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EDUCATION, LEARNING AND LITERATURE
245
The commentary on the BỊhatkal pa Bhasya explains the Lekhaśālā as Dārakaśālā or schools where the children (darakah) studied during the day time, 1 The Lekhaśalas or livišalas have been mentioned in the various Jaina and Buddhist texts. The teachers in these schools were known as “Darakācārya or Lehāvariya. 2
Mention of the phrase 'grasping the alphabets like a child's in the text perhaps points towards the ceremony of learning the alphabets ( akşarasvikarana ) which was by now exalted to the status of a ritual and was performed at the age of five or
six. +
It is nowhere specifically stated as to what formed the curriculum in these primary institutions. Elementary knowledge of the subjects, however, must have been imparted to the students. Mention has been made of the seventy-two arts beginning with writing ( leha ) and ending with the 'notes of birds ( saunaruya ), which constituted the field of education. The early Jaina and Buddhist texts specifically describe these 72 Arts to have been mastered by princes and heroes like Mahavira, Buddha, prince Meha, the son of Seniya Bimbisāra, Goyama and the prince of Bäravai, in such
1. aroma:- Fored that tana: 987 AT CIATa der :-Brh. Vt.
3, p. 829. 2. Lalitavistara, Ch. X; Avašyaka Cūrni, p. 199. See also-Altekar, op.
cit, p. 178. 3. fex fe fé ha 37CR STIEFHE_NC. 4, p. 36; Brh. Vt. 4, p. 437. 4. Altekar, op. cit., pp. 265-68. 5. Tell me H307617557TATUT ara el tratait fafar_NC. 3, p. 272; Bịh.
V1.1, p. 79. Two different lists of the 72 arts are found in the Jaina texts, one beginning with writing (leha ) and ending with the Bird's cries ( saunaruya ), as is to be found in the Antagadadasão and Anuttarovavāiyadasão (tr. by L. D. Barnett, pp. 30-31 ) and the other may be seen in the Prabandhakosa of Räjaśckhara which starts with writing and ends with the rule of Kevalins ( Prabandhakosa, vol. 1, p. 28; scc also-Dasgupta, op. cit., p. 75 ). The author of the NC. evidently follows the first tradition which starts from writing and ends with the notes of birds, or bird's crics.
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