Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32.s5: VI. Mithilā

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32.s5

Language: English

VI. Mithilā

c32.s5.1

Mithilā, as we have seen, was a stronghold of Brahmanical culture at its best in the time of the Upanishads, under its famous Philosopher-king Janaka who used to send out periodical invitations to learned Brahmans of the Kuru-Pāñchāla country to gather at his court for purposes of philosophical discussions. Under him Eastern India was vying with North-Western India in holding the palm of learning. In those days, the name of the country was not Mithilā but Videha. In the time of the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, and Buddhist literature, Mithilā retained the renown of its Vedic days.

c32.s5.2

Its subsequent political history is somewhat chequered. When Vijaya Sen was King of Bengal, Nānyadeva of the Karṇātaka dynasty was King of Mithilā in A.D. 1097 [Inscription on the ruined walls of the fort of Simrāon]. King Vijaya defeated him [Deopara Vijaya Sen Inscription], but was defeated by his son Gaṅgadeva who recovered Mithilā from him. This Karṇāta Dynasty ruled Mithilā for the period *c.* A.D. 1150–1395, followed by the Kāmeśvara Dynasty which ruled between *c.* A.D. 1350–1515. It was again followed by another dynasty of rulers founded by Maheśvara Thakkura in the time of Akbar, and this dynasty has continued up to the present time.

c32.s5.3

Mithila as a seat of learning flourished remarkably under these later kings. The Kāmeśvara period was made famous in the literary world by the erudite and versatile scholar, Jagaddhara, who wrote commentaries on a variety of texts, the Gītā, Devī-māhātmya, Meghadūta, Gīta-Govinda, Mālatī-Mādhava, and the like, and original treatises on Erotics, such as *Rasika-Sarvasva-Saṅgīta-Sarvasva*.

c32.s5.4

The next scholar who shed lustre on Mithilā was the poet Vidyāpati, the author of Maithilī songs or Padāvalī generally. He has inspired for generations the later Vaishṇava writers of Bengal.

c32.s5.5

Mithilā made conspicuous contributions in the realm of severe and scientific subjects. It developed a famous School of Nyāya which flourished from the twelfth to the fifteenth century A.D., under the great masters of Logic, Gaṅgeśa, Vardhamāna, Pakshadhara, and others.

c32.s5.6

This School of New Logic (Navya Nyāya) was founded by Gaṅgeśa Upādhyāya and his epoch-making work named “Tattva-Chintamaṇi”, a work of about 300 pages whose commentaries make up over 1,000,000 pages in three centuries of its study. Gaṅgeśa is supposed to have lived after A.D. 1093–1150, the time of Ānanda Sūri and Amarachandra Sūri, whose opinions he has quoted.

c32.s5.7

Gaṅgeśa was followed by his son Vardhamāna (A.D. 1250), who wrote eight learned works on Nyāya, and by Pakshadhara Misra (A.D. 1275) who was so called because he was victorious in a debate of a fortnight (*paksha*). Pakshadhara’s nephew and pupil was the great master Vāsudeva Misra. Another great name in this list of masters is Maheśa Thakkura. His pupil, Raghunandanadāsa Rāya, an accomplished logician, went out on an intellectual *dig-vijaya* (conquest of all quarters) at the instance of Emperor Akbar who, pleased with his performance, made a gift to him of the whole tract of Mithilā which, in turn, the loyal pupil transferred to his guru as his fee for teaching him (*guru-dakshiṇā*). Maheśa Thakkura thus became the founder of the Darbhanga Raj family.

c32.s5.8

Śaṅkara Misra wrote important works on Vaiśeshika, Nyāya, and Smṛiti.

c32.s5.9

Vāchaspati Misra flourished about A.D. 1450 as the Parishad or Court-officer of the Kāmeśvara kings, Bhairava and Rāmabhadra. He started writing on Smṛiti but soon drifted into Nyāya under the prevailing philosophical spirit of the age. He is known for his learned works “Nyāya-sūtrādhāra”, “Khaṇḍana-Khaṇḍādhāra”, “Anumāna-Khaṇḍa-ṭīkā”, and “Nītichintamaṇi”, a work on Ethics.

c32.s5.10

Misaru Miśra (of *c.* A.D. 1475) wrote an original work named “Padārtha-Chandra” on Vaiśeshika. But it is interesting to note that the work is actually attributed to a learned lady as its author, Lachhimā Devī, the Chief Queen of Chandrasiṁha, step-brother of King Bhairavasiṁha.

c32.s5.11

A host of scholars kept up the literary history of Mithilā during the three centuries, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, though the scholars named above represent its highest level and achieved an all-Indian reputation and a permanent place in the realm of scholarship. By its scholastic activities Mithilā in those days, like Nālandā of former times, used to draw students from different parts of India for advanced and specialized studies in Nyāya or Logic, of which it was then the chief centre.

c32.s5.12

It is interesting to note that, corresponding to the system of admission at Nālandā and Vikramaśīlā by difficult examination by learned Dvāra-Paṇḍitas, Mithilā instituted a peculiar examination for graduation or completion of study. It was called *Śalākā-parīkshā*, by which the candidate for graduation had to explain that page of a MS. which was pierced last by a needle run through it. This was thus a test of the capacity of the candidate to explain unprepared any part of the texts he had studied so as to demonstrate his mastery of the subject in all its parts. The diploma of the Mithilā University was then conferred on the successful student [Monmohan Chakravarti, *History of Mithilā* and *History of Navya Nyāya*; Satis Chandra Vidyābhūshaṇa, *History of Indian Logic*].

Linked texts (2)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit