Education In Ancient And Medieval India (A Survey of the Main Features and a Critical Evaluation of Major Trends)- 9788125904359, Education in Ancient India- 9789394814752, Education in Ancient India- 9788124601136, Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist- 9788120804234, The Educational Heritage of Ancient India (How an Ecosystem of Learning was Laid to Waste)- 9781947586529, The Indian National Education- 8180851508
From the Jacket
She is study of education in ancient India focuses chiefly on over two hundred years: AD 319-550, of the reign of Imperial Guptas, which has been variantly described as the Golden Age, Periclean Age, or even the Age of Hindu Renaissance. It was a time when literature, arts and sciences flourished in a degree beyond the ordinary, these achievements are inconceivable without a well-evolved system of education.
With its theme like education covering such a large period of time the book traverses a terrain so far little charted. It is indisputably a work of painstaking research trying, as it does, to retrieve educational set-up of classical Indian from an astonishing mass of contemporary sources, including notably (a) Puranas like Markandeya, Matsa, Vayu, Visnu and Visnudharmottra; (b) Smrti texts like Vyasa-smrti, Harita-samhita, and Pitamaha smrti; (c) literary classics of Kalidasa, Visakhadatta, kumaradasa and others; (d) Jaina and Buddhist works of scholars like Vasubandhu and Dinnage; (e) Astronomical scientific treatises of Aryabhata and others; (f) Foreign travelers narratives; and (g) Other miscellaneous writings on grammar, linguistics and polity-besides inscriptional and numismatic material.
Notwithstanding the ethical-cum-religious overtones of ancient Indian education, the schools and universities taught Sanskrit, literature, arts, sciences, philosophy, laws and even rituals. In conclusion, the author demonstrates how the educational system of the Imperial Guptas, in certain ways, anticipated some of the fundamental theories given by great modern educationists.
A useful work for anyone involved with education; whether as a historian, a professional or a scholar.
About the Author
Mitali Chatterjee is Jadavpur university PhD holding in addition master degrees in Sanskrit and library and information Science, a bachelor degree in education, and proficiency in German and Hindi languages. Currently, she is Library In-charge with the Asiatic Society Calcutta.
Just a thousand years ago, India was dotted with universities across its length and breadth, where international students flocked to gain credentials in advanced education. This illustrated book describes how these multi-disciplinary centers of learning existed in several forms such as forest universities, brick-and-mortar universities and temple universities .
It examines the funding for these citadels of learning and their graduation ceremonies. The process by which India's ancient systems of education helped to fuel a knowledge revolution around the world with its manuscripts, forming the basis for monographs and academic papers, is explained with references. The marauding incursions by Muslim invaders, which disrupted the idyllic world of university learning in India, followed by European colonization, which led to further erosion and degeneration of India's traditional learning systems, have been taken up in some detail. Readers will get a snapshot view of India's education system down the ages from ancient to modern times.
Sahana Singh is an engineer-turned writer/editor who writes variety of issues including water management, environment and Indian history. A post-graduate from Delhi College of Engineering, she has won several awards for journalism including the Developing Asia Journalism Award in 2008. A short animation video made by her on the world's water crisis won the top prize at the TU Delft Urban Water Movie Contest awarded by the Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) in 2012. Her articles have been published in Reader's Digest, Washington Post, Discovery Channel Asia, Asian Water Magazine, Swarajya, India Facts and other publications. She has moderated panel discussions on water management at several conferences.
Sahana is a member of Indian History Awareness and Research, a think tank headquartered in Houston, USA. She is passionate about travelling and connecting the dots across different societies, civilizations and disciplines.
Contents
This book highlights the captivating characteristics of education as it was prevalent during the ancient and medieval periods of Indian history. The first part deals with the system of education as it existed in the Vedic, post-Vedic, and Buddhist period. Since education is always related with life, adequate light has been thrown on the philosophy of life as adhered to by our forefathers. The chief trends of primary education have been indicated along with the nature of vocational education and the contents, methods and style of functioning of the higher seats of learning. The system of education as it then existed has also been evaluated in order to show to what extent the same met with the aspirations of the people concerned.
The second part of the book explains the general nature of education during the Muslim period along with the particular characteristics of education under the respective regimes of Sultan and Mughal kings in the country. A critique of the entire system of education of the period has also been presented to highlight the suitability, or otherwise, of the same.
This volume has been particularly prepared to cater to the curricular demands of students of "History of Indian Education" of the graduate and postgraduate classes of our colleges and universities.
Prof. S P Chaube received his M.A. degree from Banaras Hindu University and M.Ed. degree from Allahabad University. He has travelled extensively and has closely studied the educational systems of USA, UK and various other European countries. He was appointed a fellow by the University of Indiana, Bloomington, USA, where he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Education in 1952. In India, he was decorated with the G.J. Watumull Memorial Award in Education in 1963. Dr. Chaube has written more than 50 books in Hindi and English in the field of education and psychology. His books are recommended reading in many universities throughout India.
Dr Akhilesh Chaube - M.Sc. (Botany), M.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D. - has more than two decades of teaching experience at the university level. Currently, he is Professor of Education at the University of Lucknow.
The existing complexities of modern life have left man all over the world bereft of spiritual contexts which his forefathers had developed, nourished and cherished and which in turn laid the foundation stone of modern human civilization. India, since times immemorial, has been well-known for its spiritual excellence and such seers have taken birth here who could enter into the unfathomable depths of spiritual consciousness. One has to make a deep study of our Vedas and Upanishads to recognise the nature of the consciousness which our ancestors could attain. Modern man is bogged down in the blind array of materialism and pragmatism, hence it is not easy for him to comprehend the essentials of our Vedas and other spiritual literature, although their comprehension is within his reach.
Agriculture was the principal pursuit of our ancestors during the Vedic and Post-Vedic periods. Nonetheless, they were quite alive towards affecting a harmony between their mundane and spiritual pursuits. They were of the firm conviction that the soul is much above the limits of the earthly body, castes, classes, times and places. In a way. their life was well-knit within a unique social system. The aim of our life, to-day, is entirely different from that of our forefathers as we now adhere to a different set of values. There is always a close relationship between "education" and "the place, period and the people" for which it is meant. The principal aim of education during the ancient days was to promote the physical, intellectual and spiritual development of an individual in such a way as to help him to affect a harmony between his worldly and spiritual life. The first part of the book presents the essentials of this system of education.
Vedic literature played a major role towards developing education during the ancient days in India. The Vedas were the chief source of education during that period. It is because of this basic feature that the contents and methods of education during ancient India have been based on Vedic literature.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
This work is intended to fill up a gap in the literature on the history of Eduation, which has not taken adequate account of the unique contributions made by Hindu thought to both educational theory and practice.
The work is divided into Two Parts. Part I (Chs.1-12) deals with the concepts and practices of Brahmanical Education on the authority of Veda, Astadhyayi, Arthasastra of Kautilya, Sutra literature and Epics. It discuses the problems of Legal, Industrial and Vocational Education as well as the typical educational institutions and centres. Part II (Chs.13-24) deals with the Buddhist Education and discusses among other topics the Background, System, Discipline, Centres of Instructions as well as the accounts of education derived from the Jatakas, Milinda Panha as also those rendered by Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, Itsing and others. With 26 illustrations.
Noted historian and politician, Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji, M.A., PH.D, D.LITT, F.A.S.B., started life as Professor of History in the Bengal National College under the Principalship of the late Sri Aurobindo. Subsequently he joined the Mysore University where he was Professor of History from 1917 to 1921. Thereafter, he became Professor and Head of the Department of History in the Lucknow University and remained there for an unbroken period of twenty five years. Afterwards he continued to be Emeritus Professor of History of the same University where his friends had endowed a Lectureship in his name.
On the political side, he served as a Member of the Bengal Legislative Council for six years (1937-43) as Leader of the Opposition (Congress) and had been a Member of the Floud Commission for a year and half in 1939-40. In 1946-47, he was appointed a Member of the Indian delegation to the F.A.O. Preparatory Commission at Washington. He was nominated by India’s President as a Member of the Council of States in 1952 and decorated by him with the award of Padma-Bhushanain 1956. He is the author of about 15 books on different aspects of ancient India.
The present work is intended to fill up a gap in the literature the history of Education, which has not taken adequate account the unique contributions made by Hindu Thought to both educational Theory and Practice.
The work has been long in the making. The bulk of it was written in 1918—1920, but its completion has been delayed by writings on other subjects in response to the needs of my teaching work and research at the University. Parts of the work have, however, been published from time to time as articles in various Periodicals since 1920, such as Asutosh and Malaviya Commemoration Volumes; the Journals of the Universities of Lucknow, Allahabad, and Benares; of the United Provinces Historical Society, Mythic Society of Bangalore, Visvabharati, Santiniketana; the Indian Antiquary and the Aryan Path; and Dr. B.C. Law’s Buddhistic Studies. Some of these articles have been drawn upon in some recent publications on the subject, and this has stimulated completion of the work. It will now form a companion volume to my work on Hindu Civilization recently published.
The work brings together for the first time the representations of educational scenes and figures to be found in old Indian sculpture and painting. For purposes of Illustration, Line Drawings have been preferred to photographs as the only means of restoring as far as possible defaced or mutilated originals.
My special obligations are due to my learned colleague (and whilom pupil), Dr. Narendra Nath Sengupta, Professor of Philosophy at the University, for his valuable suggestions and notes on several philosophical points and problems, which it is alike my pleasure and duty to gratefully acknowledge. I am deeply grateful to my esteemed friend, Dr. Bimala Churn Law, for his kind subvention in aid of the publication of the work. I owe to Mr. O.C. Gangoly, the renowned art-critic, the suggestion to include the Illustrations shown in Plates III, VII, XIV, Plates I, IV, VI, VIII, XI—XIII, XVIII, XIX—XXII are based on photo-prints supplied by the Archaeological Department of the Government of India to whom belongs their copyright. Plate XVI is based on the photo-print supplied by the Archaeological Department of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Government to whom belongs its copyright.
A simplified system of transliteration of Sanskrit and Prakrit words has been adopted in this work, and may be understood from the following examples: Krishna, Satyayana, Lichchhavi, Anga, Purva-Mimamsa. The vast amount of transliteration involved may have left some mistakes, in spite of best efforts to correct them, which, I hope, will be overlooked.
The printing of the work was completed as far back as but its publication has been delayed so long by conditions created by the War.
I am grateful to my friend, Professor G.C. Raychaudhuri, M.A., for kindly helping to expedite the publication by passing for me the final proofs on the spot in London where I met him at the School of Oriental Studies of the London University, and thus obviating the delay of my doing it from India.
The System Now On — Civilization and Education — The Process-Old and New—The Instruments-New and Old—The Ideal—Nachiketas, the Truly Educated.
It is now hardly two accades since India gained her political independence. The memory of the agitation for it has not yet therefore faded away from the minds of the elder generation. The agitation was unique because of the peaceful and constitutional methods adopted. The civilized nations watched with interest the political developments in India then. The agitators condemned many of the existing state of affairs as anti-national. The urgent need for reforming the educational pattern was one of the important issues that loomed large. No political platform ever missed a scathing condemnation of the British-imposed system of education. It was denounced as anti-national and Dul-killing. It was alleged that its sole aim was the 'manufacture of slaves and intellectuals devoid of patriotism. Students were then advised to boycott schools and colleges. As substitutes to these unwanted -:hoots and colleges, semblances of national institutions sprang up here and there. Children of patriots who non-cooperated with the foreign regime were placed In those ill-equipped but life-inducing institutions. They succeeded to a remarkable extent in rousing national consciousness in their wards.
But with the gaining of political freedom the bogey of the clamour for national education has vanished. A good many of the so called national schools have been wound up. And a few well founded ones have got themselves absorbed into the educational machinery considered bad erstwhile but actively continued in free India. The system of education that seemed injurious due to its coming from unwanted masters now seems good at the hands of our own people. Any system has to be judged on its own merits irrespective of the persons behind it. We are, therefore, obliged to make an objective study of the prevailing system and spot out the defects in it. Since the British regime has withdrawn from the field, the instruments for working out the system, have expanded enormously in volume. Schools and colleges continue to spring up in large numbers year after year. In this magnitude the hidden defects and evils in the prevailing education manifest themselves in their true colours. Literates and graduates are, no doubt rapidly increasing in number. But the quality of the educated is unfortunately in woeful decline. In attainments a graduate of today is no better than a matriculate of those days. The character of the educated is anything but praiseworthy. Ease and comfort are their sole aim in life. They are strangers to hazard, pluck and perseverance. Their demand for rights and privileges is ever on the increase. It is in direct proportion to their educational qualifications. Sense of duty and responsibility on the other hand is nowhere to be found. The ideal of subordinating personal profit to public weal is ignored. Strikes peculiar to labour in factories are now common in colleges dragging them down to the level of factories. What were once temples of learning and discipline are now depraved into intellectual factories turning out empty pretenders to learning . Education is now in a melting pot. The magnitude-of the problem of the so-called educated can never be overestimated. The poison produced by the defective system remains to be thoroughly eliminated.
The role of the teacher in the present system of education requires to be reviewed. The system has reduced the responsibility of the teacher to that of the postman. With the correct delivery of the bundles of letters, packets and parcels apportioned to him, the duty of the postman ends. What effect the duly delivered articles have on the addressees is no concern of the man who delivers them. One letter may contain mournful news while another a cheque as prize for a cross. Wordpuzzle. The postman has neither the time nor the inclination to probe into the reactions that the letters have produced in the persons concerned. Similar is the function of the teacher today in our country. He has his scheduled lessons to give and portions to cover within the allotted time. His function ends with the faithful discharge of these duties. He is not bothered if the students do not receive the lesson in all seriousness. Further, there is hardly any life contact between the teacher and the taught. Many among the students in the college manage to pass out successfully without any personal contact with the professors. In other words, education has got mechanized. The system somehow works. Intellectual machines are created by the universities on a large scale. Men and women trained in intellectual tricks are classified as graduates and let loose into society. By these tricks they can earn their bread; but they cannot appeal to the heart or inspire life. Personality has given place to phantom. Substance is lost sight of; chaff is being pampered. This state of affair cannot be allowed to continue lest it should lead to national calamity.
CIVILIZATION AND EDUCATION
The Indian civilization and social set-up is comparable with the best ones the world has ever evolved.And the speciality in it lies in its being at once ancient and modern; ancient because history cannot peep into its hoary past; modern because of its adaptability to changing circumstances age after age. Vicissitudes not uncommon with nations have not spared India. But under all changing circumstances this great country has not lost her individuality.
Considerable changes have been made in Edu- cation in Ancient India while presenting its second edition to the public. The first edition was in the form of a research work primarily intended for the students of Ancient Indian History and Culture. The reception that was given to it, however, showed that the general public was also interested in the subject and would welcome its presentation in a less technical and more popular form. Several Universities pres- cribed the work as one of the text-books for the paper dealing with the History of Indian Education at the B. T. examination, and it appeared that the teachers and students of the Training Colleges would welcome the treatment of the subject matter of the book, not only from the point of the orientalist but also from that of the educationalist. Further thought given to the subject also showed that a few more topics should be included in the book in order to make the treatment complete and comprehensive.
The book contains passages from the scriptures.
It is a pleasant duty of the author to thank all those who have in any way assisted in the production of the present work. I am grateful to Dr. K. G. Desai, Ex. Director, University School of Psychology, Education and Philosophy, Gujarat University, for carefully going through the typescript and making a number of valuable suggestions. I am very much obliged to Prof. R.S. Trivedi, Ex. Vice Chancellor of Bhavnagar University for writing a Forword to this work. I am also indebted to Prof. K.S. Shastri, Ex. Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University for writing appreciation to the monograph - Svadhyaya in the Vedic and Post-Vedic Literature. I am also thankful to the librarians of Gujarat University, Ahmedabad and Government Sanskrit College Library, Indore (M.P.) for thier ready help during the period of my study. I am grateful to Mrs. Indira Chaudhari and Mr. K. K. Solanki for the proof-reading and also for preparing the Index. I amindebted to Indian Books Centre and owe my thanks for their interest in Indian Educational Thought and for consenting to publish the book.
Dr. Rakhe has adopted a scientific technique in the selection and analysis of hymns.
The analysis focuses the relationship between the teacher and the pupil. The teaching teaching continuum has a special meaning. The teacher in the past was more concerned about the well-being and prosperity of his pupil. The Vedic interpretation shows clearly that both the teacher and the pupil, according to Vedic dictates, are the vital components of educational process.
The formal and informal aspect of Vedic education are more important. That the child had to leave his parent's roof and take shelter in his Guru's house is an indication of a formal system. But the pupil's stay at his Guru's residence for the entire period of education includes all types of activities. It was living in a different family. This was an informal mode of teaching. Dr. Rakhe highlights the unique feature of the system. Dr Rakhe has hymn wise shown the functioning of the system.
The Central theme of study in Vishnu Purana is educational practice based on the particular educational philosophy. The bases according to Dr. Rakhe are not religious but moral. The moral norms as accepted by the then society determined the course of educating children and the youth of the times. Dr. Rakhe has selected two episodes, viz., the Prahlad Episode and the episode of Ribhu and Nidagha to focus the teacher-pupil relationship. What is more important in the relationship is the authority of knowledge instead of the mere status-authority. The system as revealed here was rigorous. Education in those days was not a bed of roses. It was full of hard work and rigour. At the same time it was not Spartan in its function.
Dr. Rakhe has only brought the true spirit of ancient Indian educational system to light. The aim of education in those days was self-realization. In the process of self- realization the teacher-Guru, was a mere guide. Ribhu's illustration is an ex-ample of such a guide.
Dr. Rakhe's study of the Vishnu Purana in regard to the then prevailing educational practices will be of an immense value to the present educational practitioners. When the New Educational Policy is stressing value and cultural heritage, the present investigation would provide an interesting reading material in the areas focused in the New Educational Policy and its Action Plan.
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