प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

102 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. A Resume : By making Upanayana obligatory and professions hereditary, by showing encouragement to learning in a variety of ways, by securing ample patronage from rulers and landlords, by penalising any stipulation for fees and by laying down a very high code of conduct for the teaching profession, Hindu society tried to make fairly efficient arrange- ment and provision for the education of the rising generation. The results show that before the decay set in, these measures for the spread of education proved to be fairly successful. As will be shown in the Chapter VII, literacy was spread fairly widely among the higher classes ; its percentage among them was probably as high as 75% at the beginning of the Christian era. In contemporary times in no other country in the world was there so wide a spread of literacy. Hindu achievements in the realm of medicine, metallurgy, astronomy, chemistry, and spinning and weaving were also of a high order, if judged by contemporary standards. There was, undoubtedly a set back after about 800 A.D.; its causes will be discussed in the course of the concluding chapter.