Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c4.129

c4.129

Meaningless and trivial as many of these regulations seem to us, they were no doubt regarded as of great value by those who used them in those far-off days. They must have been intended to emphasize the great solemnity of the work in which pupil and teacher were engaged, and to impress upon the pupil the mysterious sacredness which was supposed to characterize the knowledge which was being passed on to him by his teacher. The first and foremost object which the teacher had before him was to hand down to the pupil the exact contents of the sacred books as he himself had received them, as well as of those sacrificial and other rules which it was necessary for the young Brāhman to know in order to perform his priestly functions.