Education in Ancient India c13.s1.2

c13.s1.2

The Hold of Religion:—Religion had an immense hold over the Hindu mind and many of the admirable features of the educational system have to be attributed to this circumstance, as shown already. It did not make the educational outlook ‘otherworldly’, as is supposed in certain quarters. The ideals of the Vānaprastha and the Sanyāsa were no doubt purely spiritual, but such was not the case with the ideals of the educational system. It aimed at producing youths eminently fit to perform their civic and social duties; if any spiritual merit for the life to come was to result from Brahmacharya, it was to be through the proper performance of duties, which however were principally determined with a view to make the student an efficient and God-fearing citizen.