Public Administration in Ancient India c22.40

c22.40

Education was another activity connected with religion. From very early times, teachers and scholars were supported by the State, either by periodical allowances or by gifts of lands, incomes of villages, and proceeds of taxes.¹ Under the patronage of Kings, famous seats of learning grew up in different parts of the country to which scholars flocked in thousands and tens of thousands. Education received a great impetus after the spread of Buddhism. Under Brahmanism education was mainly confined to the higher classes of society, but Buddhism proclaimed the equality of all mankind, and Buddhist monarchs thought it necessary to make arrangements for the instruction of the multitude.