Education in Ancient India c10.s1.2

c10.s1.2

Some general Features : Medical education was usually imparted by private teachers. There was a ritual at the admission of students which will be described in Appendix 1, E. The student had to be well grounded in Sanskrit, for most of the books on medicine were written in that language. Learning by rote was condemned ; Suśruta compares a person having only a verbal knowledge of the medical texts to a donkey conscious of the heaviness but not of the quality of the burden it carries. Specialisation was encouraged ; students were expected to master the different branches of learning from different experts.¹ Practical training in surgery and pharmacy and constant discussion of abstruse points among the students and teachers were some of the important features of the training.²