History of Education in the Panjab since Annexation and in 1882
LEITNER ON INDIGENOUS EDUCATION IN THE PANJAB
(EXTRACTS)
GENERAL:
I am about to relate—I hope without extenuation or malice—the history of the contact of a form of European with one of Asiatic civilisation; how, in spite of the best intentions, the most public-spirited officers, and a generous Government that had the benefit of the traditions of other provinces, the true education of the Panjab was crippled, checked, and is nearly destroyed; how opportunities for its healthy revival and development were either neglected or perverted; and how, far beyond the blame attaching to individuals, our system stands convicted or worse than official failure. Whether it is possible to rouse to renewed exertion, on behalf of its own education, the most loyal population that has ever been disappointed, is a question which the following pages will only partially attempt to answer. Much will of course, depend on the wise adaptation of the noble principle just propounded—of ‘local self-government’—
to a department of the Administration,—that of education,—in which, above all others, it can be introduced with perfect safety and the greatest political advantage.
Respect for learning has always been the redeeming feature of ‘the East’. To this the Panjab has formed no exception. Torn by invasion and civil war, it ever preserved and added to educational endowments. The most unscrupulous chief, the avaricious money-lender, and even the freebooter, vied with the small landowner in making peace with his conscience by founding schools and rewarding the learned. There was not a mosque, a temple, a dharmasala that had not a school attached to it, to which the youth flocked chiefly for religious education.
There were few wealthy men who did not entertain a Maulvi, Pandit or Guru, to teach their sons, and along with them the sons of friends and dependents. There were also thousands of secular
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schools, frequented alike by Mahomedans, Hindus and Sikhs, in which Persian or Lunde was taught. There were hundreds of learned men who gratuitously taught their co-religionists, and sometimes all-comers, for the sake of God-‘Lillah’. There was not a single villager who did not take a pride in devoting a portion of his produce to a respected teacher. In respectable Mahomedan families husbands taught their wives, and these their children; nor did the Sikhs prove in that respect to be unworthy of their appellation of ‘learners and disciples’. In short, the lowest computation gives us 3,30,000 pupils (against little more than 1,90,000 at present) in the schools of the various denominations who were acquainted with reading, writing, and some method of computation; whilst thousands of them belonged to Arabic and Sanskrit colleges, in which Oriental Literature and systems of Oriental Law, Logic, Philosophy, and Medicine were taught to the highest standards. Tens of thousands also acquired a proficiency in Persian, which is now rarely reached in Government and aided schools or colleges. Through all schools there breathed a spirit of devotion to education for its own sake and for its influence on the character and on religious culture; whilst even the sons of Banyas who merely learnt what they absolutely required in order to gain a livelihood looked with respect, amounting to adoration, on their humble Pandhas, who had taught them the elements of two ‘Rs’.
We have changed all this. The annexation disturbed the minds of believers in Providence, and all that was respectable kept, as much as possible, aloof from the invader,—just as the best Englishman would not be the first to seek the favour of a foreign conqueror.
CLASSIFICATION OF INDIGENOUS SCHOOLS
I. SIKH INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
- Gurmukhi Schools
II. MOHAMMEDAN INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
-
Maktabs
-
Madrasas, religious and secular
-
Koran Schools.
III. HINDU INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
- Chatsalas (for the trading community) 6. Patshalas (religious)
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-
Patshalas (semi-religious) 8. Secular Schools of various kinds and grades IV. MIXED INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
-
Persian Schools
-
Vernacular Schools
-
Anglo-Vernacular Schools
V. FEMALE INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
- (a) Female Schools for Sikh girls
(b) -do- Mohammedan girls
(c) Instruction at Hindu homes
With a more minute subdivision the indigenous schools might have to be classified as follows:-
I. MAKTABS OR MADRASAS
-
Arabic Schools and Colleges (of various grades and specialities)
-
Perso-Arabic Schools and Colleges (of various grades and
specialities)
-
Koran Schools (where merely or chiefly the Koran is read)
Perso-Koran
Schools
-
Koran-Arabic Schools
-
Perso-Koran-Arabic Schools
-
Persian Schools
-
Persian-Urdu Schools
-
Persian-Urdu-Arabic Schools
-
Arabic Medical Schools
-
Perso-Arabic Medical Schools
II. GURMUKHI SCHOOLS
-
Gurmukhi Schools
-
Gurmukhi and Lande Schools
III. MAHAJANI SCHOOLS
-
Lande Schools of different kinds (Chatsalas) 15. Nagari-Lande Schools (Chatsalas)
Perso-Lande
Schools
IV. PATSHALAS
-
Nagari-Sanscrit Schools
-
Sanscrit religious Schools
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-
Sanscrit secular literary Schools (cultivating various branches)
-
Sanscrit semi-secular Schools (cultivating various branches)
-
Sanscrit Medical Schools (Chiefly)
-
Hindi-Sanscrit Schools
-
Sanscrit astrological or astronomical Schools (Chiefly) V. FEMALE INDIGENOUS SCHOOLS
(classified
as
above)
LIST OF SANSCRIT BOOKS USED
Balbodh
Akshar
dipika
I. GRAMMAR
Saraswat
Manorama
Chandrika
Bhashya
Laghu Kaumudi
Paniniya Vyakaran
Kaumudi
Siddhant
Kaumudi
Shekar
Prakrita
Prakasa
II. LEXICOLOGY
Amar
Kosh
Malini
Kosh
Halayudh
III. POETRY, THE DRAMA AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Raghu
Vans
Mahabharat
Megh
Duta
Venisanhara
Magh
Sakuntala
Kirat
Arjun
Naishadha
Charita
Ramayan
Mrichhakatika
Sri Mad Bhagwat
Kumara Sambhava
and other Puranas
IV. RHETORIC
Kavya Dipik
Kavya Prakash
Sahitya Darpana
Dasu Rupa
Kuvlayanund
V. MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROLOGY
Siddbant Shiromani Nil Kanthi
Mahurta Chintamani
Brihat Jatak
Shighra
Bodh
Parasariya
Garbh
Lagana
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VI. MEDICAL SCIENCE
Sham
Raj
Nighant
Susruta
Sharang
Dhar
Charaka
Bhashya
Parichehed
Madhava
Nidan
Vagbhat
VII.
LOGIC
Nyaya Sutra Vritti
Gada dhari
Vyutpattivad
Tarkalankar
Tark Sangrah
Kari kavali
VIII.VEDANT
Atma
Bodh
Sarirak
Panch
Dashi
IX. LAW
Manu Smriti
Parasara Smriti
Yagya
Valk
Gautama
Mitakshara
X. PHILOSOPHY
- Sankhya* Tatwa Kaumudi
Patanjali, Sutra Britti Sutra
with
Bhashya
Sankhya Pravachan Bhashya
Vedanta, Vedantsar (see
Yoga
Sutra
also
above)
Vaiseshika,
Siddhant
Mimansa, Sutra with
Muktavali Sutra with Bhashya Artha Sangraha a
commentary
XI. PROSODY
Srut
Bodh
Vritta
Ratnakar
XII. PROSE LITERATURE
Hitopadesa
Vasavadatta
Dasa Kumara Charita
XIII. RELIGION
Rigveda Sanhita (rare)
Samaveda, Mantra Bhaga
Yajurveda, Shukla Yajur
Chhandasya Archika (very
Vajasneyi
Sanhita
rare)
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