Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c5.64.3

c5.64.3

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.