Jaina System of Education

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

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JAINA SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
pcllhntă an upckklata) - This anticipates the spirit of thoroughness comprehensiveness and methodical claborateness which are charac tcristics of a modern student cngaged in the serious work of rescarch. Quotations 100 vcrc in vogue For cxamplc Rajasekhara made quota tions from halıdasa s kumarasambhavam in the body of his work Kavyamımānisa
Education in thc Jaina monasteries was a systematic never-ending process practised by scholars from the cradle to the grave. Those Jaina nionks ncrc perennial students learning things spiritual and men cal through meditation devotion and study" John Dewey the great American educationist in a similar kcy characterized cduca tion as a continuous process Precisely the same view was held by Manu on the one land and Lord Buddha on the other Manu te quired thc Brahmin scholars to study the Vedas daily even after they haic completed their courses of study in the technical sense Let him daily pour oi cr those Institutes of science which soon give increase of wisdom those which teach the acquisition of wealth those which are bencficial (for other worldly concerns) and likewise over the Nigamas which explain the Veda. "37
The Jaina monks like their mcdiaeval counterparts in Europe besides studying uscd to copy manuscripts of valuable books in their cells Thus they kept the torch of learning burning They used to go on preaching tours to different monasteries to deliver extension lectures before large audience of both sexes. This was thc practice common to both the Buddhists and the Jainas and Lord Mahavira Lord Rşabha Dr Hemacandra were all peripatetic teachers delivering their messages to mankind for their permanent good
We give below statistics on monastic education prepared from the pages of the Kalpasutra. Even making allowance for exaggera tion we can get a fair idea of the diffusion of monastic education in India under the control of the Jaina fathers
55 Buddhaghoxa, The Expositor vol L, tr by Maung Tin, M.A. p 189. 36 The Uvasagadasdo tr by A. F Rudolf Hoernlc, Ph.D p 61 verx. 77 87 Manu t by G Bahler pp 181-37 verse 19