English
In fact, an individual should not give up the duties of his own class but rather should keep himself in active touch with them and receive himself or give his children such education and training that he or his family and, if possible, his relations may rise to such a position that he or his posterity may easily take to the duties of a better class and continue doing so without causing any inconvenience to himself or his family ; for, to satisfy the last condition the individual must have not only sufficient means but certain social and hereditary influences making him fit for carrying on work on the 3 MIN ISTftf EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. new lines. Again, though our philosophers warned us to be careful to change our duties for those of a better class yet the Platonic ideal did not remain unrealized and no in¬ separable barrier was set up between the orders. On the other hand, as the following slokas will show, if a child of the inferior class possessed qualities characteristic of a superior class, he was admitted to that class *. il3 P5 iraf cTTcf ^ rf I ^ ^ WTO: ” or “O honoured Jaksha, hear (me), doubtless the actions alone and not lineage, perusal of sacred books and Yedic learning are the determinants of brahminhood.” Mahabhdrata Banaparva Chap. 312 $1. 103. “3J5 ^ *T I 5T % Sift ^ sirsm: u” ' ©\ “trppfsrenr ?t( smnr. wr. i wtcj *PT rT faff ” or “what is noticed in a Sudra does not exist in a Brahmin. A Sudra is not necessarily a Sudra nor a Brahmin—a Brahmin. O minis THE CASTE SYSTEM. Sharpa, only, he is called a Brahmin, in whom such (characteristics of a Brahmin) actions are found and O Sharpa, where these are lacking one should designate him a Sudra.” Mahdbhdrata Banaparva — Chap. 180. ricr ^ ll” (3 a) or “if in an individual there appears worth •other than that characteristic of his class, lie should be designated accordingly.” Srimathbhagbata Canto VII Chap. XI. All these go to show that in India there was in early times a much freer possibility •of change among the social ranks than is usually supposed. This elastic condition of society answered to the flexibility of a 'democratic curriculum which the present Western world is so very anxious to provide to secure the efficiency of citizens. Hence society, in ancient India, was a,n organic whole, the castes representing but the different phases of its culture . J 5 (3 G All that has been stated above proves MINlSr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. <SL nclusively that agreeing with the tendency of the modern world there was in ancient India sufficient scope for the development of one’s own individuality. In fact, by the system of caste alone was self-realisation made compatible with social service. Thus it may well be said here that even in those early times the Indo-aryans saw that, for social efficiency, the individual should be allowed to develop along the lines of his greatest power. From this there follows the pedagogical principle that it is the func¬ tion of education to determine the line of the greatest power of each individual and then to prepare him for service in that direction. This is the formulation of the ancient Indian ideal of a liberal education. In fact, in ancient times the greatest care used to be taken to discover the apti¬ tude and fitness ( )* of an individual to receive any particular kind of education. The teachers then thoroughly realized that 1 1. Lectures on Hindu Philosophy (2nd year) by Mihamo- hapadhaya Chandra Kant.a Tarkalankara—pp. 245 and 248. 2. Also seo Srimatbhacjbat—Canto VII. Chap. XII. 13. Also Cp. The Religions of India by Rev. Allan Menzies—-p. 45. Ml NlSTffy, THE CASTE SYSTEM. disastrous results were sure to ensue if know¬ ledge were to be imparted without any con¬ sideration of what suited one’s tastes and ways of doing things. Thus we have sTTiTOTSfrm idiyengTfwR *t ti” ■or “this highest mystery in the Vedanta, delivered in a former age, should not be given to one whose passions have not been subdued, not even to the son or disciple if he is unworthy.” Svatasvara Upanishad VI22. Also, “Let no man preach this most secret doctrine to any one who is not his son or his pupil or who is not of a serene mind. To him alone who is devoted to his teacher only and endowed with all necessary qualities , may he communicate it.” Maitrayana Brdhmana Upanishad VI 29. fsnST I •or “(the goddess of) learning coming to a Brahman says : “I am your treasure, guard me. Do not impart me to a spiteful man, then I shall be strongest .Marat 11. 114. Ml NISTffy. EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. f^rr f^nirf i <tw Trt stf% fkvmt n Ov “But impart me to that Brahmin who guards his treasure, is never careless, and whom you may know to be a pure and self- restrained student observing the vow of celibacy.” Manu II. 115. f% €lTRft II or “Even in times of dire distress a teacher of the Veda should rather die with his knowledge than sow it in a barren soil.” Manu II. 113. Further, the fact that the different sons of Pandu were made to specialize in the different branches of arts and sciences also bears out the view just upheld. Again, the method* adopted by Vishnu Sarma who had 1 Viahnu Sarma found that the prinoea had an inordinate liking for rearing pigeons?. So he told the princes that thence forth they would do nothing but fly pigeons, feed them and look after them in the pigeon house. The princes were naturally very glad. As the number of pigeons increased they had to name and count them. Vishnu Sarma was clever enough to put peculiar red marks on the wing3 of the pigeons and called shorn 3T, *1, *T, e to., (1, 2, 3 etc,) The prinoea thus learned tho mt$T(?y THK CASTE SYSTEM. the charge of the ignorant and vicious sons of king Sudarsana of Pataliputra (Patna), also shows that the modern principle of suiting matter and method to the nature and needs of the child was not unknown in ancient India. Lastly the sloka quoted below clearly establishes the fact that in prescrib¬ ing method our philosophers, like the educa¬ tors of the present century, used to take into consideration the capacity and fitness ( ) of the ‘educand’ : ‘‘’RnwshlrSrafir ^ ^rrrrr^FT i ww ai: ir Gita VI 3. or ‘‘ to the sasfe who wishes to rise to devo- N C? tion action (without attachment) is said to be lettera of the alphabet and to join the letters into syllables and! syllables into words. The foundation of a knowledge of Arith¬ metic was laid in counting the pigeons, in tolling how many thero *ere in two or three adjoining cots, how many remained in the cots after so many wore on the M ing. By this strange method w cre taught not only notation, numeration, addition, subtraction etc. but also something of engineering and housebuilding and drawing which were required in planning and constructing the dove cots. Not only this, but even ethics and politics were taught ln this fashion, as the talcs of Panchatmitra and Hitopodevt testify to this day. mtsi-fy EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. the means and to him, when he has risen to devotion serenity is said to be the means.” Indeed, it is a bad policy to spend time and energy in making an indifferent priest out of a citizen who could have become an excellent soldier. Hence the fact that the study of sacred literature was withheld from the Sudras does not go to show the narrow¬ mindedness of the Brahmins but argues that ' even in those early days, they got an insight into one of the most important modern pedagogical principles. The Sudras were, in general , denied the study of the Vedas only because they had neither any tradition nor aptitude for acquiring the language and spirit of the Vedic literature. Here it may be said that this was not the distinctive feature of the early Hindus alone ; even worse features could be traced in the Greek system. According to Aristotle “slaves and artisans cannot attain to citizen¬ ship and hence not to the good life, since it is not possible to care for the things of virtue while living the life of the artisan or the slave.” Plato’s system also was none THE CASTE STSTI2M. the less aristocratic in this respect. He held that the philosophers only should be the rulers, for a philosopher was he who knew the highest good and ‘this longing for the supreme good’ was, according to him, to be found only in a few. Again, in ancient India the struggle for * existence was not at all keen and there was very little social aud economic pressure. So the people were more or less free from ■anxiety as to the immediate future. Besides, j an individual in any class had his place, pur- ’pose and value in regard to the society so assured that he did not at all feel the neces¬ sity of changing his own vocation. 1 As a natural consequence through racial habit - the occupation of each class became to a. great extent hereditary. Hence the Brah¬ mins who devoted their time and energies to the study of the Vedas and the sciences originating therefrom and to the acqui¬ sition of a knowledge of sacrificial rites, gradually acquired a practical monopoly •of higher learning. It is urged now that 1 Industrial Arts of India by Sir George Birdwood. misr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. this has led to the rigidity of the existing* caste system, which for a long time to come ‘is likely to be the curse of India.’ But for this the Brahmins are not much to blame. For, besides the causes mentioned above, the peculiar isolated and fortified position of the country shutting out for a long time all out¬ side influences tended to make the vocations hereditary.