Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c4.181

c4.181

At Nadiā the chief study is logic, but law and grammar are also taught. Dialectical discussions are frequently held, and the ambition of the student is to gain success at one of these discussions held at a festival, and by adroit and hair-splitting arguments to silence his opponent. Professor Cowell, who visited the schools at Nadiā in 1867, says:¹ ‘I could not help looking at these unpretending lecture-halls with a deep interest, as I thought of the pandits lecturing there to generation after generation of eager, inquisitive minds. Seated on the floor with his “corona” of listening pupils round him, the teacher expatiates on those refinements of infinitesimal logic which make a European’s brain dizzy to think of, but whose labyrinth a trained Nadiā student will thread with unfaltering precision. I noticed during my visit middle-aged and even grey-haired men among the students.’