Education in Ancient India

Indian Perspectives on Education

India has a rich tradition of learning and education since antiquity. This is passed on from generation to generation through oral/written medium. The Vedas are an excellent example of this. They existed nearly 2000 years before they were known to India. Knowledge of acoustics helped in transmission. Institutional form of imparting learning came into existence in the early century of Christian era. Approach to study was based on Logic/epistemology. Intuition is considered important in the Indian thought of learning. It was a contribution of the Vedant school.

Education in antient India was a matter of individual concern, not mass production (as in industry). The making of man was considered an artistic, not a mechanical, process.

Aim: to develop pupil’s personality, his innate and latent capacities. This view of education as a process of one’s inner growth and self-fulfillment evolved its own techniques, its rules, methods and practices. The thinking principle, Manan Shakti was considered higher than the subject of thinking. So the primary subject of education was the mind itself. According to the ancient Indian theory of education, the training of the mind and the process of thinking are essential for the acquisition of knowledge. So the pupil had to mainly educate himself and achieve his own mental growth. Education was reduced to 3 simple processes: Shravan (श्रवन), Manan (मनन), Niddhyasan (निध्यासन).

Shravan -Listening to the truths from the teacher. Knowledge was technically called Shruti (श्रुति) or what was heard by the ear (and not what was seen in writing)

Manan -The pupil had to think for himself the meaning of the lessons imparted to him orally by the teacher so that they may be assimilated fully.

Niddhyasan – Complete comprehension by the pupil of the truth so that he may live the truth, not merely explain it by word. Knowledge must result in realization.

The admission was made by a formal ceremony (Upanayan), initiation by which the pupil left the home of his natural parents for that of the preceptor. This was said to be the second birth à Dwij / twice – born.

Besides, there were special institutions for promotion of advanced study and research. These were called in the Rig Ved as Brahman Sangh                                   (ब्राह्मन संघ). Academies of the learned hammered discussions into the very language of the country, the refined language of Sanskrit as the Vehicle of highest thought. These Academics were called Parishads. There is a reference to the pancala parishad (पंचाल परिषद) in the Upnishads, in whose proceedings even kings participated. Learning was also prompted by discussions at public meetings which were a regular feature of rural life and were addressed by wandering scholars known as Charakas (चरक). These scholars toured the country to deliver public discourses and invite discussion.

The earliest literary congress of the world was the congress of philosophers which was codification of Brahminical philosophy under the direction of the master philosopher, Yagnavalkya (याग्नवलक्य). In these deliberations at the highest level, a lady philosopher named Gargi (गार्गी) was a prominent participant besides men like Uddalak Arni. In those days, women were admitted to the highest knowledge. There was equality in the field of education. The Rig Ved mentions women Rais called Brahmanvadinis.

The main subject was study of the Veds. The teacher would instruct a handful of students seated on the ground.  Repetition of verses of the Vedas took place until mastery was attained (of at least 1 per day). To ensure correctness of memory, the hymns were taught in more than one way. Soon the curriculum was expanded. The limbs of the Vedas/ the 6 Vedang (वेदांग) were taught:

1.     Performance of sacrifice

2.    Correct pronunciation

3.    Knowledge of prosody

4.    Etymology

5.    Grammar

6.    Jyotisha / the science of calendar.

In the past, during the Vedic era, teachers often instructed their students in the 6 schools of philosophy.

Smritis (स्म्रिति) maintain that young women of upper class underwent this kind of training. Princes and other leading Kshtriyas were trained in all the major sciences to make them fit for governance. Most boys of the lower orders learnt their trade from their father. Some cities became renowned because of their teachers. Varanasi, Takshashila from the day of Buddha and Kanchi in the beginning of the Christian era were famous. Varanasi (વારાનસી) was famous for its religious teachers. Tashashashila (तक्षशिला) for its secular studies: Panini (पाणिनि), the grammarian of the 5^th/4^th BC; Kautilya, the Brahmin minister of Chandragupta Mourya (चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य) was known for his wisdom. Charaka was a leading authority of Indian medical sciences. The institutions imparting Vedic knowledge exist even today. There were also universities like Takshashila and Ujjain for medicine and learning including mathematics and astronomy, respectively. In the south, Kanchi became an important centre of learning. Hiuen Tsang remarks that Vallabhi (વલ્લભિ) in Gujarat was as great as Nalanda and Vikramashila.

Although the Smrities maintain that a small number of students studied under a single teacher, university-turned-towns came into existence such as Varansi, Takshashila.

Varansi: 500 students and number of teachers were maintained by charitable people. Ideally, teachers asked no fee. But the students repaid their debt by their service to the teacher. A Jataka story tells of how a teacher of Tashashila treated well the students who paid him money while keeping others waiting. In Tashashila, even married people were admitted as students.

Of all the universities, Nalanda had imposing structures. 8 colleges were built by different patterns. One college had 4 storeys. Every facility existed. Great libraries existed as per Tibetan records. Nalanda attracted students from India, Tibet and China. A difficult test was prescribed by the dvarpandita  (watchman) to be passed for admission. Students were required to be familiar with old and new books. Nalanda (नालन्दा) was one of the earliest examples of residential cum teaching institution with 1000s of monks devoted to learning, philosophy and meditation. Over 10,000 students including teachers lived and studied at the university. They came from India, Central Asia, China, Korea, etc.

Nalanda (नालन्दा) was primarily a Buddhist university. However, its curricula included Hindu scriptures, philosophy and meditation (as recorded by Hiuen-Tsang. Study of logic was preeminent because these students were expected to enter into dialogues with visiting doctors of all schools. This compulsion of public debate made both the teacher and students familiar with all systems of thought in accurate summary.

The university had also succession of brilliant teachers. Dharmpala was a Tamil noble from Kanchi in the South. Janamitra was from abroad. Shilabhadra, the saintly guru of Hiuen-Tsang, came from Assam. A great achievement of this university was that it was able to continuously rejuvenate Buddhism in far off countries. Tibetan records mention a succession of learned monks who visited their country. It is also said that Sudhakara Simha (સુધાકર સિંહ) went to China and worked there on the translation of Buddhist texts. 

Higher Education

Since ancient times India has been a centre of excellence in the field of higher education. Nalanda (नालन्दा), Takshashila (तक्षशिला) and Vikramshila (विक्रमशिला) were some of the oldest universities in the world and renowned seats of higher education during their time.

Education of Women in Ancient and Medieval India

In Vedic times there was no discrimination of gender in the field of education. A particular Mantra was prescribed to beget a learned daughter in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (ब्रुहदरण्यक उपनिशद). In the same upnishad, we find Gargi and Maitreyi execelling in Brahmavidya (ब्रह्मविद्या), the highest knowledge. In the Grihyasutras (ग्रुह्यसूत्र) are found several mantras to be recited by women and the commentary on Gobhilagrihyasutras, states that the female folk should be taught, for without studies, they cannot perform Agnihotra sacrifice. Both Panini and Patanjli refer to women being admitted to Vedic study. Thus, a woman student of the Katha school was called a Kathi, and the Rigvedic Bahvricha School, Bahvrichi. Female students were also admitted to the study of mimamsa, and the one who studied mimamsa Sutra of the sage Kasakritsna is called Kasakritsna. There were Chaatri and Upadhyayi (Female Students & Lady teachers)

This trend of liberal female education declined in the period that followed. The right of women for initiation to Vedic studies by way of Upanayana seems to have receded slowly, though there is mention of learned women in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. By the time of the Smritis, their education came to be limited to domestic and vocational studies only, by which they could become good housewives. This was probably due to contact with foreign cultures which were inferior. India, being an assimilating country, assimilated this vice of inferior cultures.

However, the study of fine arts like dance, music, painting and practice of crafts continued. Vatsyayena enumerates the duties of a housewife which included painting in her garden, rows of trees, flower and fruit plants, cooking, spinning, pounding, grinding, knowledge of wages of servants and their disbursement, the care and welfare of cattle and domestic pets, knowledge of constructing conveyances, reckoning of daily income and expenditure and careful supervision of purchase and sales. Other 64 arts: reading of books, preparing medicines, recitation of difficult shlokas (दुर्वाचकायोग:), knowledge of dramas and stories, languages of different countries (देश भाषा - विज्ञानम्) and knowledge of physical exercise and development of body (व्यायामिकानम् विज्ञानम् - ज्ञानम्).

Vatsyayan makes it clear that these accomplishments could also be vocational. This was to make women independent, especially in the absence of the husband / other made members of the family. Widow remarriage (पुनर्भु remarried widow) was in practice.

Vijjhika

Vikatanitamba                                   enriched Sanskrit Poetry

Avantisundari

Women of Buddhistic and Jain faiths had comparatively more freedom to pursue the path of knowledge because womanhood was no bar to salvation as per their respective precepts. From the time of King Ashok we find women becoming priests and nuns and even going outside India for teaching Buddhism. Among the women authors of Therigatha (Stories of Nuns) 32 were unmarried women and 18 were married nuns.

Hiuen Tsang has observed that Rajyasri, the sister of Harshavardhna was of great intelligence and distinguished for her knowledge of sammatiya school of Buddhism. Women used to be dressed in men’s attire equipped with weapons. In Gujarat, the university of Tapogachha conferred various degrees on women like Ganini, Pravartini, Mahattara etc. These titles/degrees meant a leader of a Gana, a worker, and a great lady respectively. In Karnataka, queens and princesses distinguished themselves in fine arts and administration. Patrons of learning were Attimabbe, Sovaladevi. The following were the areas of specialization.

• Use of words: Vakya Chatur
• Learned: Vidagdha
• Witty and Humorous: Parihasvinodi
• Who could appreciate the import of and sentimate of literature : Sahityarasabhavajna
• Expert raconteurs: Kathana-kovida