The Rashtrakutas and their Times c23.s1.3

c23.s1.3

We have ample evidence to enlighten us as to the arrangements for higher education that were made during our period. Higher education in our age meant Sanskrit education, and Veda, Vyākaraṇa (grammar), Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology), Sāhitya (literature), Mīmāṃsā, Dharmaśāstra, Purāṇas and Nyāya (logic) were the main branches thereof. The donee of the Dhulia plates of Dhruva, dated 779 A.D., ¹ is described as well versed in Vedas, Vedangas, history, Puranas, grammar, Mīmāṃsā, logic, Nirukta, and liturgy. Of these grammar is still the most extensively studied branch; Alberuni informs us that it was held in the highest estimation in his days, and curiously enough, the only place where epigraphs of our period specify the subject of a teacher is one where he happens to be the expounder of Kaumāra grammar. ² Grammar was the key subject to the knowledge of the rest of the sciences and, therefore, we may well presume that it was held in high estimation and extensively studied in the Deccan as in the north.