English
“ The Government of India attach great importance to the cultivation and improve¬ ment of oriental studies. There is increasing interest throughout India in her ancient © ■civilisation, and it is necessary to investigate that civilisation with the help of the medium of western methods of research and iu relation to modern ideas. # = While making provision for scholarship on modern lines, the conference drew attention to the EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. necessity of retaining separately the ancient and indigenous systems of instruction. The world of scholarship, they thought, would suffer irreparable loss if the old type of pandit and maulvi were to die out before their profound knowledge of their subjects had been made available to the world; and encouragement rather than reform was needed to prevent such an unfortunate result. * * * The Government of India hope to see the adoption of measures that are practicable for the maintenance and fur¬ therance of the ancient indigenous systems of learning.” References :—1. 2 . 3. 4. r>. 6 . 7. 8 . 9. A. A. Macdonell—A History of Sanskrit Literature. A. Weber—The History of Indian Litera¬ ture. R C. Dutta—Civilisation in Ancient India. E B. Havell — The Ideals of Indian Art. V. A. Smith—Early History of India. Max Muller—The Laws of Manu. Elphinstone—History of India. R. L. Mitra —Lalita Vis tar*. i Indian Educational Policy, 1913. <SL III THE CASTE SYSTEM AND ITS PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE. In the vedic times when the Aryans were still in the Sutlej valley the Rishis did not form a separate and exclusive class. Each Rishi was a priest, a warrior and a culti¬ vator and society was therefore then marked by the absence of those rules and restrictions which form the distinctive feature ol the present complex Hindu society. B ur< ' then some families obtained pre-emi ,ence Y their special knowledge of the performing religious sacrifices and their b of composing hymns ; others again exce in military prowess. In course of time the Aryans crossed the Sutlej and moved down the valley of the Ganges. While they were settling down here society was becoming complex and their culture material in its different phases began to show considerable EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. development. In fact, the religious cere¬ monials which represented one of the phases of their culture, attained such complexity that certain Hishis had to devote more or less exclusively all their time and energies to the efficient carrying out of religious duties and the handing down of the sacred tradition in their families. So to keep pace with the growing needs and complexity of society differentiation became a necessity. Hence the Indo-aryans like Plato, made an intelli¬ gent application of the principle of the division of labour and became gradually divided into four classes or castes according to their occupation and innate qualities as appears from the sloka quoted below: (Gi^ iv si. 13 ) or “the four fold division of castes was created by me according to the apportion¬ ment of qualities and duties'* According to the Hindu philosophers prakriti (wfa) which determines the tem¬ perament of an individual is made up of three constituent principles or gunas viz., goodness or purity Sattva), passion or THE CASTE SYSTEM. •activity • Rajas ) and darkness or stoli¬ dity (cm r: Tapias). These are not conjoined in equal quantities but in varying pro¬ portions, one or other being in excess in different individuals. Hence the tempera¬ ment of an individual is determined according to the predominance of goodness, passion or darkness. Thus the castes which now appear as artificial and are marked in most cases by the absence of their true signi¬ ficance in respect of guna and karma , developed naturally in ancient India to repre¬ sent the different phases of the civilisation of the early Indo-aryans. For a long time caste distinctions did not become rigid and intermarriage was per¬ mitted. The following slukas will bear this out; “wrmwf wisri wi w i WW g^TT: *rfirT at % WT^TT II wr w jttw 7 ? ffTnft wr fwitmd: i or “inform me of the maiden who pos¬ sesses these qualities, whether she be the MINlSr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. daughter of a Brahmin, a Kshatriya, a Yaisya or a Sudra ; for my son (Gautama) is not particular about family or lineage; his mind delights in merit, in truth, and in virtue”. Lolita Vistara Chop XII. iri w if’ or “one should acquire with faith good knowledge even from an inferior person, learn excellent virtues even from one of the lowest caste and receive a gem of a woman even from a low familyMann II. 238. Besides, the members of the warrior and industrial classes had access to the literary schools kept by the members of the higher class. Nay, many Kshatriyas like Janaka, Jaibali and Ajatasatru 1 were so versed in the sastras that the Brahmins often went to them to receive instruction in the Divine ivisdom (sTgraT^)- But owing to the difficul¬ ties of the Vedic literature the Kshatriyas, in general, did never avail themselves of these privileges to any great extent, so Upanishad by Uirendra Natb Dutta pp. 58-<9. THE CASTE SYSTEM. Jy that the charge often brought against the Brahmins as having withheld their sacred literature from any but their own caste has hardly any foundation. Far from with¬ holding it, the Brahmins had always been striving to make its study obligatory on all the Aryans and as the sloka quoted below from Manu will show, severest penalties were threatened on those who neglected it : or “ that twice born, who not having studied the Veda, applies himself to other (and worldly study) soon hills, even while living, to the condition of a Sudra and his descen¬ dants (after him)/ 5 Manu II. 168 , These facts show clearly that in those days learning and good qualities were the passport to the highest honour and to the highest caste.though learning without self- control was depreciated as the sloka quoted below will show : 3? fatr. ^rffa?r: i MiN/sr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. or “a brahmin who knows only Gayitri, but who is thoroughly self-restrained, is better than he who knows the three Vedas, (but) who is not self-restrained, who eats all (sorts of) food, and sells everything ( i.e. prohibited things)”. Manu II 118. Hence the Brahmins who devoted their time and energies to the study of the Vedas, gave religious instruction, presided at sacri¬ fices and were self-controlled, were held in the highest esteem. Again, though the study of the Vedas was enjoined on all Aryans yet as appears from the following sloka the respective occupation of each and the cor¬ responding training were held to have been far more important: “ fa q v rt uFTifr wre* wto: i or “ the seniority of Brahmins is from (sacred) knowledge, that of Kshatriyas from valour, that of Vaisyas from wealth in grain (and other goods), but that of Sudras alone from age.” Manu II. 155. The early Hindu philosophers impressed this because like the modern philosophers they were afraid that the interests of the individual might, otherwise, be absorbed in the interests of the society. Thus in the spirit of the modern educators who hold that one’s own method though in itself inferior, is far better than an ideal borrowed, we have in the Gita (xviii. 47) : fagw: trwtfTcr ^fwcr i or “ one’s duty, though defective, is better than another’s duty well performed. Per¬ forming the duty prescribed by nature one does not incur sin.” In fact, it would be absurd if in every other thing as in teaching we were to impose any particular duty or method on any particular individual without any con¬ sideration of what really suits his own tastes and ways of doing things ; for, without under¬ valuing the worth of imitation to the student, it may be said that the success of an indivi¬ dual in anything depends mainly upon the intelligence with which he works. “It is,” misrfy EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. says Herbert Spencer, “a trite remark that, having the choicest tools, an un¬ skilled artisan will botch his work; and bad teachers will fail even with the best methods. Indeed, the goodness of the method becomes in such a case a cause of failure; as, to continue the simile, the perfection of the tool becomes in undis¬ ciplined hands a source of imperfection in results.” 1 Again let us see what may happen if an individual belonging to one class follows the vocation of another which may be good in itself but for which he is ill-fitted. First of all, such a man may ruin himself and his family by making such an effort; or if he succeeds only partially, he will become unfit for the duties which belong to his family and at the same time not quite fit to become a recognized member of the society whose calling he has adopted. Thus giving up the duties of his own family or class of which, with his better intelligence, he might be a very useful member, he not only becomes 1 Spencer—Education—p. 83 . unfit for either but actually becomes a burden to the family or society to which he belongs. Hence we have iu the Gita the warning: ^ w" f^f *nr. titwt wim: n” or “one’s own duty, though defective, is better than another’s duty well performed. Death in (performing) one’s own duty is preferable • (the performing of the) duty of others is dangerous.” in. 35.