Education in Ancient India c6.51

c6.51

**Curtailment of Holidays:** In course of time most of the holidays mentioned in the last paragraph were abolished. Curriculum was getting heavier and some reasons had to be found for departing from the old tradition. Some authorities, therefore, started the theory that prohibition of studies under abnormal weather condition referred only to loud recitations; silent reading was not intended to be interdicted.¹ Others held that non-Vedic works could be studied on the official holidays.² It would appear that in later times discretion was given to different institutions as to what holidays should be permitted by them to their students. Holidays allowed to the youngsters were to be more numerous than those to be allowed to advanced students.³ This was certainly a very sound educational principle. In the case of serious students, apart from the four monthly holidays, studies seem to have been suspended since early times only when they themselves or the place they were studying was impure.⁴