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

will be seen from Table 2, the data of 1822-25 indicate more or less an opposite position. Such an opposite view is the most pronounced in the Tamil-speaking areas where the twice-born ranged between 13% in South Arcot to some 23% in Madras, the

28

Muslims form less than 3% in South Arcot and Chingleput to 10% in Salem, while the Soodras and the other castes ranged from about 70% in Salem and Tinnevelly to over 84% in South Arcot. To make the foregoing tabulation more easily comprehensible the caste-wise data may be converted into percentages of the whole for each district. Table 3 shows the result of such conversion. In Malayalam-speaking Malabar, the proportion of the twice-born was still below 20% of the total. Because of a larger Muslim population, however, the number of Muslim school students went up to nearly 27%; while the Soodras, and the other castes accounted for some 54% of the school going students. In the largely Kannada-speaking Bellary, the proportion of the twice-born (the Brahmins and the Vysees) went up to 33%, while the Soodras, and the other castes still accounted for some 63%. The position in the Oriya-speaking Ganjam was similar: the twice-born accounting for some 35.6%, and the Soodras and other castes being around 63.5%. It is only in the Telugu-speaking districts that the twice- born formed the major proportion of the school going students. Here, the proportion of Brahmin boys varied from 24% in Cuddapah to 46% in Vizagapatam; of the Vysees from 10.5% in Vizagapatam to 29% in Cuddapah; of the Muslims from 1% in Vizagapatam to 8% in Nellore; and of the Soodras and other 29

castes from 35% in Guntoor to over 41% in Cuddapah and Vizagapatam. SCHOOLS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION Some of the districts also provided information regarding the language in which education was imparted, and the number of schools where Persian or English were taught. The number of schools teaching English was only 10, the highest being 7 in the district of North Arcot. Nellore, North Arcot and Masulipatam had 50, 40 and 19 Persian schools respectively, while Coimba- tore had 10, and Rajahmundry 5. North Arcot and Coimbatore had schools which taught Grantham (1 and 5 respectively) as well as teaching Hindvee [a sort of Hindustani] (16 and 14 respectively), and Bellary had 23 Marathi schools. The district of North Arcot had 365 Tamil and 201 Telugu schools, while Bellary had nearly an equal number of schools teaching Telugu and Kannada. Table 4 indicates this data more clearly. AGE OF ENROLLMENT, DAILY TIMINGS, ETC. As mentioned earlier, the data varies considerably from district to district. Many of the collectors provided information regarding the age at which boys (and perhaps girls too) were admitted to school, the usual age being five. According to the collector of Rajahmundry, ‘the fifth day of the fifth month of the fifth year of the boy’s age is the “lucky day” for his first entrance into school’, while according to the collector of Cuddapah, the age for admission for Brahmin boys was from the age of five to six and that for Soodras from six to eight. The collector of Cuddapah further mentioned two years as the usual period for which the boys stayed at school. Nellore and Salem mentioned 3 to 5 or 6 years, while most others stated that the duration of study varied from a minimum of five to about a maximum of 15 years. While some collectors did not think much of the then current education in the schools, or of the learning and scholarship of the teachers, some thought the education imparted useful. The collector of Madras observed: ‘It is generally admitted that before they (i.e. the students) attain their 13th year of age, their acquirements in the various branches of learning are uncom- monly great.’⁴⁰ 30

31

From the information given, it seems that the school functioned for fairly long hours: usually starting about 6 A.M., followed by one or two short intervals for meals, etc., and finishing at about sunset, or even later. Table 5 charts out the information which was received on these points from the several collectors. The functioning of these schools, their methods of teaching, and the subjects taught are best described in the annexed accounts of Fra Paolino Da Bartolomeo (A.D. 1796) and of Alexander Walker (ca 1820).⁴¹ BOOKS USED IN SCHOOLS The main subjects reported to be taught in these Indian schools were reading, writing and arithmetic. The following lists of books used in the schools of Bellary, as also of Rajahmundry may be worth noting, and may to some degree indicate the content of learning in these schools. NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE SCHOOLS IN BELLARY DISTRICT⁴² A. Most commonly used

1. Ramayanum 2. Maha Bharata 3. Bhagvata B. Used by Children from Manufacturing Classes
2. Nagalingayna-Kutha 2. Vishvakurma-Poorana
3. Kumalesherra Kalikamahata C. Used by Lingayat Children
4. Buwapoorana 2. Raghavan-Kunkauya
5. Geeruja Kullana 4. Unbhavamoorta
6. Chenna-Busavaswara-Poorana 6. Gurilagooloo, etc. D. Lighter Literature Read
7. Punchatantra 2. Bhatalapunchavunsatee
8. Punklee-soopooktahuller 4. Mahantarungenee 32

E. Dictionaries and Grammars used

1. Nighantoo 2. Umara 3. Subdamumburee
2. Shubdeemunee-Durpana 5. Vyacurna 6. Andradeepeca
3. Andranamasungraha, etc. NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE SCHOOLS IN RAJAHMUNDRY⁴³
4. Baula Ramauyanum 2. Rookmeny Culleyanum
5. Paurejantahpatraranum 4. Molly Ramauyanum
6. Raumayanum 6. Dansarady Satacum
7. Kreestna Satacum 8. Soomaty Satacum
8. Janakey Satacum 10. Prasunnaragara Satacum
9. Ramataraka Satacum 12. Bahscara Satacum
10. Beesanavecausa Satacum 14. Beemalingaswara Satacum
11. Sooreyanaraina Satacum 16. Narraina Satacum
12. Plaholanda Charatra 18. Vasoo Charatra
13. Manoo Charetra 20. Sumunga Charetra
14. Nala Charetra 22. Vamana Charetra
15. Ganintum 24. Pauvooloory Ganintum
16. Bhauratam 26. Bhaugavatum
17. Vejia Valousum 28. Kroostnaleelan Velausum
18. Rathamathava Velausum 30. Suptama Skundum
19. Astma Skundum 32. Rathamathava Sumvadum
20. Bhaunoomaly Paranayem 34. Veerabhadra Vejayem
21. Leelansoondary Paranayem 36. Amarum
22. Sooranthanaswarum 38. Voodeyagapurvem
23. Audepurvem 40. Gajandra Motchum
24. Andhranamasungraham 42. Coochalopurksyanum
25. Resekajana Manobharanum INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING While several of the collectors observed that no institutions of higher learning were then known to exist in their districts, the rest reported a total of 1,094 such places. These were enumerated under the term ‘colleges’ (as mentioned in the prescribed form). The largest number of these, 279, were in the district of Rajahmundry with a total of 1,454 scholars, Coimbatore came next with 173 such places (724 scholars), Guntoor had 171 (with 939 scholars), Tanjore 109 (with 769 scholars), Nellore 107, North Arcot 69 (with 418 scholars), Salem 53 (with 324 scholars), Chingleput 51 (with 398 scholars), Masulipatam 49 33

34

(with 199 scholars), Bellary 23, Trichnopoly 9 (with 131 scholars), and Malabar with one old institution maintained by the Samudrin Raja (Zamorin), with 75 scholars. In most other districts where no such institutions were known, the collectors reported that such learning—in the Vedas, Sastras, Law, Astronomy, Ganeetsastram, Ethics, etc.—was imparted in Agraharams, or usually at home. The data regarding such privately conducted learning in Malabar may be indicative of the extent of such learning in other districts also (discussed in a subsequent section). Table 6 indicates these and other details more clearly. In most areas, the Brahmin scholars formed a very small proportion of those studying in schools. Higher learning, however, being more in the nature of professional specialisation, seems in the main to have been limited to the Brahmins. This was especially true regarding the disciplines of Theology, Metaphysics, Ethics, and to a large extent of the study of Law. But the disciplines of Astronomy and Medical Science seem to have been studied by scholars from a variety of backgrounds and castes. This is very evident from the Malabar data: out of 808 studying Astronomy, only 78 were Brahmins; and of the 194 studying Medicine, only 31 were Brahmins. Incidentally, in Rajahmundry, five of the scholars in the institution of higher learning were Soodras. According to other Madras Presidency surveys, of those practising Medicine and Surgery, it was found that such persons belonged to a variety of castes. Amongst them, the barbers, according to British medical men, were the best in Surgery.⁴⁴ Besides the account provided by the Samudrin Raja regarding the functioning of the institution supported by his family in Malabar,⁴⁵ the collectors of Guntoor, Cuddapah, Masulipatam, Madura and Madras also wrote in some detail on the subject of higher learning. According to the collector of Madras: ‘Astronomy, Astrology, etc. are in some instances taught to the children of the poorer class of Brahmins gratis, and in certain few cases an allowance is given proportionate to the circumstances of the parents or guardians.’ The collector of Madura on the other hand mentioned that: 35

In agraharam villages inhabited by Brahmins, it has been usual from time immemorial to allot for the enjoyment of those who study the Vaidams and Pooranams (religion and historical traditions) an extent of maunium land yielding from 20 to 50 fanams per annum and in a few but rare instances to the extent of 100 fanams and they gratuitously and generally instruct such pupils as may voluntarily be brought to them.⁴⁶ The collector of Masulipatam made a similar observation and stated: If the boys are of Vydeea Brahmins, they are, so soon as they can read properly, removed direct from schools to college of Vadums and Sastrums. The former is said to be the mother of all the sciences of Hindoos, and the latter is the common term for all those sciences, which are in Sanskrit, viz law, astronomy, theology, etc. These sciences are taught by Brahmins only, and more especially Brahmins holding Agraharams, Mauniums, Rozunahs, or other emoluments, whose duty it is to observe their religious obligation on all occasions. In most of the towns, villages and hamlets of this country, the Brahmins are teaching their boys the Vadum and Sastrums, either in colleges or elsewhere in their respective houses.⁴⁷ The more descriptive accounts, however, were from Cuddapah and Guntoor. The collector of Cuddapah stated: Although there are no schools or colleges supported by public contribution, I ought not to omit that amongst Brahmins, instruction is in many places gratuitously afforded and the poorer class obtain all their education in this way. At the age of from 10 to 16 years, if he has not the means of obtaining instruction otherwise, a young Brahmin leaves his home, and proceeds to the residence of a man of his own caste who is willing to afford instruction without recompense to all those resorting to him for the purpose. They do not, however, derive subsistence from him for as he is generally poor himself, his means could not of course give support to others, and even if he has the means his giving food and clothing to his pupils would attract so many as 36

to defeat that object itself which is professed. The Board would naturally enquire how these children who are so destitute as not to be able to procure instruction in their own villages, could subsist in those to which they are strangers, and to which they travel from 10 to 100 miles, with no intention of returning for several years. They are supported entirely by charity, daily repeated, not received from the instructor for the reasons above mentioned, but from the inhabitants of the villages generally. They receive some portion of alms daily at the door of every Brahmin in the village, and this is conceded to them with a cheerfulness which considering the object in view must be esteemed as a most honourable trait in the native character, and its unobtrusiveness ought to enhance the value of it. We are undoubtedly indebted to this benevolent custom for the general spread of education amongst a class of persons whose poverty would otherwise be an insurmountable obstacle to advancement in knowledge, and it will be easily inferred that it requires only the liberal and fostering care of Government to bring it to perfection.⁴⁸ The collector of Guntoor was equally descriptive and observed that though there seemed to be ‘no colleges for teaching theology, law, astronomy, etc. in the district’ which are endowed by the state yet, These sciences are privately taught to some scholars or disciples generally by the Brahmins learned in them, without payment of any fee, or reward, and that they, the Brahmins who teach are generally maintained by means of maunium land which have been granted to their ancestors by the ancient Zamindars of the Zillah, and by the former Government on different accounts, but there appears no instance in which native Governments have granted allowances in money and land merely for the maintenance of the teachers for giving instruction in the above sciences. By the information which has been got together on the subject, it appears that there are 171 places where theology, laws and astronomy, etc. are taught privately, and the number of disciples in them is 939. The readers of these sciences cannot generally get teachers in their respective villages and are therefore obliged to go to others. In which case if the reader belongs to a family that can afford to support him he gets 37

what is required for his expenses from his home and which is estimated at three rupees per month, but which is only sufficient to supply him with his victuals; and if on the other hand, his family is in too indigent circumstances to make such allowance, the student procures his daily subsistence from the houses in the village where taught which willingly furnish such by turns. Should people be desirous of studying deeper in theology, etc. than is taught in these parts, they travel to Benares, Navadweepum,⁴⁹ etc. where they remain for years to take instruction under the learned pundits of those places.⁵⁰ SOME BOOKS USED IN HIGHER LEARNING The books used in these institutions may be assumed to have been the Vedas, the various Sastras, the Puranas, the more well known books on Ganeeta, and Jyotish-shastras, and Epic literature. Except in the report from Rajahmundry, there is no mention of any books in the reports from other districts. According to Rajahmundry, some of the books used there were: NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE COLLEGES IN RAJAHMUNDRY⁵¹ Vadams, etc.

1. Roogvadum 1. Ragoovumsam
2. Yajoorvadum 1. Coomarasumbhavem
3. Samavadum 1. Moghasundasem
4. Sroudum 1. Bharavy
5. Dravedavedum or 1. Maukhum Nunlauyanum ──────
7. Nayeshadum
8. Andasastrum Sastrums
9. Sanskrit Grammar Siddhanda Cowmoody 38

2. Turkum
3. Jeyoteshem
4. Durmasastrum
5. Cauveyems Besides, as Rajahmundry had a few Persian schools,⁵² it also sent a list of Persian and Arabic books studied. These were: NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE PERSIAN SCHOOLS IN RAJAHMUNDRY
6. Caremah Aumadunnanmah
7. Harckarum in Persian
8. Inshah Culipha and Goolstan
9. Bahurdanish and Bostan
10. Abdul Phazul Inshah
11. Calipha
12. Khoran PRIVATE TUITION (OR EDUCATION AT HOME) Several collectors, especially the collector of Canara, who did not send any statistical returns at all, mentioned the fact that many of the boys and especially the girls received education at home from their parents, or relatives, or from privately engaged tutors. Many also stated that higher learning is being imparted in Agraharams, etc. However, it was only the collectors of Malabar and of the city of Madras who sent any statistical data on the subject. The collector of Malabar sent such data with regard to higher learning, while the collector of Madras about the boys and girls who were receiving education in their homes. Both the returns are reproduced in Tables 7A & B. Regarding the data concerning higher learning from Malabar, it is reasonable to assume that though learning through private tutors did exist in most other districts, it was carried out in Malabar to a far greater extent due to its rather different historical and sociological background. As will be noted from Tables 7A & B, those studying in this fashion at this period (1823) were about twenty-one times the number of those attending the 39

40

solitary college supported by the more or less resourceless family of the Samudrin Raja. The Malabar data also shows 194 persons studying medicine. As indigenous medical practitioners existed in every other district and perhaps in every village—some of them still in receipt of revenue assignments for their services to the community—it can logically be assumed that similar teaching in Medical Science existed in most other districts too. What number and proportions in the various disciplines were thus educated privately in the other districts, however, is a speculative question. Still, it may not be too erroneous to assume that the number of those ‘privately’ studying Theology, Law, Astronomy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Poetry and Literature, Medical Science, Music, and Dance (all of which existed in this period) was perhaps several times the number of those who were receiving such education institutionally. The data from Madras regarding the number of boys and girls receiving tuition at their homes is equally pertinent. In comparison to those being educated in schools in Madras, this 41

number is 4.73 times. Though it is true that half of these privately tutored were from amongst the Brahmins and the Vysees, still those from the Soodras form 28.7% of this number, and from the other castes 13%. Furthermore, the Indian part of Madras city at this period was more of a shanty-town. In comparison to the older towns and cities of the Presidency, it was a relatively badly organised place, the status of its Indian inhabitants being rather lower in the social scale than their counterparts in other places like Madura, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, etc. It may be quite probable, therefore, that the number of those privately educated in other districts, if not some 4 to 5 times more than those attending school as in Madras city, was still appreciably large. The observation of Thomas Munro that there was ‘probably some error’ in the number given of 26,903 being taught at home in Madras city—a remark incidentally which has been made much of by later commentators on the subject—does not have much validity. If the number had been considered seriously erroneous, a new computation for the city of Madras, to which alone it pertained, would have been no difficult matter, especially as this return had been submitted to the Governor a whole year before this comment. It was perhaps required of Thomas Munro—as head of the executive—to express such a reservation. Undoubtedly, it was the sort of comment which the makers of policy in London wished to hear.⁵⁵ This draft, however, was followed by the remark that ‘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.’ As may be guessed from the data pertaining to Britain, the term ‘at no very distant period’ really meant the beginning of the nineteenth century, which had been the real start of the Day schools for most children in the British Isles. 42

EDUCATION OF GIRLS As mentioned earlier, the number of girls attending school was very small. Leaving aside the district of Malabar and the Jeypoor division of Vizagapatam district, the girls from the Brahmin, Chettri, and Vysee castes were practically non-existent in schools. There were, however, some Muslim girls receiving school education: 56 in Trichnopoly, and 27 in Salem. The Hindoo girls who attended school, though again not in any large number, were from the Soodra and other Hindoo castes; and, according to the collectors of Masulipatam, Madura, Tinnevelly and Coimbatore, most of them were stated to be dancing girls, or girls who were presumably going to be devdasis in the temples. Table 8 presents the district and caste-wise number of the girls attending school, or said to be receiving private tuition. As will be noticed from Table 9, the position in Malabar, as also in Jeypoor Zamindary of Vizagapatam district, was much different. The relative numbers of girls and boys attending school in these two areas⁵⁶ are presented in Table 8 below: In percentage terms of the total, the proportion of girls to boys in school was the highest, 29.7%, in the Jeypoor Zamindary of the Vizagapatam district. Even more surprising, the proportion of Brahmin girls to Brahmin boys in school was as high as 37%. Similarly, in Malabar the proportion of Muslim girls to Muslim 43

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text Brahmins Vysee Soodras Other Castes Mussalmans Total Studying Total Female Population Other Details (b) Astronomy 5 19 14 38 Tamil Speaking NORTH ARCOT 1 32 8 11 52 2,78,481 SOUTH ARCOT 94 10 104 2,02,556 CHINGLEPUT 3 79 34 116 1,72,886 TANJORE 125 29 154 1,87,145 TRICHNOPOLY 66 18 56 140 2,33,723 MADURA 65 40 105 3,86,682 Stated largely as dancing girls. TINNELVELLY 117 2 119 2,81,238 COIMBATORE 82 82 3,21,268 Kykakla caste (Dancing girls). SALEM 3 28 27 58 5,33,485 MADRAS 7,33,415 (i) Ordinary Schools 1 9 113 4 127 (ii) Charity Schools 2 47 49 (iii) At home 98 63 220 136 517

45 39

boys in school being at 35.1% is truly astonishing.57 Even amongst the Vysees, the Soodras and the other castes in Malabar, the proportion of girls to boys was fairly high at 15.5%, 19.1% and 12.4% respectively; the proportion of the totals being 18.3%. That two such widely separated areas (Malabar on the west coast while Jeypoor Zamindary being in the hilly tracts on the southern border of Orissa) had such a sociological similarity requires deeper study. V The undertaking of the survey was welcomed by London in May 1825, when it wrote to Madras: ‘We think great credit is due to Sir Thomas Munro for having originated the idea of this enquiry.’ However, after receipt of the survey information and papers, the reply Madras received ridiculed and altogether dismissed what had been reported to be functioning. In the public despatch of 16 April 1828, Madras was told that ‘the information sent’, while lacking in certain respects, was ‘yet sufficiently complete to show, that in providing the means of a better education for the natives, little aid is to be expected from the instruments of education which already exist.’ ADAM’S REPORT ON INDIGENOUS EDUCATION IN BENGAL AND BIHAR Thirteen years after the initiation of the survey in the Madras Presidency, a more limited semi-official survey of indigenous education was taken up in the Presidency of Bengal. This was what is known as the celebrated Adam’s Reports, or to give the full title Reports on the State of Education in Bengal 1836 and 1838.58 46

It consists of three reports: the first, dated 1st July 1836, being a survey of the available existing information regarding indigenous education and its nature and facilities in the various districts of Bengal (pp.1-126); the second, dated 23 December 1835, being a survey of the prevalent situation undertaken by W. Adam in the Thana of Nattore in the district of Rajshahy (pp.127-208, pp.528-578); and the third, dated 28 April 1838, being a survey of the situation in parts of Murshedabad, and the whole of the districts of Beerbhoom, Burdwan, South Behar and Tirhoot, ending with Adam's reflections, recommendations and conclusions (pp.209-467). Adam's Phraseology and Presentation In spite of the controversies which Adam's Reports have given rise to—the most notable one being his mention of there being perhaps 1,00,000 village schools still existing in Bengal and Bihar in some form till the 1830s—the total impression produced by them is one of extensive decay of these institutions. Largely due to Adam's evangelical, moralistic tone, reading them is a rather depressing business. Adam himself was no great admirer of the Indian teacher, or the nature and content of Indian education. However, as Adam started from the view that the British Government of the day should interest itself in the sphere of elementary and higher Indian education and also support it financially, he seemed to have thought it necessary to use all possible arguments and imagery to bring home this point. Under the circumstances, it was necessary for him to dramatise the decay as well as the relative state of ignorance of the teachers, as well as the lack of books, buildings, etc., in order to evoke the desired sympathetic response. Furthermore, it is important to note that W. Adam initially had come to Bengal in 1818 as a Baptist Missionary. Though he left missionary activity after some years, and took to journalism instead, he remained a product of his contemporary British times, a period dominated by two principal currents of opinion: one which saw the necessity of evangelising 47