The Hindu traditions
Page 1 of 1 • Share
- Engr_JosephLv2: Member
- Gender : Male
State : None
My Club :
Posts : 73 Posts Liked : 38
The Hindu tradition
India is the site of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. From about 2000 BC the Aryans entered, captured the land, and founded powerful kingdoms. Before long, the Brahmans who were the intellectuals became priests and men of learning; the nobles and soldiers constituted the next class, the agricultural and trading class was called Vaisyas; andfinally the dasas were absorbed as domestic servants. Such was the origin of the division of the Hindus into four classes. By about 500 BC, the classes became hardned into castes.
Religion was the mainspring of all activities in ancient India. It comprised of both prayer and worship as well as philosophy, morality, law, and government. Religion dominated educational ideals, too and the study of Vedic literature was very important in higher classes. There were clearly demarcated stages of instruction. During the first period, the child received elementary education at home. The beginning of secondary education and formal schooling was marked by a ritual, which was restricted to and compulsory for boys of the three higher castes: at age 8 years for the Brahman boys, age 11 for boys of the next higher class, and age 12 for the boys of the third higher class. The boy then left his father’s house for his preceptor’s home. The preceptor would treat him as his own child, give him free education, and not charge anything for his boarding and lodging. The pupil had to tend the sacrificial fires, do the household work of his preceptor, and look after his cattle.
The study at this stage consisted of the recitation of the Vedic mantras, or “hymns,” and the auxiliary sciences-phonetics, the rules for the performance of the sacrifices, grammar astronomy, prosody, and etymology. The characteristic of education, however, differed according to the needs of the caste. For a child of the priestly class, there was a definite syllabus of studies. It was compulsory for him to have knowledge of the most ancient of Hindu scriptures. During the whole course at school, or at college, the student had to wear a simple dress, live on plain food, use a hard bed, and lead a celibate life. Learning normally lasted for 12 years, but for those who wanted to go further, there was no age limit. After finishing their education at an asrama, they went to a higher centre of learning or a university.
Advanced students also improved their knowledge by taking part in philosophical discussions at an “academy”. Women were not denied education, but normally girls were taught at home. The method differed according to the nature of the subject. Parables were employed in the personal spiritual teaching. In higher learning, such as in the teaching of “righteousness
science”, the most popular and useful method was catechism, with the pupil asking questions and the teacher discussing at length on the topics referred to him. Memorization, however, played the greatest role.
Create an account or log in to leave a reply
You need to be a member in order to leave a reply.
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You can reply to topics in this forum