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Education in Ancient India c8.s4: Method of Teaching and Study

Education in Ancient India c8.s4

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English

Method of Teaching and Study

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General Conditions of the Times: Before describing and commenting upon the method of teaching and study current in ancient India, it is necessary that we should familiarise ourselves with the general conditions of the age. In the beginning the art of writing was unknown, and even when it was invented, it was not utilised for preserving and transmitting the Vedic literature, which for several centuries was the main topic of study. It was further held as imperatively necessary that the canonical literature should be memorised in the most meticulous way; there should be no possibility of the mistake even of a single accent. The service of the art of writing was no doubt utilised for preserving and teaching non-Vedic literature, but owing to the absence of paper and printing, books could be within the reach of the rich only. Being written on biroh leaves, they were fragile as well as costly. The average student could therefore not have his own copy of the text-book;¹ even the desire to possess one was regarded as a symptom of indolence.² Under such circumstances, extensive use of a library was altogether impracticable, nor could the help of visual instruction through the help of charts and pictures be possible. Oral instruction was the only available method of teaching and it was the cheapest and the most accurate.

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1. गीती शीघ्री शिर:कंपी तथा लिखितपाठक: ।
अनर्थज्ञोऽल्पकण्ठश्च षडेते पाठकाधमा: ॥
Pāṇinīya-śikshā, 32.

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2. चूतं पुस्तकशुश्रूषा नाटकसकिरेव च ।
प्रियस्तन्द्री च निद्रा च विद्याविघ्नकराणि षट् ॥
Nārada in S. O. S. p. 52.

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Method of Teaching in the Vedic Schools: Education therefore was for a long time imparted through the oral lesson, without the medium of a book. This method persisted in the Vedic schools down to recent times. The teacher used to pronounce only two words of the Vedic stanza at a time, which the student was asked to recite with exact intonation and accent. The number of words was reduced to one, if the expression happened to be a compound one.¹ If the student had any difficulty in the matter, it was explained to him. When a whole verse was thus taught to one student, he was dismissed and the same process was repeated with the next one. Necessarily every student used to receive individual attention under this system. The method of teaching was direct and personal and not even a text-book intervened between the teacher and the student.

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¹ Rik-prātiśākhya, Paṭala, XV.

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Method of Teaching in non-Vedic Schools: The above method of teaching was extensively followed in other branches of learning also, no doubt with suitable modifications, when it was deemed necessary that certain texts should be memorised by the student. Small portions of the text were recited and explained by the teacher to the students; when they had understood them, each one was required to commit them to memory. It was in this way that students used to learn important books like the grammar of Pāṇini, the dictionary of Amara, the law-book of Manu or the work on poetics by Mammaṭa, which had to be committed to memory. Books being both costly and fragile, there was no other efficient alternative method of study, if it was desired that students should aquire a mastery in their subjects, which should stand them in good stead throughout their lives. Learning in ancient times had to be at the tip of the tongue; a scholar asking for time to consult his notes or books could carry no prestige.¹ The highest ambition of an author of even the 12th century A. D. was, not that his work may adorn the shelves of the libraries of the learned, but that it may shine as an ornament on their neck, i. e. it should be memorised by them.²

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Importance of Recitation and Recapitulation : Recitation and recapitulation therefore formed an important part in the daily routine of the student life. The home-work, which the student did in his spare time, did not consist of written exercises; it merely amounted to the recitation and recapitulation of lessons learnt already. Every day students were required to spend a part of their time in the school in jointly reciting a portion of the work they had committed to memory. As a result of this training, the memory of the average student in ancient India was very highly developed; he could perform feats of memorising which now we may regard as impossible. I-tsing rather obscurely refers to certain interesting aids to memory owing to which, after the practice of ten or fifteen days, the student felt ‘his thoughts rising like a fountain and could commit to memory whatever he had but once heard’. ‘This is far from a myth,’

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१. पुस्तकस्था तु या विद्या परहस्तगतं धनम् ।
कार्यकाले समुत्पन्ने न सा विद्या न तद्धनम् ॥
S. R. B., p. 168 v. 413.
२. तेन प्रीत्या विरचितमिदं काव्यमव्याजकान्तं ।
कर्णाटेन्दोर्जगति विदुषां कण्ठभूषात्वमेयात् ॥
Vikramānkadevacharit, XVIII 102.

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says the Chinese traveller, ‘for I have myself met such men.¹ In an age when books were very rare, it was but meet that great emphasis should have been laid on the development of memory.

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¹ P. 188.

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Special devices to help the memory : Though the memory of the average student was much better trained and developed than is the case now, the authors and educationalists left no stone unturned to lighten its burden. Ancient Indian educationalists had realised that rhime makes an appeal to æsthetic sensibility and facilitates the task of memorising. They therefore decided to utilise its help in the teaching work by composing text books in verse. Even dictionaries and elementary books on grammar were composed in verse. The development of the Sūtra style, where conclusions are stated in short and pithy sentences, is also due to the exigencies of the schools and colleges, the students of which had to rely more on their memory than on books and notes for recalling the contents of the works once studied by them.

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Erroneous Impression about Cramming : The fact that the modern Vedic Pandit does not know the meaning of the hymns he recites with flawless accuracy, has led to an erroneous impression that mere cramming was encouraged by the ancient Indian educational system. Such however was not the case. We have already shown how for many centuries even Vedic scholars could expound the meaning of the hymns they had committed to memory; it was owing to the growth of the Vedic literature and the imperative necessity of committing the whole of it to memory, that it was reluctantly decided to assign the memorising of the Vedic texts to one section of Brahmanas and their exposition to another. It had become humanly impossible to expect both the tasks to be done by the same individual.

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The Place of Exposition in Teaching: It is no doubt true that some Sūtra works like those on grammar and philosophy, which were committed to memory, are so cryptic as to be mostly unintelligible by themselves. They were written in that style merely to lighten the burden on the student's memory. Their teaching was accompanied by extensive lectures, some of which used to be later embodied in commentaries. The teaching of the important works on philosophy, logic and poetics was hardly possible without exhaustive discussions pertaining to the views expounded and controverted. In these discussions there was an unravelling of the subject matter, distinctions and contra-distinctions were drawn, and an effort was made to show the reasonableness of one's position and the errors of the opponent¹. The students of the various schools of orthodox and heterodox systems of religion and philosophy reading under Divākarasena used to listen to the exposition of their respective systems, deliberate on their natures, discuss their features, raise doubts on obscure themes, determine for themselves the main outlines and enter into discussion with the opponents². The same procedure must have been followed in other colleges of philosophy. Reasoning and analysis formed the crux of the method of study and teaching. The medium of instruction in higher studies was naturally Sanskrit; when however Prakrits and vernaculars developed, their help was also occasionally taken¹.

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¹ Mil. Pan. Vol. I, p. 46.

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² Harshacharit, Chap. VIII.

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¹ संस्कृतैः प्राकृतैर्वाक्यैः शिष्यमनुरूपतः । देशभाषाद्युपायैश्च बोधयेत्स गुरुः स्मृतः ॥ Vishnudharma quoted by V.M.S., p. 72 (Jivanand's editio

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Testimony of Chinese Pilgrims : Indian teachers were past masters in the art of explanation and exposition; students from distant countries like Korea and China used to brave the dangers of the perilous journey to India, not because they wanted to learn by rote the scriptures of their religion, but because they were anxious to hear the exposition of obscure metaphysical passages which could be heard nowhere else. What Yuan Chwang valued in his Indian teachers was not their capacity to recite the sacred texts, but their remarkable ability in explaining obscure passages and offering illuminative suggestions on doubtful points.² About his Indian gurus, I-tsing says, ‘I have been always very glad that I had an opportunity of aquiring knowledge from them personally, which I should otherwise have never possessed’³

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² Beal, Life, pp. 76, 154, 160

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³ P. 185

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The Place of Debates : Since early times, debates and discussions have always played an important part in the literary training of students. The Vedic literature refers to such literary combats and describes how the victors were suitably honoured (R. V., X. 71). This Vedic tradition continued throughout the later history. Śāstrārthas or learned debates were constantly held in colleges where students of literature, poetics, philosophy and logic were called upon to defend their own propositions and attack those of their opponents. The training in debates made students ready-witted and developed their powers of speech.

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Other Devices in Teaching: The use of parables was often made in expounding obscure principles, as would appear from the plot of the *Hitopadeśa* and the *Pañchatantra*, where principles of politics are taught under the guise of telling stories about animals. The dialogue method was followed by many a philosopher, as would appear from the evidence of the Upanishads and the Buddhist Sūtras.¹ It enabled the teacher to ascertain the reactions in the student's mind to his own observations. The value of comparison and observation was also realised by many teachers who used to develop the power of understanding of dull students by asking them to carefully observe new facts and compare them with those already known.²

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¹ It is interesting to note that many of the commentaries are in the form of a dialogue between the teacher and the student. The earlier part advances a view such as a student may be expected to hold as plausible, the later part contains its correction or refutation, as may be done by a teacher in his lecture.

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² *Jātaka* No. 124.

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Individual Attention: We have already shown at pp. 82-3 how the classes in ancient India were usually small ones, consisting of not more than 15 or 20 students. It was therefore possible to give individual attention to each student. This was one of the strongest points in the ancient Indian system of education. Lectures to large classes of 100 or 200 students, which are unintelligible to some, superfluous to others and partially useful to the rest, were unknown in ancient India. Students could not afford to go to the class room without thorough preparation. There was a daily examination of every student and no new lesson was given until the old one was thoroughly mastered.³ There were no annual examinations and mass promotions at fixed intervals.

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³ *Mil Pan.*, I, p. 18.

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Clever students were not compelled to mark time for their dull companions as under the modern system of education. The educational system ministered to the needs and individual capactity of each student. If a student was intelligent and industrious, he could finish his education much earlier than is possible in modern times. The idle and careless student had not as pleasant a prospect of a merry college life as he has in the present age. Yuan Chwang says, ‘When disciples, intelligent and accute, are addicted to idle shirking, teachers doggedly persevere in repeating instructions until their training is finished’.¹ The Chinese traveller was very favourably impressed by the capacity of Indian teachers to rouse their students to activity and urge them to progress.

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¹ Watters, I, p. 160.

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Monitorial System: In order to make personal supervision effective, the cooperation and help of advanced students were enlisted in the cause of education. They used to guide the studies of the juniors under the general supervision of their teachers. About the Valabhi college students, I-tsing observes that they used to pass two or three years, ‘instructed by their teachers and instructing others’.² This system also obtained at Taxila; for instance, the Kuru prince Sutasoma, who aquired proficiency earlier, was entrusted with the teaching of his brother prince, the heir apparent of Benares.³ Senior students at Taxila were often put in charge of their schools during the temporary absence of their teachers.⁴ This method of entrusting teaching work to brilliant students had a great educational value.

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² P. 177.

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³ Sutasoma-Jātaka, No. 587.

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⁴ E. g., Sukha-vihāri Jātaka, No. 10.

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It placed a high incentive before the student world. It afforded opportunities to intelligent students to learn the art of teaching, and thus indirectly performed the same function as the Teachers' Training Colleges discharge today. It increased the efficiency and decreased the cost of the school by affording intelligent and free assistance to the teacher. It is well known that Bell and Lancaster had based their Monitorial System on what one of them had observed in contemporary Indian schools.

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Conclusion : It will be seen from the above discussion that the method of teaching followed in ancient India was on the whole the best suited for an age, which did not enjoy the advantages of paper and printing. It developed the powers of memory, a faculty which is being sadly neglected in modern times. It did not however encourage cramming, bacause the texts that were memorised were well understood by students. Reflection and analysis was also encouraged especially in the case of those students who had taken logic, philosophy, poetics or literature. Lucid exposition was a *forte* of Indian teachers, for which they were well known all over Asia during the first millennium of the Christian era. Debates were a normal feature of higher education. Individual attention was paid to the needs of students, which naturally ensured good results. The student must however have intelligence.¹ Hindu educationalists have pointed out that the best method would not produce the ideal scholar at the end of the course automatically. Time also was an important factor. Maturity of intellect and scholarship would become possible only by the lapse of years properly utilised in reading and reflection by an intelligent student.¹

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¹ वितरति गुरुः प्राज्ञे विद्यां यथैव तथा जडे । न च खलु तयोर्ज्ञाने शक्तिं करोत्यपहन्ति वा ॥ भवति च तयोर्भूयान्भेदः फलं प्रति तद्यथा । प्रभवति मणिर्बिम्बोद्ग्राहे मणिर्न मृदां चयः ॥ *Uttararāmachairt*, Act, II.

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¹ आचार्यत्पादमादत्ते पादं शिष्यः स्वमेधया । पादं सब्रह्मचारिभ्यः पादं कालक्रमेण तु ॥ *Subhāṣitam*.

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