Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 418

378
INSUFFICIENT EDUCATIONAL STIMULUS
over, there is no regular plan of instruction, and there is
no public institution which is, properly speaking, devoted
to the diffusion of knowledge.
It is true that in certain
large towns, or in the precincts of some of the more important
temples, Brahmins who are really learned, or who pretend
to be so, impart the knowledge which they possess
some
gratuitously and others for payment
still, for all this,
instruction is carried on without any definite system or
any attempt at discipline elements absolutely necessary
to give to these studies a character of permanence and
uniformity.
Let a youth learn who has a mind to do so,
and as long as he chooses this seems to be their guiding
principle.
There is nothing in these institutions which is
calculated to stimulate the teachers or to encourage the
pupils.
There are no public examinations to undergo, no
degrees to aspire to, no prizes to be won
in fine, no
special privilege or advantage of any importance is held
out to students who distinguish themselves by their attain-
ments. It is true that those who have a reputation for
learning are esteemed by the public, but empty reputation
without any substantial benefit is not a motive sufficiently
powerful to stimulate a Brahmin. It would be well enough
—
;
—
:
;
if
learned
Hindus were frequently encouraged by the
liberality of their princes, but the latter are too deeply
immersed of material pleasures to be able
in the
enjoyment
to appreciate the real value of learning and to take the
trouble to patronize it \
Accordingly one seldom comes
across educated Brahmins who owe their knowledge to
one of these public schools. They are, in fact, entirely
beholden for it to the exertions of their parents and to
private tuition.
Thus it is that learning is almost always
transmitted from family to family, from generation to
generation, and becomes, so to say, hereditary.
So much, then, for the course of study, the universities,
and the litterateurs of India.
The Hindu system of astronomy being, as I have said
1
Education on European lines is now widely extended, of cou