Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32.s1.45

c32.s1.45

**Bath.** Just as there was a time for meals, there was also one for baths. We have already seen the mention in Hiuen Tsang's account of the ponds existing in the grounds of Nālandā. The same observation occurs in the account of I-tsing, who thus describes a bathing scene there: "There are more than ten great pools near the Nālandā monastery and there every morning a ghaṇṭī (gong) is sounded to remind the priests of the bathing hour. Everyone brings a bathing sheet with him. Sometimes a hundred, sometimes a thousand priests leave the monastery together and proceed in all directions towards these pools, where all of them take a bath." The Vinaya rules were followed on the subject. There were also arrangements for baths in the monastery, if one did not like to go to the pond [p. 109].