The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t5.4

c8.s1.t5.4

The means employed by the Mahomedan population of Bengal to preserve the appropriate learning of their faith and race are less systematic and organised than those adopted by the Hindoos; and to whatever extent they may exist, less enquiry has been made and less information is possessed respecting them. It is believed, however, that in the Lower as well as the Western Provinces, there are many private Mahomedan schools begun and conducted by individuals of studious habits who have made the cultivation of letters the chief occupation of their lives, and by whom the profession of learning is followed, not merely as a means of livelihood, but as a meritorious work productive of moral and religious benefit to themselves and their fellow creatures. Few, accordingly, give instruction for any stipulated pecuniary remuneration, and what they may receive is both tendered and accepted as an interchange of kindness and civility between the master and his disciple. The number of those who thus resort to the private instruction of masters is not great. Their attendance and application are guided by the mutual convenience and inclination of both parties, neither of whom is placed under any system nor particular rule of conduct. The success and progress of the scholar depend entirely on his own assiduity. The least dispute or disagreement puts an end to study, no check being imposed on either party, and no tie subsisting between them beyond that of casual reciprocal advantages which a thousand accidents may weaken or dissolve. The number of pupils seldom exceeds six. They are sometimes permanent residents under the roof of their masters, and in other instances live in their own families; and in the former case, if Mussalmans, they are supported at the teacher’s expense. In return, they are required to carry messages, buy articles in the bazar, and perform menial services in the house. The scholars in consequence often change their teachers, learning the alphabet and the other introductory parts of the Persian language of one, the *Pandnameh* of a second, the *Gulistan* of a third, and so on from one place to another, till they are able to write a tolerable letter and think they have learned enough to assume the title of *Munshi*, when they look out for some permanent means of subsistence as hangers-on at the Company’s Courts. The chief aim is the attainment of such a proficiency in the Persian language as may enable the student to earn a livelihood; but not, unfrequently, the Arabic is also studied, its grammar, literature, theology and law. A proper estimate of such a desultory and capricious mode of education is impossible.