Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Dev Kothari
Publisher: Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 1259

A short sketch of Early Education, Art and Iconography under Jainism
S. MOOKERJEE Librarian Jain Vißva Bhārtī, LADNU
In Ancient India printed books were unknown. The libraries or storehouses of knowledge in those hoary days contained handwritten books or manuscripts generally. The ancient Indian libraries may be compared with the old monastic libraries of Europe attached to the Church establishments and monasteries; printed books were not yet in vogue anywhere. Gradually with the invention of printing the idea of storing such knowledge in books in monasteries and temples, churches and mosques revolutionised, and individuals, specially the rich and noble families began to own collections of books. This is true for all countries-both Eastern and Western.
Indian culture as a rule was handed down through generation from father to son or from the preceptor to his pupils. The basic fundamentals of Indian learning of the bygone days was "Sruti-Smrtih". Writing was not very common. Everything was got by heart and could be recapitulated verbatim without any effort from memory. It is memory alone which played the leading role. The Vedas, the Upanişads, the Purānas, the Šāstras and everything pertaining to art, culture and learning was contained in the Kantha' (throat) i. e., the entire realm of knowledge and learning was got by heart and stored in the memory of the preceptors and their pupils. It is known to all how practice can make one perfect and this cultivation of memory was an unique technique in making the people who cared for learning their culture - very perfect human beingsmaster of all lore. It was said that Avrtti sarva-sāstrāņāṁ vodhad api gariyasi'. The ancient civilisations of Babylon, Rome, Greece, Egypt, India, China and Japan may be said to be sisters of the same group-though most of these cultures have been lost and belong to the province of archaeology. It is India alone and China and Japan in some respects that have a living link with the ancient culture of the bygone days.
veone days. Indeed the teacher of those days was a veritable encyclopaedia of knowledge and was the ultimate autority or the matter of commenting on the Šāstras. In our ancient literature there are copious references to teachers who were known as 'Kulapatis'-if they could arrange for the