Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/252

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
192
South Behar Pandits, their studies and Authors.

Thus 20 teachers receive in all about rupees 7,402, averaging to each rupees 370-1-7 per annum. The endowed lands in extent vary from five to a hundred and fifty bighas, and in value from one to four rupees per bigha.

As far as I could ascertain, there are only two teachers in this district who are known as authors. Chakrapani pandit, dwelling at Tikari in thana Sahibgunge, has composed the following works in Sanscrit, viz:—1. Durga Ratnamala, a commentary on Sapta Sati, a sub-division of the Markandeya Purana, contained in 200 leaves or 400 pages. 2. Durjnanamukhachapetika, (a slap on the face to the ignorant,) a treatise on the law of inheritance, &c., opposed to the school of Raghunandana, written on 150 leaves or 300 pages. 3. Sarada, a commentary on Sabdendu Sekhara, itself a commentary on the Siddhanta Kaumudi, or Panini grammar, written on 200 leaves or 400 pages. 4. Mani Prakasika, a commentary on Kanstubha, itself a commentary on the 8th Chapter of Panini, written on 180 leaves or 360 pages. 5. Sakti Khandika, a logical treatise on the powers of words in the form of a commentary on Manjusha on the same subject, written on 70 leaves or 140 pages. Hara Lal Pandit, á resident of the same place, is the author of two works, viz:— 1. Sabda Prakasa, a commentary on Sabdendu Sekhara, written on 500 leaves or 1,000 pages; and 2. Paribhasha Tatwa Prakasa, a commentary on Pari Bhashendu Sekhara, itself a commentary on the Siddhanta Kaumudi, written on 125 leaves or 250 pages.

About half of the pandits have school-houses built at their own cost, or that of their patrons; and the rest avail themselves of the accommodation afforded by a threshold, an out-house, or a temple.

In 27 Sanscrit schools there are 437 students, averaging 16.1 to each school. They are all Brahmans, and of the whole number 154 are natives of the villages in which the schools are situated, and 283 are natives of other villages. The students do not acquire any portion of their subsistence by mendicancy. The majority of them are supported by family-funds, and others participate in the allowances of food granted by the patrons of the teachers. In one instance the allowance of uncooked articles of food made to the teachers expressly for the benefit of the students was estimated at rupees 1,104 per annum, in another at rupees 960, and in a third at Rupees 360; in the last mentioned case the number of students enjoying this aid being limited to fifteen. The whole of these have been included in the preceding estimate of the receipts of teachers. The following are the studies pursued, and the number of students engaged in each :—

Grammar . . . . . . 356
Lexicology . . . . . . 8
Literature . . . . . . 16
Rhetoric . . . . . . 2
Law . . . . . . 2
Logic . . . . . . 6