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

74 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch or provincial jealousies did not influence the election in any way. The abbot-principal used to be assisted by two councils, one academic and the other administrative. The academic council used to regulate admissions, deter- mine courses and assign work to different teachers. In later times when the granting of diplomas was introduced at Vikramaśīlā, it must have arranged for the holding of examinations as well. It was also in charge of the liabrary and its duties in this connection were onerous. In the pre-press days, libraries were not only store houses of books but also their publishers. They had to take steps to renew their own worn out manuscripts and to meet the constant demand of the outside public for copies of books in their possession. . The copying work was to some extent done by the monk teachers and pupils, but clerks also had to be engaged to cope with it. The administrative council was in charge of the general administration and finance. Construction and repairs of buildings, distribution of food, clothes and medicine, allotment of rooms in hostels, and assignment of monas- tic work fell within its purview. Above all, it was in charge of finances and used to take steps to realise the revenues of the estates given as endowments to the Institution. This work must have been fairly exacting and complicated in a big University like Nālandā, posses- sing a hundred or two hundred villages. Steps had to be taken to lease out the fields, to collect the corn due and to store and distribute it properly at the right time. Large staff must have been employed for the work. Organisation of Temple Colleges: South Indian nscriptions give us à vivid picture about the functioning of the temple colleges flourishing there, but throw very ittle light on their internal organisation. It would appear hat they were probably administered by the temple sub-