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

V] EDUCATIONAL CENTRES AND INSTITUTIONS 111 anxious to emulate the example of king Janaka of Mithilā as a patron of learning. For a long time, however, Taxila was a more famous centre of learning than Benares. Kings of Benares itself used to send their sons to far-off Taxila, and many of the teachers of this city that figure in the Jātakas are seen to be past students of the Taxila University.¹ In the course of time, however, they began to attract scholars from far and wide (Jā. Nos. 480 and 438). Benares as a Centre of Buddhist Learning : In the 7th century B. C., Benares was probably the most famous centre of education in eastern India; that seems to have been one of the reasons for its being selected by the Buddha as the place for the first promulgation of his gospel. With the imperial patronage under Aśoka, the Sarnath monastery on the outskirts of Benares must have become a famous centre of learning. It went on continuously prospering; in the 7th century A.D., it possessed resplendant and beautiful buildings with tiers of balconies and rows of halls.² Unfortunately Yuan Chwang does not state anything about the educational activity of the Sarnath monastery, but there can be no doubt that it must have emulated the glorious example of neighbouring Nālandā. It had 1500 monk-students. There is ample evidence to show that it continued to be a flourishing centre of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage down to the 12th century A. D.³

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1. Cf. तक्कसिलं गत्वा सब्बसिप्पाणि उग्गहित्वा वाराणसिय दिसापामोक्खो आचारियो हुत्वा पंचमाणवकसतानि सिप्पं वाचेति । No. 150. See also No. 80.
2. Watters, II, p. 48.
3. Kumāradevī, the Buddhist wife of the Hindu king Govinda- chandra, had given an endowment to the establishment in the latter half of the 12th century A. D. Excavations also show that the establishment continued to flourish down to c. 1200 A. D.