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

42 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. of horses and elephants, are mentioned in Smṛitis (Manu, III. 162). Jātakas also show that at Taxila, Brahmanas used to impart education in several practical professions like the military art, medicine and snake charming etc. both to Brahmanas and Kshatriyas.¹ Dhanurveda lays down that Brahmanas are as eligible to be the teachers of the military science as Kshatriyas (1.4). Being as a rule more intelligent than members of other castes, they must have shone in these lines also, as for instance was the case with Droṇāchārya. It was only in later times, from c. 500 A.D. onwards, that Brahmanas ceased to be teachers of useful arts and professions owing to the growing rigour of the caste system. This was rather unfortunate, for it prevented the utilisation of the intellect of one of the most intelligent classes in society for expanding the boundaries of knowledge in the domain of practical sciences. Caste System and Curriculum, Domination of Vedic Studies: Let us now find out the influence the caste system exercised on the curriculum. A perusal of the relevant rules of the Smṛitis produces the impression that Vedic studies must have dominated the course prescribed for the Brahmanas. It has been emphatically laid down that all Brahmanas should devote twelve years to Vedic studies after their Upanayana. Such, however, was not the case in actual practice. Only a small section of the Brahmana community,—possibly not more than its one- fifth,—used to devote itself to Vedic 'studies, when new branches of knowledge like grammar, philosophy, law and classical Sanskrit literature came to be developed. For the preservation of the Vedic literature, the services of only a small section of the community were necessary; the rest

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¹ खत्तियमानवा ब्राह्मणमानवा च तस्सेव संतिके सिप्पं उग्गण्हितुं गच्छंति । Asadisa J. No. 181; see also Thusa J. No 338.