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

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 83 schools at Nadia varied from 10 to 20¹. It therefore seems to be almost certain that the Jātaka statement about the teachers at Taxila having 500 students each is an exaggeration. The normal strength of a class was never more than 20. School Hours: Curiously enough there is very little information available about the school hours. Smṛitis are altogether silent upon the point. We should however note that in ancient time press, paper and cheap books were absent; so home work or home reading was practically impossible. All the work had to be done under the guidance of the teacher or the monitor. Literatur often describes the early morning time as resounding with the sound of the recitation of students². So there is no doubt that there was a morning session, probably starting at about 7 A.M., when the daily religious duties were over. The morning session continued till about 11 A.M., when both the students and the teachers had to break off for their religious duties and meals. The noon meal was followed by a short rest and the school reassembled at about 2 P. M. and worked for three or four hours. The school period was spent partly in what may be called homework and partly in learning new lessons. The former consisted of committing to memory the texts expounded earlier with the help of one or two copies of the book existing in the school or under the direction of a senior monitor, who was well versed in it. The memorising and revision work was usually done in the morning, and new lessons were taught in the afternoon. Such at any rate was the tradition in the Sans-

1. Nadia Gazetteer, p. 182.
2. शुश्राव ब्रह्मघोषान् स विरात्रे ब्रह्मरक्षसाम् । Rāmāyaṇa. बटुपटलसमारब्ध स्वाध्यायाध्ययनध्वानप्रबुद्धासु । Vāsavadattā