Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c28.s1.11

c28.s1.11

**Crowing of Cock as Call to Study.** Students seem to have commenced their studies very early in the morning, with the crowing of the cock. We read of a school of 500 Brahman students at Benares who "had a cock that crowed betimes and roused them to their studies". Probably a cock was domesticated in every school to serve as a clock! When the trained cock died, a second cock was secured which "had been bred in a cemetery and had thus no knowledge of times and seasons, and used to crow casually—at midnight as well as at daybreak. Roused by his crowing at midnight, the young Brahmans fell to their studies; by dawn they were tired out and could not for sleepiness keep their attention on the subject [already learnt (*gahitatthānampi*)]; and when he fell a-crowing in broad day they did not get a chance of quiet for repeating their lesson. And as it was the cock's crowing both at midnight and by day which had brought their studies to a standstill, they took the bird and wrung his neck" [i, 436]. It will appear from this passage that there was time for the private study of the students which they spent on repeating *new* lessons and revising *old* ones.