Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c17.63

c17.63

**Bhīshma as Teacher of Kuru and Pāṇḍu Princes.** Let us now examine the Epic evidence on the education of the princes. The Pāṇḍus are described as "having studied *all* the Vedas and the various Śāstras or treatises on duty, etc." [i, 1, 122]. Dhṛitarāshṭra, Pāṇḍu, and Vidura "brought up from their very birth by Bhīshma as if they were his own sons" are described as "being purified by the ceremonies of their order, disciplined by study and the vows and practices of studentship, and emerging into manhood skilled in 'studies' (*Śrama*, as explained by Nīlakaṇṭha) and 'hand to hand fights' (*Vyāyāma*). They are proficient in Dhanurveda (archery) and Veda, in club-fights, in the wielding of swords and shields, in the driving of elephants, in Nītiśāstra (Polity), Itihāsa, and Purāṇa and other subjects, in the truths of the Veda and Vedāṅgas, and of fixed determination in all their undertakings" [i, 109, 17–20]. Pāṇḍu excelled in archery and Dhṛitarāshṭra in personal strength [ib., 21].