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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s14: The Teachers and the Pupils

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s14

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English

The Teachers and the Pupils

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Teachers were highly respected in those early days. The Rāyapaseniya mentions three kinds of teachers: the teacher of arts (kalāyariya), the teacher of crafts (sippāyariya) and the teacher of religion (dhammāyariya). It is stated that the body of the first two teachers should be anointed with oil, flowers should be offered to them, they should be given a bath, dressed and decorated, they should be invited for feast and should be offered gifts and adequate wages that might reach their descendants. Similarly, religious teachers should be worshipped, fed and should be furnished with the necessary religious paraphernalia² It is stated that a teacher must be fully qualified to teach his pupils. He must answer questions raised by his pupils without maintaining his relative superiority and he must not give irrelevant answers.³

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² *Thā.* 3 135, cf *Maru* II, 225 ff

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³ *Āva Nīr.* 136, also see H. R. Kapadia, The Jain system of education, *J. U. B.*, Jan. 1940, p 206 f.

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The relations between the teacher and the student were cordial and the latter was to hold the former in deep reverence. It is said of a good pupil that he always pays attention to the teachings of the preceptor, asks questions, hears the answers, grasps its meaning, reflects upon it, ascertains its validity, retains its meaning and practises accordingly.⁴ Further, a good pupil never disobeys his teacher or behaves roughly towards him; he never tells a lie and carries out his command like a thorough-bred horse. If he perceives the teacher in an angry mood he pacifies him by meekness, appeases him with folded hands and avows not to do wrong again It is stated that a pupil should not sit by the side of the teacher, nor before him, nor behind him, he should never ask questions when sitting on a stool or his bed, but rising from his seat and coming near, he should ask him with folded hands⁵ There were bad pupils too They got kicks (khaddayā) and blows (cavedā) from their teachers They were also beaten with sticks (vaha) and addressed with harsh words.⁶ Bad students are compared with bad bullocks who break down through want of zeal Such pupils, if sent on an errand, did not do what they were asked to do, but strolled about wherever they liked. Sometimes, the teachers were tired of such pupils, they left them to their fate and retired to the forest.⁷

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⁴ *Āva. Nīr* 22.

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⁵ *Uttarā.* 1, 13f, 12, 41, 18, 22.

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⁶ *ibid.* 38; also cf. *ibid*, 3, 65a; also cf. *Jātaka* (II, p. 279).

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⁷ *Uttarā.* 27. 8, 13, 16. Also see H. R. Kapadia, *op. cit.*, pp. 212-5.

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Pupils are also compared to a mountain, an earthen pot, a sieve, a filter, a royal swan, a buffalo, a ram, a mosquito, a leech, a cat, a pole-cat, a cow, a drum and an *Abhīrī*,⁸ each item showing the distinctive qualifications and disqualifications of the student world

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⁸ *Ava. Nir* 139, *Ava. cū*, pp. 121-4, *Bṛh. Bhā. Pī* 334.

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