Education in Ancient India c8.s4.6

c8.s4.6

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