द ब्यूटीफुल ट्री: १८वीं सदी में भारत की स्वदेशी गुरुकुल शिक्षा (धर्मपाल)

XXX MINUTE OF SIR THOMAS MUNRO, MARCH 10, 1826 (Fort St. George, Revenue Consultations) 10 March 1826

1. The Board of Revenue were directed by government, on the 2nd July 1822, to ascertain the number of schools and the state of education among the natives in the provinces, and with their letter of the 21st February last, they transmitted the reports on this subject which they had received from the several Collectors. From these reports it appears that the number of schools, and of what are called colleges, in the territories under this presidency, amount to 12,498, and the population to 12,850,941; so that there is one school to every 1,000 of the population; but as only a very few females are taught in schools, we may reckon one school to every 500 of the population.
2. It is remarked by the Board of Revenue, that of a population of 12½ millions, there are only 188,000, or 1 in 67 receiving education. This is true of the whole population, but not as regards the male part of it, of which the proportion educated is much greater than is here estimated: for if we take the whole population as stated in the report at 12,850,000, and deduct one half for females, the remaining male population will be 6,425,000; and if we reckon the male population between the ages of five and ten years, which is the period which boys in general remain at school, at one-ninth, it will give 713,000, which is the number of boys that would be at school if all the males above ten years of age were educated; but the number actually attending the schools is only 184,110, or little more than one-fourth of that number. I have taken the interval between five and ten years of age as the term of education, because, though many boys continue at school till twelve or fourteen, many leave it under ten. I am, however, inclined to estimate the portion of the male population who receive school education to be nearer to one-third than one-fourth of the whole, because we have no returns from the provinces of the numbers taught at home. In Madras that number taught at home is 26,963, or about five times greater than that taught in the schools. There is probably some error in this number, and though the number privately taught in the provinces does certainly not approach this rate, it is no doubt considerable, because the practice of boys being taught at home by their relations or private teachers is not 250

infrequent in any part of the country. The proportion educated is very different in different classes; in some it is nearly the whole; in others it is hardly one-tenth. 3. The state of education here exhibited, low as it is compared with that of our own country, is higher than it was in most European countries at no very distant period. It has, no doubt been better in earlier times; but for the last century it does not appear to have undergone any other change than what arose from the number of schools diminishing in one place and increasing in another, in consequence of the shifting of the population, from war and other causes. The great number of schools has been supposed to contribute to the keeping of education in a low state, because it does not give a sufficient number of scholars to secure the service of able teachers. The monthly rate paid by each scholar is from four to six or eight annas. Teachers in general do not earn more than six or seven rupees monthly, which is not an allowance sufficient to induce men properly qualified to follow the profession. It may also be said that the general ignorance of the teachers themselves is one cause why none of them draw together a large body of scholars; but the main causes of the low state of education are the little encouragement which it receives, from there being but little demand for it, and the poverty of the people. 4. These difficulties may be gradually surmounted; the hindrance which is given to education by the poverty of the people may in a great degree be removed by the endowment of schools throughout the country by government, and the want of encouragement will be remedied by good education being rendered more easy and general, and by the preference which will naturally be given to well-educated men in all public offices. No progress, however, can be made without a body of better instructed teachers than we have at present; but such a body cannot be had without an income sufficient to afford a comfortable livelihood to each individual belonging to it; a moderate allowance should therefore be secured to them by government, sufficient to place them above want; the rest should be derived from their own industry. If they are superior both in knowledge and diligence to the common village school masters, scholars will flock to them and augment their income. 5. What is first wanted, therefore, is a school for educating teachers, as proposed by the committee of the Madras School- Book Society, in the letter of the 25th October 1824, which accompanied their second report. I think that they should be authorised to draw 700 rupees monthly from the treasury for 251

the purposes which they have stated; namely, for the payment of the interest of money employed in building, and the salaries of teachers, 500; and for the expenses of the press, 200. I would next propose that government should establish, in each Collectorate, two principal schools, one for Hindoos and the other for Mahomedans; and that hereafter, as teachers can be found the Hindoo schools might be augmented so as to give one to each tehsildary, or about 15 to each Collectorate. We ought to extend to our Mahomedan the same advantages of education as to our Hindoo subjects, and perhaps even in a greater degree, because a greater proportion of them belong to the middle and higher classes. But as their number is not more than one- twentieth of that of the Hindoos, it will not be necessary to give more than one Mahomedan school to each Collectorate, except in Arcot, and a few other Collectorates, where the Mahomedan population is considerably above the usual standard. 6. We have 20 Collectorates; the number of tehsildaries is liable to change: but it will be sufficient for the present purpose to estimate them at 15 on an average to each Collectorate, or 300 in all. This would, according to the plan proposed give about 40 collectorate and 300 tehsildary schools. The monthly salaries of the teachers of the collectorate schools might, on an average, be 15 rupees to each, and those of the tehsildary nine rupees each. These allowances may appear small, but the tehsiladry school master who receives nine rupees monthly from government, will get at least as much more from his scholars, and, considering all circumstances, his situation will probably be better than that of a parish school master in Scotland. 7. The total expense of the schools will be as follows: Madras School-Book Society per month Rs. 700 Collectorate Schools, Mahomedan, 20 at 15 rupees Rs. 300 Collectorate Schools, Hindoo, 20 at 15 rupees Rs. 300 Tehsildary Schools, 300 at 9 rupees Rs. 2,700 Per month Rs. 4,000 Per annum Rs.48,000 This expense will be incurred only be degrees, because it will be long before a sufficient number of qualified teachers can be obtained. The charges for the Madras School-Book Society 252

and the collectorate schools, are all that will probably be wanted before the sanction of the Honorable Court can be received. The sum for which we ought to request their sanction ought not to be less than half a lakh of rupees. None of the endowments in the Collectors’ reports are applicable to the present object; they do not exceed 20,000 rupees in all, and only a small portion of them are public grants, and this small portion belongs chiefly to the teachers of Theology, Law and Astronomy. Whatever expense government may incur in the education of the people, will be amply repaid by the improvement of the country; for the general diffusion of knowledge is inseparably followed by more orderly habits, by increasing industry, by a taste for the comforts of life, by exertion to acquire them, and by the growing prosperity of the people. 8. It will be advisable to appoint a Committee of Public Instruction, in order to superintend the establishing of the public schools; to fix on the places most proper for them, and the books to be used in them; to ascertain in what manner the instruction of the natives may be best promoted, and to report to government the result of their inquiries on this important subject. 9. We must not be too sanguine in expecting any sudden benefit from the labours of the School-Book Society. Their disposition to promote the instruction of the people by educating teachers, will not extend it to more individuals than now attend the schools; it can be extended only by means of an increased demand for it, and this must arise chiefly from its being found to facilitate the acquisition of wealth or rank, and from the im- provement in the condition of the people rendering a larger portion of them more able to pay for it. But though they cannot educate those who do not seek or cannot pay for education, they can, by an improved system give a better education to those who do receive it; and by creating and encouraging a taste for knowl- edge, they will indirectly contribute to extend it. If we resolve to educate the people, if we persevere in our design, and if we do not limit the schools to tehsildaries, but increase their number so as to allow them for smaller districts, I am confident that success will ultimately attend our endeavours. But, at the same time, I entirely concur in the opinion expressed in the 5th Report of the Calcutta School-Book Society, when speaking of the progress of the system, that ‘its operation must therefore of necessity be slow; years must elapse before the rising generation will exhibit any visible improvement.’ (Signed) Thomas Munro. 253

Annexure B FRA PAOLINO DA BARTOLOMEO ON EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN INDIA (Born at Hos, Austria, 1748, as John Phillip Wesdin; in India 1776 to 1789. From Voyages to the East Indies (Published, Rome, 1796, Berlin, 1798, England, 1880), Book II: Birth and Education of Children (pp.253-268)) All the Grecian historians represent the Indians as people of greater size, and much more robust than those of other nations. Though this is not true in general, it is certain that the purity of the air, wholesome nourishment, temperance and education contribute, in an uncommon degree, to the bodily conformation, and to the increase of these people. Their new-born children lie always on the ground, as if they were thrown away or neglected; and they are never wrapped up with bandages, or confined in any other manner, as is done in Europe. Their limbs, therefore, can expand themselves without the least restraint; their nerves and bones become more solid; and when these children attain the period of youth, they acquire not only a beautiful figure, but a sound, well turned, and robust bodily conformation. The frequent use of the cold bath, repeated rubbing the body with coconut oil and the juice of the Ingia plant, as well as their exercises, which have a great resemblance to the Juvenilia, and which I have often seen in Malabar, all contribute to increase their strength and agility. These advantages also are seldom lost, unless some of these young people abandon themselves to debauchery, or weaken their bodies by too great labour or excessive perspiration. However healthful and lively the young Indians may be in general those who marry before the twentieth year of their age, for the most part, soon become feeble and enervated. In a word, I seldom saw in India a person either lame, crooked, or otherwise deformed. The people of Malabar, who live towards the west, are much handsomer and more robust than the natives of Coromandel, or the Tamulians on the eastern coast of India. The education of youth in India is much simpler, and not near so expensive as in Europe. The children assemble half naked under the shade of a coconut tree; place themselves in rows 254

on the ground, and trace out on the sand, with the fore finger of the right hand, the elements of their alphabet, and then smooth it with the left when they wish to trace out other characters. The writing master, called Agian, or Eluttacien, who stations himself opposite to his pupils, examines what they have done; points out their faults, and shows them how to correct them. At first, he attends them standing; but when the young people have acquired some readiness in writing, he places himself cross- legged on a tiger's or deer's skin, or even on a mat made of the leaves of the coconut-tree, or wild ananas, which is called Kaida*, plaited together. This method of teaching writing was introduced into India two hundred years before the birth of Christ, according to the testimony of Magasthenes, and still continues to be practised. No people, perhaps, on earth have adhered so much to their ancient usages and customs as the Indians. A schoolmaster in Malabar receives every two months, from each of his pupils, for the instruction given them, two Fanon or Panam. Some do not pay in money, but give him a certain quantity of rice, so that this expense becomes very easy to the parents. There are some teachers who instruct children without any fee, and are paid by the overseers of the temple, or by the chief of the caste. When the pupils have made tolerable progress in writing, they are admitted into certain schools, called Eutupalli, where they begin to write on palm leaves (Pana), which, when several of them are stitched together, and fastened between two boards, form a Grantha, that is, an Indian book. If such a book be written upon with an iron style, it is called Granthavari, or Lakya, that is, writing, to distinguish it from Alakya, which is something not written. When the Guru, or teacher, enters the school, he is always received with the utmost reverence and respect. His pupils must throw themselves down at full length before him; place their right hand on their mouth, and not venture to speak a single word until he gives them express permission. Those who talk and prate contrary to the prohibition of their master are expelled from the school, as boys who cannot restrain their tongue, and who are consequently unfit for the study of philosophy. By these 255

means the preceptor always receives that respect which is due to him: the pupils are obedient, and seldom offend against rules which are so carefully inculcated. The chief branches taught by the Guru are: 1st, the principles of writing and accounts: 2nd, the Samscred grammar, which contains the declensions and conjugations; in Malabar it is called Sidharuba; but, in Bengal Sarasvada, or the art of speaking with elegance: 3rd, the second part of this grammar, which contains the syntax, or the book Vyagarna: 4th, the Amarasinha, or Brahmanic dictionary. This work, which is highly esteemed by the Brahmans, does not consist, as Anquetil du Perron says, of three, but of four parts; and contains everything that relates to the gods, the sciences, colours and sounds, the earth, seas and rivers, men and animals, as well as to the arts and all kinds of employment in India. To render the construction of the Samscred language, and its emphatic mode of expression, more familiar to their pupils, the Guru employs various short sentences clothed in Samscred verse, which are called Shloga. These verses serve not only as examples of the manner in which the words must be combined with each other, but contain, at the same time, most excellent moral maxims, which are thus imprinted in the minds of the young people as if in play; so that, while learning the language, they are taught rules proper for forming their character, and directing their future conduct in life. That the reader may be better enabled to conceive some idea of the morality of the Brahmans, I shall here subjoin a specimen of these sentences. I. What is the use of study, if the object of it be not to learn knowledge and fear, which is true wisdom? II. Why have we ceased living in the forests, and associated ourselves in cities and towns, if the object of our doing so be not to enjoy friendship; to do good mutually to each other, and to receive in our habitations the stranger and wanderer? III. The wounds occasioned by a slanderous tongue occasion far more pain, and are much more difficult to be healed, than those which proceed from fire and the sword. IV. Of what use is it to thee to shut the door of thy house? It is necessary in order that thy wife may learn to be upon her guard. V. He who revenges an injury enjoys a pleasure which endures only a day; but he who forgives receives a satisfaction which will accompany him through life. 256

VI. Modesty becomes every one, but is a particular ornament to the learned and rich. VII. The state of a married pair, who never deviate from the path of honour, virtue, and mutual duty, is as difficult as that of those who impose on themselves the several penances. In the gardens, or sacred enclosures, in which children are taught, the Lingam, or Priapus, represented under the form of a cylinder, is generally found. It is, however, not worshipped by all the Indians, but only by the Shivanites. These are a particular sect, who pay divine honour to Fire, under the form of the god Shiva, as the principle or creative power by which everything was produced. Besides the above idol, there are two other statues, which, for the most part, are placed before the entrance of the school. One of them represents Ganesha, the protector of the sciences, and of learned men; and the other the goddess Sarasvadi, the goddess of eloquence and history. Every student, as he enters the school, always directs his eyes to these two idols; raises his hands to his head, and shows his respect for them by repeating certain forms of prayer. That with which he salutes Ganesha is commonly in the following words: Sal Guruve nama: Adoration to thee, thou true master. Or, Ganabadaye name: Adoration to thee, O Ganabadi. This is real idolatry; but these practices at any rate prove that the Indians accustom their children early to honour the gods, and to consider them as their protectors and benefactors. “Those who are desirous of knowing the power of religion, and the influence of religious opinions,” said the Marquis of Kergariou, who commanded the Calypso frigate, “need only go to India”. This observation is indeed just; for among 2000 Indians you will scarcely find one who is not convinced of the necessity of supplicating the gods. Education, and the nature of the climate, are the strongest incitements to the natives to worship the deity, and to submit themselves to his will. The other sciences and branches of learning taught to the Indian youth are: Poetry, Gavya; Fencing, Payatta; Botany and medicine, Vaydyassastra, or Bheszagiashastra: Navigation, Naushastra: The use of the spear on foot (Hastiludium), Cundera: The art of playing at ball, Pandacali: Chess, Ciudarangam: Tennis, Coladi: Logic, Tarkashastra: Astrology, Giodisha: Law, Svadhyaya: Silence, Mauna.(Youth destined to be Brahmans, must spend ten years within the precincts of the temple at Trichur, and avoid all intercourse with the female sex. They are obliged also to observe the strictest silence, which continues for five years. This is the first degree of philosophy. A. It thence appears, that Phythagoras must have borrowed his philosophy in part from the Indian Philosophers, or others whose doctrine was similar, for his scholars were subjected to silence for the same number of years. See Diogenes Lacrtus, lib.viii.10, and Aul. Gollius, Noct, Att, 1-ib. i.9F.) The reader will have already 257

remarked, that surgery, anatomy, and geography are excluded from this catalogue. The Indians are of opinion, that their country is the most beautiful and happiest in the whole world: and for that reason they have very little desire to be acquainted with foreign kingdoms. Their total abstinence from all flesh, and the express prohibition of their religion which forbids them to kill animals, prevent them from dissecting them and examining their internal construction. Of the Indian poetry I have already spoken in my Samscred grammar; and I shall give some further account of it hereafter. Their navigation is confined merely to their navigable rivers; for in general, the Pagan Indians have the greatest aversion to the sea. The management of the lance, fencing, playing at ball and tennis, have been introduced into their education on good grounds, to render their youth active and robust, and that they may not want dexterity to distinguish themselves in battles and engagements where cannons are not used. There are particular masters for all these exercises, arts and sciences; and each of them, as already mentioned, is treated with particular respect by the pupils. Twice a year each master receives a piece of silk, which he employs for clothing; and this present is called Samanam. All the Indian girls, those alone excepted who belong to the castes of the Shudras and Nayris, are confined at home till their twelfth year; and when they go out, they are always accompanied by their mother or aunt. They inhabit a particular division of the house, called Andarggraha, which none of the male sex dare approach. The boys, in the ninth year of their age, are initiated with great ceremony into the calling or occupation of the caste to which their father belongs, and which they can never abandon. This law, mention of which occurs in Diodorous Siculus, Strabo, Arrian, and other Greek writers, is indeed exceedingly hard; but, at the same time, it is of great benefit to civil order, the arts and sciences, and even to religion. According to a like regulation, no one is allowed to marry from one caste into another. Hence it happens that the Indians do not follow that general and superficial method of education by which children are treated as if they were all intended for the same condition 258

and for discharging the same duties; but those of each caste are from their infancy formed for what they are to be during their whole lives. A future Brahman, for example, is obliged, from his earliest years, to employ himself in reading and writing, and to be present at the presentation of offerings, to calculate eclipses of the sun and moon; to study the laws and religious practices; to cast nativities; in short to learn every thing, which, according to the injunction of the Veda, or sacred books of the Indians, it is necessary he should know. The Vayshya on the other hand, instruct youth in agriculture; the Kshetria, in the science of government and the military arts, the Shudra, in mechanics, the Mucaver, in fishing; the Ciana, in gardening and the Banyen, in commerce. By this establishment the knowledge of a great many things necessary for the public good is not only widely diffused, but transmitted to posterity; who are thereby enabled still farther to improve them, and bring them nearer to perfection. In the time of Alexander the Great, the Indians had acquired such skill in the mechanical arts, that Nearchus, the commander of his fleet, was much amazed at the dexterity with which they imitated the accoutrements of the Grecian soldiers. I once found myself in a similar situation. Having entrusted to an Indian artist a lamp made in Portugal, the workmanship of which was exceedingly pretty, some days after he brought me another so like my own that I could scarcely distinguish any difference. It, however, cannot be denied, that the arts and sciences in India have greatly declined since foreign conquerors expelled the native kings; by which several provinces have been laid entirely waste, and the castes confounded with each other. Before that period, the different kingdoms were in a flourishing condition; the laws were respected, and justice and civil order prevailed; but, unfortunately, at present everything in many of the provinces must give way to absolute authority and despotic sway. 259

Annexure C MALABAR BIBLIOGRAPHY, THEIR PROGRESS IN LITERATURE, EDUCATION—SYSTEM BORROWED FROM IT. ACCOUNT OF IT FROM PETER DELLA VALLE. CUSTOM IN MALABAR TO TRANSLATE WORKS FROM SANSCRIT, MANNER OF WRITING OR ENGRAVING ON LEAVES. QUOTATION FROM LUSIAD. LIST OF BOOKS. (National Library of Scotland Edinburgh: Walker of Bowland Papers 184 a 3, Chapter 31: pp.501-27) I do not propose to give a history of the literature of Malabar; far less to enquire into the origin and progress of the sciences of India. I mean only to preface by a few observations a biblio- graphical list which I obtained many years ago (in 1800) of some of the books and authors whose works are studied in that country (Malabar). The literature of Malabar has the same foundation, and consists of the same materials, as that of all the Hindoo nations. The whole of their original works are composed in Sanscrite, a language of great antiquity, but which is no longer spoken, though its history is intimately connected with several of the present languages of Europe, with those of Greece and Rome, and with the whole of the numerous family of cognate Gothic tongues. Sancrite holds the same place in India, that Latin and Greek do in Europe; but as it would require an amazing period of time, and many political changes in society before a language could fall into disuse and be unemployed in speech, this circumstance without any further proof, would carry us, back to the first ages. It is natural to suppose that the sciences would first prosper where men were not exposed to excessive labour in order to procure the necessaries of life; plenty and tranquility would leave them at liberty to cultivate knowledge, to apply their minds to books, and learning. Unfortunately the Hindoos, like the ancients, seem to have considered that almost exclusively as science, which is more grounded on precepts and ideal pictures, than on facts and demonstration. They taught the duties of life, 260

and explained the faculties of the mind; but, the favourite study of the Indian sages, was a metaphysical and abstruse philosophy, founded on superstition and error. They regarded logic, rhetoric and grammar with particular approbation; and those who aspired to a superior reputation, acquired those sciences with unceasing labour, and intense application. They spent their lives in their cultivation. The Hindoos made no use of experiments, and it is extraordinary that without this aid, they should have become acquainted with the most difficult and hidden branches of Mathematics, Astronomy and Algebra. Have the acquisitions been the fruits of their own study and reflection; or have they been obtained from extraneous and a more ancient source which is now forgotten and lost? It is not possible to determine these questions; and as we cannot prove that they derived their knowledge from another people, it is but fair to consider them as the inventors of all which they possess, which they have preserved through so many perils and which they must have cultivated with so much ardour. The learning of the Malabar is probably more limited than that of the more central people of India; but they are not inattentive to the cultivation of letters. They are particularly anxious and attentive to instruct their children to read and to write. Education with them is an early and an important business in every family. Many of their women are taught to read and write. The Bramans are generally the school masters, but any of the respectable castes may, and often do, practice teaching. The children are instructed without violence, and by a process peculiarly simple. It is the same system which has caused so much heat and controversy, as to the inventors of it, in this country, and the merit of which was due to neither of the claimants.¹ The system was borrowed from the Bramans and brought from India to Europe. It has been made the foundation of National schools in every enlightened country. Some gratitude is due to a people from whom we have learnt to diffuse among the lower ranks of society instruction by one of the most unerring and economical methods which has ever been invented. The pupils are the monitors of each other, and the characters are traced with a rod, or the finger on the sand. Reading and writing are acquired at the same time, and by the same process. This mode of teaching however is only initial. If the pupil is meant to study the higher branches of learning, he is removed from these primary schools, where the arts of reading, writing and accounts 261

are acquired, and placed under more scientific masters. It is to these elementary schools that the labouring classes in India owe their education. It gives them an access, from the introduction of the system into this part of the world; advantage which the same classes in Europe, only now partially conferred on them a superior share of intelligence and placed them in a situation to perform better all the duties of life. About 200 years ago, Peter Della Valle published an account of this mode of instruction in Malabar. He wrote from Tkkeri 22nd November 1623. ‘In the meantime,’ he says, ‘while the burthens were getting in order, I entertained myself in the porch of the temple, beholding little boys learning arithmetic after a strange manner, which I will here relate. They were four, and having all taken the same lesson before the master, to get that same by heart, and repeat likewise their former lessons, and not forget them, one of them singing musically with a certain continued tone,² (which hath the force of making a deep impression in the memory) recited part of the lesson; as for example, “one by itself makes one”; and whilst he was thus speaking, he writ down the same number, not with any kind of pen, nor in paper, but (not to spend paper in vain) with his finger on the ground, the pavement being for that purpose strewed all over with fine sand;³ after the first had wrote what he sung, all the rest sung and writ down the same thing together. Then the first boy sung, and writ down another part of the lesson; as, for example, two by itself makes two, which all the rest repeated in the same manner; and so forward in order. When the pavement was full of figures, they put them out with the hand, and if need were, strewed it with new sand from a little heap which they had before them wherewith to write further. And thus they did as long as exercise continued; in which manner likewise they told one, they learnt to read and write without spoiling paper, pens or ink, which certainly is a pretty way. I asked them, if they happen to forget or be mistaken in any part of the lesson, who corrected and taught them, they being all scholars without the assistance of any master; they answered me, and said true, that it was not possible for all four to forget or mistake in the same part, and that they thus exercised together, to the end, that if one happened to be out, the 262

other might correct him. Indeed a pretty, easy and secure way of learning.'⁴ We are continually reproaching the natives of India with the slow advances they have made in knowledge and their neglect of opportunities to acquire it. There we have an instance of the same neglect in Europeans, who have allowed two centuries to pass after they were acquainted with this invention, before they applied it to any practical use. It was at length introduced into this country without any acknowledgement and it was even claimed as an invention by two individuals who disputed upon the priority of discovery. The Missionaries⁵ have now honestly owned that the system upon which these schools are taught was borrowed from India. It has been probably improved by us, but this is the fate of all original conceptions, which commonly make the most rapid advances at second hand. No people probably appreciate more justly the importance of instruction than the Hindoos; hence instead of offering obstacles or creating opposition to the establishment of schools, they have formed institutions themselves to meet various cases of ignorance and misery. They are not averse to a spirit of enquiry and discussion.⁶ All they wanted was a government that would not check and discourage this spirit. In Malabar is still to be seen the earliest mode of writing. The paper is the natural produce of the woods. They make no use of ink; the characters are engraved on the leaves of trees. The leaf of a particular palm is selected and dried until it can bear the impression of the styles. These leaves strung or tied to- gether are formed into books. They are enclosed in a wooden cover, sometimes gilded and lackered, so as to make neat and handsome appearance. On these leaves also they write their let- ters, which they fold up, but the original practice of the country did not require them to be sealed. ‘The original Acts of the Council of Basil 900 years since, with the Bulla or leaden affix, which has a silken cord passing through every parchment,’ is mentioned in the above words by Evelyn as existing in his time at Cambridge, and which would appear to be the same form as that in which the Malabar MSS are preserved.⁷ 263

In Norway and Sweden they formerly wrote, or rather engraved, on flakes and planks. They wrote on wooden tablets. Poetry was inscribed on staves. A verse is therefore still called a stave.⁸ The mode of writing or engraving on leaves was probably at one period extended all over India. It is mentioned by Abdulrizack who travelled in 1442, as the common practice at Bisnaghur.⁹ There is no difficulty in multiplying schools at present in India to any extent provided funds are furnished. The people are anxious and earnest in calling upon the Missionaries for teach- ers. With a little patience, we may introduce into these schools any books that we please. In them the children know of no precedence, but that which is derived from merit.¹⁰ This is an ex- traordinary testimony in favour of the native character, and from a source where we can expect no kindly prejudice. They entertain no suspicion of the ultimate designs of their instructors; but with candour and openness send their children to school, where we are elsewhere informed, no difficulty was found in introducing the scriptures, when done with discretion.¹¹ They sacrifice all the feelings of wealth, family pride and caste that their children may have the advantages of a good education. This desire is strongly impressed on the minds of all the Hindoos. It is inculcated by their own system, which provided schools in every village. The learned and the ignorant, one of the Missionaries writes from Chinsuram, congratulate one another, that their children now enjoy the great blessings of education. Native free schools were once universal throughout India. It has been long the practice in Malabar to translate the Sanscrite writings into the common tongue, and to transcribe them in the vernacular character. By this means knowledge has been more generally diffused among the inhabitants; it is less confined to any order or class, and the people are better acquainted with the mysteries and dogmas of their religion. This spirit of enquiry and of liberty has most probably been affected by the sooders who compose the great body of population, and who were in possession of the principal authority and property in the country. 264

The Malabars have a mode of writing peculiar to themselves: it may be called with more propriety engraving. The letters are imprinted on a palm leaf dried and prepared by a particular process. Instead of a pen, they make use of an iron instrument with a sharp point resembling the stylus of the ancients. When they write on paper, they have recourse to the pen; but this is only in imitation of our manners or of the Mohammedans. Stones, skins, leaves, and the bark of trees, were the earliest materials made use of in writing. These leaves are not subject to decay, and resist vermin. They may be preserved a long time, much longer perhaps than paper; they write in general only on one side and from left to right. They cut the leaves into different sizes, and manufacture them of different qualities, which may be compared to different sorts of paper. They are made to answer either for books, notes or letters. They are formed into neat and convenient sized volumes not by stitching or binding but by stringing them together. A blank space is left at the end like our margin, through this a hole is made which admits a string or cord, generally of silk, and this drawn tight, or tied round them keeps the whole secure. The leaves are opened and unfolded by the Natives with the same facility as we do those of our books. The Malabar books are bound or covered by two pieces of wood which serve as boards, and which are varnished and painted according to taste. In Malabar in short, the original practice was to use neither pens, ink, nor paper. The leaf of the palm, smoked and dried served the purpose of paper. They engraved on this with a pointed iron resembling that with which the ancients inscribed letters on wax, and with a quickness and facility equal to our fastest writers. (Omitted here) The following contains a list of books which are to be found in Malabar: many were lost or destroyed during the disturbances under the Mohammedan Government, but the whole are still said to be existing in Travancore. This probably comprises the greatest part of Malabar literature. About 30 or 40 of these works have been transferred from the Sanscrit into the common tongue. Many of the Sanscrit words are allowed to remain in the translations and the affinity of the languages permits this liberty. In the notes to the Lusiad mention is made of a Malabar work which is probably contained in No.181 of the bibliography; 265

it may have been written by some Secretary and is perhaps at present suppressed or concealed. There is extant in India the writings of a Malabar poet, who wrote nine hundred epigrams, each consisting of eight verses, in ridicule of the worship of the Bramans, whom he treats with great asperity and contempt. Would any of our diligent enquirers after oriental learning favour us with an authentic account of the works of this poet of Malabar, he would undoubtedly confer a singular favour on the republic of letters.’¹² The author was probably a Deist: this is the secret profession of many Bramans, who are often at no pains to conceal their sentiments, and express openly their entire disbelief in all the Hindoo deities. I have been acquainted intimately with several Bramans who entertained these opinions, and who avowed their belief in one God only, the supreme being, the Creator of all. Reformers have appeared at different times in India, and the Vedantic sect in particular put no faith in the popular superstition. The Malabars have a number of dramas or naticas and are fond of theatrical exhibitions. I have been present at these exhibitions. The theatre is either in the open air, or under a slight temporary covering;¹³ but sometimes large enough to contain several thousand spectators. On these occasions, they have regular rows of forms and benches, on which the audience seat themselves. The men and women are intermixed as in our play houses. This is an amiable and remarkable contrast with the manners and jealous reserve of other parts of India. I have seen probably two thousand men and women assembled and sitting close together to witness one of these exhibitions. This, however, was on a great occasion of the marriage of a Raja’s daughter. There was a very large pendall erected, with rows of seats one above another, for the accommodation of the audience. The dramatist personae were gods, goddesses, kings, heroes and their attendants. The actors were dressed, suitably as they imagined to the characters they represented, but there was no machinery employed. The whole of the scenery consisted of a sheet or a calampoe, which formed a curtain. 266

The subject of the piece seemed to be the embarrassment of a Raja who was married to two wives. They tormented him with their quarrels and jealousies. He prayed to the Gods for relief. His prayers were heard, and he received a charm which enabled him to put whichever of the ladies he chose asleep. He was delighted with the remedy and looked forward for nothing in future but happiness. On a trial however he was disappointed. The waking wife was as suspicious as ever, and was continually upbraiding him for his partiality to her rival. He throws them by turns asleep, but has no relief. Each as she awoke was still jealous of the other. I have forgotten how it ended, but the account of this marriage was published in the newspapers of the time in India, about 1793. I cannot at present lay my hands on the account of this wedding which afterwards was transferred to some of the periodical publications at home. The object I think was to inculcate that one wife was preferable to two. Notes

1. Bell and Lancaster System.
2. This is done in our infant schools.
3. They have small boards of the size and shape of our plates covered with sand or chalk.
4. Letters, Peter Della Valle, p.100.
5. The Missionary Register for January, 1879.
6. Ibid.
7. Evelyn VI, p.277.
8. Edinburg Review, No.67.
9. See p.518.
10. Missionary Register for January 1822.
11. Ibid..
12. Lusiad, Book 8, p.300
13. Pendall 267

Annexure D Extracts From William Adam’s State of Education in Bengal 1835- 38 I W. ADAM ON INDIGENOUS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS GENERAL: (pp.6-9) By this description are meant those schools in which instruction in the elements of knowledge is communicated, and which have been originated and are supported by the natives themselves, in contra-distinction from those that are supported by religious or philanthropic societies. The number of such schools in Bengal is supposed to be very great. A distinguished member of the General Committee of Public Instruction in a minute on the subject expressed the opinion, that if one rupee per mensem were expended on each existing village school in the Lower Provinces, the amount would probably fall little short of 12 lakhs of rupees per annum. This supposes that there are 100,000 such schools in Bengal and Bihar, and assuming the population of those two Provinces to be 40,000,000 there would be a village school for every 400 persons. There are no data in this country known to me by which to determine out of this number the proportion of school-going children, or of children capable of going to school, or of children of the age at which, according to the custom of the country, it is usual to go to school. In Prussia (See Cousin’s Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia, p.140) it has been ascertained by actual census that in a population of 12,256,725 there were 4,487,461 children under fourteen years of age; which gives 366 children for every 1,000 inhabitants, or about eleven-thirtieths of the nation. Of this entire population of children it is calculated that three-sevenths are of an age to go to school, admitting education in the schools to begin at the age of seven years complete, and there is thus in the entire Prussian monarchy the number of 1,923,200 children capable of receiving the benefits of education. These proportions will not strictly apply to 268

the juvenile population of this country because the usual age for going to school is from five to six, and the usual age for leaving school is from ten to twelve instead of fourteen. There are thus two sources of discrepancy. The school-going age is shorter in India than in Prussia, which must have the effect of diminishing the total number of school-going children; while on the other hand, that diminished number is not exposed to the causes of mortality to which the total school-going population of Prussia is liable from the age of twelve to fourteen. In want of more precise data, let us suppose that these two contrary discrepancies bal- ance each other, and we shall then be at liberty to apply the Prussian proportions to this country. Taking, therefore, eleven- thirtieths of the above-mentioned 400 persons, and three- sevenths of the result, it will follow that in Bengal and Bihar there is on an average a village school for every sixty-three children of the school-going age. These children, however, include girls as well as boys, and as there are no indigenous girls’ schools, if we take the male and female children to be in equal or nearly equal proportions, there will appear to be an indigenous elementary school for every thirty-one or thirty-two boys. The estimate of 100,000 such schools in Bengal and Bihar is confirmed by a consideration of the number of villages in those two Provinces. Their number has been officially estimated at 150,748 of which, not all, but most have each a school. If it be admitted that there is so large a proportion as a third of the villages that have no schools, there will still be 100,000 that have them. Let it be admitted that these calculations from uncertain premises are only distant approximations to the truth, and it will still appear that the system of village schools is extensively prevalent; that the desire to give education to their male children must be deeply seated in the minds of parents even of the humblest classes; and that these are the institutions, closely interwoven as they are with the habits of the people and the customs of the country, through which primarily, although not exclusively, we may hope to improve the morals and intellect of the native population. It is not, however, in the present state of these schools, that they can be regarded as valuable instruments for this purpose. The benefits resulting from them are but small, owing partly to the incompetency of the instructors, and partly to the early age at which through the poverty of the parents the children are removed. The education of Bengalee children, as has been just stated, generally commences when they are five or six years old and terminates in five years, before the mind can be fully awakened to a sense of the advantages of knowledge or the reason 269