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

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 233 India by the efficiency of its higher education, which attracted students from distant countries like Korea, China, Tibet and Java. The cultural sympathy which the countries in eastern Asia feel for India even today is entirely due to the work of the famous Buddhist colleges of ancient India. If some of the important lost texts can be reconstructed with the help of their Chinese translations, the credit must be given to Buddhist colleges, which enabled Chinese students to get their copies. Buddhist education also helped the development of Hindu logic and philosophy by initiating and encouraging comparative study. In the period of its early history, it championed the cause of education through the mother tongue; later on however it could not resist the charm and influence of Sanskrit and began to impart education through that language. SECTION B. PERIOD-WISE SURVEY OF ANCIENT INDIAN EDUCATION. Four Historical Periods : We now proceed to take a bird's eye view of the general condition of edu- cation in the different periods of ancient Indian history. We shall divide it into four periods for the purpose of of our survey. The first period will be from pre-his- toric times to c. 1000 B.C. It may be conveniently described as the Vedic age, as most of the Vedic litera- ture was composed during this period. The second period will extend from c. 1000 B.C. to c. 200 B.C. It may be described as the age of the Upanishads, the Sutras and the epics, as these works can be asigned to this period. The Bārhadrathas, the Śiśunāgas, the Nandas and the Mauryas were the leading political