Education in Ancient India c10.s4.16

c10.s4.16

Was Professional Education narrow?: Prima facie the professional education as given by the apprenticeship system seems to be narrow; the student seems to have been taught only what the tradition and works of his profession had to teach. There is, however, some historical evidence to show that many of the artists and artisans of the age used to possess a good amount of cultural and literary education as well. Thus some of the members of the weavers' guilds at Daśapura (in Malva) used to take active interest in astronomy and folklore during the 5th century A. D. There is no evidence to prove or disprove that what was true of this guild at Mandsore was true of the average artisan of the period. The conclusion may, however, be hazarded that down to the 8th or the 9th century A. D. artisans of the highest grade used to receive a fair amount of liberal education. Later on owing to the decline of literacy and the low esteem in which arts and handicrafts began to be held, there was a setback and artisans began to blindly follow the processes that were handed down to them by tradition.