dacca Review Vol. 5, No. I, April, 1915.—Page. 11 * MIMSr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. might have distinguished themselves by eminent intellectual abilities, old age and noble character were selected as professors. Like the professors of modern universities each professor in the Nalanda University had charge of one subject only. The students also attached themselves to one or more professors according as they wanted to specialize in one or more subjects. But a general average knowledge was required in all the principal subjects. It will be noticed here that the curriculum of Nalanda excludes all technical sciences. It therefore was a deterioration from Taxila where the curriculum was more varied. But this was in appearance only, for the greatness of Nalanda lay not so much in the variety as in the depth of learning acquired by its scholars. Again, there is nothing strange in the fact that the technical arts should have been excluded from the curriculum in the Nalanda University considering that a monk in it had no care about food, lodging or clothiug which were supplied to him gratis. In fact the monks of the great monastery miSpfy, THE UNIVERSITIES. had hardly any secular care and their whole endeavour was given to intellectual and spiritual improvement. The university rose to eminence under Siladitya’s patronage, but after his death it began to decline and continued to exist till about the end of the 9th century. medleval period. Odantapuri During the declining period of the University of Nalanda another monastic college was erected at Odantapuri (Bihar) by oneGopala or Lokapala who is said to have ascended the throne of Bengal about 730 a.d.