Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c8.71

c8.71

The discipline, as a rule, was not satisfactory, and the position of the teacher as dependent almost entirely on the fees or gifts he received from parents, or the good will of a *zamīndār* or other patron, was such that he was almost bound to become subservient and lacking in independence. Indian boys are often more passive than their Western cousins, but by no means without the desire of playing mischief when opportunity arises. In his Introduction to *Adam's Reports*, the Rev. J. Long quotes¹ from the *Calcutta Review* an account of some of the tricks played on teachers by Indian boys. Among them are the following. In preparing the teacher's hookah boys mix the tobacco with chillies and other pungent ingredients, so that when he smokes he is made to cough violently, while the whole school is convulsed with laughter. Or beneath the mat on which he sits may be strewn thorns and sharp prickles, which soon display their effect in the contortions of the crest-fallen and discomfited master. Some of the forms of punishment mentioned in the same number of the *Calcutta Review* as formerly common in Indian schools strike one as particularly brutal. The following are examples. A boy was made to bend forward with his face to the ground; a heavy stick was then placed on his back and another on his neck; and should he let either of them fall, within the prescribed period of half an hour or so, he was punished with the cane. A boy was made to hang for a few minutes with his head downwards from the branch of a neighbouring tree. A boy was put in a sack along with some nettles, or a cat, or some other noisome creature, and then rolled along the ground. A boy was made to measure so many cubits on the ground, by marking it along with the tip of his nose. It must be hoped that such punishments were used only on rare occasions with the most recalcitrant offenders, or that the very possibility of their being inflicted was sufficient to preserve discipline.