Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c6.102

c6.102

At the time of the visit of Fā-hien, however (399-414 A.D.), we find that the monasteries seem to have begun to undertake instruction of a more general kind than merely instructing those who joined the *sangha* in the precepts of Buddhism. In speaking of the monasteries at Patna, he says² that the rules of demeanour and the scholastic arrangements in them were worthy of observation, and that students and inquirers wishing to find out the truth and the grounds of it resorted thither. In a note on Fā-hien’s reference to the ‘scholastic arrangements’ at Patna, Prof. Legge says: ‘Why should there not have been schools in those monasteries in India as there were in China? Fā-hien himself grew up with other boys in a monastery, and no doubt had to go to school. And the next sentence shows us there might be schools for more advanced students as well as for the *śrāmaṇeras*.’ There seems no reason to doubt that by the time of Fā-hien the monasteries may have given some general instruction not only to young novices, but even to pupils who had no intention of joining the *sangha*. At all events this system was in full swing at the time of I-Tsing’s visit. But even the presence of pupils who were not intending to join the order of monks does not warrant us, without other evidence, in thinking that such education was taken advantage of by a large proportion of the children of Buddhist parents, or included popular elementary instruction. The education which I-Tsing describes was education of a higher rather than of a popular type, and was based on a profound and lengthy study of Sanskrit grammar. It would, of course, seem likely that there were arrangements for teaching reading and writing to the lads who were taking this course, but I-Tsing makes no mention of this, nor of the teaching of arithmetic. It is not, therefore, possible to say for certain, even at the time of I-Tsing’s visit, whether literacy was widely diffused amongst the Buddhist population or not. It would seem, however, not unlikely that when once the monasteries had begun to receive pupils who were not intending to join the community the system might have been gradually extended, and to have catered even for boys who only came to learn the three R’s and receive some simple religious instruction, and the analogy of Buddhist schools as they exist in Burma and Ceylon even down to the present day would seem to confirm this. If, as seems not unreasonable to suppose, the Buddhist monasteries came to supply a good deal of popular elementary instruction, the decay of Buddhism and the consequent disappearance of the monasteries would have meant that this method of giving popular education would also have gradually come to an end, and so the need would arise for this education to be supplied in some other way. This may have been one amongst other causes which led to the spread of the indigenous elementary schools in India.