Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c28.23

c28.23

**Freedom of Choice of Studies.** While all castes except the Chaṇḍālas were admitted to instruction, it seems that the castes so admitted did not always confine themselves to their traditional subjects of study. We read of a Brahman boy of Takkasilā who learnt divination under his teacher and later settled down as a hunter in the woods of Benares [ii, 200]. Another Brahman boy, son of a magnifico, preferred the study of magic charms to the exclusion of other subjects [ii, 99] Another is spoken of as having gone in for " the liberal arts " and ultimately specialized in Archery [iii, 219]. There is another reference to the same effect [i, 356]. It is again a Brahman boy that studies " the charm which commands all things of sense " [iv, 456]. There is a reference to a Brahman boy choosing " science " for his study [iii, 18], and to another mastering " the three Vedas and the Eighteen Accomplishments " [ii, 87 ; iii, 115, 122].