The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t9: Nuddea: (pp. 75-82)
The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t9
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Nuddea: (pp. 75-82)
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The town of Nuddea was the capital of Hindoo principality anterior to the Mahommedan conquest, and in more recent times it has been a seat of Brahmanical learning. Hamilton remarks that, as a seat of learning, it must have apparently declined to a very obscure condition, as in 1801 the Judge and Magistrate, in reply to the Marquis Wellesley's queries, declared that he knew not of any seminaries within the district in which either the Hindoo or Mahomedan law was then taught. This statement curiously contrasts with the following details, and affords another illustration of a remark already made, that the educational institutions of the Hindoos have sometimes been most strangely overlooked.
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The celebrity of Nuddea as a school of Hindoo learning is wholly unconnected with any notion of peculiar sanctity as in the case of Benares. Its character as a university was probably connected with the political importance which belonged to it about the time of the Mahomedan invasion, as it seems to have been for a time the capital of Bengal. The princes of Bengal and the latter rajahs of Nuddea endowed certain teachers with lands for the instruction and maintenance of scholars, and the support thus given to pundits and pupils attracted a number of Brahmans to settle there, and gave a reputation to the district. The loss of all political consequence and the alleged resumption of most of the endowments have very much diminished the attraction of the site, but it still continues a place of learning and extensive repute.
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In 1811, Lord Minto, then Governor-General, proposed to establish a Hindoo college at Nuddea and another in Tirhoot, and set apart funds for that purpose. The design, however, was finally abandoned in favour of that of forming a similar institution on a larger scale, the present Sanskrit College in Calcutta. In the course of the correspondence which took place between government and the Committee of Superintendence provisionally appointed for the proposed college at Nuddea, the Committee stated, under date 9th July, 1816, that there were then in Nuddea 46 schools kept and supported by the most learned and respectable pundits of the place, who invariably taught at their houses or in the *tols* attached to them, where the pupils were all lodged partly at their own expense and partly at the expense of their preceptors. The total number of pupils who were at that time so circumstanced amounted to about 380; their ages averaging between 25 and 35 years. Few, it was observed, commenced their studies until they had attained the age of 21 years, and they often pursued them for 15 years, when, having acquired a perfect knowledge of the shastra and all its arcana, they returned to their native homes and set up as pundits and teachers themselves.
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In 1818, Mr Ward enumerated 31 schools of learning at Nuddea, containing in all 747 students, of whom not fewer than five studied under one teacher. So many as one hundred and twenty-five students are stated to have been receiving the instructions of one teacher at the same time, but the accuracy of Mr Ward’s information in this particular may be doubted. The principal studies were logic and law, and there was only one school for general literature, one for astronomy, and one for grammar. The following are the details in Mr Ward’s words:—
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‘*Nyaya Colleges*
Shivu-Nat’hu-Vidya-Vachusputee has one hundred and twenty-five students
Ramu-Lochunu-Nyayu-Vhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kashee-Nat’hu Turku-Chooramunee, thirty ditto
Ubhuyanundu-Turkalunkaru, twenty ditto
Ramu-Shurunu-Nyayu-Vagesshu, fifteen ditto
Bhola-Nat’hu-Shiromunee, twelve ditto
Radha-Nat’hu Turku-Punchanunu, ten ditto
Ramu-Mohunu-Vidya Vachusputee, twenty ditto
Shri Ramu-Turku-Bhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kalee-Kantu-Chooramunee, five ditto
Krishnu-Kantu-Vidya-Vageeshu, fifteen ditto
Turkalunkaru, fifteen ditto
Kalee-Prusunu, fifteen ditto
Madhubu-Turku-Sidhantu, twenty-five ditto
Kumula-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, twenty-five ditto
Eeshwuru-Turku-Bhooshunu, twenty ditto
Kantu-Vidyalunkaru, forty ditto
*Law Colleges*
Ramu-Nat’hu-Turku-Siddantu, forty students
Gunga-Dhuru-Shiromunee, twenty-five ditto
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Devee-Turkalunkaru, twenty-five ditto Mohunu-Vidya-Vachusuputee, twenty ditto Gangolee-Tukalunkaru, ten ditto Krishnu-Turku-Bhooshunu, ten ditto Pranu-Krishnu-Turku-Vageeshu, five ditto Poorohitu, five ditto Kashee-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, thirty ditto Kalee-Kantu-Turku-Punchanunu, twenty ditto Gudadhura-Turku-Vageeshu, twenty ditto *College where the Poetical Works are read* Kalee-Kantu-Turku-Chooramunee, fifty students *Where the Astronomical Works are read* Gooroo-Prusadu-Siddhantu-Vageeshu, fifty students *Where the Grammar is read* Shumboo-Nat’hu Chooramunee, five students.’
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In 1821, the junior Member and Secretary of the General Committee of Public Instruction, H.H. Wilson, Esquire, in prosecuting a special investigation on which he was deputed, collected at the same time some general information respecting the state of learning at Nuddea. At that period Nuddea contained about twenty-five establishments for study. These are called *tols*, and consist of a thatched chamber for the pundit and the class, and two or three ranges of mud-hovels in which the students reside. The pundit does not live on the spot, but comes to the *tol* every day on which study is lawful at an early hour and remains till sunset. The huts are built and kept in repair at his expense, and he not only gives instructions gratuitously but assists to feed and clothe his class, his means of so doing being derived from former grants by the rajah of Nuddea, and presents made to him by the zemindars in the neighbourhood at religious festivals, the value of which much depends on his celebrity as a teacher. The students are all full-grown men, some of them old men. The usual number in a *tol* is about twenty or twenty-five, but in some places, where the pundit is of high repute, there are from fifty to sixty. The whole number is said to be between 500 and 600. The greater proportion consists of natives of Bengal, but there are many from remote parts of India, especially from the south. There are some from Nepaul and Assam, and many from the eastern districts, especially Tirhoot. Few if any have means of subsistence of their own. Their dwelling they obtain from their teacher, and their clothes and food in presents from him and the shop-keepers and land-holders in the town or neighbourhood. At the principal festivals they disperse for a few days in quest of alms, when they collect enough to sustain them till the next interval of leisure. The chief study at Nuddea is *nyayu* or logic; there are also some establishments for tuition in law, chiefly in the works of Raghunandana, a celebrated Nuddea pundit, and in one or two places grammar is taught. Some of the students, particularly several from the Dekhin, speak Sanscrit with great fluency and correctness.
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The account by Mr Wilson is the latest and probably the most correct of the state of learning at Nuddea. The variations in the number of colleges and students at the different periods are deserving of attention. According to the respective authorities there were in 1816 forty-six schools and 380 students; in 1818 thirty-one schools and 747 students; and in 1829 twenty-five schools, containing from 5 to 600 students. It would thus appear that, within the last twenty years, the number of schools has diminished, and the number of scholars has upon the whole increased. This would seem to support the inference that there is now, in the class from which students are drawn, and increased disposition to study Hindoo learning, accompanied by a diminished ability or inclination in the class by which the colleges are principally supported, to incur the expense of encouraging new *tols* proportioned to the increased number of students.
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Several of those schools of Hindoo learning in Nuddea are supported or aided by small annual allowances from the British Government. Thus in 1813, Ramchandra Vidyalankara who enjoyed an annual allowance of rupees 71, in consideration of his keeping up a *chaupari* or seminary, died. Application was shortly afterwards made to the Collector of the district, and by him referred to the Revenue Board, for the assignment of his allowance to a native who claimed it as the heir of Ramchandra Vidyalankara, but the proofs of his right of succession or qualifications not being satisfactory, it was not granted to him. In 1818, Balanath Siromani preferred a claim to this allowance as the son of Ramchandra Vidyalankara and his successor in the *chaupari*. On reference of this claim to the Revenue Board, the Collector was ordered to ascertain whether Balanath Siromani did actually keep a seminary in Nuddea; and it appearing on enquiry that he kept a *chaupari* in which he educated eight pupils in the *tarka* or *nyayu shastra*, the government determined in June 1820, that the pension of rupees 71 should be continued to him and the arrears paid up.
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In June, 1818, application was made to the Revenue Board through the Collector of Nuddea, on behalf of Sivnath Vidya-Vachaspati, for a pension or allowance of rupees 90 per annum, which had been enjoyed by his father Sukra Tarkavagis, in consideration of his maintaining a seminary in Nuddea. The Board ordered the continuance of the pension and the payment of arrears.
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In November, 1819, an application was made through the Collector of Nuddea to the Board of Revenue, on behalf of Sriram Siromani, for a pension or allowance of rupees 36 per annum, in consideration of his keeping up a *chaupari* or seminary at Nuddea, which had been founded and endowed by the rajah of Nattore. It was in this case also ascertained that Sriram Siromani did keep up the seminary in which there were three pupils, and the allowance together with the arrears was accordingly ordered to be paid to him.
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A similar decision was passed in 1819 in favour of Ramjaya Tarka-Bangka, confirming to him an annual allowance of rupees 62, in consideration of his continuing to maintain a seminary in Nuddea in which he educated five pupils.
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In 1823, it was represented to the Board of Revenue that a Native College existed in the town of Nuddea in which Ramchandra Tarkavagis taught the puranas, on account of which he petitioned for the annual pension or allowance from government of sicca rupees 24, which had been enjoyed by his father while resident in Rajshahy, and which he solicited might be continued to him in Nuddea. The Revenue Board directed their nazir to make enquiry as to the facts stated, and to report the result. He accordingly reported that Ramchandra Tarkavagis did keep a seminary in the town of Nuddea in which he maintained and instructed in the shastras 31 students, of whose names a list was delivered in and that he had done so for nine years then last past. Under these circumstances, the Board recommended and the government determined that the pension should be continued to Ramchandra Tarkavagis, and the arrears which had accrued since the death of his father be paid to him.
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In 1829, the Committee of Public Instruction received orders to examine and report upon a petition to government from certain students at Nuddea, claiming the restoration or continuance of an allowance amounting to 100 rupees per month. The Committee deputed their junior Member and Secretary, and ascertained that all those students who came from places more than three days’ journey from Nuddea had hitherto depended very much upon this grant from government which gave them from twelve annas to one rupee a month, and nearly sufficed to procure them food. The amount of the grant that reached the students was in fact but 90 rupees, 10 being set apart for some ceremony. The number of foreign students was generally between 100 to 150, and there were about the latter number at that time at Nuddea awaiting the result of their petition. If not complied with, they would have found it necessary to quit the place. Mr Wilson made particular enquiry of the students with respect to the distribution of the allowance and entire satisfaction was uniformly expressed on this subject. A petty suraf or podar accompanied by one of their number is deputed to receive the allowance at the Collector’s Treasury. On his return he divides it among the foreign students whose presence in the town is perfectly well known. The podar, whom Mr Wilson saw, keeps a shop for the sale of grain, and supplies the students with food, advancing them occasional maintenance on the credit of their monthly allowance. They are commonly in his debt, but he is too unimportant a personage, and the students are too numerous, and as Brahmans too influential, for him to practice any fraud upon them. The allowance, he has, no doubt, is fairly distributed; and although the value of the learning acquired at Nuddea may not be very highly estimated by Europeans, yet it is in great repute with the natives, and its encouragement even by the trifling sum awarded is a gracious and popular measure. There can be no doubt of its being a very essential benefit to those students who have no other fixed means of support. On Mr Wilson’s report it was determined to continue the allowance of rupees 100 per month to the petitioners.
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Little is said by any of the authorities to which I have referred of the schools of learning in this district beyond the town of Nuddea; but there can be no doubt that such exist at *Santipore, Kishnaghur,* and other places within the district. Mr Ward mentions transiently that, at *Koomaru Hutta* and *Bhatpara,* villages in this district, there are perhaps seven or eight such schools. At *Santipore* there was formerly a small Government endowment which appears to be at present in abeyance. In 1824, an application was made through the Collector of Nuddea to the Board of Revenue by Devi Prasad Nyayu Vachaspati Bhattacharyya, as the brother of Kali Prasad Tarkasiddhanta Bhattacharyya, who had died in the preceding year, for an annual allowance or pension of sicca rupees 156-11-10, in consideration to his keeping a seminary in the town of Santipore.
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Enquiries were made as to the character of the deceased who is stated to have been a pundit of great ability, having when he died about 10 students under tuition. It also appeared by the evidence produced on the occasion that the brother and present claimant assisted the deceased in the tuition of his students who resided with him, and that they read the *dharma shastra* or works on law. The information thus produced not seeming to the Board of Revenue satisfactory, the Collector was directed to make further enquiries respecting the origin and the extent of the endowment and the service rendered, but his final report does not appear on the records.
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I have already mentioned the nature of the report, made by the Judge and Magistrate of this district in 1801, that there were no seminaries within the district in which either the Hindoo or Mahomedan law was taught, and I have met with no direct evidence to establish the existence of any Mahomedan institutions. With a considerable proportion, however, of Mahomedan population it seems exceedingly improbable that they should be entirely destitute of such institutions of education as are found to exist in other districts.