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

168 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. Literary Tournaments: Rājaśekhara describes the examinations held in the royal court¹, and Charaka refers to heated discussions held in learned assemblies to test the relative merits of the contending physicians.² These examinations were, however, fundamentally different from modern degree examinations. Each participant in these literary affrays was anxious to prove, not that he possessed certain minimum quali- fications, but that he was the best poet or physician in the land, entitled to precedence, honour and annuities from the royal court What Charaka or Rājaśekhara have in contemplation is not a routine examination, but an intellectual combat among the distinguished physicians and scholars of the age. No Degrees or Diplomas : Since there were no degree examinations, there were naturally no degrees or diplomas. From Tārānātha we learn that the Pāla kings of Bengal, who were patrons and chancellors of the Vikramaśīlā University, used to grant diplomas to students in a convocation held at the end of their education.³ In medieval Bengal also learned bodies used to confer degrees like Tarkachakravartī and Tarkālaṅkāra on very distinguished scholars like Gadādhara and Jagadīśa. This practice of giving degrees and titles seems to be a new innovation of medieval times. Yuan Chwang informs us that unscrupulous scholars in the seventh century used to 'steal the name of Nālandā' in order to gain more respect⁴. This would not have been possible if the Nālandā University were in the habit of granting regular diplomas to those who had finished their 1 Kāvya-mīmāṁsā, p. 55. 2 Vimānasthāna, 8. 3 Bose, Indian Teachers of Buddhist Universities, p. 61 4 Watters, II, p. 165.