The Mauryan Polity c7.s2.1

c7.s2.1

To be actuated by such high ideals, the king must have been well disciplined both in body and mind from his boyhood. The fruit of discipline is the result of proper educational training. We may regard Kauṭalya’s prescription in regard to the education of a prince as the type in ancient states under Hindu monarchies. Discipline (*vinaya*), says Kauṭalya, is of two kinds, artificial (*kṛtaka*) and natural (*svabhāvika*).² Instruction proper disciplines the naturally good man possessing great and noble virtues of obedience, restraint, discrimination and other qualities. With the ceremony of tonsure which was usually at the age of three the prince learnt the alphabet (*lipi*) and arithmetic (*saṅkhyānam*).³ Two stages could be distinguished in the matter of education. The first stage was between the years three and eleven. In this period what we call secondary education was completed. The first rudimentary principles of arts and sciences were learnt. From the age of eleven, the age for investiture ceremony, extending to sixteen, he was initiated into higher studies. Thus the educational training and practice were complete before the age of sixteen when the prince could enter the life of a householder. The higher education consisted in the study of the three Vedas, *ānvīkṣakī* (philosophy), *vārttā* (economics) and *daṇḍanīti* (politics). Different teachers were engaged to teach these sciences. The *trayī* and *ānvīkṣakī* were learnt from persons who were learned in the respective sciences (*adhyakṣa*), while *vārttā* and *daṇḍanīti* from expounders and administrators of law (*vakṭṛprayokṭṛbhyaḥ*).¹