Book Title: Jaina System of Education
Author(s): Debendra Chandra Das Gupta
Publisher: Bharti Mahavidyalaya

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Page 135
________________ 121 stage, special care was taken of the mother, her diet was regulated and her environment was made comfortable and ideal, and disturbing elenents were removed LECTURE X nuises were After birth they were left to the charge of groups of female nurses especially trained in child-care and they with their special skill assisteri in the mental, moral and physical well-being of the child We pointed out in course of our lectures how the female versed in fine arts, and in higher education and some of them had Pandita' prefixed to their names-more as a scholastic stamp than a mere surname For such Pandită nurses showed their skill in drawing pictures and were skilled in literatures and sacred lores and were constant companions of their masters' children on terms of equality. Adolescent princesses had such Pandită nurses as their companions The formal education of the royal princess did not begin till their seventh birthday or eighth year from conception when they were sent to the art-schools to receive instruction in the seventy-two arts comprising 3 R's, vernacular languages, fine-arts, sciences both physical and military The Jainas included the Vedas and the Vedangas in the artcurricula of the monasteries In some cases as in Vinita (Mod Oudli) in the family of Rṣabha the young princes and the princesses received their education in the arts and the sciences at the palace from Bharata the son of Rsabha, the Lord of Vinita It is clear that the female education in Jaina India was more scientific, practical, and efficient than the so called female education of modern civilization This is merely a perverted type of male education That was a genuine type of mental discipline meant to secure a practical purpose, calculated to make women real and solid builders of civilization and culture A comparative glance at the achievements of each type will convince anybody of the truth of our assertion The princes also received their education in the Jaina monasteries in the seventy-two arts as a preparation for their royal duties We already noticed how prince Ama of Kanouj, son of King Yasovarman 1eceived his education in the seventy-two arts along with Bappa Bhatti from Siddhasena at Moderapura in the kingdom of Guzerat The Jaina fathers in the west and in the south of India captured the educational control of the princes as a measure of increasing their influence 16

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