Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c13.30

c13.30

The currency of the two methods of study in times anterior to Pāṇini may be taken for granted. This is indeed proved by the very fact that it has formed the subject-matter of a Pāṇinean Sūtra. We are not, therefore, suprised at the emphatic protest of Yāska (already mentioned) against the method of rote-learning as generally applied to Veda-study. He strongly condemns those who would make the Vedic texts a mere matter of memory, not of an intelligent and critical study. In the words of Yāska [*Nirukta*, i, 18]: "The person who is able only to recite the Veda (*adhītya*) but does not understand its meaning is like a post or a mere load-bearer; but he who understands the meaning will attain to all good here and hereafter, being purged of sins by knowledge. For the words that are simply memorized and not understood will merely sound when uttered, and not enlighten, just as wood, be it never so dry, will not blaze if it is put into what is not fire." Thus, in Yāska's opinion, the words of the Vedic texts were not more important than their meaning and hence the Vedas should be treated to both mechanical and rational methods of study. Yāska has also sought to discharge the responsibility of his opinions by composing a work which contributes towards a comprehension of the meanings of Vedic texts as distinguished from their proper pronunciation which is the exclusive objective of the Prātiśākhya literature. It may be also supposed that this spirit of reaction against the excessive dominance of mechanical methods of study to which we owe the preservation of the sacred texts was due to the intellectual tendencies of the age towards critical thinking and philosophical speculation which culminated in the Upanishads and Āraṇyakas.