Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c6.s3.26

c6.s3.26

Nārada states that he had studied subjects like the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the Atharva-Veda as fourth, Itihāsa-Purāṇa as the fifth Veda, Grammar (called *Vedānāṁ Vedam*, 'the Veda of Vedas'), Biology (*Bhūta-Vidyā*), Arithmetic (*Rāśi*), Divination (*Daiva*), Chronology (*Nidhi*), Dialectics (*Vākovākyam* = *Tarkaśāstram*), Politics (*Ekāyana*), Theology (*Deva-Vidyā*), or Exegetics (= *Nirukta*, as explained by Śaṅkara), the Doctrine of Prayer (*Brahma-Vidyā*), which Śaṅkara, however, explains as the Vedāṅgas of *Śikshā* (Phonetics), *Kalpa* (Ceremonial) and *Chhandas* (Metrics, Prosody), Necromancy (*Pitrya*), Military Science (*Kshatra-Vidyā*), Astronomy (*Nakshatra-Vidyā*), study of Snake-Venoms (*Sarpa-vidyā*), and the Fine Arts (*Devajana-Vidyā*) explained by Śaṅkara to mean *Nṛitya* (Dancing), *Gīta*, *Vādya* (Music Vocal and Instrumental) and other Arts (Śilpādi); but Raṅga Rāmānuja takes it as *Deva-Vidyā* (Gandharva-Śāstram) or Music and *Jana-Vidyā* or Āyurveda (Medical Science). Said Nārada: "These subjects, sir, have I studied. Therefore am I learned in the scripture (*Mantra-vit*), but not yet learned in the *Ātmā* (Ātma-vit). Yet have I heard from such as are like you that he who knows the Ātman vanquishes sorrow. I am in sorrow. Lead me then over, I pray, to the farther shore that lies beyond sorrows."