Education in Ancient India c12.s2.t4.2

c12.s2.t4.2

Educational Achievements of the Age :—India continued to enjoy the reputation of an international centre of education during this period also. Down to c. 900 A. D. Tibetan and Chinese students continued to flock in her eastern Universities, and her doctors used to be summoned in Western Asia for curing royal patients and organising state hospitals. Education had not become mere book learning; Indian teachers excited admiration of foreign students by their remarkable powers of explanation and exposition. Graduates of this period were remarkable for their logical acumen and mastery in Sanskrit, though the latter was no longer the spoken tongue. Facilities for free higher education continued to be ample; if with the decline of Buddhism the number of monastic colleges decreased, the loss was more than compensated by the rise of numerous temple colleges. Brahmacharya discipline no doubt became nominal owing to early marriages; even married students, however, showed commendable perseverance in pursuing protracted courses of studies. Poor students continued to maintain themselves by begging if necessary; the number of teachers eager to follow the high code of the profession, which enjoined free tuition, still continued to be very large. Society's earnestness for education was thus remarkable.