Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c10.45

c10.45

Evidence of 'Yajurveda.' The *Yajurveda* [*Taitti. Sam.*, vi, 3, 10, 5] contains a reference to this system of studentship which shows that it was an established system for long. It states that man owes three debts which he must repay in three prescribed ways, viz. (1) the debt to Ṛishis to be repaid by *brahmacharya* by which he is to acquire and spread the knowledge he inherits from the Ṛishis; (2) the debt to gods by *yajñas* (sacrifices) to realize his kinship with the spiritual world (of gods); and (3) the debt to ancestors by fatherhood to continue the family in which he is born. The debt to Ṛishis is the debt which one owes to learning in the shape of his cultural heritage. Such an obligation he can only discharge by making his own contribution to learning, which he can achieve only on the basis of *brahmacharya*.