The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s2.5

c4.s2.5

It is important to emphasize that indigenous education was carried out through *pathshalas*, *madrassahs* and *gurukulas*. Education in these traditional institutions—which were actually kept alive by revenue contributions by the community including illiterate peasants—was called *shiksha* (and included the ideas of *prajna*, *shil* and *samadhi*). These institutions were, in fact, the watering holes of the culture of traditional communities. Therefore, the term ‘school’ is a weak translation of the roles these institutions really played in Indian society.