History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.379

v2.c24.s1.379

A few words must now be said about the education of kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras. According to Gaut. XI. 3 a king should be well-grounded in the three Vedas and in Ānvīkṣikī (i. e. metaphysics) and in XI. 19 Gaut. says that the king has to rely for carrying out his duties on the veda, the dharmaśāstras, the subsidiary lores of the veda, the upavedas and purāṇas. Manu VII. 43 and Yāj. I. 311 say that a king should be proficient in the three Vedas, in metaphysics, in daṇḍanīti (the art of government and statecraft) and in *vārtā* (economic life and production of wealth). These directions were probably meant to be an ideal and very few kings ever went through all this. If any conclusions are to be drawn from the stories in the Mahābhārata, we may say that princes at least hardly ever went to a guru's home, but teachers were engaged to teach them (as Droṇa was engaged by Bhīṣma) and they became proficient in military skill. Alberuni (tr. by Sachau 1888, vol. I p. 125) says that brāhmaṇas taught the veda to kṣatriyas, but he is probably drawing only on the rules given in the smṛtis. Kings left ecclesiastical matters to their *purohita* and were always to rely on him for advice. Gaut.⁸⁸⁷ XI. 12-13 and Āp. Dh. S. II. 5. 10. 16 require that the purohita was to be a learned man of good birth, endowed with polished speech, a fine form, middle age and high character and that he was to be well-versed in dharma and artha. Āśv. gṛ. III. 12 describes how the purohita is to prepare the king for battle. Kauṭ. in his Arthaśāstra after stating several views gives his own opinion that the vidyās for a prince are four (the same as those of Manu and Yāj. above), that after the caula is performed the prince should learn the alphabet and arithmetic and when upanayana is performed he should learn the four vidyās till he is 16 years old and may then marry (I. 5), that in the first part of the day he should have instruction in elephant riding and horse riding, riding in chariots and in arms and the latter part of the day he should devote to hearing purāṇas, stories, dharmaśāstra and arthaśāstra (politics). In the Hathīgumpha Inscription (2nd century B. C.) there is a reference to *rūpa* (currency), *gaṇanā* (finance and treasury accounts), *lekha* (official correspondence) and *vyavahāra* (law and judicial administration) as the subjects which Khāravela mastered as heir-apparent from his 15th year to his 24th (vide E. I. vol. 20 p. 71 at p. 81, J. R. A. S. 1918 p. 545, I. H. Q. vol. 14 for 1938 p. 459 ff.). In the Kādambarī also Bāṇa shows that prince Candrāpīḍa did not go to a teacher's house but that a school was built for him outside the capital where he learnt from his 7th to the 16th year.