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

32 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. induces the new entrants to imitate their example. The invisible yet all-pervading influence of established tradi- tions of the institution naturally spurs the student to identify himself with them. The system eliminated the factors in home life prejudicial to the educational atmos- phere and facilitated better studies; it however did not altogether eliminate the refining influence of the family life, because students used to come into indirect contact with it when living under the guardianship of their teachers, who were usually householders. It also served to tone down personal angularities of pampered children and made all students more resourceful and self-reliant and better acquainted with the ways of the world¹. It was felt that students trained at home would lack the benefit of school discipline and suffer from desultoriness and want of application and would thus normally compare very unfavourably with those trained in a Gurukula.² Gurukulas not always in Forests: The general belief that Gurukulas were located in forests away from the din of city life is but partly correct.³ There is no doubt that the majority of the teachers of philosophy in ancient India lived, thought out and taught their spiritual theories in sylvan solitudes. The same was the case with celebrated teachers like Vālmīki, Kaṇva and Sāndīpani; who used to stay in forests, though they had made arrangements in their Āśramas (forest retreats) to teach

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¹ Cf. पोराणिकराजानो अत्तने पुत्ते 'एवं एते निहतमानदप्पा सीतण्हक्खमा लोकचरितञ्ञू भविस्संति' अत्तनो नगरे दीसापामोक्खे आचरिये विज्जमानेपि सिप्पुग्गहणत्थाय दूरे तिरोरट्ठं पेसंति । Jā. No. 252. ² अपि च ज्ञानसंपन्नः सर्वान्वेदान्पितुर्गृहे । श्लाघमान इवाधीयादग्राम्य इत्येव तं विदुः ॥ Mbh., XIII. 36.15 ³ Rules prescribing a holiday when there was a death or robbers' raid in the village (Manu, IV. 108, 113) presuppose that the school was not situated in a forest.