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

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(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

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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

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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

India, advocated by men like William Wilberforce; the other, its westernisation, symbolised by men like T.B. Macaulay and William Bentinck. As indicated earlier, both ideas were encompassed in the Charter Act of 1813. Additionally, the reports of Adam, although not formal official documents, were nonetheless sanctioned and financed by the orders of the Governor General himself. Naturally, therefore, while they may imply many things—as do some of the reports of the Madras Presidency collectors—they were nevertheless phrased in such a way as not to lay the blame directly on past government policy and action. Varied and Valuable Sociological Data The more important point which comes through Adam’s voluminous writing, however, was his remarkable industry and the detail and variety of data which he was able to collect: first, from the post-1800 existing sources; and second, through his own investigations. While the controversy about his 1,00,000 village schools in Bengal and Bihar is finally forgotten, the material which he provided (regarding the caste composition of the pupils taught as well as the teachers, their average ages at various periods, and the books which were then in use in the districts he surveyed) will still have great relevance. Selections Reproduced Some selections from Adam’s material are reproduced in the present work (Annexure D). These include: (i) descriptions of elementary education taken from the first and second reports; (ii) description of higher learning, from the first report, (iii) a section on Medical education taken from the second report, based on investigations in Nattore, Rajshahy; and (iv), some tabulations of the basic data for the five surveyed districts contained in the third report. This latter tabulation is given under the following heads: a. Elementary Schools and caste-wise division of students b. Elementary Schools and caste-wise division of teachers c. Books used in Elementary Schools d. Details of institutions of Sanskritic Learning e. Books used in Sanskritic Studies f. Details of institutions of Persian and Arabic Learning g. Books used in Persian and Arabic Studies h. Subject and districtwise duration of Study 48

The First Report: A Survey of Post-1800 Material Adam's first report is a general statement of the situation and a presentation of the data which he could derive from post-1800 official and other sources. His conclusions: first, every village had at least one school and in all probability in Bengal and Bihar with 1,50,748 villages, ‘there will still be 1,00,000’ villages that have these schools.⁵⁹ Second, on the basis of personal observation and what he had learnt from other evidence, he inferred that on an average there were around 100 institutions of higher learning in each district of Bengal. Consequently, he concluded that the 18 districts of Bengal had about 1,800 such institutions. Computing the number studying in these latter at the lowest figure of six scholars in each, he also computed that some 10,800 scholars should be studying in them. He further observed that while the elementary schools ‘are generally held in the homes of some of the most respectable native inhabitants or very near them’, the institutions of higher learning had buildings generally of clay with ‘sometimes three or five rooms’ and ‘in others nine or eleven rooms’, with a reading-room which is also of clay. These latter places were also used for the residence of the scholars; and the scholars were usually fed and clothed by the teachers, and where required, were assisted by the local people. After describing the method of teaching in both types of institutions and going into their daily routine, Adam then presented and examined the post-1800 data on the subject, district by district. Table 10 gives an abstract of this examination. The Second Report: Survey of Nattore Thana The second report was wholly devoted to Adam's study of the situation in the Thana of Nattore in the district of Rajshahy. It was like a modern pilot survey in which Adam developed his 49

Table: 10: INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING ACCORDING TO POST-1800 OTHER SOURCES WITH ADAM'S OBSERVATIONS 44

District or place Population Hindoo Muslim Institutions of Higher Learning mentioned in Estimate* Ratio Post-1800 accounts with Adam's observations

Dinajpur (p.16) 30,00,000 (1808) 3 to 7 Buchanan: 16; Adam: some mistake as Districts adjoin Purnea (p.16) 14,50,000 (1801) 57 to 47 Buchanan: 119 29,04,380 (1810) Calcutta (p.17) 2,00,000 (1822) Ward: (1818): 28, Scholars: 173 (Approx.) Nuddea (p.17) 7,64,430 (1802) 11 to 5 Ward: (1818) 31, Scholars: 747, Logic, Law. (p.78) H.H. Wilson: (1820): 25, Scholars 500-600 (p.79) Authorities: (1816) 46, Scholars: 380 (i) Koomaru Hutta (p.81) Ward: 7-8 (ii) Bhatpara (p.81) Ward: 7-8 24 Pergunnahs (p.22) 16,25,000 (1801) Hamilton: (1801): 190 (i) Juyunugor (p.22) Ward: 17-18 (ii) Mujilee Pooroo (p.22) Ward: 17-18 (iii) Andolee (p.22) Ward: 10-12 Midnapore (pp. 50-51) 15,00,000 (1801) 6 to 1 Hamilton: None, Adam: 40 Cuttack (Puri) (p.54) 12,96,365 10 to 1 Stirling: Principal Street of 'Maths' Hugly (pp. 57-58) 10,00,000 (1801) 3 to 1 Ward: (1818), Hamilton: (1801): 150, Law (i) Vansariya Logic: 12-14 (ii) Triveni :7-8 50

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methods and fashioned his tools for the more extensive survey which was his primary aim. The results of this Nattore survey of 485 villages were tabulated, village by village, by Adam. Further details were provided for some of them in another tabulation. The population of this Thana was 1,20,928; the number of families 30,028 (in the proportion of one Hindoo to two Muslims); the number of elementary schools 27, and of schools of learning 38 (all these latter being Hindoo). In 1,588 families (80% of these being Hindoo), children occasionally received instruction at home. The number of scholars in elementary schools was 262, and education in them was between the ages of 8-14; while the scholars in schools of learning were 397, 136 of these being local persons and 261 from distant places, the latter also receiving both food and lodging. The average period of study in these latter institutions was 16 years, from about the age of 11 to the age of 27. However, while the number in elementary schools was so low, these 485 villages nonetheless had 123 native general medical practitioners, 205 village doctors, 21 mostly Brahmin smallpox inoculators practising according to the old Indian method,⁶⁰ 297 women-midwives, and 722 snake conjurors. The Third Report: Survey of Five Districts The third report of Adam has the most data. In this report, Adam gives the findings of his surveys in part of the district of Murshedabad (20 thanas with a population of 1,24,804 out of 37 thanas with a total district population of 9,69,447), and the whole of the districts of Beerbhoom and Burdwan in Bengal, and of South Behar and Tirhoot in Bihar. In one thana of each district, Adam carried out the enquiries personally and also gathered additional information. In the rest, it was done for him according to his instructions and proformas by his trained Indian assistants. Earlier, Adam’s intention was to visit every village in person; but he found that ‘the sudden appearance of a European in a village often inspired terror, which it was always difficult, and sometimes impossible, to subdue.’(p.214) He, therefore, gave up this idea of a personal visit to every village; in part to save time. Language-wise Division The total number of schools of all types in the selected districts numbered 2,566. These schools were divided into Bengali (1,098), 52

Hindi (375), Sanskrit (353), Persian (694), Arabic (31), English (8), Girls (6), and infants (1). The number of schools in the district of Midnapore was also given: 548 Bengali schools, 182 Oriya schools, 48 Persian schools, and one English school. Table 11 gives the position, district-wise: Table 11: NUMBER AND TYPE OF SCHOOLS Type of Mursh- Beer- Burd- South Tirhoot Total Midna- School idabad bhom wan Behar (p- of pore (p.223) (p.224) (p.225) (p.226) 226) Sur- (p.222) (part (whole (whole (whole (whole veyed (whole Dist.) Dist.) Dist.) Dist.) Dist.) Dists Dist.) BENGALI 62 407 629 1,098 548 HINDI 5 5 285 80 375 ORIYA 182 SANSCRIT 24 56 190 27 56 353 PERSIAN 17 71 93 279 234 694 48 ARABIC 2 2 11 12 4 31 ENGLISH 2 2 3 1 8 1 GIRLS 1 1 4 6 INFANTS 1 113 544 931 604 374 2,556 779 Four Stages of School Instruction Adam divided the period spent in elementary schools into four stages. According to him these were: the first stage, seldom exceeding ten days, during which the young scholar was taught ‘to form the letters of the alphabet on the ground with a small stick or slip of bamboo’, or on a sandboard. The second stage, extending from two and a half to four years, was ‘distinguished by the use of the palm leaf as the material on which writing is performed’, and the scholar was ‘taught to write and read’, and commit ‘to memory the Cowrie Table, the Numeration Table as far as 100, the Katha Table (a land measure Table), and the Ser Table’, etc. The third stage extended ‘from two to three years, which are employed in writing on the plantain-leaf.’ Addition, subtraction, and other arithmetical rules were additionally taught during this period. In the fourth, and last stage, of up to two years, writing was done on paper. The scholar was expected to be able to read the Ramayana, Mansa Mangal, etc., at home, as well as be qualified in accounts, and the writing of letters, petitions, etc. Table 12 indicates the numbers, using the various materials on which writing was done in the surveyed areas. 53