37 Education System of the Mahābhārata

V. Venkata Ramana Reddy Ramana Reddy

epgp books

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Indian system of education is one of the oldest systems of the world. Both secular and sacred education was handed over systematically by formalizing the system of education. Education in India started many years before 5000 BC (many years before Shri Ram Age or one can say that Vedic knowledge came along with human civilization as menu of restaurant (Topic of Research)).

 

Education in ancient India had a deep impact in the upliftment and advancement of the early society and over all development. India is pregnant with a rich tradition of knowledge and learning from the earliest days of Indian civilization. There are several literary sources, such as the Vedas and other Hindu texts and scriptures, which offer references about education system of the ancient societies.

 

2.  Gurukul System Arrangement:

 

2.1 Role of Teachers in Gurukul:

 

There used to be separate Gurukuls for both Girls and Boys. Girls got their education from only women-sages called Rishikas and Brahmavadinis, and Boys got their education from Rishi. In this Vedic period, the following objectives were ascribed to education. Though everybody would go to the guru’s house to study, there were some day-students too. Students from far-off places would live in the guru’s house.

 

The preceptors were of two classes, namely Acharya and Upadhyaya. According to ancient literary texts the Acharya performs the Upanayana ceremony of the students, teaches him the Veda along with ritualistic literature and the Upanishads. A pupil should confidentially draw the attention of the teacher to any wrongdoing of the rules, meant for him, either purposely or unconsciously. The students are allowed to control the teacher by force from wrong-doing or to get him restrained by his father etc. Mahabharata mentions that students are allowed to desert his teacher who is arrogant, ignorant of his duty and resorts to a wrong course of action.

 

There is a well-known word, “chatra.” This was first applied in the Mahábhárata period to any of the pupils staying under the canopy (chatra) of any particular pandit. As the pupils were under the control of, within the jurisdiction of, one pandit with one school of thought, they were known as “chátra”. “Chátra” has now wrongly been used to mean any student. Present students are not chatra. “Chátra” means one who is under the control and jurisdiction (chatra) of a school of thought of one guru. During the Mahábhárata period

 

2.2 Gurukul Settlements

 

The hermitage of Kanva was another famous center of learning, of which a full description is given. It is situated on the banks of the Malini, a tributary of the Sarayu River. It was not a solitary hermitage, but an assemblage of numerous hermitages round the central hermitage of Rishi Kanva, the presiding spirit of the settlement.

 

2.3 Specialist Gurukuls

 

There were specialists in every branch of learning cultivated in that age; specialists in each of the four Vedas; in sacrificial literature and art; Kalpa-Sutras; in the Chhanda (Metrics), Sabda (Vyakarana), and Nirukta. There were also Logicians, knowing the principles of Nyaya, and of Dialectics (the art of establishing propositions, solving doubts, and ascertaining conclusions).

 

There were also specialists in the physical sciences and art. There were, for example, experts in the art of constructing sacrificial altars of various dimensions and shapes (on the basis of a knowledge of Solid Geometry); those who had knowledge of the properties of matter (dravyaguna); of physical processes and their results of causes and their effect; zoologists having a special knowledge of monkeys and birds. It was thus a forest University where the study of every available branch of learning was cultivated.

 

Hermitage of Rishi Bharadvaja at Prayaga or at Atri at Chitrakuta was center of learning Vedas. The hermitage of Vyasa was another seat of learning. There Vyasa taught the Vedas to his disciples. Those disciples were highly blessed Sumantra, vaisampayana, Jamini of great wisdom, and Paila of great ascetic merit.” They were afterwards joined by Suka, the famous son of Vyasa.

 

2.4 Evidences of Gurukulas

 

The Mahabharata tells of numerous hermitages where pupils from distant parts gathered for instruction round some far-famed teachers. A full-fledged Asrama is described as consisting of several Departments which are enumerated as following:

  • Agnisthana: the  place for fire-worship  and  prayers Brahma-sthana: the  Department of  Veda
  • Vishnusthana:  the Department for teaching Raja-Niti ETC
  • Mahendrasthana: Military Section
  • Vivasvata-sthana: Department of Astronomy
  • Somasthana:  Department of Botany
  • Garuda-sthana: Section dealing with Transport and Conveyances
  • Kartikeya-sthana: Section teaching military organization, how to form patrols, battalions, and army.

3. Brahmacharya System:

 

It entails rigorous self-discipline and self-control. All sorts of pleasures and luxuries must be avoided by the pupils. Some of the occasions on which termination of study was prescribed include dusty storm by day, playing of certain musical instruments within the hearing of the pupil, cries of animals, screech of an owl, heavy downpour, rattling of thunderbolt, earthquake, eclipse, fall of a meteor, festival, certain Tithi and Nakshatras, e.g. full moon day, etc .

 

Samavartana marks the end of a pupil’s period of study and return home. According to some literary sources, education in ancient India was not confined only to the privacy of the preceptor’s house. In matters of education in ancient societies, the constricted barriers of the caste-system seemed to have crumbled down as per the various literary texts.

 

4. Fee for Education:

 

Education at that time was free. It was free because no student was required to pay any fees. It was free also because no outside agency could interfere in the matters of education. There was perfect autonomy. No external authority no external beneficiary, no politics was permitted to enter the school or college system. A student had to pay nothing in return for education he received in a Gurukul or Ashram. Access to good education depended not on wealth but on talent. The student was expected, if desired but never compelled to offer a field, cow, horse or the elements of the daily needs to his teacher according to his financial position in the society. Education could not be bought one could go up the ladder as his abilities permitted. In Mahabharata we can see instance like Drona asking Arjuna to capture Drupada as Gurudakhina, Thumb from Ekalavya is sought as Gurudakhina. Karna was given free education from Parasurama.

 

5. What was thought in Mahabharata Era

 

In the first phase they would learn grammar, then general knowledge of different subjects. After this they would learn the art of operating various weapons, according to their abilities. Those who were interested in learning the shastras were taught them

 

The Mahabharata age there was no educational system in particular. Generally students would go to the guru’s house, at the age of five, and, completing their studies by the age of twenty-four, would return home. The reason for not having a solid educational system in the Vaedika age was the incomplete establishment of even monarchism at that time. The gurus would maintain their Gurukula by begging from the public. The students were in turn maintained by the catuspathiis.

 

Traits that were taught.

  • Self-control
  • Development of character
  • Generation of sociability or social awareness
  • Integral development of personality
  • Propagation of purity
  • Preservation of knowledge and culture

Knowledge that were taught

 

Dharma sutras, particularly those of Gautama Buddha and Apastamba and the Manu Smriti, are the principal works dealing with the system of education in ancient India.

 

As the first phase of learning, one should be taught grammar. But in the Vaedika age there was no grammar of the Vaedika language. The Vaedika language was a spoken language. In addition to this, there was no script, and people did not know how to write. Therefore the students would memorize the things uttered by the gurus. This is why a solid system could not be evolved. Since the students were listening to their gurus and remembering the things spoken, the Veda was named “Shruti.” “Shruti” means “ear” as well as “to listen” The people in the Vaedika age did not even realize well the value of education, a must for sharpening the intellect. If you go through the Veda you will come across a thousand and one grammatical mistakes, i.e. no grammar had been made. A strong Sanskrit grammar was made by Panini. Panini, a great scholar and the first grammarian of Sanskrit, was a Pakhtoon of the Peshawar area.

 

Logic (nyaya), social code (smrti), Sanskrit grammar and the science of spirituality were included in the educational curriculum of the then period. But that which we call philosophy today had not yet been born. In the period of the Mahábhárata there was spiritual teaching, there were books,

 

6. Medium of Instruction

 

In the Mahabharata age education was given through the medium of Sanskrit. The Vaedika language was a dead language then. The people’s language was Prákrta but teaching was not in the Prákrta medium. Books in Prákrta were also very few. Generally people did not write in Prákrta. The Prákrta language was reformed, and the language which came into being out of the reformation was named Sanskrit.

 

Sanskrit is not the Vaedika language. After the death of the Vaedika language Prákrta was born. The synthetic language which was made by rectifying the Prákrta language was known as Sanskrit. “Sanskrit” means “reformed” – the reformation of the Prákrta language.Towards the east of Allahabad in East India was Magadhii Prákrta; towards the west of Allahabad and east of Delhi, i.e., in Northern Central India, there was Shaorasenii Prákrta; in the Punjab, Kashmir and Himachal, i.e., to the northwest of Delhi, there was Paeshacii Prákrta; towards the west and north of this Paeshachii land (in Afghanistan and South Russia) there was Pashcatya Prákrta;

 

Medium of Writing

 

The education in that period was in Sanskrit, and people wrote on bhurja leaves, not palm leaves. The famous book of that age is the Mahábhárata, a part of which is the Giitá. In the Mahábhárata age people began to write the Veda, but the writing was completed after a pretty long time. On the Giitá we find the influence of only one book or set of books – the Vaedika Upaniśads – because the only book which could have been called older than the Giitá was the Veda,

 

Economic support for Education

 

During the Mahábhárata age the panditas who were teaching in the catuspathiis were helped both by the government and by the public. People considered it to be a sacred deed to help the catuspathiis, which they did with food, clothing, etc, this was something spontaneous. Each pandita was the conductor of one catuspathii, and there was no such thing as a university. Each pandita set up his educational system and curriculum according to his wishes and his own teaching. Each student belonging to a catuspathii was the adopter (dharaka), supporter (vahaka), and patron (pariposaka) of a particular thought. Students connected to different panditas had considerable variation in their knowledge.

 

In the Mahábhárata period the university system was not set up by the people. The difference between the catuspathiis of the Mahábhárata age.

 

Cast in Education:

 

In the Vaedika era there was division by caste, but there was no casteism at all. But during the Mahábhárata period, there was both caste division and some sense of caste, or casteism. Still, intercaste marriages were customary, and in one family someone might be a vipra, someone a shúdra, someone a vaeshya, as mentioned earlier. Casteism had not yet entered in. Those who had ability for the use of weapons would study martial arts more than the scriptures. Even a person born in a vipra family could study the use of weapon more than the scriptures if he was interested. For example, there was Drona, who though born in a vipra family, was an expert in operating weapons, since he was interested in them. But persons born in vipra families lost respect if they became very skilled in the use of weapons.

 

Society and Education

 

There was also a close link between the educational system and the social system, i.e., the society wanted persons coming from kśatriya families to be expert in military skills, as it was the duty of the kśatriyas to defend the country. The social system was that only the kśatriyas were to defend the country, if invaded; this resulted in a great weakness of the society, leading to the defeat of India when invaded by outside forces 2000 years after the Mahabharata, wherein the majority of the kśatriyas had been killed, causing a great reduction in their numbers.

 

Conclusion:

 

The Ancient system of Education was well structures and purpose oriented. This system yielded best results for generations down the ages. Teachers were guiding their disciples in both spiritual and professional skills. Student had great faith on Gurus and totally surrendered to them. The purpose of education is to serve the four dharmas of life. Final goal of education to attain salvation.

you can view video on Education System of the Mahābhārata

Web links

5.3 Bibliography