The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t3: Elementary Persian Schools: (pp.148-153)

The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t3

Language: English

c8.s1.t3.2 — 4 parts

Elementary Persian Schools: (pp.148-153)

c8.s1.t3.1

The Persian schools in Nattore are four in number, containing twenty-three scholars, who enter school at any age varying from four and a half to thirteen years, and leave it at an age varying from twelve to seventeen. The whole time stated to be spent at school varies from four to eight years. The teachers intellectually are of a higher grade than the teachers of Bengali schools, although that grade is not high compared with what is to be desired and is attainable. Morally, they appear to have as little notion as Bengali teachers of the salutary influence they might exercise on the dispositions and characters of their pupils. They have no fees from the scholars and are paid in the form of fixed monthly allowances with perquisites. The monthly allowances vary from one rupee eight annas to four rupees, and they are paid by one, two or three families, who are the principal supporters of the school. The perquisites, which are estimated at two rupees eight annas to six rupees a month, and consist of food, washing, and other personal expenses, are provided either by the same parties or by those parents who do not contribute to the monthly allowance. The total remuneration of a teacher varies from four to ten rupees per month, averaging about seven rupees. The principal object of the patrons of these schools is the instruction of their own children; but in one instance a worthy old Mussalman, who has no children, contributes a small monthly allowance, without which the teacher would not have sufficient inducement to continue his labours; and in another case besides two children of the family, ten other boys are admitted, on whom instruction, food, and clothing, are gratuitously bestowed. Two of the schools have separate school-houses, which were built by the benevolent patrons who principally support them. The scholars of the other two assemble in out-buildings belonging to one or other of the families whose children receive instruction.

c8.s1.t3.2.1

Although in the Persian schools printed books are unknown, yet manuscript works are in constant use. The general course of instruction has no very marked stages or gradations into which it is divided. Like the Hindus, however, the Mussalmans formally initiate their children into the study of letters. When a child, whether a boy or a girl, is four years, four months, and four days old, the friends of the family assemble, and the child is dressed in his best clothes, brought in to the company, and seated on a cushion in the presence of all. The alphabet, the form of letters used for computation, the introduction to the Koran, some verses of Chapter LV, and the whole of Chapter LXXXVII, are placed before him, and he is taught to pronounce them in succession. If the child is self-willed, and refuses to read, he is made to pronounce the Bismillah, which answers every purpose, and from that day his education is deemed to have commenced. At school he is taught the alphabet, as with ourselves, by the eye and ear, the forms of the letters being presented to him in writing and their names pronounced in his hearing, which he is required to repeat until he is able to connect the names and the forms with each other in his mind. The scholar is afterwards made to read the thirteenth section of the Koran, the chapters of which are short, and are generally used at the times of prayer and in the burial service.

c8.s1.t3.2.2

The words are marked with the diacritical points in order that the knowledge of letters, their junction and correct orthography and their pronunciation from the appropriate organs may be thoroughly acquired; but the sense is entirely unknown. The next book put into his hands is the *Pandanameh* of Sadi, a collection of moral sayings, many of which are above his comprehension, but he is not taught or required to understand any of them. The work is solely used for the purpose of instructing him in the art of reading and of forming a correct pronunciation, without any regard to the sense of the words pronounced. It is generally after this that the scholar is taught to write the letters, to join vowels and consonants, and to form syllables. The next book is the *Amadnameh*, exhibiting the forms of conjugating the Persian verbs which are read to the master and by frequent repetition committed to memory. The first book which is read for the purpose of being understood is the *Gulistan* of Sadi, containing lessons on life and manners and this followed or accompanied by the *Bostan* of the same author. Two or three sections of each are read; and simultaneously short Persian sentences relating to going and coming, sitting and standing, and the common affairs of life, are read and explained.

c8.s1.t3.2.3

The pupil is afterwards made to write Persian names, then Arabic names and next Hindi names, especially such as contain letters to the writing or pronunciation of which difficulty is supposed to attach. Elegant penmanship is considered a great accomplishment, and those who devote themselves to this art employ from three to six hours every day in the exercise of it, writing first single letters, then double or treble, then couplets, quatrains, etc. They first write upon a board with a thick pen, then with a finer pen on pieces of paper pasted together; and last of all, when they have acquired considerable command of the pen, they begin to write upon paper in single fold. This is accompanied or followed by the perusal of some of the most popular poetical productions such as Joseph and Zuleikha, founded on a well-known incident in Hebrew history; the loves of Leila and Majnun; the *Secundar Nameh* an account of the exploits of Alexander the Great, etc., etc. The mode of computing by the Abjad, or letters of the alphabet, is also taught, and is of two sorts; in the first, the letters of the alphabet in the order of the Abjad being taken to denote units, tens, and hundreds to a thousand; and in the second the letters composing the names of the letters of the alphabet being employed for the same purpose.

c8.s1.t3.2.4

Arithmetic, by means of the Arabic numerals, and instruction at great length in the different styles of address, and in the forms of correspondence, petitions, etc., etc., complete a course of Persian instruction. But in the Persian schools of this district, this course is very superficially taught, and some of the teachers do not even profess to carry their pupils beyond the *Gulistan* and *Bostan*.

c8.s1.t3.3

In a Persian school, after the years of mere childhood, when the pupils are assumed to be capable of stricter application, the hours of study with interval extend from six in the morning to nine at night. In the first place in the morning they revise the lessons of the previous day, after which a new lesson is read, committed to memory, and reported to the master. About mid-day they have leave of absence for an hour when they dine, and on their return to school they are instructed in writing. About three o’clock they have another reading lesson which is also committed to memory, and about an hour before the close of day they have leave to play. The practice with regard to the forenoon and afternoon lessons in reading, is to join the perusal of a work in prose with that of a work in verse; as the *Gulistan* with the *Bostan* and Abdulfazl’s letters with the *Secundar Nameh*, the forenoon lesson being taken from one and the afternoon lesson from the other. In the evening they repeat the lessons of that day several times, until they have them perfectly at command; and, after making some preparation for the lessons of the next day, they have leave to retire. Thursday every week is devoted to the revision of old lessons; and when that is completed, the pupils seek instruction or amusement according to their own pleasure in the perusal of forms of prayer and stanzas of poetry, and are dismissed on that day at three o’clock without any new lesson. On Friday, the sacred day of Mussalmans, there is no schooling. In other districts in respectable or wealthy Mussalman families, besides the literary instructor called *Miyan* or *Akhun*, there is also a domestic tutor or *Censor Morum* called *Atalik*, a kind of head-servant whose duty it is to train the children of the family to good manners, and to see that they do not neglect any duty assigned to them; but I do not find any trace of this practice in Rajshahi.

c8.s1.t3.4

Upon the whole the course of Persian instruction, even in its less perfect forms such as are found to exist in this district, has a more comprehensive character and a more liberal tendency than pursued in the Bengali schools. The systematic use of books although in manuscript is a great step in advance, accustoming the minds of the pupils to forms of regular composition, to correct and elegant language, and to trains of consecutive thought, and thus aiding both to stimulate the intellect and to form the taste. It might be supposed that the moral bearing of some of the text books would have a beneficial effect on the character of the pupils; but as far as I have been able to observe or ascertain, those books are employed like all the rest solely for the purpose of conveying *lessons in language*—lessons in the knowledge of sounds and words in the construction of sentences, or in anecdotal information, but not for the purpose of sharpening the moral perceptions or strengthening the moral habits. This in general native estimation does not belong to the business of instruction, and it never appears to be thought of or attempted. Others will judge from their own observation and experience whether the Mussalman character, as we see it in India, has been formed or influenced by such a course of instruction. The result of my own observations is that of two classes of persons, one exclusively educated in Mahomedan, and the other in Hindu literature; the former appears to me to possess an intellectual superiority, but the moral superiority does not seem to exist.