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

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 179 may have been the case throughout the earlier history. In some localities in Madras presidency teachers used to receive grain-shares at the time of harvest just like carpenters or smiths ; this system does not seem to have been universal,¹ for the services of a teacher were not required by every villager, as was the case with those of a smith or potter. Primary teachers usually belonged to the families of the village accountants, priests, writers (Kayasthas) or traders, which were invariably literate. Like the teachers of the Vedas, they were not exclusively Brahmanas. This was the case even in the Smṛiti period ; for some of the Smṛiti writers refer with disapproval to the custom of non-Brahmanas being the teachers of Brahmanas. Extent of Literacy at c. 800 A. D. :—Upanayana, which had given an indirect inpetus to the spread of literacy, gradually ceased to be performed in the case of the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas during the first five centuries of the Christian era. Automatic initiation into the 3 R’s, which was ensured by this ritual, thus ceased gradually to be a reality with the majority of the Aryans. This gave a setback to the spread of literacy during this period. Vaishyas engaged in trade were literate and often cultured ; the members of the guild of weavers at Mandsore in Malva were well versed in folklore and astrology during the 5th century A.D.² The same may have been the case with better class traders and merchants during this period. Kshatriyas engaged in administrative work were of course literate. It is however doubtful whether the ordinary agriculturist or soldier, who had inherited no ¹ Report of the Madras Provincial Committee, Evidence, pp. 20, 154, 173. ² Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions, p.p. 80-7.

180 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. cultural tradition and who had discontinued Upanayana at this time, were literate. Literacy among the males of the three higher castes must have been hardly more than about 40 percent towards the end of the 8th century A. D. The Shudras, who formed the bulk of the labouring classes, and the untouchables were all illiterate. As a class, women also had ceased to be literate towards the end of the 8th century, as has been shown already. PRIMARY EDUCATION DURING C. 800-1200 A. D. Vernaculars and Primary Education :—Verna- culars began to develop during this period and ordinary men ceased to understand Sanskrit. This must have produced a great change in the curriculum of primary education also. Those who intended to specialise in Sanskrit must have continued to spend a part of their time in early childhood in memorising dictionaries (Koshas) and verbal conjugations and nominal declen- sions. Those however who had no such ambition must have concentrated on the study of vernaculars in the primary stage. Some inscriptions of this period refer to the arrangements made for the teaching of vernaculars in the schools and colleges. A school at Talgund in Mysore state had made provision for the teaching of Canarese in the 12th century A.D.;¹ a college at Narsipur in the same state was providing for the teaching of the vernaculars,—Canarese, Telugu and Marathi,—in 1290 A. D.² If higher colleges were making provision for the teaching of the vernaculars of other provinces also, we can well conclude that 1 E. C., VII, Shikarpur, No. 185. 2 Ibid, Vol. III, Narsipur, No. 27.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 181 primary education at this time was almost entirely dominated by vernaculars. The Scope of the Vernacular Education :—When Sanskrit was the spoken language in earlier days, primary education was intended to become an integral part of the higher Sanskritic studies. When Sanskrit became a dead language as far as the masses were concerned, primary education became Vernacular education and developed a self-contained course. Vernacular education of the masses was organised not with a view to enable them to develop into good Sanskrit scholars, but with the object of making them efficient in their ordinary walks of life. Reading writing, commercial arithmetic, accountancy, good knowledge of vernaculars with perhaps a smattering of Sanskrit, and moral training through the stories of epics constituted the curriculum of the vernacular education at about 1200 A. D. The same continued to be the case during the subsequent centuries as well. In the case of Brahmana boys, who intended to take to Sanskritic education later, elements of Sanskrit grammar were included ; but agricultural and com- mercial arithmetic dominated the courses intended for students hailing from agricultural and commercial classes. How to measure the area of fields, how to deduce monthly wages from the daily ones and vice versa, how to find the prices of corn per maund when those per seer were given, etc,—questions like these engaged the attention of the teachers and students in primary schools. The extent of Literacy at c. 1200 A. D. With the levelling down of both the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas to the position of the Shudras, the extent of literacy must have further gone down during this period. The average farmer at this time was illiterate and

182 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. members of commercial and industrial guilds were no longer as educated and cultured as those of the weavers' guild at Mandsore in c. 400 A. D. We have however no sufficient evidence to compute the extent of literacy at c. 1200 A. D. We may perhaps utilise the data about the state of affairs at the advent of British rule in this connection. The village teacher was not usually one of the grain-sharing servants supported by the village community ; his services therefore were clearly required not by the whole community, but only by certain sections of it ; literacy must have been confined only to them. In the second decade of the 19th century Sir Thomas Monroe found a primary school in every village ; 'I am inclined' says he, 'to estimate the proportion of male population receiving education to be nearer one third than one fourth'.¹ In Bengal at this time most villages possessed schools for primary education, but the percentage of boys attending them varied in different places. In some districts² as many as 18 percent of the boys of the school going age attended schools, in others the percentage was only 3. In Malva, which for more than half a century was suffer- ing from anarchy, Malcolm found a school in almost every village with more than 100 houses.³ It would therefore appear that about 15 percent of the boys of the school-going age were attending schools towards the beginning of the 19th century. If in spite of the prevailing unsettled conditions, about 15 percent boys were attending schools at the beginning of the 19th century, we may well conclude that the percentage may have been at least twice this figure at the end of

1. Quoted by Sen in History of Elementary Education, p. 78.
2. Ibid, p. 76
3. Malcolm. Memoirs of Central India and Malva, p. 158.

VII] PRIMARY EDUCATION 183 the Hindu period. For during the Muslim rule the government educational effort for a long time was confined only to the Muslim section of the population ; Hindus also could not continue to get the same state patronage for their education and literature, which was possible under their own rule. This must have affected the spread of education and the extent of literacy in the population as a whole, which was predominently Hindu. If therefore the percentage of literate male population among Indians as a whole was about 15 at the beginning of the 19th century, it may as well have been about thirty towards the end of the 12th century A. D. At the time when Upanayana was a reality with the whole of the Aryan community, we have already seen that the percentage of literacy in it must have been as high as 80. Towards the end of the 8th century A. D. it had declined to about 40, as shown already. It further went down by about another 10 percent by the 12th century A. D. These percentages however refer to male population only and are exclusive of the Shudras and Untouchables, who were as a rule all illiterate.

Chapter VIII. PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION. MEDICAL EDUCATION—Its general features—Training in surgery—Arrangements for practical training—Duration of the course and examination—Medical education in later times—Veterinary education—MILITARY EDUCATION—Non-official training agencies— Military schools—professional military coaches—Education of the princes—COMMERCIAL EDUCATION—Its general scope—How it was imparted. TRAINING IN ARTS AND CRAFTS—Society's attitude towards arts and crafts in early and later times—Training given by the apprenticeship system—Workshop atmosphere—Painter's training as an illustration—Efficiency of the training—Was it narrow ? Introduction : In this chapter we propose to take a rapid survey of some of the important branches of useful and professional education and of the ways in which it was imparted. Medical, military and com- mercial education and the training of artists and artisans for sculpture, architecture, painting, smithy, carpentry etc. will principally engage our attention. MEDICAL EDUCATION. Early Progress : Medical science is no doubt of hoary antiquity in India. The Vedic literature refers to the healing feats of Aśvins, who though originally human beings, were later deified by a grateful posterity. This science was fairly well developed by the 4th century B. C., for the Greeks, who had accompanied Alexander the Great, were very well impressed by the skill of Indian doctors in curing the cases of serpent bite. The Jātakas refer to the medical students at Taxila performing operations for cranial abscesses and intestinal displacement.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 185 Some general Features : Medical education was usually imparted by private teachers. There was a ri- tual at the admission of students which will be described in Appendix 1, E. The student had to be well grounded in Sanskrit, for most of the books on medicine were written in that language. Learning by rote was condemned ; Suśruta compares a person having only a verbal knowledge of the medical texts to a donkey conscious of the heaviness but not of the quality of the burden it carries. Specialisation was encouraged ; students were expected to master the different branches of learning from different experts.¹ Practical training in surgery and pharmacy and constant discussion of abstruse points among the students and teachers were some of the important features of the training.² **Training in Surgery :—**We can get a fairly good idea of the training in surgery from our sources. The beginners were taught how to hold and use the surgical instruments by practising upon pumpkins, cucumbers, water melons, etc., under the teacher's directions. Puncturing was demonstrated on the veins of dead animals, the manner of holding the probe on dry Alābu fruits, scarification on stretched pieces of leather covered with hair, sewing on thin pieces of cloth or skin, application of bandages on stuffed human figures and the use of caustics on soft pieces of flesh.³ The novice was then gradually initiated in real cases and allowed to extract darts, cleanse wounds, and use the knife in piercing and cutting diseased parts of the body. How surgical wounds are to be made to dry up was also demonstrated. Practice in the adminis- 1 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, IV. 4. 4-8 2 Charaka. Vimānasthāna, 8. 4 3 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, Chap. 9 4 Mil. Pan., Vol. II, 254-5

186 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch- tration of emetics, purges and enemas was given to all. Suśruta emphasises on the importance of dissection for perfecting the student's knowledge, and points out that mere book learning cannot give a clear idea of the- actual internal constitution of the human body. Corpses used to be decomposed in water and students- were then required to dissect them and visualise the nature of skin, muscles, arteries, bones, internal organs, etc.¹ Anatomical knowledge that was thus imparted. was fairly high when compared with the contemporary standards elsewhere. Unfortunately in the course of time the dissection of human body went out of vogue, causing a setback to the progress of the medical science. Arrangements for Practical Training—Students received practical training in surgery and medicine, usually through private practice of their teachers. In some cases hospitals were attached to colleges. In great cities like Pāṭalīputra there existed big charitable hos- pitals, which must have afforded good opportunities for training medical students. Indian hospitals were well organised, for Hindu doctors were invited by the Abbaside Khalifas to supervise their own hospitals in the 8th century A D. It is to be regretted that Fa Hsien should not have given us detailed information of the hospitals, which he had seen at Pāṭlīputra. If he had done this, we would have probably known a good deal about the hospital management and medical education during the 5th century A.D. ' Duration of the Course and Examination :— The exact duration of the medical course is not known. Charaka and Suśruta do not enlighten us on the point. In the days of the Buddha, the medical 1 Suśruta, Śarīrasthāna, 5.49.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 187 course at Taxila was fairly long; for his physician Jīvaka was permitted to go home very reluctantly by his teacher, though he had spent seven years at that University. Charaka observes that no one can obtain a real all round efficiency in Āyurveda; this would also suggest a very long course. We may well presume that the student had to spend at least eight years, before he could get mastery in the subject. The completion of the course was followed by an examination. This is implied by the observation of Charaka¹ and Suśruta² that it is the king's fault, if incompetent doctors practise the medical profession. Śukra also prohibits a person to practise as a doctor without possessing the king's license.³ None of our authorities however discloses the conditions under which the royal permission was granted under efficient administration. Very probably it must have been given to students who were certified to have finished their course either by superintendents of state hospitals, principals of colleges or famous private practitioners. High ideals placed before the Medicoes : The convocation address before the medical graduates exhorted them to follow a very high ideal of profes- sional conduct.⁴ They must relieve distress in all quarters. They must strive for the welfare of all humanity. They must not desert a patient, even when their own life was in danger. They must continue study and research throughout their life. Achievements in the Medical Science : The above advice seems to have been followed in a very large number of cases. India continued to be famous

1. Sūtrasthāna, 29.8
2. Sūtrasthāna, III. 52; X. 3
3. I. 804
4. See Appendix III

188 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. for its medical skill throughout the ancient period. Her doctors could perform surgical operations for cataract, hydrocele, abscesses, extraction of dead embryos, etc.¹ They were in demand in Messo- potamia and Arabia for guiding and training the physicians there. Khalifa Harun sent several scholars to India to study Hindu medicine and pharmacology and induced about 20 doctors to come to Baghdad to become chief medical officers of state hospitals and to translate Sanskrit medical work into Arabic. Most celebrated among them was Manakā (Māṇikya), who was originally invited to cure an ailment of Sultan Harun, which defied the skill of Arabian physicians. He succeeded in his treatment and was later induced to become the director of state hospitals and translate the work of Suśruta into Arabic.² Arabic system 1 Sītā apprehended that Rāvaṇa might kill and dissect her limb by limb like a surgeon extracting a dead embryo; cf. तस्मिन्ननागच्छति लोकनाथे गर्भस्थजन्तोरिव शल्यकृन्तः । नूनं ममांगान्यचिरादनार्यः शस्त्रैः शितैश्छेत्स्यति मानवेन्द्रः ॥ • Rāmāyaṇa, V. 28. 6 Non-discovery of anaesthetics aad sterilisation processes was stauding in the way of progress. Wine was administered as a partial anaes- thetic. The Bhojaprabandha refers to an anæsthetic called mohanichūrṇa: but since it is mentioned in connection with a miraculous cure effected by the divine physicians Aśvins, we may doubt its general knowledge or use. cf. ततस्तावपि राजानं मोहचूर्णेन मोहयित्वा शिरःकपालमादाय तत्करोटिकापुटे स्थितं शफरकुलं गृहीत्वा कस्मिंश्चिद्भाजने निक्षिप्य संधान- करण्या कपालं यथावदारचय्य संजीवन्या च तं जीवयित्वा तस्मै तददर्शयताम् ॥ Bhojaprabandha, after v. 318 2. S. K. Nadvi. Arab aur Bharat ke sambandha, pp. 108-28 ; Alberuni, Introduction, p. XXXI. Saleh bin Bahala and Dahan (Dhanvantari ?) were two of the famous colleagues of Manaka, who accompanied him to Baghdad.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 189 of medicine owes a great deal to the Ayurvedic system. Medical Education in Later Times :—Training in the medical profession was fairly efficient in India down to the 10th century A. D. Ayurvedic doctors were keeping themselves in touch with the discoveries and developments taking place elsewhere, and also experimenting upon new preparations as better medicines for ailments and diseases. The use of mer- cury, opium and metallic preparations was introduced into the pharmacopeia in the medieval times. Dis- continuance of dissection and consequent decline in surgery however gave a setback to the system. Owing to the prevalence of stricter notions of ceremonial purity, the touch of the corpse became a taboo and dissection was consequently given up. This became fatal to progress in surgery, the practice of which gradually died down. The medical profession began to be held in low esteem as the doctor had to deal with filthy diseases and touch dying patients. In the earlier period famous doctors like Aśvins and Dhan- vantari were deified; now the followers of the profession began to be regarded as defilers of the company at a dinner table.¹ Purāṇas state that medicine became the profession of the descendants of the illegiti- mate son born to sage Gālava from his maid-servant Ambā.² Occasionally we no doubt come across grants of villages given to doctors by kings; there can be however no doubt that society as a whole looked down

1. Manu, III. 152.
2. Some of the Smṛtis also e. g. B. D. S., I. 8. 9. assign the medical profession to the children of a mixed caste sprung from the union of a Brahmana father and Vaishya mother.

190 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. upon the medical profession, which could not but have told upon its efficiency and progress.¹ Veterinary Education :—The veterinary science had been developed in India fairly early. Śālihotra is its traditional founder and two of the Pāṇḍava heroes, Nakula and Sahadeva are said to have been experts in it. In the 3rd century B. C. veterinary doctors were fairly common ; Asoka could find them in necessary numbers to man his hospitals for animals throughout the country. The army authorities used to employ them in army to treat the ailments of horses and elephants (Arthaśāstra, II. 30-2). There were special books also dealing with these subjects.² We however do not come across any veterinary schools or colleges, nor do we possess any information as to how veterinary doctors were trained. Probably army authorities used to organise their own schools to meet their own needs. In villages the profession may have been hereditary in some farmers' families, which may have occasionally taken some outsiders also to be trained as apprentices. MILITARY EDUCATION Vedic Period : During the Vedic period the military profession must have been a popular one, as

1. An incidental observation in the Mitāksharā would show that the medical course was finished in four instead of eight years during the 12th century A. D. ; of :— अन्तेवासी गुरोर्गृहे कृतकालं वर्षचतुष्टयमायुर्वेदशिल्पशिक्षार्थे त्वद्गृहे वसामीति । On Yāj. II. 184. 2 Aśvavaidyaka of Jayadatta, Aśvachikitsā of Nakula and Hastyāyurveda of Pālakāpya (published in A.S. series) are the important works on the veterinary science. Some of these works in their present form are not later than c. 800 A.D., but they had their precursors, now unfortunately lost.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 191 the Aryans were engaged in subjugating the non- Aryans (dasyus) and establishing their supremacy in the country. We have however no information as to how military education was imparted. The superiority in horsemanship and chariot-fighting constituted the key to the Aryan success; considerable time must therefore have been devoted to give proper training in these subjects to the members of the fighting force. Chariot races, which were very popular in the age, must have played an important part in increasing the military efficiency of the chariot corps. Practice in the use of the bow and the arrow, the shield, the mace and the spear, which were the main offensive and defensive weapons of the age, must have played an important part in the training of the infantry. Non-official Training Agencies: In modern times military training is usually given only by the state authorities when recruits join the army. Such was not the case in ancient India. The average citizen and villager was expected to be able to defend his own hearth and home; the Arthaśāstra expressly lays down that every village ought to be able to defend itself (II. 34). Villagers and citizens therefore had to make their own arrangements to get the necessary facility in the use of the weapons of the age in order to be ready for any eventuality. There were no military schools as such for this purpose; with the voluntary help of the elderly experts in the village, most of its youths could be trained in the use of the bow and the arrow, the lathi and the lance. That such was actually the case in several parts of India would become quite clear from the accounts of Alexander’s invasion, as given by the Greek historians. In several places the Macedonian hero was opposed not so much by state forces as by the whole population

192 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.. in arms.¹ There can be no doubt that in many of the republican states of the Punjab, e. g. the Kaṭhas, the Mālavas, the Sibis, etc., every adult used to receive military training of a fairly high order. Probably the same was the case under monarchies, though perhaps to a less degree. Many villages had developed high military traditions and used to be exempted from taxation on agreeing to supply a certain quota to the army.² ***Military Schools :—***There were also some cities in the country, famous as centres of military training. Taxila, situated in the North-Western Frontier Province, had naturally become a centre of military training. Kshatriyas and Brahmanas from all over the country used to go to this frontier city for getting mastery in the military profession. In one military college of this city there were 103 princes receiving training in the different branches of the military art.³ Unfortunately we get no information about the management of this college, nor do we know whether it was a private or a state institution. Probably the former was the case. **Professional Military Coaches :—**From about the 5th century B. C. big empires began to be built up in ancient India, and soon thereafter the country came into contact with the disciplined soldiers of the Greek army. This gave an impetus to intensive military training and many enterprising captains began to start private military coaching classes with a view to supply highly trained soldiers to the state. Many such captains existed as early as the 2nd century

1. Mc. Crindle, Ancient India, Its Invasion by Alexander the Great, p. 140.
2. Arthaśāstra, IX. 1
3. Sutasoma Jātaka, No. 222

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 193 B. C.; they used to supply trained soldiers to kings and receive in return from them lands, money, horses, etc. by way of reward.¹ Targets of clay or stuffed human figures were used to teach accurate aiming. A 9th century inscription from the Deccan also refers to a military captain, who is described as a marvel in training horses² ; it is not however known whether this officer was conducting a private class or whether he was a regular professor in a military college maintained by the Rāshṭrakūṭa administration. Conclusion :— The general impression left by the literary and epigraphical evidence of the 1st millennium A.D. is that a good deal of preliminary military train- ing was given almost universally in all villages under the aegius of the village Panchayats. Organised insti- tutions for military training probably did not exist in moffusil villages. Retired members of the state hereditary forces and local experts used to organise and manage military classes in their own villages, which were attended by most of the able-bodied adults in the locality. Further training was imparted by ad- venturous captains and final touches were given after the enlistment of the soldier in the state army in daily drills. It would appear that the weakness of the Hindu military machine lay in too much reliance being placed upon the training received by soldiers as militia men. This training, while quite sufficient to meet the needs of local disturbances, was inadequate to with- stand regularly trained armies. Education of Princes :— A few words may be conveniently said here about the education of princes. In the early period we find kings sending their sons to

1. Mil. Pan., Vol. II, pp. 135-4
2. E. I., XIII, p. 187. 13

194 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. distant centres of education like Taxila to receive education there more or less like commoners. But from about the 3rd century B. C. it became the usual practice to establish special schools for the education of the scions of the royal family.¹ Sons and wards of ministers and high officers of the state were also permitted to join these schools, as it was realised that suitable companions and mutual competition were neces- sary to ensure satisfactory results. The Royal School was usually located in the vicinity of the capital. It consisted of several spacious halls, each suitable for its special purpose. Gymnasium, swimming pools and extensive grounds for military exercises were provided. Experts were recruited from all over the country to teach different subjects. The curriculum included a study of the Vedas and philosophy, but naturally only such knowledge of these subjects was imparted as was necessary for general culture. Special attention was paid to the study of history, economics, politics, administration, and civil and criminal law. Lectures on these subjects were delivered usually in the afternoon, the morning time being devoted to the athletic and military exercises. Princes were expected to be experts in the use of different arms like the sword, the lance and the bow and arrow. Tournaments and hunting parties were often organised to test their skill. Fine arts like music and painting were also taught. Students in these royal schools used to stay in the boarding houses ; their parents used to go there occasionally to see them and find out how they were progressing. The school course terminated usually at the end of the 16th year, when princes were allowed to marry. Though after this time, they would usually leave the boarding and begin to stay in the palace with their

1. Arthas'âstra, I, Kâdambarī, p. 149,

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 195 family, their education would not terminate. Training in actual administration would begin after this period and last for about seven or eight years. At the age of 24 the education would become fully complete and princes were then regarded as eligible to become heir- apparents. COMMERCIAL EDUCATION General Condition of Commerce :—In the Vedic age, the Aryans had a greater liking for the sword than for the sclaes ; Paṇis who were then controlling commerce are contemptuously spoken of in the Vedas. Gradually however when there remained no fresh lands to conquer and acquire, the Aryans must have turned to commerce. There was considerable inter-provincial and foreign trade going on in the Mauryan period. The maritime activity of ancient India was considerable, and the trade with Rome was very profitable to India during the early centuries of the Christian era. Much of it however was in the hands of Dravidians. Scope of Commercial Education: We can get some idea of the scope and nature of commercial education from the training prescribed for the Vaishya caste by Manu,¹ and the qualifications required by Kauṭilya in the superintendent of commere.³ First of all a knowledge of the varieties in quality of the articles to be dealt with was imparted. Then came commercial geography, for the trader was expected to know the places where the different articles were produced and the nature of the route by which they had to be imported. Customs barriers in the period we are discussing were numerous, and profits often depended on selecting a route where the customs

1. IX, 381-882. 2. II, 16.

196 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. duties were relatively light. The needs of the people of the various localities were to be carefully studied with a view to find out possible markets. A knowledge of different places and occasions of fares and pilgrimages was also imparted as it was necssary in this connection. The knowledge of the relative prices of different articles in different provinces and countries was also regarded as essential. Students were also taught the exchange value of articles and also of different currencies in various provinces and countries. Those who intended to deal with inter-provincial or inter-national trade were also given a working knowledge of the necessary languages. Principles of banking also formed part of the course. It is difficult to determine the percentage of persons in the trading community who received so wide an education. In the hereditary trading families of high status, all this education may have been a reality ; much of it must have been unconsciously picked up by the youths in the family shops. In the case of petty merchants the extent of the education was probably determined by the needs of the situation. Agencies of Education :—During the first millen- nium of the Christian era, most of the trades in the country had formed very efficient guilds. One of them is known to have maintained an Arts college in Karna- tak during the 12th century A.D.¹ It is however strange to find that the commercial guilds should not have organised and managed commercial schools and colleges. The reason however is not far to seek. Down to the 5th century A.D. organised educational institutions did not exist even for literary courses. When they became fairly common in the country a 1 I.A., Vol. VIII, p. 195.

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 197 few centuries later, commercial classes did not feel it necessary to copy their example. By this time the caste system had become hereditary and the training in different trades and industries was usually imparted in the family itself by the elders. Where there were no elders in the family to train its children, they were usually attached as apprentices to some neighbouring trader or artisan. This apprenticeship system, which will be soon described, rendered any regular schools of the modern type unnecessary. TRAINING IN ARTS AND CRAFTS. **Introduction :—**We shall now consider the pro- blems connected with the training of students in arts and handicrafts like sculpture, artchitecture, painting, carpentry, smithy, agriculture, etc. Our sources of information are scanty, because neither Smṛitis, which have written about education, nor foreign pilgrims like Yuan Chwang and I-tsing who often throw consider- able light on educational conditions, were interested in the problems connected with the training in arts and handicrafts. Attitude towards Arts and Crafts : Early Period :— It will be convenient at the outset to consider the general attitude of society towards arts and crafts. In the early period they were held in high esteem. Agriculture was the general profession for the average Aryan. There are prayers both in the Ṛigveda and the Atharvaveda for success in various agricultural processes and operations. It was not therefore a profession held in low esteem as in later times. The carpenter was so impor- tant a member of the Vedic society that the chief of his guild was included among the twelve courtiers to whose houses the king had to repair in person for offering oblations at the time of his coronation. Ṛibhus,

198 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. originally human beings, were deified as a reward for their extraordinary skill in manual arts. The same was the case with Aśvins, who though originally human princes, were later raised to the pantheon on account of their medical skill. Society's Attitude In later Days : In later times however the attitude of society changed, primarily due to the development of the rigid caste system. The elevation of the Brahmanas and Ksha- triyas was at the cost of the Vaishyas and Shudras, who generally used to follow manual arts and handi- crafts. As the status of the Vaishyas and Shudras declined, the angle of vision to look at their usual professions also changed. Manual arts and crafts began to be held in low esteem. Carpenters and doctors for example began to be regarded as children of intercaste unions, which were disapproved by the contemporary orthodox opinion. All this resulted in a gradual boycott by Brahmanas and Kshatriyas of manual arts and crafts. As the best intellect of the community would not condescend to help their progress, the general level of skill began to decline both in fine and useful arts from about the 8th century A. D. Apprenticeship System : The training in fine and useful arts¹ was usually given by the apprentice- ship system under which the student agreed to work

1. विज्ञानमुच्यते शिल्पं हेमकुप्यादिसंस्थितिः । नृत्यादिकं च तच्छिक्षन्कुर्यात्कर्म गुरोर्गृहे ॥ बृहस्पति in विवादरत्नाकर, p. 141. Devanabhaṭṭa, while commenting on this observes कंकणकटका- दिनिर्माणविषयं नृत्यं गीतादिकरणविषयं चकारात्स्तंभकुंभादिरचनाविषयं च विज्ञानं शिल्पमुच्यते ।