Education in Ancient India c7.s8: Agrahāra Villages as Centres of Learning
Education in Ancient India c7.s8
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Agrahāra Villages as Centres of Learning
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What is an Agrahara Village?: On auspicious occasions, kings used to invite learned Brahmanas, settle them in villages and assign their revenues to them for their maintenance. Such villages were called Agrahāra villages, and they naturally became centres of learning where higher education was imparted free in different branches of Sanskrit studies. We shall give here information about two such Agrahāra villages, which were typical of their class.
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Kadiyur Agrahara: The village of Kādiyur, modern Kalas, in Dharwar district in Karnatak, was made an Agrahāra village in the 10th century by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa administration, and assigned to 200 Brahmanas, who were well versed in Vedas, grammar, Purāṇas, logic works on polity, the science of literary composition and the art of writing commentaries.¹ The village was famous as an efficient centre of education and its Brahmana residents naturally were proud of its reputation. It may be pointed out that the educational activity of this Brahmana centre was not confined to the Vedic studies only; poetics, grammar, logic, Purāṇas and the political science were included in the curriculum. An endowment had been also received for the salaries of some teachers. A free feeding house was maintained in the village; it was most probably intended for the poor students studying in the local institution.
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¹ E. I., XIII. p. 317.
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Sarvajnapura Agrahara: Sarvajñapura (modern Arsikere in Hassan District, Mysore) was another Agrahāra village, which, as its name would indicate, was a famous centre of learning. An inscription discovered at this place gives us a graphic description of its literary and pedagogic activities. "In some of its streets the Brahmanas were reading the Vedas, Sāstras and six systems of philosophy; every group of Brahmanas was either reading the Vedas or engaged in listening to the exposition of some higher science, or carrying on ceaseless discussion on logic, or joyously reciting the Purāṇas or settling the meaning of the Smṛitis, drama or poetry. All the Brahmanas of Sarvajñapura were devoted to study, teaching and listening to the dictates of religion and morality."'¹
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¹ E. C., V, p. 144.
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Numerous centres of Higher Education: The above two Agrahāra villages were but typical of their class. As a rule in every Agrahāra village free instructions were given in different branches of Sanskrit learning by the Brahmana donees in return for the provision made for their livelihood by the state or sociey.² Sometimes non-Agrahāra villages also, like Bāhur, 15 miles south of Pondichery, were important centres of higher education receiving grants of the revenues of several villages because they were famous centres of well-known scholars, hailing from all parts of the country.³ Agrahāra villages and endowed temples and monasteries were fairly numerous in ancient India; there used to be at least two or three of them in an area equal to the modern district. We may therefore well conclude that centres for higher education were more numerous in medieval times (c. 600-1300 A. D.) than they are today in modern India.
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² Cf. एतेषु किलाग्रहारेषु केचिञ्पन्ति । अपरे पाठयन्ति । केचित्पठन्ति । अन्ये तत्वविद्यामुपदिशन्ति । इतरे अध्यापयन्ति । पश्य पश्य । Keralābharaṇam.
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³ E. I., XVIII, p. 14.
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*Tols*: Before concluding this chapter, it will be necessary to refer to *Tols* or Sanskrit schools which are still fairly numerous in Bengal, Bihar and United Provinces. From very early times, *Tols* have enjoyed grants of land, on which their teachers and pupils subsisted. These grants were augmented in value and new ones were created when the Zemindars felt themselves secure by the Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis¹. Where there was no specific endowment, the village Pandit used to arrange for the free boarding, lodging and clothing of his students by collecting the necessary funds by raising subscriptions at chief fairs and festivals, and from rich charitable persons. *Tols* thus are a variety of the *Agrahāra* type of educational institutions.
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¹ I. Report of the Bengal Provincial Committee, Education Commission, 1882.
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The classes are usually held in a thatched house. As a rule, each *Tol* enrolls about 25 students, who are accommodated in mud huts built round the school house. Study courses usually extend over six to eight years and enable the students to appear for the *Praveśikā* or Admission examination in Sanskrit.
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*Tradition of free Education*: It is indeed noteworthy that such tradition of free education should have persisted in spite of foreign rule of several centuries. Learned Brahmanas in India have always been anxious to impart education free to deserving students irrespective of their own financial condition. This tradition exists even today in ancient centres of Sanskrit education like Benares, Nasik, Wai and Nadia. The conclusion therefore seems to be irresistible that in the ancient and medieval periods of Indian history, every student, howsoever poor he may have been, could get the highest education free, provided he was willing, if necessary, to do some manual or menial work for his teacher. Poor parents had not to worry about the educational expenses; their sons could either find admission to free boarding houses or maintain themselves by begging their food daily, which was regarded as the most honorable means of livelihood.
Linked texts (1)
- Keralābharaṇa — Rāmacandra, Sanskrit