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The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s4.t4: The Second Report: Survey of Nattore Thana

The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s4.t4

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The Second Report: Survey of Nattore Thana

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The second report was wholly devoted to Adam’s study of the situation in the Thana of Nattore in the district of Rajshahy. It was like a modern pilot survey in which Adam developed his Table: 10: INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING ACCORDING TO POST-1800 OTHER SOURCES WITH ADAM'S OBSERVATIONS

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| District or place | | Population Estimate* | Hindoo Muslim Ratio | Institutions of Higher Learning mentioned in Post-1800 accounts with Adam's observations |
| Dinajpur | (p.16) | 30,00,000 (1808) | 3 to 7 | Buchanan: 16; Adam: some mistake as Districts adjoin |
| Purnea | (p.16) | 14,50,000 (1801) 29,04,380 (1810) | 57 to 47 | Buchanan: 119 |
| Calcutta | (p.17) | 2,00,000 (1822) (Approx.) | | Ward: (1818): 28, Scholars: 173 |
| Nuddea | (p.17) (p.78) (p.79) (p.81) (p.81) | 7,64,430 (1802) | 11 to 5 | Ward: (1818) 31, Scholars: 747, Logic, Law. H.H. Wilson: (1820): 25, Scholars 500-600 Authorities: (1816) 46, Scholars: 380 Ward: 7-8 Ward: 7-8 |
| (i) Koomaru Hutta (ii) Bhatpara | | | | |
| 24 Pergunnahs | (p.22) | 16,25,000 (1801) | | Hamilton: (1801): 190 |
| (i) Juyunugor (ii) Mujilee Pooroo (iii) Andolee | (p.22) (p.22) (p.22) | | | Ward: 17-18 Ward: 17-18 Ward: 10-12 |
| Midnapore | (pp.50-51) | 15,00,000 (1801) | 6 to 1 | Hamilton: None, Adam: 40 |
| Cuttack (Puri) | (p.54) | 12,96,365 | 10 to 1 | Stirling: Principal Street of 'Maths' |
| Hugly | (pp.57-58) | 10,00,000 (1801) | 3 to 1 | Ward: (1818), Hamilton: (1801): 150, Law |
| (i) Vansariya (ii) Triveni | | | | Logic: 12-14 :7-8 |

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methods and fashioned his tools for the more extensive survey which was his primary aim. The results of this Nattore survey of 485 villages were tabulated, village by village, by Adam. Further details were provided for some of them in another tabulation. The population of this Thana was 1,20,928; the number of families 30,028 (in the proportion of one Hindoo to two Muslims); the number of elementary schools 27, and of schools of learning 38 (all these latter being Hindoo). In 1,588 families (80% of these being Hindoo), children occasionally received instruction at home. The number of scholars in elementary schools was 262, and education in them was between the ages of 8-14; while the scholars in schools of learning were 397, 136 of these being local persons and 261 from distant places, the latter also receiving both food and lodging. The average period of study in these latter institutions was 16 years, from about the age of 11 to the age of 27. However, while the number in elementary schools was so low, these 485 villages nonetheless had 123 native general medical practitioners, 205 village doctors, 21 mostly Brahmin smallpox inoculators practising according to the old Indian method,⁶⁰ 297 women-midwives, and 722 snake conjurors.

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*The Third Report: Survey of Five Districts*

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The third report of Adam has the most data. In this report, Adam gives the findings of his surveys in part of the district of Murshedabad (20 *thanas* with a population of 1,24,804 out of 37 *thanas* with a total district population of 9,69,447), and the whole of the districts of Beerbhoom and Burdwan in Bengal, and of South Behar and Tirhoot in Bihar. In one *thana* of each district, Adam carried out the enquiries personally and also gathered additional information. In the rest, it was done for him according to his instructions and proformas by his trained Indian assistants. Earlier, Adam's intention was to visit every village in person; but he found that ‘the sudden appearance of a European in a village often inspired terror, which it was always difficult, and sometimes impossible, to subdue.’(p.214) He, therefore, gave up this idea of a personal visit to every village; in part to save time.

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*Language-wise Division*

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The total number of schools of all types in the selected districts numbered 2,566. These schools were divided into Bengali (1,098), Hindi (375), Sanskrit (353), Persian (694), Arabic (31), English (8), Girls (6), and infants (1). The number of schools in the district of Midnapore was also given: 548 Bengali schools, 182 Oriya schools, 48 Persian schools, and one English school. *Table 11* gives the position, district-wise:

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Table 11: NUMBER AND TYPE OF SCHOOLS

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| Type of School | Mursh-idabad (p. 223) (part Dist.) | Beer-bhom (p. 224) (whole Dist.) | Burd-wan (p. 225) (whole Dist.) | South Behar (p. 226) (whole Dist.) | Tirhoot (p. 226) (whole Dist.) | Total of Sur-veyed Dists | Midna-pore (p. 222) (whole Dist.) |
| BENGALI | 62 | 407 | 629 | | | 1,098 | 548 |
| HINDI | 5 | 5 | | 285 | 80 | 375 | |
| ORIYA | | | | | | | 182 |
| SANSCRIT | 24 | 56 | 190 | 27 | 56 | 353 | |
| PERSIAN | 17 | 71 | 93 | 279 | 234 | 694 | 48 |
| ARABIC | 2 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 4 | 31 | |
| ENGLISH | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | | 8 | 1 |
| GIRLS | 1 | 1 | 4 | | | 6 | |
| INFANTS | | | | | | 1 | |
| | 113 | 544 | 931 | 604 | 374 | 2,556 | 779 |

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*Four Stages of School Instruction*

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Adam divided the period spent in elementary schools into four stages. According to him these were: the *first* stage, seldom exceeding ten days, during which the young scholar was taught ‘to form the letters of the alphabet on the ground with a small stick or slip of bamboo’, or on a sandboard. The *second* stage, extending from two and a half to four years, was ‘distinguished by the use of the palm leaf as the material on which writing is performed’, and the scholar was ‘taught to write and read’, and commit ‘to memory the *Cowrie* Table, the Numeration Table as far as 100, the *Katha* Table (a land measure Table), and the *Ser* Table’, etc. The *third* stage extended ‘from two to three years, which are employed in writing on the plantain-leaf.’ Addition, subtraction, and other arithmetical rules were additionally taught during this period. In the *fourth*, and last stage, of up to two years, writing was done on paper. The scholar was expected to be able to read the *Ramayana*, *Mansa Mangal*, etc., at home, as well as be qualified in accounts, and the writing of letters, petitions, etc. *Table 12* indicates the numbers, using the various materials on which writing was done in the surveyed areas.

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