Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.s1: Seats of Learning

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.s1

Language: English

Seats of Learning

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We have now to relate the Rigveda to space and locality. Unfortunately, its evidence only indicates in a general way the geographical limits within which the Ṛishis had lived, moved, and had their being, revealing or composing its truths or hymns, and playing their part in the political history of the regions concerned. There is no evidence pointing to individual or particular seats of learning. Rigvedic India is marked out by its rivers, some twenty-five of which are mentioned.

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To the west of the Sindhu (Indus) were the rivers Kubhā (="Kophen" or Kabul), Suvāstu ("of fair dwellings"=Swat), Krumu (Kurram), Gomatī ("abounding in cows"=Gomal) and Mehatnu [*Rv.* x, 75, 6; v, 53, 9; viii, 24, 30; 19, 37]. The Sindhu is mentioned many times [i, 126, 1; 94, 16; 122, 6; ii, 15, 6; iv, 30, 12; v, 53, 9; vii, 33, 3; viii, 20, 25; x, 64, 9; 75, 6.] There are also mentioned the five rivers of the Panjab: Vitastā (Jhelum), Asiknī (Chenab), Parushṇī (Irāvatī or Rāvi), Vipās (Beas) and Śutudrī (Satlej); and, beyond these, the Sarasvatī, Gaṅgā and Yamunā [*Rv.* x, 75, 5; also Asiknī in viii, 20, 25; Parushṇī in vii, 18, 89 and 63, 15; Śutudrī in iii, 33, 1; Vipās in iii, 33, 1–3, and iv, 30, 11; Gaṅgā in vi, 45, 31 (Gāṅgya); Yamunā in v, 52, 17 and vii, 18, 19; Sarasvatī in iii, 23, 4 (along with the Dṛishadvatī); vi, 61, 2, 13; vii, 95, 96; etc.]. One hymn [iv, 36, 18] also mentions the river *Sarayu* (in Oudh) which thus marks the easternmost limit of Rigvedic India. It will appear that, of these rivers, the Sarasvatī as well as the Sindhu is mentioned most in the hymns, showing that the easterly regions had already acquired a reputation as the home of Rigvedic learning and culture.

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Pargiter has gone so far as to assert that Rigvedic learning had originated in the East and spread to the West on the ground that the rivers mentioned in the famous *Nadī-stuti* are from the east to the west, beginning with Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī, in accordance with the course of migration of Rigvedic learning from east to west. Hopkins adds to this geographical evidence that of the physical or natural scenery depicted in the Rigveda. A part of the Rigveda and of its highest poetry is inspired by Ushas, the deity of Dawn, whose splendours are best seen in the western parts of the Panjab, to the west of the Indus, which are not troubled much by clouds and rainfall. But the other parts of the Rigveda tell of contrary natural phenomena, of clouds and storms, outbursts of torrential rains, thunder, and lightning, which point to the easterly region between the Sarasvatī and the Dṛishadvatī.

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Some further light is thrown on the question of the localization of the Rigveda and its culture by a study of the geographical distribution of its principal peoples, each of whom was distinguished by its association with a particular Ṛishi who acted as the Purohita of its king, invoked its gods, and performed its sacrifices with the hymns of his own creation. Thus the settlement of each such people was also a seat of the learning represented by the Ṛishis moving with them. The chief Vedic settlements are mentioned as follows: (1) The *Gandhāras* (known for the wool of their good sheep); (2) the *Mūjavants* whom Zimmer locates on the south bank of the Kubhā up to its mouth in the Indus and down its east side to some extent; (3) the *Pūrus* settled on both banks of the Sarasvatī [*Rv.* vii, 95, 96]; (4) the *Turvaśas*, with the *Kaṇvas* as their priests, moving about the banks of the Parushṇī [*Rv.* vii, 18]; (5) the *Anus* on the Parushṇī [viii, 74, 15; vii, 18, 14]; (6) the *Druhyus* on the same river, with the *Bhṛigus* as their priests [i, 108, 8; vii, 18, 14; viii, 10, 5]; (7) the *Bharatas* settled in the region of the Sarasvatī, Āpayā, and Dṛishadvatī, with the *Kuśikas* as their priests [iii, 33, 11–12; 53, 9; 12, 24]. Under Ṛishi Viśvāmitra they advance to the Vipās and Śutudrī [ib.] and are defeated and rescued with the aid of Vasishṭha [vii, 8, 4; 33, 6], whence they are probably to be connected with the *Tṛitsus* whose subjects they are stated to be [vii, 33, 6, where the Bharatas are called *Tṛitsūnāṁ Viśaḥ*]; and (8) the Tṛitsus who, led by king Sudās and Ṛishi Vasishṭha, were the victors in the famous Battle of the Ten Kings and settled themselves as the paramount power in all that region between the Yamunā and the Parushṇī.

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The Rigvedic hymns, with the learning and culture resulting from them, saw the light in the regions occupied by these peoples led by their respective Ṛishis, the makers of both their political and spiritual well-being.

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**Secular Learning.** Rigvedic Education proper as described above, being purely religious and literary in its character, was for the few who were fit and eager for a dedicated life in quest of the highest truths and supreme knowledge. It was thus not meant for the many or the masses. And yet Rigvedic India did not present a one-sided development.

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There must have been a considerable amount of secular non-religious education to build up its economic life. It is known for its progress in all departments of national life, economic, political, or religious, its progress in the various arts and crafts of civilized life, in Agriculture, Industry, and Trade. And this progress must have rested ultimately on the foundation of an appropriate system of technical, industrial, and commercial education, which found its outlet in a corresponding diversity of occupations. The Rigveda itself hardly furnishes any direct evidence on such education, but a glimpse of it may be found in the following hymns throwing light on the economic life of the times [ix, 112]:—

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"1. We different men have different tastes and pursuits (*dhiyo vi vratāni*). The carpenter (*Taskhā*) seeks something that is broken (*rishṭam*), the physician (*Bhishag*) a patient (*rutam*), the priest (*Brahmā*) someone who will perform sacrifice (*sunvantam ichchhati*).
"2. With dried-up faggots (*jaratībhiroshadhībhiḥ*), with birds' feathers (*parṇebhiḥ śakunānām*), with stones (*aśmabhiḥ*) and fire (?) (*dyubhiḥ*), the artisan (*kārmāraḥ*) continually seeks after (*ichchhati*) a man with plenty of gold (*hiraṇyavantam*).
"3. I am a poet (*Kāruḥ aham*), my father is a physician (*Bhishag*) and my mother (*nanā*) a grinder of corn (*Upalaprakshiṇī*).
"With our different inclinations (*nānādhiyo*), seeking gain, we run after (our respective objects) as after cattle (*Vasūyavo anugā iva tasthima*).
"4. The draught horse (*aśvo voḷhā*) wishes for (*ichchhati*) an easy-going chariot (*sukhaṁ rathaṁ*); merry companions (*upamantriṇaḥ*) a laugh (*hasanām*); the female sex, the male; and frogs a pond."

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This hymn gives a graphic picture of the realities of life in the Rigvedic Age which was not exclusively an Age of Saints and Seers. Even the Rishi-head of a family could not secure that all the members of his family should tend towards rishi-hood. The mother of a Rishi happens to be an illiterate lady who behaves like a good housewife, grinding corn, while his father goes about curing persons not of their spiritual but physical ills, and that for the sake of earning his family's livelihood. Each is after material gain (*vasūyavaḥ*), an 'economic man', even in the Rigvedic Age resounding so much with the utterance of Mantras. Society thus ridden by economic motives opened up various avenues of employment outside the religious sphere. We come across the woodwright, the metal-worker, the capitalist, wealth in cattle, draught horses, and youths given to gay life and not behaving like severe ascetics.

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And in the body of the Rigveda are scattered references¹ to the diverse economic pursuits of the times betokening a diffusion of industrial education in the country. There was considerable progress in Pasture, Cattle-rearing, and Agriculture. The domesticated animals included sheep, goats, asses, and dogs used for hunting, guarding, and tracking cattle, and keeping watch at night. The draught animals were bulls, oxen, as well as horses. Cultivation was highly honoured as an occupation which distinguished the *Ārya* from the *Vrātya*. The plough was drawn by oxen in teams of 6, 8, or 12. There was use of manure (*śakan* or *karīsha*). The water for irrigation came from lakes (*hrada*), canals (*kulyā*), and wells. Water was drawn out of wells by buckets (*kośa*) tied to leather-strings (*varatrā*) pulled round a stone-pulley (*aśma-chakra*) and then emptied into broad channels for irrigation. As regards Industry or Handicrafts, the carpenter was kept busy making carts, chariots, and draught wagons (*anas*), and also artistic carved works. The blacksmith turned out utensils of metal and the goldsmith ornaments of various kinds. Tanning was known and the leatherer was in great request for supplying bowstrings, slings, thongs, reins, whips, and bags. The weaver (*Vāya*) was quite prominent, as Rigvedic India was advanced in textiles. We have already referred to the Rigvedic passage asking those not fit for the higher learning to take to the plough or the loom. The trader and money-lender were in evidence, together with Barter, Debt, Interest, and Money-economy (as shown in the mention of a gift of 100 *nishkas*). We also read of sea-borne trade carried on in boats or ships (*nau* or *plava*) propelled by oars (*nāvaṁ aritraparanīm*) and going to sea (*nāvaḥ samudriyaḥ*). There is a reference to a ship with 100 oars (*Śatāritrāṁ nāvam*) by which was rescued a person ship-wrecked on the main "where there is no support, no rest for foot or hand". The standard of its material civilization is indicated in the architecture and cities of Rigvedic India. Cities or fortified places are called *Pur*. There is a reference to a hundred cities of stone (iv, 30, 20: *Śatam aśmanmayīnāṁ purām*). These cities must have been in localities bordering on hills from which stone could be quarried. Iron cities or fortifications are also mentioned (*puraḥ āyasīḥ* in *Rv.* i, 58, 8; ii, 20, 8; iv, 27, 1, etc.), as also cities with a hundred enclosures or fortifications (*śatabhujī*, *Rv.* i, 166, 8; vii, 15, 14). Probably these forts consisted of a series of concentric walls. All this economic progress was built up by the talent and training produced by schools of craftsmanship, the existence of which we can only infer in the absence of any direct evidence from the Rigveda.

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¹ These are fully given in my work *Hindu Civilization* (Longmans, London, 1936).

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**The Vedāṅgas.** Orthodox learned opinion describes the Veda as *Shaḍaṅga-Veda*, the Veda of six limbs, and holds that the study of the Rigveda simultaneously gave rise to the six subsidiary studies known as Śikshā, Kalpa, Vyākaraṇa, Nirukta, Chhanda, and Jyotisha. Although these subjects are now extant in the forms of Sūtras belonging to a much later age, their origins must be found in the age of the Rigveda, because the Rigveda could not be properly studied without the aid of these Vedāṅgas. As the Veda was learnt by recitation and proper pronunciation, it was first necessary to learn the science of Śikshā. The word *śikshā* is from the root *śiksh*, to give. The guru was giving the Veda to his pupil by uttering it. Therefore, a knowledge of Śikshā was preliminary to study of Veda, the mastery of which depended upon its proper pronunciation and recitation. This point is made clear in a verse in Hymn vii, 103, in the expression “*yadeshām anyo anyasya vāchaṁ śāktasyeva vadati śikshamāṇaḥ*”. Here the word *śāktasya* = *śaktimataḥ śikshakasya* refers to the teacher who was possessed of the ability to teach by his knowledge of the science of *Śikshā*, according to which he was uttering and pronouncing the Vedic texts which his pupils were reciting from his lips (*anuvadati*).

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It may also be assumed that just as the Veda was recited according to the rules of Śikshā, it was also applied for the performance of Yajña according to the rules of the second Vedāṅga called *Kalpa*. Similarly, the Vedāṅgas, *Vyākaraṇa* and *Nirukta*, had also to be studied as aids to the comprehension of the meaning of the Vedic text upon which so much stress was laid. The mere crammer of Vedic texts (*Kevala-Pāṭhaka*) to whom the Veda merely conveyed a sound without sense (*Nigadenaiva śabdyate*) was condemned as the bearer of a burden, like an ass carrying a load of sandal-wood without relishing its smell.

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Similarly, the Vedāṅga called *Chhandas* must have been regarded as preliminary to Vedic chanting. The rules of poetical composition, of versification, and metre, had to be mastered for following the many varieties of metre employed in the Rigveda.

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Lastly, a study of *Jyotisha* gave an insight into unchanging and regular laws of nature and kindled the scientific spirit in that age.

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It may also be assumed that behind these Vedāṅga sciences there must have been a study of the science of sciences, the science of reasoning or logic. A glimpse of this study is given in Rigveda iii, 26, 9, where the expression "*Vaktvānāṁ Melim*" (= Melakaṁ) refers to one who can reconcile conflicting views advanced by what are called the Pūrva-Paksha and the Siddhāntin.

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The scientific spirit of the Vedic age finds expression in the recognition of an immutable cosmic order or the Laws of Nature for which there are employed such terms as *Dhātā*, *Satya*, *Ṛita*, *Dharma*, and *Vrata*. Dhātā refers to what has been, as an accomplished fact, revealing the law of happenings, like the tree growing from a seed, of the sun rising in the east, of Agni always consuming objects thrown into it. Similarly, *Satya* refers to what is (*Sata*) and to what is contributory (*Hita*) to what is happening, the law, for example, by which the sun still rises in the east, fire gives heat, and a plant grows out of a seed. *Dharma* is that which holds in the midst of change.

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There may be a doubt whether *Kalpa* as a subject of study is known to the Rigveda. But the doubt is solved by a reference to the Hymn vii, 103, where there is a verse mentioning *Soma-yājī* Brāhmaṇas, *Satra* continuing for full one year (Parivatsarīṇaṃ) and Adhvaryu. A sacrifice lasting for one year must have required for its performance the services of the full complement of priesthood consisting of sixteen members. There is another verse in the same hymn describing how the Udgātā priests (Gāyatriṇaḥ) were chanting (gāyanti) hymns, how the Arkis (Hotā Priests) were uttering their Arkas (hymns) in praise of the deity (Archanti) and also the Brahmā priests who were supervising the sacrifice. The elaborate scale on which the Soma-sacrifice was performed is also indicated in a passage of Rigveda : “Yat sānoḥ sānum āruhat bhūri aspashta-kartvam,” implying that it required *bhūri* or elaborate preparation [i, 10, 2].

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The same doubt is expressed about the development of *Nirukta* and *Vyākaraṇa* as subjects of study at the time of Rig-Veda. Sāyaṇa cites a text: “Tasmāt Brāhmāṇā ubhayāṁ Vāchaṁ vadanti yā cha devānāṁ yā cha manushyāṇāṁ iti.”

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This shows that *Deva-bhāshā* or Vedic speech was already separated from the spoken tongue in the time of the *Brāhmaṇas*. There are some passages of the Rigveda which throw light on these linguistic problems. I, 164, 45 refers to four varieties of speech (*Vāk*), of which three were known to Brāhmaṇas, who were Manīshīs, i.e. who had achieved mastery of their minds but not to the ordinary people who knew only the fourth class of speech. Now what are those four varieties of speech? According to the Yājñikas, these were the languages of (*a*) Mantra, (*b*) Kalpa, (*c*) Brāhmaṇas, and (*d*) that popularly spoken. According to the Nairuktas, the three languages were those of Ṛik, Yajuḥ, and Sāma Veda, and the fourth was the vernacular language of the times. Thus, in this view, the language of the three Vedas was not accessible to the common people.

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The same sense is conveyed by *Ṛv.* x, 71, already cited, where Vedic speech is described as refined (saṁskṛita) speech, speech that is refined and created by the minds of the learned by separating the pure elements from the impure like a sieve. In that refined speech dwells Bhadrā-Lakshmī, the Goddess of Good. It leads to the highest good. This speech was evolved by Ṛishis by employing it at Yajñas where they used to gather. The Yajña was thus the primary centre of learning and education in those days. It provided the sphere where Vedic speech was in circulation, was cultivated and perfected. Vedic speech was the outcome of the Yajña which alone gave the occasion for its use. It had no use in the secular spheres of life. That is why another hymn states how ordinary people only "see" or "hear" the words of the Veda by their mere forms and sounds, but they cannot perceive their sense. The Vedic speech thus originating at the Yajñas was conserved and transmitted through the Vedic schools of the times comprising students called *Sakhās*, those bound by the ties of a common learning (Vidyā-sambandha).

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The cultivation of this difficult and refined Vedic speech depended upon the special sciences called *Nirukta* and *Vyākaraṇa*. The Taittirīya Saṁhitā has a story: "Vāg vai parāchī avyākṛitā avadat | Tāṁ Indraḥ madhyataḥ avakramya vyākarot | Tasmād-diyaṁ vyākṛitā Vāk udyate," which means that originally Vedic speech was unintelligible like the roar of the ocean till Indra made it intelligible by differentiation of roots, suffixes, and prefixes. This thus refers to the sciences of Etymology and Grammar rendering Vedic speech fit for study. The same meaning is conveyed in *Ṛv.* x, 71, 1, already cited, where the first stage of Vedic speech is stated to be "the meaning of objects" (*Nāma dheyaṁ dadhānāḥ*), which must have been the work of the students of *Nirukta* (which collects the various words signifying the same object) and *Vyākaraṇa* throwing light on single and compound words. The second stage of Vedic speech belongs to a different and higher plane and concerns its subtle and spiritual meaning to be attained by meditation, as distinguished from its gross and literal meaning given by the grammarians who understand only the letter but not the spirit of the Vedic speech. For this Bṛihaspati is invoked in the hymn.

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**Images of Rishis.** The Ideal of Life and Education as embodied in the Vedic Ṛishis became the established Ideal of the country and finds expression in its Art. I unexpectedly discovered some images in stone of these Ṛishis in the wilds of Rajgir [Plate II]. A proof of the popularity of the Ṛishi type in Indian culture and tradition is to be found in some old Sanskrit works on Tāntrika Buddhism, which were carried to China by the Nālandā scholar, Śubhā Kara Siṁha, in a.d. 716, and translated by him into Chinese in a.d. 730. Thus the original works were much older than their Chinese translations. These works contained portraits of (1) Ṛishi Atri and his wife (Anasūyā) and (2) Ṛishi Vasishṭha in two postures, seated and standing.

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These portraits were preserved in a Japanese work called *Hizoki* which was compiled by Kukai who lived about the end of the eighth century a.d. Copies of these are to be found in the published parts of the Dictionary called *Hobogirin*, by S. Levi and Taka Kusu. Plate III is based on drawings of these.

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In the picture, Atri holds in his left hand a water-pot and covers his body by the right hand. His wife (Anasūyā) is seated by him.

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Vasishṭha is seated on a mat, with his left knee raised, holding a lotus in his right hand and a garland in his left.

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The walking Vasishṭha is an emaciated figure of Asceticism leaning on a staff which he holds in his left hand and making a sign by his right hand. The recorded tradition is that he is here represented in the act of constructing a hermitage on Mount Potalaka, the abode of his Deity, Avalokiteśvara.

Linked texts (3)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Taittirīyasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Brāhmaṇa — Sanskrit