Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c4.26

c4.26

By the time these various types of priestly schools had been formed the centre of the Aryan civilization had shifted eastwards and lay somewhere between the Sutlej and the Jumna rivers. There came to be slight differences in the Vedic texts, and each recension was called a *śākhā*. Those who followed a particular *śākhā* of a Veda were said to form a *charana*, or school, of that Veda. At some time, however, precautions were taken for the preservation of the sacred text, and this led to the constitution of the *padapātha*¹ and other forms of the sacred texts.