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

246 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. and Nándurbar of the 14th century as 'upright, religious and trustworthy.¹ The same was the view of Abul Fazl, the minister of Akbar. Conclusion : Travellers, pilgrims and merchants are usually disposed to make caustic remarks about the culture and character of the foreigners among whom they have moved ; when so many of them belonging to different times and climes and professing different faiths agree in paying a high tribute to Indian character, we may well conclude that there is no exaggeration and that the educational system of the country had succeeded remarkably in its ideal of raising the national character to a high level. It is only after the 17th and 18th centuries A.D. that we come across some foreign travellers, traders, missionaries and ex-governors passing strictures upon the Hindu character. Some of them were probably misled by their prejudices, as we find their testimony contradicted by others.² It is also possible that the Hindu character may have suffered deterioration during the long spell of foreign rule in medieval times ; for successful falsehood is usually the best defence of a slave. It is however worth observing that not a single foreign observer is found passing hostile remarks about Hindu character and honesty during the ancient period of Indian history. Success in developing Personality : The deve- lopment of personality was the third aim of the educational system and let us see how far it was able to

1. Ibna Batuta, p. 228.
2. Col Sleeman, for instance, says : 'Lying between members of the same village is almost unknown.' I have had hundreds of cases before me in which a man's property, liberty and life depended upon his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell it.' Quoted by M. Muller in India, What It can teach Us, p. 50.