Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c6.s2.29

c6.s2.29

The particulars about the life of the students are very few in the stories. But from these few we at least find, that the students led a very simple life. Even the aristocratic princes came there with the modest equipment of a pair of onesoled sandals (ekatālika upānaha), a sunshade of leaves (paṇṇachattam) and a thousand pieces of money as the teacher's fees, of which not a single piece was probably left for private use.⁶ In other ways also the life of the students at the University was under strict control of the teacher, so much so that they were not even free to go to a river for bath, except in the company of the teacher.⁷ Their standing duty was to gather firewood in the forests, and also personal service to the teacher.⁸ Their food was also simple consisting mainly of rice-gruel (yāgu) or simple rice (bhatta), and prepared by a maid of the teacher's house.⁹ At invitations, which were not infrequent, they were given sugar-cane (ucchu), molasses (guḷam), curd and milk (dadhikhīram).¹⁰