Adam's Reports on Vernacular Education in Bengal and Behar/Report 3/Chapter 2/Section 3
SECTION III.
Application of the plan to the Improvement of Sanscrit instruction.
In the records of the General Committee of Public Instruction I find a copy of a Minute dated 6th March 1811, ascribed to the Governor General, Lord Minto, and bearing also the signatures of the Members of Council, G. Hewett, J. Lumsden, and H. Colebrooke. This Minute possesses the greater interest both because it bears Mr. Colebrooke’s signature, and because it is believed to have suggested the provision on the same subject in the 53rd of George III. The following is an extract:—“It is a common remark that science and literature are in a progressive state of decay among the natives of India. From every inquiry which I have been enabled to make on this interesting subject, that remark appears to me but too well founded. The number of the learned is not only diminished, but the circle of learning, even among those who still devote themselves to it, appears to be considerably contracted. The abstract sciences are abandoned, polite literature neglected, and no branch of learning cultivated but what is connected with the peculiar religious doctrines of the people. The immediate consequence of this state of things is the disuse, and even actual loss, of many valuable books; and it is to be apprehended that, unless Government interfere with a fostering hand, the revival of letters may shortly become hopeless from a want of books, or of persons capable of explaining them. The principal cause of the present neglected state of literature in India is to be traced to the want of that encouragement which was formerly afforded to it by princes, chieftains, and opulent individuals under the native governments. Such encouragement must always operate as a strong incentive to study and literary exertions, but especially in India, where the learned professions have little, if any other, support. The justness of these observations might be illustrated by a detailed consideration of the former and present state of science and literature at the three principal seats of Hindu learning, viz., Benares, Tirhoot, and Nudiya. Such a review would bring before us the liberal patronage which was formerly bestowed, not only by princes and others in power and authority, but also by the zemindars, on persons who had distinguished themselves by the successful cultivation of letters at those places. It would equally bring to our view the present neglected state of learning at those once celebrated places; and we should have to remark with regret that the cultivation of letters was now confined to the few surviving persons who had been patronized by the native princes and others under the former Government, or to such of the immediate descendants of those persons as had imbibed a love of science from their parents. It is seriously to be lamented that a nation particularly distinguished for its love and successful cultivation of letters in other parts of the empire should have failed to extend its fostering care to the literature of the Hindus, and to aid in opening to the learned in Europe the repositories of that literature. It is not, however, the credit alone of the national character which is affected by the present neglected state of learning in the East. The ignorance of the natives in the different classes of society, arising from want of proper education is generally acknowledged. This defect not only excludes them as individuals from the enjoyment of all those comforts and benefits which the cultivation of letters is naturally calculated to afford, but, operating as it does throughout almost the whole mass of the population, tends materially to obstruct the measures adopted for their better government. Little doubt can be entertained that the prevalence of the crimes of perjury and forgery so frequently noticed in the official reports is, in a great measure, ascribable both in the Mohammadans and Hindus to the want of due instruction in the moral and religious tenets of their respective faiths. It has been even suggested, and apparently not without foundation, that to this uncultivated state of the minds of the natives is, in a great degree, to be ascribed the prevalence of those crimes which were recently so great a scourge to the country. The latter offences against the peace and happiness of society have indeed for the present been materially checked by the vigilance and energy of the Police, but it is probably only by the more general diffusion of knowledge among the great body of the people that the seeds of these evils can be effectually destroyed.”
The Minute then proceeds to recommend certain measures consisting in the reform of the Hindu College at Benares and the Mohammadan College at Calcutta, and the establishment of two new Hindu Colleges, one at Nudiya and the other in Tirhoot; and of two new Mohammadan Colleges, one at Bhaugulpore and the other at Jaunpoor. The cost of the two new Hindu Colleges was estimated at sicca rupees 25,618 per annum. The recommendations have been, in a great measure, superseded by subsequent arrangements, but some of them contain useful hints which may still be turned to account,—one is that pensions should be granted to distinguished teachers on condition that they deliver instructions to pupils at their own houses, another is that public disputations should be held annually at which prizes, rewards, and literary honors should be conferred on such of the students as shall have manifested the greatest proficiency. Both are judiciously adapted to Hindu usages.
With apparent reference to this Minute of 1811, it was enacted in the 53rd George III., Cap. 155, Section 43, “that it shall be lawful for the Governor General in Council to direct that out of any surplus which may remain of the rents, revenues, and profits arising from the said territorial acquisitions after defraying the expenses of the military, civil, and commercial establishments, and paying the interest of the debt in manner hereinafter provided, a sum of not less than one lakh of rupees in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India; and that any schools, public lectures, or other institutions for the purposes aforesaid, which shall be founded at the Presidencies of Fort William, Fort St. George, or Bombay, or in any other part of the British territories in India in virtue of this Act, shall be governed by such regulations as may, from time to time, be made by the said Governor General in Council, subject nevertheless to such powers as are herein vested in the said Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India respecting Colleges and Seminaries: Provided always that all appointments to offices in such schools, lectureships, and other institutions, shall be made by or under the authority of the Governments within which the same shall be situated.” It is perhaps scarcely necessary to remark that the literature to be revived and improved can only be the existing literature; that the learned natives of India to be encouraged can only be those who are already learned, not those who are to become so by the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences; and that, therefore, the sum thus directed to be appropriated is applicable, in part at least, to the revival, improvement, and encouragement of the existing learned institutions of the country.
The late Mr. J. H. Harington wrote a paper dated June 19, 1814, entitled “Observations suggested by the provision in the late Act of Parliament for the promotion of science and literature amongst the inhabitants of the British possessions in India.” In these observations Mr. Harington examines at some length the preliminary question whether the English language should be employed as the medium of communicating knowledge to the natives, or whether the vernacular and learned languages of the country are the more appropriate instruments. The following is the conclusion at which he arrives:—“My own idea, on an imperfect consideration of so extensive a subject, is that both of the plans noticed have their advantages and disadvantages; that neither the one nor the other should be exclusively adopted, but that both should be promoted as far as circumstances may admit. To allure the learned natives of India to the study of European science and literature, we must, I think, engraft this study upon their own established methods of scientific and literary instruction; and particularly in all the public colleges or schools maintained or encouraged by Government, good translations of the most useful European compositions on the subjects taught in them, may, I conceive, be introduced with the greatest advantage.”
The somewhat adverse views on this branch of the subject presented by Lord Moira’s Minute already quoted must not be withheld:—“The immediate encouragement,” His Lordship says, “of the superior descriptions of science by any bounty to the existing colleges appears to me a project altogether delusive. I do not believe that in those retreats there remain any embers capable of being fanned into life. It is true the form of tuition is kept up in them, but the ceremony is gone through by men who are (as far as I could learn) devoid of comprehension in the very branches which they profess to teach. I was particularly curious to assure myself of the state of learning in the university of Benares, the place where one should expect that ancient acquirements would be found in the best preservation. My incompetence to judge on the subject of the answers given by the young men examined before me did not extend to the manner of their performance, which was such as inspired the notion that every thing they said was wholly by rote. On following up this suspicion, I learned that I had guessed accurately. I remained satisfied that the students only got by heart certain formularies unexplained to them by professors incapable of expounding the spirit of the lessons. Of course, the instruction unless where it chanced to fall on some mind uncommonly vigorous and acute would have very limited effect in future application; and if it did happen to be bestowed on a genius able to unravel it, the rational calculation was that it would only render him more dexterous in those crooked practices which the depraved habitudes of the community would offer to his imitation. I thence conceive that the revival of the liberal sciences among the natives can only be effected by the previous education (beginning with the rudiments) which shall gradually give to individuals the power of observing the relations of different branches of learning with each other, of comprehending the right use of science in the business of life, and of directing their enlargement of thought to the promotion of those moral observances in which rests the temporal convenience of society as well as the sublimer duty of man. Then, but not till then, such records or such traces of ancient lore as remain in the universities may be useful. Consequently to this opinion I must think that the sum set apart by the Hon’ble Court for the advancement of science among the natives would be much more expediently applied in the improvement of schools, than in gifts to seminaries of higher degree.”
On this passage it is necessary to remark that the institution which Lord Moira describes as “the university of Benares” was most probably the Government college at that place, which there is reason to believe was about the time of His Lordship’s visit in a very inefficient condition. Such, at least, is the only way I can account for the statement given, unless on the supposition that the Governor General and his informants may have misapprehended the real facts of the case before them. It would certainly be unjust to apply the above description to the schools of learning in Bengal and Behar that have originated with the natives themselves and are under their management; for although, in the usual course of study, the scholars no doubt commit a great deal to memory, it is not servilely committed, but is in general thoroughly understood and digested. Teachers also of sufficient repute to attract scholars around them will seldom be found deficient in the power of explaining what they profess to understand and to teach. It is of more importance, however, to remark that Lord Moira anticipated the revival of the liberal sciences among the natives from such a previous education, beginning with the rudiments, as should show the connection of the different branches of learning with each other, explain the right use of science in the business of life, and direct intellectual improvement to the promotion of personal and social morality; and if the schools of learning, as well as the common schools, can be made conducive to such purposes, we may infer from the excellent sense and genuine benevolence which characterize his Minute, that the design would have received His Lordship’s cordial sanction.
No one has more earnestly urged the duty of communicating European knowledge to the natives than Mr. Hodgson, no one has more powerfully shown the importance of employing the vernacular language, as the means of accomplishing that object, and no one has more eloquently illustrated the necessity of conciliating the learned and making them our co-adjutors in this great work of national regeneration:—“Two circumstances,” he says, “remarkably distinguish and designate the social system of India,—one, its inseparable connection with a recondite literature, the other, the universal percurrency of its divine sanctions through all the offices of life, so as to leave no corner of field of human action as neutral ground. Can these premises be denied? And if not denied, can it be necessary to deduce from them a demonstration of the unbounded power of the men of letters in such a society? Or of the consequent necessity of procuring, as far as possible, their neutrality in respect to the inchoation of measures, the whole virtual tendency of which is to destroy that power? Touch what spring of human action you please, you must touch at the same time the established system: touch the spring with any just and generous view of removing the pressure which that system has laid on its native elasticity, and you must at the same time challenge the hostility of that tremendous phalanx of priestly sages which wields an inscrutable literature for the express purpose of perpetuating the enthralment of the popular mind. However much the splendour of our political power may seem to have abashed these dark men, the fact is that their empire over the arts and understandings of the people has been, and is almost entirely, unaffected by it. With the Saga of Pompeii they say—‘The body to Cæsar, the mind to us’—a profound ambition suited to the subtle genius of their whole devices, and which I fear some of us commit the lordly absurdity of misinterpreting into impotency or indifference! Before we have set foot almost upon their empire, it is somewhat premature to question their resources for its defence against intrusion. Their tactics are no vulgar ones, nor will they commit themselves or sooner or further than is needful. We now purpose to spread our knowledge; they know it, and they know the consequence. But so have we for half a century purposed the spread of our religion! The purpose must become act, and the act become, or seem likely to become generally successful, ere these subtle men will confront us openly; and perhaps not then, if Heaven inspire us with the prudence to conciliate, check, and awe them by the freest possible resort to that sacred literature which they dare not deny the authority of, however used and which assuredly is capable of being largely used for the diffusion of Truth! Time has set its most solemn impress upon that literature; the last rays of the national integrity and glory of this land are reflected from its pages; consummate art has interwoven with its meaner materials all those golden threads which Nature liberally furnishes from the whole stock of the domestic and social affections and duties. To the people it is the very echo of their heart’s sweetest music; to their pastors—their dangerous and powerful pastors—it is the sole efficient source of that unbounded authority which they possess. To deny the existence of that authority is mere moon-struck idiocy. To admit it, is, I conceive, to admit the necessity of compromise and conciliation, so far as may be.”—Letters pp. 47, 48.
To deny the existence of that authority were indeed vain, and it is equally clear that the admission involves the necessity of compromise and conciliation; but it by no means follows that the learned, whose influence it is desirable to enlist on the side of popular instruction, are the “dark” and “dangerous” men they are here described to be. The ascription to them of such a character, even if it were deserved, must tend rather to defeat, than to promote, the object of conciliation which the writer has in view, and which is so important to the success of a general system of education. But it is not deserved. The learned natives of India are what we are ourselves, the creatures of the circumstances in which they and we have been placed. They are the spiritual, as we are the political, despots of India; and if proper means of compromise and conciliation are employed, unaccompanied by language or acts of fear, of distrust, or of jealousy, they will, in general, readily co-operate with us in measures for the improvement of their countrymen. They have too firm a belief in the sacredness of their own persons, character, and office, too firm a hold of the popular mind, to doubt for a moment of the security of their spiritual sway. The chief difficulty I anticipate will not be to inspire them with the requisite sentiment of benevolence towards the poor and ignorant, but with the requisite conviction of our sincerity in the professions we make of a desire to promote their welfare.The preceding extracts exhibit opinions entitled to great consideration; but a closer analysis and more detailed statement of the grounds on which I would rest the importance and necessity of adopting measures for the improvement of Sanscrit instruction, are desirable.
First.—Sanscrit schools occupy so prominent a place in the general system of instruction established throughout the country, that means should be employed for their improvement, and not only on account of the influence which the learned exercise or may exercise over the remaining population, but for the sake of the learned themselves as a distinct and numerous class of society. I refer to page 61 to show the extent of this class in the districts noticed in this report. In one district alone, that of Burdwan, there are 190 teachers, and 1,358 students, of learning; and in the city of Moorshedabad, where the number is fewer than in any of the other localities, there are 24 teachers, and 153 students. If we hud that a particular class of native institutions brings together in one city and in one district so many teachers and students of learning who, if proper means were employed, would readily open their minds to European knowledge, why should we not avail ourselves of the facilities which those institutions present?
Second.—The language of instruction in the schools of learning is regarded with peculiar veneration. It is called the language of the gods. It is probable that in one of its most ancient and simple forms it was the original language of Brahmanism, and was introduced into this country by its Hindu conquerors. Instruction communicated through this medium will be received by the learned class with a degree of respect and attention that will not otherwise be conceded to exotic knowledge. Why should we refuse to avail ourselves of this mode of gaining access for useful knowledge to the minds of a numerous and influential class?
Third.—Sanscrit is the source and origin of all the Hindu vernacular dialects spoken and written throughout India and the adjoining countries, with as close an affinity, in most instances, as exist between Latin and Italian, or between ancient and modern Greek. These dialects are as numerous, are spread over as wide a surface, are employed by as populous races, and are as thoroughly nationalized among those races, as the corresponding dialects of Europe in European countries. Learned Hindus refer with pride to the number of languages that have sprung from the parent Sanscrit, and they derive from it their vocables, their idioms, and their structure. Just in proportion as the use of the vernacular dialects extends for the purposes of education and administration, will the value of the Sanscrit be felt. It is the great store-house from which, as intellectual improvement advances, those dialects will seek and obtain increased power, copiousness, refinement, and flexibility. “Any number of new terms,” says Mr. Hodgson, applying to the Indian Pracrits a remark made by Sir James Mackintosh respecting German, “any number of new terms, as clear to the mind and as little startling to the ear as the oldest works in the languages, may be introduced into Hindi and Bengali from Sanscrit, owing to the peculiar genius of the latter, with much more facility than we can introduce new terms into English; nor does the task of introducing such new terms into the Indian vernacular imply or exact more than the most ordinary skill or labor on the part of the conductors of education so long as they disconnect not themselves wholly from Indian literature.”
Fourth.—The Sanscrit language is the common medium of communication between the learned in the different countries and provinces inhabited by the Hindu race, however differing from each other in dialect, manners, and customs. A Hindu educated in the learning, peculiar to his faith and nation, need not be, and is not, a stranger in any of them, although possessing no personal acquaintance, and although ignorant of the dialect of the country or province to which he may have proceeded. This is found to be a great practical convenience in the performance of the numerous pilgrimages which piety or superstition enjoins. By the same means also the learned productions of one province or country in time become the common property of all the learned throughout India. In the Bengal schools of learning young men, both from the western and southern provinces of India, are found pursuing their studies, and Bengalis, after finishing their studies in Bengal, often proceed into the western provinces for the purpose of acquiring those branches of learning which are not usually cultivated here. Sanscrit, without the secrecy, has thus all the advantages of the masonic sign and countersign. It is a pass-word to the hearts and understandings of the learned throughout India. In consequence of this established mutual interchange of knowledge, if any improvement can be introduced into the system of instruction in the schools of learning of Bengal and Behar, we may hope that it will gradually work its way among the entire learned body throughout the country.
Fifth.—All the learning, divine and human, of the Hindus, is contained in the Sanscrit language. Religion, philosophy, law, literature, and medicine; all the learning that enters into the daily practices of their faith and is connected with the etablished customs of their race, their productions of taste and imagination, and the results of their experience of life and manners, all are found in the Sanscrit language, and in that only as their source and repository. Doctrine, opinion, and practice; the duties of the present life and the hopes of the future; the controversies of sects and the feuds of families, are ultimately determinable by authorities which speak only through that medium. The inference is obvious. If we would avail ourselves of this vast and various literature, for the moral and intellectual regeneration of India, we must stretch out the right hand of fellowship to those who can alone effectually wield its powers, and by patronage and conciliation obtain their willing co-operation.
Sixth.—The patronage of Government bestowed on schools of learning would be most gratefully received both by the learned themselves and by the native community. It would entirely coincide with the customs of native society. Sanscrit schools have been frequently endowed by wealthy Hindus; the teachers are constantly invited, feasted, and dismissed with presents on occasions of important domestic celebrations; and both teachers and students, independent of all other considerations of castes and condition, are held in the greatest respect by the community. In the opinion of the learned themselves—an opinion which they have frequently expressed to me—it is the duty of rulers to promote learning, by which they, of course, mean Sanscrit learning. If common schools and their teachers are encouraged as I have proposed, while Sanscrit schools are neglected, it may be feared that the hostility of the learned will be often incurred, and that, through their all-penetrating influence, they will raise serious obstacles to the spread of popular instruction. On the contrary, if their schools, as well as the vernacular schools, are patronized, their own interests will be identified with the success of the Government plan, and we may confidently rely on their co-operation. It is not, however, on the ground of expediency only that this recommendation is offered. Sanscrit schools and teachers may be made to conduce as effectually to the spread of sound and useful knowledge as vernacular schools, with only this difference that each class of institutions will operate in a field from which the other is excluded. In Sanscrit schools we shall gain access to a large and influential class which by any other means we shall be unable to reach, and which it is of the utmost importance to the welfare of society should advance as the rest of society advances. There is no class of persons that exercises a greater degree of influence in giving native society the tone, the form, and the character which it actually possesses, than the body of the learned, not merely as the professors of learning, but as the priests of religion; and it is essential to the success of any means employed to aid the moral and intellectual advancement of the people, that they should not only co-operate, but also participate, in the progress. If we leave them behind, we shall be raising obstacles to our own success, and retarding the progress of the whole country.
Learned Hindus will gratefully receive all the encouragement which we are willing to bestow, but it may still be made a question whether they would introduce books of useful knowledge on science and the arts into the regular course of their instruction. That amongst so numerous a body none will prove hostile or indiflerent would be too much to expect; but in my own experience I have met with only one instance, that of a pundit in Rajshahi who expressed an unfriendly feeling to popular instruction. Poor and unpatronized, he asked me what advantage the extension of popular instruction would bring to him,—a question which rather confirms the view I have before presented regarding the character and expectations of the class. In another instance, that of the respectable pundit of the judge’s court at Mozufferpoor in Tirhoot, I found that all my attempts at explanation did not apparently remove from his mind the suspicion of some ulterior object, and he appears to have communicated his doubts to other learned men in that district to whom the subject was mentioned. This, however, was by no means generally the case. In conversation I have received repeated assurances from many pundits of their readiness to teach European science and learning in their schools, provided that the works put into their hands do not embrace the subject of religion on which they most distinctly intimated that they will teach, and countenance nothing but what is in their estimation strictly orthodox. In the Rajshahi, Moorshedabad, Beerbhoom, and Burdwan districts I had frequent conversations with pundits on this subject, and generally with the most satisfactory results; but it did not occur to me, till after leaving those districts, to ask any of them for their written opinions. On my return, however, to Calcutta, I put a case in writing before the pundits of the Sanscrit College, and subsequently before such pundits as I met in the districts of South Behar and Tirhoot, a translation of which, with their answer and the signatures attached to it, I subjoin. Two pundits of the Burdwan district, whom circumstances had prevented me from seeing when in their native district, followed me to Calcutta, anxious to give a full and correct account of their schools that it might be included in this report, and they took the opportunity, at the same time, of expressing their assent in writing to the opinion of the Calcutta pundits. More recently two pundits from the Jessore district and my own pundit belonging to the same district have, of their own accord, requested permission to add their names.
Case.
To the Learned
“I have observed that the teachers of Hindu learning in this country in their respective schools instruct their pupils Hindu learning only. There are, however, many English books of learning, in which arithmetic, mechanics, astronomy, medicine, ethics, agriculture, and commerce are treated at length. I beg to be informed whether, if such works, exclusive of those which relate to religion, were prepared in Sanscrit, there is, or is not, any objection to employ them as text-books in your schools.”
Opinion.
“English books of learning, exclusive of those which are explanatory of the religion of the English nation, containing information on astronomy, ethics, mechanics, &c., and translated into the Sanscrit language, are of great use in the conduct of worldly affairs. In the same manner as the Rekha Ganita, the Nilakanthiya Tajaka, and other works, translated into Sanscrit from Arabic astronomical books, were found to be of much use, and were employed by former teachers without blame. So there is not the least objection on the part of the professors and students of learning of the present day in this country to teach and study books of learning translated from English into the language of the gods.”
- RAMCHANDRA VIDYAVAGISA,
- SAMBHUCHANDRA VACHASPATI,
- HARANATHA TARKABHUSANA,
- NIMAICHANDRA SIROMANI,
- HARIPRASADA TARKAPANCHANANA,
- PREMCHANDRA TARKAVAGISA,
- JAYA GOPALA SARMANA,
- GANGADHARA TARKAVAGISA,
- (Professors of the Sanscrit College, Calcutta).
- KAMALAKANTA VIDYALANKARA.
- (Private Professor, Calcutta).
- HARACHANDRA NYAYAVAGISA,
- GURUCHARANA TARKAPANCHANANA,
- (Private Professors, Burdwan District).
- PANCHANANA SIROMANI,
- BACHARAMA NYAYARATNA,
- GIRVANANATHA NYAYARATNA,
- (Private Professors, Jessore District).
- RAMCHANDRA VIDYAVAGISA,
The preceding case, opinion, and signatures are written in the Sanscrit language and Bengali character. The following signatures are attached to a separate paper of precisely the same import in the Nagari character:—
- CHAKRAPANI SARMANA,
- CHINTAMANl SARMANA,
- HARI SAHAYA SARMANA,
- HARILAL SARMANA,
- BHAWANI DIN SARMANA,
- (Private Professors, South Behar).
- CHAKRAPANI SARMANA,
The following signatures are attached to a third paper of precisely the same purport:—
- PARMANANDA SARMANA,
- KALANATHA SARMANA,
- THAKUR DATTA SARMANA,
- (Private Professors, Tirhoot District).
- PARMANANDA SARMANA,
No effort has been used to obtain these signatures, and in every case they were received with such explanations as left the pundits perfectly free to give or withhold them. An unqualified concurrence of opinion was expressed by all those pundits to whom the subject was mentioned, with the exception of those in Tirhoot where, as the poor and ignorant are poorer and more ignorant, so the wealthy and the learned are more narrow and bigoted, than the corresponding classes in other districts. Even in Tirhoot, the three pundits who signed, expressed the opinion that, if any measure was adopted for the encouragement of learning, those who now appear most timid and suspicious would be most forward to participate in the advantage. Upon the whole, I entertain no doubt that the majority of the learned in Bengal and Behar will readily co-operate with Government, if they are allowed to receive a share of the general encouragement to be given to the teachers of sound and useful knowledge.
The only remaining questions are to what extent their co-operation may be required, and with what rewards it should be acknowledged and secured—
First.—The text-books employed should not be mere translations either from English or Bengali, but original works on the same subjects as the Bengali series, with such additions of matter and of illustration as will include the substance, both of European and of native knowledge, on the branches treated. The learned will thus be taught on the one hand to identify their feelings and interests with those of their countrymen in general, and encouraged on the other hand to employ their greater leisure in thoroughly studying the subjects on which the welfare of the people and the prosperity of the country depend. We may thus hope that the profound, acute, and vigorous intellects that are now laboriously employed on vicious fables and fruitless speculations will receive a practical bias from which the happiest results may be expected.
Second.—To every examiner a pundit should be attached to aid him in examining those pundits who may accept books for study and afterwards offer themselves for examination, in the same manner as has been described with respect to teachers of vernacular schools. The assistant-pundit should be the most distinguished and most highly respected in the district, that the weight of his talents and repute may conciliate public approbation to the measures of Government; but he should be made subordinate to the examiner to correct the local influences by which he may be guided, or which may be ascribed to him. An allowance of 30 rupees per month including travelling charges will in general obtain the services of such a pundit, to be raised after periods of service of four years to 40, 50, and 60 rupees, dependent on good behaviour. After this, the assistant-pundit to an examiner should be eligible to hold the appointment of assistant-pundit to an inspector of a division with a salary of 100 rupees per month, or any other appointment in the native branch of the service which he may be ambitious to attain, such as those of pundit attached to the district court, of moonsiff, of sudder ameen, &c., the purpose being to stimulate his zeal and strengthen his integrity by always placing before him a higher object of ambition than any he has yet reached.
Third.—The same course generally will be pursued towards teachers of schools of learning as has been proposed towards teachers of vernacular schools. They will first receive books in which, after the requisite time allowed for study, they will be examined; and after a satisfactory examination their names will be registered, transmitted to Calcutta, published in the Gazette, and proclaimed in the district as those of approved pundits, of all which a certificate will be given. When a pundit after having been satisfactorily examined receives the second volume of the series he will be entitled to claim the use of three, six, nine, or twelve copies of the first for the instruction of his pupils, and so on in the four successive stages of the course. Approved pundits, like approved vernacular teachers, will be entitled to attend at the normal school of the district for four years, and for three months in each year, and to receive, during that period, subsistence-money and travelling expenses. The modes of instruction in schools of learning are in general much superior to those practised in the vernacular schools, but the normal schools may be, and it is hoped will be, conducted in such a way that even pundits may derive much instruction from them in the art of teaching. When a pundit shall have passed an examination in each of the four volumes of the series, when he shall have attended the normal school for four years, three months in each year, and when he shall have instructed six pupils in each of the four volumes, he will become, not entitled, but eligible, to an endowment of the same value as that proposed for the vernacular teachers of the same district. The number of endowments for vernacular teachers must be limited only by the wants of the population. The number of endowments for teachers of learning must be limited by very different considerations. They must be so few as not to be a burthen to the State. They must be so many as to give a hold on the whole body of the learned in a district. These objects will probably be attained by some such rule as the following, viz., that endowments shall be set apart for schools of learning in some fixed proportion to their number, say, in the proportion of one to six. Thus the 24 Sanscrit schools in the city of Moorshedabad would have four endowments distributed among them, provided that all the twenty-four teachers established their eligibility; and so with every other locality. Probably this will not be deemed too high a proportion, and if found too low to elicit the competition and co-operation of the body of pundits, the value of each endowment might be raised, or the number increased. With regard to the best mode of bestowing these endowments on the learned, it may be sufficient at present to remark that the pundits who are found by the possession, of the requisite qualifications to be eligible to them, may be examined by written queries and answers on subjects calculated to enlarge their views both of their own deficiencies and of the wants of the country and of their duty to seek self-improvement for the sake of the general good; and those whom fit judges may determine to be the most worthy should receive the reward accompanied with all the forms which may give weight and honour to the distinction. When a vacancy occurs of any of the endowments given to the learned, it may be filled up in the same way by the open competition of all who are eligible.
Fourth.—To induce teachers to communicate the improved instruction to their scholars and the latter to seek for that instruction, various motives will be presented. With regard to the teachers, the copies of the first volume of the series which they will receive for the use of their scholars will become their own property, only by producing an equal number of instructed scholars. They will further receive a corresponding number of copies of the second book of the series for the use of their scholars, only if they shall be found to have made a proper use of those copies of the first received for the same purpose; and so also with regard to the third and fourth volumes. Still, further, one of the qualifications for holding an endowment will be that the teacher shall have instructed six scholars in each of the four volumes of the series. The success also with which learned teachers pass themselves and their scholars at the periodical examinations will come to be a measure of the public repute they enjoy in their native districts, and thus increase the number of invitations and the amount of presents they receive, and perhaps in many cases induce wealthy zemindars to bestow on them endowments exclusive of those appropriated by Government to the class of the learned. With regard to students of learning, they will be attracted, as in the case of vernacular scholars, by the curiosity and pleasure which new and useful knowledge will inspire by the love of display which a public examination will gratify, by the ambition of having their names, designations, and places of residence registered as those of approved students, by the prospect of eligibility to the English school of the district after completing the series of text-books, and by the further prospect of eligibility to one of the endowments set apart for the learned when they shall have acquired all the necessary qualifications. Native opinion leads me to think it probable that these motives will prove so powerful to the majority of the students of learning that it will be proper before admitting them to examination to require them to establish by testimonials from their teachers that they have passed through a regular course of grammatical study, lest, in their anxiety to distinguish themselves in the new course of instruction, they should neglect that indispensable preliminary to the successful cultivation of the Sanscrit language and literature.
Fifth.—The native medical schools rank with schools of learning; and, keeping steadily in view the principle of turning to account all existing institutions, both European and Native, it is worthy of consideration whether the native medical schools may not be usefully employed, in connection with the medical college of Calcutta, in improving and extending sound medical instruction. In Rajshahi I found one medical school containing seven students taught by two professors; in Beerbhoom another containing six students taught by one professor; in Burdwan four medical schools containing forty-five students taught by four professors; and in South Behar two medical schools containing two students taught by two professors. All these students were not receiving medical instruction, but in part were pursuing those literary studies which are deemed indispensable preliminaries to a course of professional study; and some of the professors had other students besides those who were either studying, or preparing to study, for the medical profession. Is not this a class of institutions which it should be our object to draw out of obscurity? When it is considered how ill-provided the body of the people are with medical advice and assistance even on ordinary occasions, and much more in seasons of pestilence and disease prevailing locally or generally, is it not our duty to endeavour to increase the number of these institutions and to extend their usefulness by improving the instruction which the teachers communicate? The only answer that can be returned by a wise and humane Government will be by asking how such an object can be accomplished, and the only reply I can make is by reverting to the plans which I have already suggested and which I believe will be found of equal efficacy in their application to medical as to other schools of learning. The first step will be to prepare a separate series of text-books in Bengali, or Hindi, or Sanscrit, or both in Sanscrit and in one of the vernacular languages. They should embrace elementary views and illustrations of the most important and useful branches of medical science and practice, including, in Mr. Hodgson’s language, both exotic principles and local practices, European theory, and Indian experience. The next step will be to induce the medical teachers to study the text-books so prepared; and for this purpose the course that has been already described should be adopted and the same inducements offered; public examinations, presents of books to the teachers for themselves and for their scholars, the registry and publication of their names as those of approved medical teachers, and finally, eligibility to one of several endowments expressly appropriated in each district to the medical profession. In this way Government in a very few years might multiply approved medical teachers to any extent that the wants of the country might demand. The next step would be to extend the instructions of the approved teachers, and here again the same appliances offer themselves. To the teachers would be given books only in proportion as instructed scholars are produced, and the instruction of six scholars in each text-book would be required as an indispensable qualification for the eligibility of the teacher to an endowment. To the scholars the motives will be the pursuit of new and useful knowledge, the love of display at a public examination, the ambition of distinction by the registry and publication of their names as those of approved medical students, eligibility to the English school of the district, eligibility to a course of instruction in the medical college of Calcutta, and finally, eligibility to a medical endowment in their native districts. The effect of all this is, I think, not to be doubted; and it would be cheaply purchased by the employment of such means. It would revive, invigorate, enlighten, and liberalize the native medical profession in the mofussil; it would afford to the Calcutta college a perennial supply of well instructed native medical students from every district in the country; and it would send them back to their native districts still better instructed, and both qualified and disposed to benefit their countrymen, to extend the advantages of European knowledge, and to conciliate the affections of all towards their European rulers.
Sixth. It should be distinctly understood that all teachers of learning who accept of the patronage of Government shall be at perfect liberty to teach their own systems of religion, philosophy, science, and literature; and that the works prepared for their use shall contain nothing derogatory to their faith, or recommendatory of any other. On the other hand, it should be no less distinctly understood that the patronage of Government will be bestowed on the learned solely and exclusively in proportion to the degree of their proficiency in the new system of instruction, and to the degree of zeal, judgment, and integrity with which they co-operate in promoting the success of the measures adopted by Government for the instruction of the whole body of the people. In other words, they will neither be prohibited from teaching that which they believe, nor required to teach that which they believe not; but they will be rewarded only for doing or promoting that which, in the estimation of all, has a plain and direct tendency to benefit all.