Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c5.87

c5.87

Royal craftsmen are said to have been established even as early as King Aśoka. Many of the Muhammadan rulers were great patrons of the craftsmen. But the patronage of the rich was not always an unmixed blessing. Thus in mentioning the royal encouragement of the arts Bernier¹ complains that forced service was sometimes resorted to by rich patrons and also intimidation, and the Abbé Dubois² also in praising Indian craftsmen attributes their not having reached a higher standard of perfection to the cupidity of the rulers. If an artisan, he says, excelled in his craft he was carried off to the palace and confined there for the rest of his life, without remission of toil and little reward. Dubois believed that arts and manufactures would have made greater progress in India if the rulers had given them real encouragement.