Jaina System of Education

Author(s): Debendra Chandra Das Gupta
Publisher: Bharti Mahavidyalaya

Page 45

LECTURE IV
in a very vitally important point in education These views are diametrically opposed to the views that prevail in the field of education in the modern world of to-day in practice and not in theory.
The method of study that prevailed in the Jaina monastery was a comprehensive and rational one, there being five steps in the passage of the acquisition of knowledge, namely, rehearsal, repetition, interrogation, concentration and discussion Study is fivefold saying or learning one's lesson , questioning the teacher about it, repetition, pondering, and religious discourse 2+ The Jaina teachers especially valued the influence of repetition in imparting knowledge and the very word repeatedly occuis in the sacred text 25 Over and above, following the method of five steps, the Jaina authorities utilized the biographical method in their extension lectures They used to utilise a real or fictitious personality as a peg round which to weave their lessons on literary and moral subjects
There is reason to believe that the Jaina monasteries made special provisions for the military and physical education of the princes and the children of the military classes Invariably there was either a field attached to every monastery for the exercise of military students or there were public gardens reserved exclusively for this purpose, these were utilized by the monks to offer military instructions to their pupils. As in a modern military school, here the princes learnt military warfare from their professors, who in spite of their being monks, were versed in military arts The teachers used to suggest remedies for pointing out defect in their movements and so forth In teaching military science the teachers adapted their course of training to the mental aptitude of the students We can get a clear glimpse into the state of things that prevailed in the field of military education in Jaina India "He exhibited to the Lord the shooting of a doll on a wheel, shooting an invisible object by sound, the shooting at a target in water, the shooting of a clay-ball on a wheel with arrows, who showed pādagati, carrying a sword and shield, having entered the shield like the moon in a cloud He whirled rapidly a lance, spear, and club, giving the appearance of a fiery streak of lighting, revolving in the sky He showed him knife-science with
24 Jaina Sūtras, vol II tr by Hermann Jacobi, p 179, 4
25 Sri Yogındra Ācārya, Paramātma-prahāśa, tr by Rickhab Dass Jain, BA; P 59, 341