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

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 25 his school and college days, cannot become a good scholar¹. Marriage Incompatible with Studentship: Natu- rally therefore ancient Indians held that a student ought not to marry during his course. The term Brahmachārī, which is used to denote a student, primarily refers to a person leading a celibate life in order to realise his educational ideals and ambitions. Our authorities insist that the student should observe celibacy both in thought and deed. He can marry only at the end of his course, when permitted by his preceptor to do so. Lapse from this Ideal: Owing to several causes, which cannot be discussed here, the marriageable age of girls began to fall down gradually from c. 600 B. C. From 16 it came down to 14, then to 12 and then to 11 or 10. The last mentioned limit was reached during the early centuries of the Christian era. The lowering of the marriageable age of girls naturally brought down the marriageable age of boys to about 16 or 18; marriage thus became inevitable before the end of education. As early as the 3rd century B.C. we find occasional references to the cases of husbands staying away from their wives for some years during their educational course;² these cases later became common. We may safely conclude that from about the beginning of the Christian era, more than 50 percent students used to marry before their education was completed. ¹ सुखार्थिनः कुतो विद्या नास्ति विद्यार्थिनः सुखम् ॥' नान्योद्योगवता न चाप्रवसता नात्मानमुत्कर्षता। नालस्योपहतेन नामयवता नाचार्यविद्वेषिणा ॥ लज्जाशीलविनम्रसुन्दरमुखीं सीमन्तिनीं नेच्छता। लोके ख्यातिकरः सतामभिमतो विद्यागुणः प्राप्यते ॥ Subhāshitas. ² ब्राह्मणमधीयानं दशवर्षाणि (प्रतीक्षेत)। A. S. III, 4.