Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c30.17

c30.17

The second feature noticed by Hiuen Tsang in Brahmanical culture-system is the universal honour paid to learning by the kings and public at large. The honour was paid because it was not sought. This means that the learned men combined intellectual superiority with moral. In their sincere and earnest quest of Learning they renounced everything that might interfere with it, not merely goods and chattels, but even the tender ties of domestic love. They sought pleasure in learning alone and "honour in only knowing truth". With their life thus simplified and their wants reduced, they preferred poverty to affluence and beggary to an assured maintenance, as least disturbing to their Quest of the Ideal.