Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c7.83

c7.83

The content of the education given in the *madrasahs* also must have varied in different places. Probably not every school taught all the subjects, and pupils selected such as they wished to study. Adam, in his report on education in Bengal (1835-1838), says with regard to the *madrasahs*²: ‘In the Arabic schools the course of study takes a much wider range. The grammatical works are numerous, systematized, and profound; complete courses of reading on rhetoric, logic, and law are embraced; the external observances and fundamental doctrines of Islām, and Ptolemy on astronomy in translation, are not unknown; other branches of natural philosophy are also taught; and the whole course is crowned by the perusal of treatises on metaphysics, deemed the highest attainment of the instructed scholar.’ It is interesting to compare this list of subjects with those which formed the curriculum of the universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. We find a very close correspondence between them. The ‘Seven Liberal Arts’ all appear except dialectic and music. Dialectic was probably largely covered by rhetoric. Music did not have the same connection with religious services as in Christian Europe, and therefore was not of such importance from the religious point of view. That it was cultivated we know from the encouragement given to it by Akbar and other sovereigns, though Aurangzib could not tolerate it. The higher studies of mediæval European universities, theology, law, and medicine, also appear in this list, except medicine. Medicine was, however, studied, and even at the present time Muhammadan hakīms, or physicians learned in the ancient medical lore, practise in India. Medicine appears in Akbar’s list of studies. Law was, of course, more closely connected with theology than in Europe, for in Islām it is based on the Korān and the Traditions, whereas in Europe it was the non-christian Roman law that was the basis of studies. We know that at a certain period in the Middle Ages Muhammadan learning in the West was full of intellectual vigour, and in many ways was the means of stimulating thought and mental activity amongst students in Europe. But the zenith of its influence was passed before it became widespread in India, and it is perhaps for this reason amongst others that it never attained to such an excellence and fame in India as in more western lands. The criticisms of Aurangzib, as well as the statement of Adam, seems to show that Muhammadan learning in India, like the mediæval learning of Europe, had become formal and scholastic, with a strong emphasis on grammar, and having as its climax the discussion of dry, abstract and metaphysical trivialities. That it often included more than this, as did the mediæval education of Europe, we may be quite sure. Science of some kind was studied, and literature and history were also taught. History was, in fact, a very favourite subject amongst the Muhammadans of India, and the large number of historical works written by Muhammadan writers is in striking contrast with the paucity of Hindu historical literature. The critical and impartial spirit which modern scientific historians seek to cultivate is indeed lacking, nor could we really expect to find it in those days. We shall not be very far wrong if we say that the state of Muhammadan learning in India was very much the same as that of learning in Europe before the introduction of printing. In the matter of the arts and crafts there was little difference, if any, between the training of the Hindu and Muhammadan craftsman, and this subject has been dealt with in the chapter on the training of special classes of the community. In method also there was probably not much essential difference between the Hindu and Muhammadan education. Rote learning was given a large place, and the principal aim of the teacher was to pass on to the pupil the learned traditions which he himself had received.