CHAPTER III.
Education.—Sanscrith.—Chalk in the Hand.—Patshala, the Teacher.—The Discipline in the School.
I would, in this chapter, treat of the education of the Hindoo boys. But ere I commence this, a little description of the Sanscrith language seems desirable. It is universally observed that the Indians were known for their advancement in literary pursuits and for their language from a far remote antiquity. Their sublime literature with abundance of gold and jewels stands unrivalled even to the present day. As far as the fame of the learned Brahmuns has spread, in what estimation they were held among the nations around India, may be obvious from the following story. A Persian monarch had sent his messengers in search of the richest jewels and diamonds in India. They came in, and, after an earnest inquiry, returned to Persia with the most valuable articles that could be found. The monarch smiled at this mistake, saying that he did not meanthoseby jewels in India. Go, said he, to the court of King Becromandith, and you will find nine jewels there. Indeed, this Becromandith had, we read in the book, “nobō ruttner shobha,” society of nine learned men, jewels of rare value, of whom the celebrated Kalidass was the presiding genius.
The Sanscrith was then the current language of the people, and every class, high or low, had access to it. I do not mean to affirm that every class had access to the sacredbooks, but that various other able works were open for the instruction of the people. The members of the lowest caste could then discuss the difficult points on logic, rhetoric, mental philosophy, who at this day cannot talk on common things without grammatical mistakes. What a change these few hundred years have wrought! The beauty of Sanscrith, which could have been found in workshops, is now strictly confined in the chest of the Brahmuns. The Sanscrith tree used to grow on the wayside, now it is found in the Brahminical soil only. Out of the thirty-four castes, only three have the right to study it comparatively. Brahmuns and Aucherjeăs can go through all the mystery of the language, while the physician can study as much as his profession would require; hundreds of their medical books being written in the Sanscrith, a good knowledge of this is necessary to understand them. It would seem absurd to a Christian to see the degree of reverence the low-caste Hindoos pay to this language. A priest can cause a large audience of the low castes to close the ears by uttering aloud a few words, such as “om” or “gānētry.” Even a Brahmun woman is forbidden to utter or hear them.
As there is no female education there at all, I will speak of the mode, the peculiarities of training the Hindoo boys. At the age of five, the boys begin to “touch the chalk by the hand.” It is the custom of the Hindoos to fix a day, after consulting the stars and planets and days, to enter on the beginning of anything. A man would not leave home on any day of pleasure, a woman would not come to her husband’s house at his or her own arrangement, without consulting the “poujeeka,” almanac. Thus they do on every occasion. In the common printed almanacs these things are stated thus:—“The Monday, 24th of April,sooc-clo puckho, white fortnight,tha-thosee, twelfth day of the moon,at 10½ A. M., is a favorable time to go towards the east or north, or to undertake some other affair.” Now when a day has been appointed in this way, the young boy is anointed and bathed. “Shurresh sutty,” or the Muse, is worshipped, then the father or some one marks letters of the alphabet on the floor, which the boy writes over with a piece of chalk. By and by he is sent to the “patshālā,” the place of instruction, where the “gooroo-moha-shay,” sir teacher, gives lessons in writing, reading, and ciphering to some fifty or more boys. The boys write on palm-leaves before they are advanced enough to write on paper. The reason is, palm-leaves are long and smooth, and may be used anew after washing, in the same way as slates are used. There are no chairs or benches in thepatshālā, but they sit on the carpet: sometimes the boys bring a piece of carpet or mat nearly five feet long and three feet broad, which they fold round their palm-leaves and pen of reeds. Thepatshālāhas no regular term, but keeps throughout the year, holidays excepted, which come almost every month. The Hindoos know no Sabbath nor Christmas. The school opens at six in the morning, and again at three in the afternoon, giving, in the mean time, a recess of four hours. The boy who comes first has a dot for his number, and the names of the rest are written as they come respectively. Now when it is time to close, the teacher strikes on the hands of the boys according to their number. Thus, he who keeps the record, being the earliest of all, gets merely a slight touch of the teacher’s whip, the second two, the third three, and so on. This is simply to enforce early attendance, because the first exercise in thepatshālāis the reading aloud the prayer to the Muse, and repeating the multiplication-table. The late boys, of course, lose these exercises. A deep and unsullied reverence for the teacheris considered the best element in the life of the scholar, and very essential to his success; hence the Hindoo boy bows down to the ground before “gooroo mohashoy,” saying “bitha thau,” grant us knowledge. To serve him a little is worth several hours’ study. The pupils are required to bring tobacco for him, which most of them get at the grocer’s in exchange for the written banana-leaves, which he uses to make packages for salt, sugar, &c. If a boy be absent often, four smart boys are despatched to bring him by force, which errand they perform with great skill and courage. If the absentee be a real truant, and have a grudge against some boy, in this case you would find his enemies would go to bring him as the best chance of retaliation. He is brought into thepatshālāin the way that ants carry a crust of bread into their hole. As they bring him, they sing thus:—
“Gooro moshoy, tomar pōrō hazir,Achē-dundo chārā dow jol Khaia ashe.”
“Gooro moshoy, tomar pōrō hazir,Achē-dundo chārā dow jol Khaia ashe.”
“Gooro moshoy, tomar pōrō hazir,Achē-dundo chārā dow jol Khaia ashe.”
“Gooro moshoy, tomar pōrō hazir,
Achē-dundo chārā dow jol Khaia ashe.”
In English, “Sir teacher, your pupil is come, and give us leave for a few minutes to go out and drink some water,” &c.
The patshālā does not give thorough instruction in grammar, history, or philosophy, for the children of the privileged classes learn these in Sanscrith schools.
Under the British administration the old native system of training the youth has been almost done away in various parts of India, and English rules of discipline have been established, as far as it could be done without directly interfering with the superstition of the Hindoos.
There are high-schools, colleges, and numerous mission-schools in Calcutta and in other places in India. A university, a civil-engineering college, and a “School of Industrial Art,” have of late been established. Nearly fifty years agothere was not a decent school in Calcutta. Mr. David Hare, of Edinburgh, laid the foundation of regular schools in India. He gave his money and his whole energy and life for this one philanthropic object. His tenderness, fatherly care, and earnest attention towards the students are proverbial. The Hare’s Academy, the Hindoo and Sanscrith Colleges with their gigantic pillars and the intelligent and learned Bengalees openly speak of his disinterested love and Christian philanthropy. His mortal remains now rest under a marble slab, which may be seen on the College Square.
Indeed, one of the great blessings India has received from the West, and especially from England, is the system of educating her children in general. In her past histories (legendary age excepted) we do not hear of regularly organized colleges, where the children of all the castes could be instructed. The wretched condition of the low castes and their predecessors verify the fact. But I do not mean to say, as any of my dear countrymen should understand, that India had not trained her children before the English system was introduced. On the other hand, I wonder that she could produce illustrious poets, metaphysicians, logicians, astronomers, &c., without regular places of instruction.
Here and there, as we have observed before, there were Chow-Baries under the supervision of the Pundits, who in fact were the pastors, teachers, and guardians of the children of the privileged classes. No goldsmith nor washerman’s son was seen to breathe the philosophic air of these institutions or drink of the silvery stream of the Brahminical literature. Again, even the great learning of some of the philosophers, poets, astrologers, is attributed to the miraculous agencies more emphatically than anything else. The Mohammedans, who ruled India before the British, did notdirect their eyes towards the Hindoos of the lowest castes, for their education, or regeneration. To raise the fallen, cheer up the depressed, exalt the low, enlighten the ignorant, is the peculiar mission of Christianity, and the nations which profess it, breathe its influences, carry its blessings wherever they go. Thank God, that England has done her part in some measure, shown the spirit of Christ in seeking prosperity and providing education for the despised low castes,—the “lost sheep” of the Hindoos. Besides the public schools and colleges established directly by the government, where all the castes might go for instruction, provided they pay schooling fees, there are thousands of “Government Aided Schools” lately instituted by the East India Company.
The condition on which theaidwas given is something like this. The proprietor of a school, desiring aid of a certain sum, must raise a like amount by fees from the pupils and other private donations, and spend the whole for support of his school. Among others, a philanthropic Brahmun, Baboo J. K. M. (the landholder) of Ottor Parah, near Calcutta, established more than twenty-four primary schools in different parts of his estate, defraying one half of the expense from his own treasury, and drawing the other from that of the government. These schools prepare the boys for the college, where they go after passing the junior scholarship examination, which entitles them to prosecute their studies free in the higher branches for one year, and draw a monthly stipend of five dollars. Those who fail to go successfully through the examination have to pay for their instruction of course. The standard for the junior and senior examinations is not the same every year, but varies according to the general progress of the schools, and the discretion of the Directors.
The year before I left Calcutta, the “standard for the junior scholarship examination comprised the following books: Cowper’s Task, Tytler’s Universal History, Paterson’s Zoölogy, Stewart’s Geography, Grammar, Mechanics, first four books of Euclid’s Geometry, Algebra quadratic equation, Arithmetic whole, and other Bengalee studies.” The candidates who pass this examination are from sixteen to twenty years old. The sphere to move about for the successful students is broad and honorable; they may continue their scholastic course in the Presidency College, study medicine, or teach schools where the branches of study are low. Let it be said, to the credit of the Bengalee boys, that hardly a primary school fails to send out annually three or four students to the higher colleges, from its first class, which scarcely makes room for fifteen.
I do not know exactly the studies in the senior classes in colleges, nor feel able to fathom the depth of the acquirements there. I would use another’s tongue to show how much the Hindoo young men could do in their scholastic career. A writer in the Christian Examiner quotes from an able article on British India, in the London Quarterly Review, the following, which fitly answers my purpose:—“Young men (Indians) who have received an education, and have passed an examination, scarcely inferior in the variety and difficulty of its subjects to those of our English universities,” &c. I do not exaggerate the intellectual powers of my countrymen, when I affirm that their aptness to learn anything set before them, their capacity to improve, are remarkable. These are not however their borrowed faculties, but their native, a part of their being. The same article I quoted above says:—“No race, perhaps, shows a higher intellectual development than the Brahmins of Western India or the higher castes in Bengal. Their thirst afterknowledge—whether for its own sake or for the object of obtaining employment—is unbounded.” India of to-day can show her pearls and jewels in her children, beside the celebrated R. M. Roy.
To speak nothing of her other cities, Calcutta alone has her numerous highly-educated sons;—the Reverend Messrs. K. M. Banerjea, G. C. Mitter, converts to the Episcopal faith; L. B. Day, of Free-church Institution; Baboos R. N. Sickdar, V. D. Banerjea, C. C. Singha, R. M. Mitter, P. C. Mitter, P. C. Sen, K. C. Mitter, R. G. Ghose, and others too numerous to mention. There was a short notice of the last-named gentleman in the Boston Journal:—“Baboo R. G. M., a native merchant of Calcutta, delivered, at the receipt of the Queen’s proclamation, an address that causes him to be called the Bengalee Demosthenes.”
Though the English schools are open to every class, high and low, yet the lowest classes do not send their children to them, under a mistaken idea that they have nothing to do with book-knowledge. Living in a degraded condition for a long time, they have lost entirely the right and claims of human beings, as it were. The miserable, pitiable state in which they live and die, and which is the effect of the despotic caste system, is regarded by them as the will and decree of God; consequently they dare not try to get rid of this yoke.
Most of the Brahmun young men study English as the money-making language, while others devote themselves to their professional studies. All the ancient Sanscrith books are written manuscripts; the pages are long, narrow, and colored. Some are written on palm-leaves, and “roogee pathroo,” bark of a tree. Every student under the tuition of the superstitious priests, is obliged to transcribe a book as he makes progress in his studies. But in the Calcutta GovernmentSanscrith College, printed books, beautifully bound and gilded, are used.
The Hindoos are averse to female education, and suffer their daughters to live in entire ignorance. The popular belief among Hindoo women is, that, if a girl should learn to read and write, she would be a widow. The widowhood in Bengal is the saddest part of female life, and its consequent sufferings are such as have caused millions to prefer death, by being burnt alive on the funeral pile of the husband. But experience has falsified the idea in a measure. Here and there one out of ten thousand of women knows how to read a little, and enjoys connubial life. There are other difficulties to be considered and removed which prove strong obstacles to the education of the females in Bengal. The Hindoo women have no free intercourse in speech with other men beside their husbands, father, and brothers; their faces are covered with thick veils immediately after the marriage, and from that time they are not allowed to walk out of the house. Unless these customs are rooted up, there is no hope at all for the regeneration of the female in Bengal. As I compare a woman in Bengal with one in America or England, I see plainly the difference between Christianity and Hindooism. Nothing but the divine influence of Christianity has ennobled the female condition in Christendom. May the Christian women be ever grateful to God for his peculiar blessings unto them, and pray for the rescue of their sisters in the bondage of ignorance in heathen lands!