Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c5.64

Language: English

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Agricultural and Trading Classes.—As in the case of the Kshatriyas, the control of the education of the Vaiśyas, or trading and agricultural class amongst the Aryans, early came under Brāhman control. Thus we find in the earliest extant Sūtras¹ that the Vaiśyas, as well as the Brāhmans and Kshatriyas, were expected to receive initiation as a preliminary to entering upon the study of the Veda; and in Manu it is said,² ‘Let the three twice-born castes, discharging their prescribed duties, study the Veda’. We have seen how in the case of the Kshatriyas the study of the Veda was attenuated, or perhaps we may say that it was developed by specialization in certain directions to meet the special needs of the young nobles and warriors. With regard to the Vaiśyas,³ trade, rearing cattle, and agriculture were regarded as their special pursuits, and in fitting themselves for these they would have less benefit from the Vedic schools than the Kshatriyas had for their future vocation. It would seem likely that the study of the Veda became more attenuated for them than even for the Kshatriyas, and that at a quite early date the majority of them ceased to avail themselves of their privilege of attending the Brāhmanic schools, except perhaps for a very short period. In the Law of Manu⁴ the functions of a Vaiśya are thus described: ‘A Vaiśya must never conceive this wish, “I will not keep cattle”, and if a Vaiśya is willing to keep them, they must never be kept by men of other castes.

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A Vaiśya must know the respective value of gems, of pearls, of corals, of metals, of cloth made of thread, of perfumes, and of condiments. He must be acquainted with the manner of sowing seeds, and of the good and bad qualities of fields, and he must perfectly know all measures and weights. Moreover, the excellence and defects of commodities, the advantages and disadvantages of different countries, the probable profit and loss on merchandise, and the means of properly rearing cattle. He must be acquainted with the proper wages of servants, with the various languages of men, with the manner of keeping goods, and the rules of purchase and sale’. The duties thus outlined would require that a young Vaiśya, besides a knowledge of agriculture, should also know the rudiments of commercial geography, arithmetic, and some languages, as well as the practical details of trade. With regard to these subjects it is probable that at first they were learnt by the boy from his father in the course of business, and probably amounted in most cases to little more than the minimum which would be necessary for the successful carrying on of the particular trade in which he was engaged.

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Thus a knowledge of ‘the various languages of men’ need not have meant more than a slight acquaintance with the speech of foreigners with whom trade brought him into touch, picked up in his intercourse with them, and a knowledge of ‘the advantages and disadvantages of different countries’ would be gathered in the same way. Thus the education of the young Vaiśya, apart from his study of the Veda, would at the earliest period, as a rule, be domestic, and he would learn from his father in the actual course of business. It is to be noted, however, that there exist in India at the present time what are called *mahājani* schools. These schools exist in several market towns where the *mahājans*, or traders, have combined to pay a teacher. They teach chiefly the special kind of writing used by the *mahājans* and arithmetic, and give sufficient education to enable a boy to help his father afterwards in trade. These schools are amongst the indigenous primary schools which will be referred to in a later chapter. They have probably existed from old times, but like so many things in India, it is difficult to say whether they are really very ancient or not. But whenever they started it must have been because the traders found it more satisfactory for a boy to have acquired some education before he began actual work in the shop. It is not impossible that the indigenous primary schools started in this way. Of this more will be said later.

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They are evidence that the Brāhmanic schools failed to supply the real needs of the community even in the matter of teaching reading and writing, and that other castes felt compelled to start more useful schools of their own.