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The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c9: Annexure E

The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c9

Language
English

Contents

Annexure E

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*History of Education in the Panjab since Annexation and in 1882*

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LEITNER ON INDIGENOUS EDUCATION IN THE PANJAB (EXTRACTS)

General:

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I am about to relate—I hope without extenuation or malice—the history of the contact of a form of European with one of Asiatic civilisation; how, in spite of the best intentions, the most public-spirited officers, and a generous Government that had the benefit of the traditions of other provinces, the true education of the Panjab was crippled, checked, and is nearly destroyed; how opportunities for its healthy revival and development were either neglected or perverted; and how, far beyond the blame attaching to individuals, our system stands convicted or worse than official failure. Whether it is possible to rouse to renewed exertion, on behalf of its own education, the most loyal population that has ever been disappointed, is a question which the following pages will only partially attempt to answer. Much will of course, depend on the wise adaptation of the noble principle just propounded—of ‘local self-government’—to a department of the Administration,—that of education,—in which, above all others, it can be introduced with perfect safety and the greatest political advantage.

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Respect for learning has always been the redeeming feature of ‘the East’. To this the Panjab has formed no exception. Torn by invasion and civil war, it ever preserved and added to educational endowments. The most unscrupulous chief, the avaricious money-lender, and even the freebooter, vied with the small landowner in making peace with his conscience by founding schools and rewarding the learned. There was not a mosque, a temple, a dharmasala that had not a school attached to it, to which the youth flocked chiefly for religious education. There were few wealthy men who did not entertain a Maulvi, Pandit or Guru, to teach their sons, and along with them the sons of friends and dependents. There were also thousands of secular schools, frequented alike by Mahomedans, Hindus and Sikhs, in which Persian or Lunde was taught. There were hundreds of learned men who gratuitously taught their co-religionists, and sometimes all-comers, for the sake of God-‘Lillah’. There was not a single villager who did not take a pride in devoting a portion of his produce to a respected teacher. In respectable Mahomedan families husbands taught their wives, and these their children; nor did the Sikhs prove in that respect to be unworthy of their appellation of ‘learners and disciples’. In short, the lowest computation gives us 3,30,000 pupils (against little more than 1,90,000 at present) in the schools of the various denominations who were acquainted with reading, writing, and some method of computation; whilst thousands of them belonged to Arabic and Sanskrit colleges, in which Oriental Literature and systems of Oriental Law, Logic, Philosophy, and Medicine were taught to the highest standards. Tens of thousands also acquired a proficiency in Persian, which is now rarely reached in Government and aided schools or colleges. Through all schools there breathed a spirit of devotion to education for its own sake and for its influence on the character and on religious culture; whilst even the sons of Banyas who merely learnt what they absolutely required in order to gain a livelihood looked with respect, amounting to adoration, on their humble Pandhas, who had taught them the elements of *two ‘Rs’*.

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We have changed all this. The annexation disturbed the minds of believers in Providence, and all that was respectable kept, as much as possible, aloof from the invader,—just as the best Englishman would not be the first to seek the favour of a foreign conqueror.

Classification of Indigenous Schools

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I. SIKH INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
1. Gurmukhi Schools

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II. MOHAMMEDAN INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
2. Maktabs
3. Madrasas, religious and secular
4. Koran Schools.

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III. HINDU INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
5. Chatsalas (for the trading community)
6. Patshalas (religious)

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7. Patshalas (semi-religious)
8. Secular Schools of various kinds and grades

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IV. MIXED INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
9. Persian Schools
10. Vernacular Schools
11. Anglo-Vernacular Schools

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V. FEMALE INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
12. (a) Female Schools for Sikh girls
(b) -do- Mohammedan girls
(c) Instruction at Hindu homes

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With a more minute subdivision the indigenous schools might have to be classified as follows:-

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I. MAKTABS OR MADRASAS
1. Arabic Schools and Colleges (of various grades and specialities)
2. Perso-Arabic Schools and Colleges (of various grades and specialities)
3. Koran Schools (where merely or chiefly the Koran is read)
4. Perso-Koran Schools
5. Koran-Arabic Schools
6. Perso-Koran-Arabic Schools
7. Persian Schools
8. Persian-Urdu Schools
9. Persian-Urdu-Arabic Schools
10. Arabic Medical Schools
11. Perso-Arabic Medical Schools

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II. GURMUKHI SCHOOLS
12. Gurmukhi Schools
13. Gurmukhi and Lande Schools

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III. MAHAJANI SCHOOLS
14. Lande Schools of different kinds (Chatsalas)
15. Nagari-Lande Schools (Chatsalas)
16. Perso-Lande Schools

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IV. PATSHALAS
17. Nagari-Sanscrit Schools
18. Sanscrit religious Schools 19. Sanscrit secular literary Schools (cultivating various branches)
20. Sanscrit semi-secular Schools (cultivating various branches)
21. Sanscrit Medical Schools (Chiefly)
22. Hindi-Sanscrit Schools
23. Sanscrit astrological or astronomical Schools (Chiefly)

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V. FEMALE INDIGENOUS SCHOOLS (classified as above)

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LIST OF SANSCRIT BOOKS USED Balbodh Akshar dipika

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I. GRAMMAR Saraswat Manorama Chandrika Bhashya Laghu Kaumudi Paniniya Vyakaran Kaumudi Siddhant Kaumudi Shekar Prakrita Prakasa

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II. LEXICOLOGY Amar Kosh Malini Kosh Halayudh

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III. POETRY, THE DRAMA AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY Raghu Vans Mahabharat Megh Duta Venisanhara Magh Sakuntala Kirat Arjun Naishadha Charita Ramayan Mrichhakatika Sri Mad Bhagwat Kumara Sambhava and other Puranas

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IV. RHETORIC Kavya Dipik Kavya Prakash Sahitya Darpana Dasu Rupa Kuvlayanund

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V. MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROLOGY Siddbant Shiromani Nil Kanthi Mahurta Chintamani Brihat Jatak Shighra Bodh Parasariya Garbh Lagana VI. MEDICAL SCIENCE Sham Raj Susruta Charaka Madhava Nidan Nighant Sharang Dhar Bhashya Parichehed Vagbhat

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VII. LOGIC Nyaya Sutra Vritti Vyutpattivad Tark Sangrah Gada dhari Tarkalankar Kari kavali

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VIII. VEDANT Atma Bodh Sarirak Panch Dashi

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IX. LAW Manu Smriti Yagya Valk Gautama Mitakshara Parasara Smriti

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X. PHILOSOPHY *Sankhya* Tatwa Kaumudi Sankhya Pravachan Bhashya Yoga Sutra Vaiseshika, Siddhant Muktavali Sutra with a commentary *Patanjali*, Sutra Britti Sutra with Bhashya *Vedanta*, Vedantsar (see also above) *Mimansa*, Sutra with Bhashya Artha Sangraha

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XI. PROSODY Srut Bodh Vritta Ratnakar

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XII. PROSE LITERATURE Hitopadesa Dasa Kumara Charita Vasavadatta

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XIII. RELIGION Rigveda Sanhita (rare) Yajurveda, Shukla Yajur Vajasneyi Sanhita Samaveda, Mantra Bhaga Chhandasya Archika (very rare)

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