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

190 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. upon the medical profession, which could not but have told upon its efficiency and progress.¹ Veterinary Education :—The veterinary science had been developed in India fairly early. Śālihotra is its traditional founder and two of the Pāṇḍava heroes, Nakula and Sahadeva are said to have been experts in it. In the 3rd century B. C. veterinary doctors were fairly common ; Asoka could find them in necessary numbers to man his hospitals for animals throughout the country. The army authorities used to employ them in army to treat the ailments of horses and elephants (Arthaśāstra, II. 30-2). There were special books also dealing with these subjects.² We however do not come across any veterinary schools or colleges, nor do we possess any information as to how veterinary doctors were trained. Probably army authorities used to organise their own schools to meet their own needs. In villages the profession may have been hereditary in some farmers' families, which may have occasionally taken some outsiders also to be trained as apprentices. MILITARY EDUCATION Vedic Period : During the Vedic period the military profession must have been a popular one, as

1. An incidental observation in the Mitāksharā would show that the medical course was finished in four instead of eight years during the 12th century A. D. ; of :— अन्तेवासी गुरोर्गृहे कृतकालं वर्षचतुष्टयमायुर्वेदशिल्पशिक्षार्थे त्वद्गृहे वसामीति । On Yāj. II. 184. 2 Aśvavaidyaka of Jayadatta, Aśvachikitsā of Nakula and Hastyāyurveda of Pālakāpya (published in A.S. series) are the important works on the veterinary science. Some of these works in their present form are not later than c. 800 A.D., but they had their precursors, now unfortunately lost.