Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c12.s6.22

c12.s6.22

**Qualifications and Duties of Teachers.** This leads us to a consideration of the qualifications and duties of the teacher. According to Āpastamba [i, 1, 1, 12–17], he should be a man in whose family sacred learning is hereditary, who himself possesses it, and who is devout in following the law. Under him the sacred science must be studied until the end, provided the teacher does not fall off from the ordinances of the law. He from whom the pupil gathers (*āchinoti*) the knowledge of his religious duties (*dharmān*) is called the Āchārya whom he should never offend, as he is his spiritual father who, by imparting to him the sacred learning, gives him a new life, a second birth which is the best.