Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c11.s4.40

c11.s4.40

**Father as Teacher.** It is also evident from the evidence just cited that it was possible, in those days for a man to receive instruction from his father or at the hands of other teachers. Śvetaketu did both [*Chhānd. Up.*, v, 3, 1; *Bṛihad.*, vi, 2, 1; *Kauṣī. Up.* i, 1; and *Chhānd.*, vi, 1, 1]. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* [i, 6, 2, 4] shows that a Brahmin was expected to instruct his own son in both study and sacrificial ritual, and furnishes an illustration of this in Varuṇa, the teacher of his son Bhṛigu. This fact also is borne out by the evidence of some of the names in the *Vaṁśa Brāhmaṇa* of the *Sāmaveda* and the Vaṁśa or list of teachers of the *Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka* [xv, 1]. It should, however, be noted that these *Vaṁśas* and those of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* also show that a father often preferred that his son should have a famous teacher.