Education in Ancient India c6.s1.17

c6.s1.17

The Example of the Punjab: That the tradition to help the cause of education was deep-rooted in society would become quite clear from what we know about the state of the Punjab on the eve of the British conquest. Dr. Leitner, its first Educational Commissioner, observes. "Respect for learning has always been the redeeming feature of the East. To this the Punjab formed no exception. Torn by invasions and civil war, it ever preserved and added to educational institutions. The most unscrupulous chief, the avaricious money-lender and even the free-booter vied with the small money-lender in making peace with his conscience by founding schools and rewarding the learned. There was not a mosque, a temple or a Dharmashālā that had not a school attached to it, to which the youths flocked chiefly for religious education. There were few wealthy men who did not entertain a Maulavi, a Pandit or a Guru to teach their sons, and along with them, the sons of their friends and dependents. There were hundreds of religious men who gratuitously taught their coreligionists, and sometimes all comers, for the sake of God. There was not a single villager who did not take pride in devoting a portion of his produce to a respected teacher.” For obvious reasons the reverence for education in other parts of India in the ancient period could not have been less sincere and deep than it was in the Punjab at the advent of the British rule.