Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c7.2

c7.2

**The King: His Education.** A large part of administrative work devolved upon the king. He had to go through a course of education to fit him for the work. We have already seen how Chandragupta was specially fortunate in having as his preceptor a scholar of encyclopaedic learning like Chāṇakya who gave him the best possible education then available in the country for a period of as many as 8 years at Taxila. Kauṭilya [I. 5] indicates the contents of the education prescribed for Princes. The first requisite of education is stated to be Discipline (*Vinaya*) comprising the following qualities: (1) Desire for learning (*Śuśrūshā*) (2) Cultivation of the truth learnt ((*Śravaṇam*) (3) Grasping what is learnt (*Grahaṇam*) (4) Retaining what is grasped (*Dhāraṇam*) (5) Knowledge of ways and means of achieving the truth learnt (*Vijñānam*) (6) Inference (*Ūha*) (7) Deliberation.