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

X] PERIOD-WISE SURVEY 239 foreigners (Mlechchhas), but nevertheless their achieve- ments in the realm of sculpture, coinage and astronomy were carefully studied and assimilated, which led to considerable progress in all these sciences. The Condition of Education : There was however a distinctive setback to the cause of education as a whole during this period. Child marriages became the order of the day towards the end of the period, and so female education suffered very considerably. Only daughters of high class families used to receive education during this period. The lowering of the marriageable age of girls naturally involved the corresponding lowering of the marriageable age of boys. Brahmacharya discipline consequently became slack and nominal and towards the end of this period ; the educational system could produce only a limited number of young men possessing a developed person- ality, characterised by self-confidence and self reliance. During this period Upanayana of Kshatriyas and Vaishyas first became a mere formality. This development gave a severe blow to the general and cultural education of the warrior and the farmer, the trader and the artisan, and this reduced their general efficiency. Their education gradually began to become too much specialised and narrow. The same defect arose in the course of time in liberal education also. There was too much of specialisation in logic and philosophy, astronomy and mathematics ; there was no broad-based secondary course of education. The educational system was still able to promote social efficiency and happiness and secure the preservation and spread of national culture ; it enabled society to absorb and assimilate a number of foreign tribes whom it could not drive out by military force. Towards