The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c14.s3.1

v2.c14.s3.1

TEMPLES, *agrahāra* villages, and capital cities continued to be the main centres of higher education. Unfortunately contemporary records afford us no description of any of these educational institutions. The donors of some of the grants are called *vedārthadas*, ‘expounders of the Vedic hymns’, *kramavids*, ‘experts in “*kramapāṭha*”’, *daśagranthis*, ‘well-grounded in the ten branches of Vedic lore’, *sarvajñasarasvatis*, ‘omniscient like Sarasvati’, or *prasannasarasvatis*, ‘favourites of the goddess of learning’. It is obvious that these must have been famous teachers, who imparted higher Sanskritic education free of charge in their private schools, which were known as *brahmaśālās*.