Education in Ancient India c6.4

c6.4

Private teachers: Private teachers have all along been the sheet anchor of the educational system. In the prehistoric period, the followers of different Vedas had no doubt formed their own literary organisations like the *Parishads*, the *Śākhās*, and the *Charaṇas*, but curiously enough these do not seem to have ever made any concerted effort to form educational institutions, which would hand down to the next generation the literature of which they were the custodians. This need not cause any surprise. The sacred texts required each Brahmana to devote himself to the cause of teaching in his individual capacity, and the injunction was very largely followed. Each learned Brahmana was thus an educational institution by himself. The *Parishads* or councils of famous scholars of the different centres or tribes therefore did not feel it necessary to organise public educational institutions of the modern type, worked with the co-operation and assistance of a number of teachers. Famous capitals and holy places like Taxila and Benares were centres of a number of famous scholars, but they also imparted education in their individual capacity, and did not as a rule combine to form any colleges. If the number of pupils under any teacher happened to be large, he would either engage an assistant teacher, or assign part of the work to brilliant advanced students.¹ Neither step however would change the individual character of the school. How private teachers organised and imparted education and how they were supported has already been described in Chap. III. It may be observed in passing that in ancient Athens also education was for a long time imparted by private teachers and not in public institutions. The first real founder of public schools in Europe is believed to be Charlmaigne the Great (800 A. D.); his death however completely frustrated his schemes.¹