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LECTURE X
127.
and mental and the curricula in the ail-school or the art-courses in the Jaina monasteries were ogilizcd in such a way as to satisfy the physical urge of the young children of voti ine sexes Physical edu cation, military training, music and dancing were appropriate courses to take care of the motor activities so predominant in little children. The fine arts like painting and music which are eminently conducive to the development of the imaginative and emotional lives of their votaries were extensively utilized by the Jaina educators We have given concrete examples of the practice in course of these lectures This practice of imparting education with a view to the specific ability of the recipients was a sound one It was followed by all the ancient authorities whether Hindu, Buddhistic or Jaina The Hindu practice is concretely illustrated in the case of Mālavikā, the heroine of a drama by Kālıdāsa , reference to whom has already been made The academic courses in the art-schools, comprehensive and perfect, as they were, supplied food to the mental appetite of advanced scholars Briefly speaking the curricula were framed to fit them into the physical, mental and emotional traits of the scholars Through an ideal curricula a proper balance between mind and body was maintained This is evident from the very scheme of studies followed-a scheme of physical, mental and spiritual cultures
12 Education-academic or vocational was never enforced upon the unwilling mind Teaching was adjusted to the gradual growtli of the mind, premium was placed upon native abilities and specific abilities and sex-bar was unknown and both the sexes pursued the same courses with specialization on the subject of their own choice Performance test used to be administered before admitting students to military courses In other words try-out courses were in vogue in Jaina and Buddhist India The ancients knew full well the difference between general abilities and specific abilities and the curricula were adjusted according to this plan All the seventy-two arts were not studied together There must have been some kind of specialization even in those days of cosmopolitanism
13 In the trade school the work and the instruction went on simultaneously thus each supplementing the other
14 Adult education was in vogue in India as is evident from the writings of the Jaina fathers.
