The highly esteemed Vedas have come to down to us. They existed for
nearly 2000 years before they were known in India. It was the knowledge
of acustics that enabled ancient Indians to orally transmit the Vedas
from generation to generation. Institutional form of imparting learning
came into existence in the early centuries of the Christian era. The
approach to learning was to study logic and epistemology.
The study of logci was followed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, one of
the most important topics of Indian thoughts was pramana or means of
reliable knowledge. The nyaya schools upheld four pramanas - perceptions
of areliable by anology or comparison, word (Sabda), and pronounciation
of a reliable authority such as the Vedas. The Vedanta school added one
more to it i.e. intution.
It is probably while studying the process of inference that the schools
of true logic arose. Ancient Indian postulated syllogism though not as
accurate as that of Aristotle. Yet, they recognize some of the major
fallacies of logic like reduction and absurdom, circular argument,
infinite regression, dilemma, and ignoratio elenchi.
In the field epistemology, Jains contriubuted the most for the Jains
there was not only two possibilities of existence and non-existence but
seven more. Although the modern logicians might laugh at this pedantic
system of ontological and epistemological reality they concede that the
world is more complex and subtle than we think it to be.
Regarding institutional form of education the first was the guru-sishya
system. According to sacred texts, the training of the Brahmin pupil
took place at the home of a Brahmin teacher. In some texts the guru is
depicted as the poor ascetic and it is the duty of the student to beg
for his teacher. The first lesson that was taught to the student was the
performance of sandhya and also reciting of gayatri.
The family functioned as a domestic school, an asrama or a hermitage
where the mental faculties of the pupils were developed by the teacher's
constant attention and personal instruction. Education, treatant as a
matter of individual concern, did not admit of the method of mass
production applicable in industry. The making of man was fegarded as an
artistic and not a mechanical process. Indeed, the aim of education was
the developing of the pupil's personality, his innate and latent
capacities. This view of education as a process of one's inner growth
and self-fulfilment evolved its own technique, its rules, methods and
practices.
The thinking principle, manana sakti was reckoned higher than the
subject of thinking. So the primary subject of education was the mind
itself. According to the ancient Indian theory of education, the
training of the mind and the process of thinking, are essential for the
acquisition of knowledge. The chase counts more than the game. So the
pupil had mainly to educed himself and achieve his own mental growth.
Education ws reduced to the three simple processes of Sravana, Manana
and Niddhyaasana. Sravana was listening to the truths as they fell from
the lips of the teacher. Knowledge was technically called sruti or what
was heard by the ear and not what was seen in writing.
The second process of knowledge called Manana implies that the pupil has
to think out for himself the meaning of the leassons imparted to him
orally by his teacher so that they may be assimilate fully. The third
step known as Nidhyasana means complete comprehension by the pupil of
the truth that is taught so that he may live the truth and not merely
explain it by word. Knowledge must cultimate in realization.
The admission was made bythe formal ceremony upanayana or initiation by
which the pupil left the home of his natural parents for that of the
preceptor. In this new home he had a second birth and was called Dvijya.
Twice-born.
Besides these regular schools of instructions, there were special
institutions for the promotion of advance study and research. These are
called in the Rig Veda as Brahmana-Sangha, Academies of learned most its
discussions hammered into shape the very languageofthe country, the
refined language of Sanksrit (Samkrata) as the Vehicle of highest
thought. These Academics were called prisads, there is a reference to
the Pancala parisad in the Upnishads, in whose proceedings even kings
participated, learning was also prompted by discussions at public
meetings which were a regular of rural life, and were addressed by
wandering scholars known as Carakas, These scholars toured the country
to deliver public discourses and invite discussion.
What might count as earliest literary congress of the world was the
congress of philoshophers which was codification of Brahmanical
philoshophy by discussing the subject under the direction of the master
philosopher, Yajnavalkya. In these deliberations at the highest level, a
lady- philoshopher named Gargi was a prominent participant beside men
like Uddalaka Arni. Obviously, in those days women were admitted to the
highest knowledge and did not suffer from any education disabilities.
There was equality between the sexes in the filed of knowledge. The Rig
Veda mentions women Rais called Brahmanavadinis.
To begin with, in ancient India, the main subject was the Veda. The
teacher would instruct handful of students seated on ground. For many
hours daily they would repeat verses after verses of the Vedas till they
attainmastery of at least one of them. To ensure correctness of memory,
the hymns were taught inmore than one way.
Soon the curricula was expanded. The limbs of the Veda or the six
Vedangas were taught - the performance of sacrifice, correct
pronounciation, knowledge of prosody, etymology, grammer, and jyotisha
or the science of calender. Also in the post-Vedic era, teachers often
instructed their students in the six schools of Philoshophy.
The writers of smititis maintain that young women of upper class
updrewent this kind of training. This is a dboutful contention. Princes
and other leading Kshatriyas were tained in all the manifold sciences to
make them fit for government. Most boys of the lower orders learnt
their trades from their fathers.
Some cities became renewned because of their teachers. Chief among them
were - Varanasi, Taxila from the day of Buddha and Kanchi in the
beginning of the Christian era. Varanasi was famous for its religious
teachers. Taxila was known for its secular studies. Among the famous men
connected with Taxila were Panini, the grammarian of the fifth or
fourth century B.C. : Kautilya, the Brahmin minister of Chandragupta
Maurya and Charaka one of the two leading authorities of Indian medical
sciences. The institutions imparting vedic knowledge that exists even
today. There were also universities like Taxila and Ujjain for medicine
and learning incuding mathematics and astronomy respectively. In the
south Kanchi became an important center of learning. Hiuen remarks that
vallabhi was as great as Nalanda and Vikramashila.
Although the smirits maintained that a small number of students study
under a single teacher, university turned towns came into existence like
Varanasi, Taxila etc. At Varanasi there were 500 students and a number
of teachers. The whole estalisment was maintained by charitable people
Ideally, the teacher asked no fee, but the students repaid his debt by
their service to the teacher. A Jataka story tells of how a teacher of
Taxila treated well the students who paid him money while keeping other
waiting. It is also interesting to note that in Taxila even married
people were admitted as students.
Out of all the Universities, Nalanda and imposed structures. Eight
Colleges were built by different patterns including one by the king of
Sri Vijaya (Sumatra). One of the colleges was four storeyed high as
stated by Hiuen-Tsang. Every facility existed for studying various kinds
of subjects in the University. There were three great libraries as per
Tibetan records.
Nalanda attracted students not only from different parts of India but
also from Tibet and China. The standards of examination were stiff, and
only those who could pass the test prescribed by the dvarapandita or the
scholar at the gate were admitted to this university. Also, for being
admitted to the university, candidates were required to be familiar with
old and new books.
Nalanda was one of the earliest examples ofa residential cum-teaching
institutions which housed thousands of monks devoted to learning,
philoshophy and meditation. Over 10,000 students including teachers
lived and studied at the university. The came from various parts of the
world apart from India-Cental Asia, China and Korea.
Though Nalanda was primarily a Buddhist university its curricula
included Hindu scriptures, Philoshophy and medicine as recorded by
Hiuen-Tsang. Logic and exagetics wre pre-emenent because thes students
were expected to enter into dialogue with visiting doctors of all
schools. This compulsion of public debate made both teachers and
students become familiar with all systems of thought in accurate
summary.
The university had also succession of brilliant teachers. Dharmapala was
a Tamil noble from Kanchi in the south. Janamitra come from another
country. Silabhadra, the saintly guru of Hiuen-Tsang, came from Assam
and he was a converted Brahmin. A great achievements of the University
was that it was able to continuously rejuvenate Buddhism in far off
countries. Tibetan records mention a succession of learned monks who
visited their country. It is also said that Sudhakara Simha went to
China and worked there on the translation of Buddhist texts.
