Education in Ancient India c10.s3: Commercial Education
Education in Ancient India c10.s3
- Language
- English
Commercial Education
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General Condition of Commerce
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Scope of Commercial Education
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¹ IX, 881-882.
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³ II, 16.
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duties were relatively light. The needs of the people of the various localities were to be carefully studied with a view to find out possible markets. A knowledge of different places and occasions of fares and pilgrimages was also imparted as it was necssary in this connection. The knowledge of the relative prices of different articles in different provinces and countries was also regarded as essential. Students were also taught the exchange value of articles and also of different currencies in various provinces and countries. Those who intended to deal with inter-provincial or inter-national trade were also given a working knowledge of the necessary languages. Principles of banking also formed part of the course. It is difficult to determine the percentage of persons in the trading community who received so wide an education. In the hereditary trading families of high status, all this education may have been a reality ; much of it must have been unconsciously picked up by the youths in the family shops. In the case of petty merchants the extent of the education was probably determined by the needs of the situation.
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Agencies of Education :—During the first millennium of the Christian era, most of the trades in the country had formed very efficient guilds. One of them is known to have maintained an Arts college in Karnatak during the 12th century A.D.¹ It is however strange to find that the commercial guilds should not have organised and managed commercial schools and colleges. The reason however is not far to seek. Down to the 5th century A.D. organised educational institutions did not exist even for literary courses. When they became fairly common in the country a few centuries later, commercial classes did not feel it necessary to copy their example. By this time the caste system had become hereditary and the training in different trades and industries was usually imparted in the family itself by the elders. Where there were no elders in the family to train its children, they were usually attached as apprentices to some neighbouring trader or artisan. This apprenticeship system, which will be soon described, rendered any regular schools of the modern type unnecessary.
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¹ I.A., Vol. VIII, p. 195.