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

IV] EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION AND FINANCE 85 There is definite evidence to show that this practice pre- vailed at Taxila¹; probably it obtained in other places also. College Session : Pre-historic Period : The Upākarma and Utsarjana rituals show that the college session could not have lasted for more than five or six months². It began sometime in August and ended some- time in February. Such was the case in prehistoric times when Vedic hymns only formed the main subject of study. When however the sacred literature became more exten- sive and new branches of learning were developed like grammar, philology, astronomy, philosophy and sacred law (Dharmaśāstra), the short session of six months was found to be inadequate and studies began to be prosecuted throughout the year. College Session : Later Times: There is ample evidence to show that in later times, though the Utsarjana ceremony, which marked the suspension of the Vedic studies, was performed in February, the college work went on uninterrupted. Manu, for instance, states that in spite of the Utsarjana ceremony, the study of the Vedas and Vedāngas should be continued throughout the year (IV.98). College terms followed by fairly long vacations, with which we are now familiar, seem to have been altogether unknown in ancient India since about the 7th century B.C. Transport difficulties were immense and students from Rājagṛiha (near Patna) and Benares going to distant places like Taxila used to return home only when the whole course was over³ (Jā. No. 252). They therefore 1 धम्मन्तेवासिका आचारियस्स कम्मं कत्वा रत्तिं सिप्पमुग्गह्वंति, आचारियभागदायका गेहे जेट्ठ पुत्ता विय हुत्वा सिप्पमेव उग्गह्वंति। Jātaka No. 252. 2. Appendix I, section C. 3. The rule in the Arthas̄āstra laying down that the wife of a Brahmana student should wait ten or twelve years before P. T. O.