Education in Ancient India c3.21

c3.21

Influence of Self-confidence: Self-confidence was also fostered equally well. The Upanayana ritual, as we shall see in Appendix I. B, used to foster self-confidence by pointing out that divine powers would co-operate with the student and help him on to the achievement of his goal, if he on his part did his duty well. Poverty need not depress him; he was the ideal student who would subsist by begging his daily food. If he was willing to work in his spare time, he could demand and get free education from any teacher or institution. Selfreliance is the mother of self-confidence, and the Hindu educational system seeks to develop it in a variety of ways, as we shall see in the following pages. Uncertainty of the future prospect did not damp the student's self-confidence. If he was following a professional course, his career was already determined. There was no overcrowding or cut-throat competition in professions. If he was taking religious and liberal education, poverty was to be the ideal of his life. His needs ought to be, and as a matter of fact were, few, and the state and society supplied them well.