The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c5.s21.5

c5.s21.5

4. It appears that there are no schools in the zillah which are endowed by the public and no colleges for teaching Theology, Law, Astronomy, etc., in this district; these sciences are privately taught to some scholars or disciples generally by the Bramins learned in them, without payment of any fee or reward, and that the Bramins who teach are generally maintained by means of Mauneom land which have been granted to their ancestors by the ancient Zemindars of this zillah, and by the former governments on different accounts, but there appears no instance in which the Native Governments have granted allowances in money and land merely for the maintenance of the teachers for giving instruction in the above sciences. By the information which has been got together on this subject, it appears that there are 171 places where Theology, Law and Astronomy, etc., are taught privately, and the number of disciples in them is 939. The readers of these sciences cannot generally get teachers in their respective villages and are therefore obliged to go to others. In which cases if the reader belongs to a family that can afford to support him he gets what is required for his expenses from his home and which is estimated at 3 rupees per month, but which is only sufficient to supply him with his victuals; and if on the other hand his family is in too indigent circumstances to make such allowance, the student procures his daily subsistence from the houses in the village, where taught, which willingly furnish such by turns.