Education in Ancient India c9.s2.5

c9.s2.5

i. e. Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. Even in modern times when this ritual has become a mere formality, we find that the percentage of literacy is fairly high among those castes which still go throug hits formality. We may therefore well conclude that the case was similar, if not much better, in the past. Since Upanayana of both boys and girls was universal among the Aryans at c. 600 B. C. we may well conclude that the percentage of literacy among them must also have been very high. It may have been as high as 80 percent. We can now understand the proud claim of an Upanishadic king that there was no illiterate person in his kingdom.¹ This was a natural consequence of an obligatory Upanayna being followed by genuine Vedic and literary studies.