Education And Value In The: Mahabharata

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Dr. N. L. Gupta (b. 1940-) is the first scholar to obtain a Ph.D. from two different faculties of Nagpur University. He has many firsts to his credit. He is the first candidate to submit a thesis for D. Litt. in R.S. University, Raipur. He is the first writer to get subsidy for a Hindi book from the Governor of Maharashtra.

Dr. Gupta is a prolific writer. Besides many research papers, he has authored twenty two books in both Hindi and English. After serving for three years in a Degree College, Dr. Gupta joined the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi, in 1965. Presently, he is working as Assistant Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (Delhi Region), New Delhi.

The book utilizes, for the first time, the vast material on the various aspects of education and value system available in the Mahabharata. The author has made a deep study of the subject in all its aspects and dealt with various topics such as the aims of education, educational institutions, teachers and students, subjects of education, methods of teaching. examinations, etc.

He has quoted profusely from the Mahabharata and other works in Sanskrit in support of his observations. He has given an exhaustive account of the branches of learning then prevailing and the masters of learning as visualized in the great Epic.

It is a comprehensive and erudite work on the subject. Of great value especially for those interested in the subject of education in ancient India.

Of the two great Sanskrit epics of India, the Mahabharata is one, the other being Ramayana. The word 'Bharata" signifies 'battle of the Bharatas and the word 'Mahabharata', means the great narrative of the 'battle of the Bharatas'. Divided into 18 Parvas or 'Books', it consists of over 1,00,000 shlokas including those of its supplement, known as Harivamsha. The epic available in two recensions, the Northern and Southern and further sub-divided into versions according to the scripts in which the text is written, has been edited and collated by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.

About the contents of the Mahabharata, it is a great national epic and men and women, young and old, rich and poor, high and low, simple and sophisticated, all derive entertainment, inspiration and guidance from it. The well-known literary works in most of the Indian languages, the popular folk-songs and ballads sung by the itinerant bards, draw their inspiration from it. There is indeed no sphere of Indian life, private or public, which is not deeply influenced by this great epic; this is mainly due to the encyclopaedic character of the epic. It is said that in the fields of Dharma (religion and ethics) Artha (material sciences), Kama (Pleasure of life), and Moksha (Spiritual emancipation), whatever is taught in this epic may be found elsewhere, but whatever is not found in it, will not be found anywhere.

It is this vast treasure of knowledge that Dr. N.L. Gupta, a scholar in himself, has tried to dig and discover the gems found in the sphere of education and values in the Mahabharata. Under the headings of various topics and the aims of education, educational institutions, teacher-taught relationship, the subjects of education, value-system, methods of teaching, examinations, etc. Dr. Gupta has culled material from this epic of vast magnitude. Quoting profusely from the original epic, he has provided us with an exhaustive account of branches of learning then prevalent and the masters of learnings as mentioned in the epic. Dr. Gupta's treatise is important in this sense also as the education in the Mahabharata holds equally good for the age preceding this epic since the Mahabharata is a good record of what had prevailed earlier. It is also a good testimony of what happened after the Mahabharata age as the system prevalent in that age continued for a long period and in some cases is current upto the modern times as is seen in the Sanskrit Pathshalas.

The book is illuminating and can be studied with profit by studentsand teachers and scholars and researchers.

A great scholar of Sanskrit, Ancient Indian History and Hindi, as Dr. Gupta, is, I congratulate him on producing this valuable and brilliant work. I am sure it would be widely read by all concerned.

In the present study educational data as visualized in the Mahabharata has been analysed at length and certain conclusions put forth in a scientific manner. For this purpose, the Critical Edition of the Epic published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, has been used. Besides seven appendices, there are in all twelve chapters.

Chapter I is introductory in which the nature, extent, significance, time, etc., of the Epic have been clearly delineated. Chapter II deals with the stratification of the then society and its implications for the system of education. It also highlights the contribution of the warrior class in general and the scholar kings in particular towards the advancement of various branches of learning.

Chapter III contains the nature and extent of curriculum characterizing its various salient features. Chapter IV deals with various types of occupations and vocations including training in arms, warcrafts, science of medicine and surgery, various crafts and fine arts. A list of 64 Kalas with a brief explanation of the technical terms also finds place in this chapter.

Stating the role of "Dharma" in the area of Education and Aims of Religious Education, a new concept of Moral and Religious Education has been presented in Chapter V. In the context of the contents of the Epic, our moral, social, cultural and spirtual values have been analysed critically. In Chapter VI, under the sub-heading "Two Sets of Principles", Yug Dharma and Sanatan Dharma have been explained, which obviously stand for the changeable and eternal sets of values. Various dimensions of value-creating education have also been analysed. Many modes and methods, tools and techniques practised in the ancient system of education for inculcating moral, cultural and spiritual values have also been critically examined. Righteousness is the quintessence of "Sanatana Dharm". To confine "Dharma" to one particular faith is negation of "Dharma" as fundamental values are common in all the religions of the world. Notwithstanding this "Dharma" eschews the religious doctrines of different creeds and sects. The Mahabharata explains in diverse ways the broad and enduring outlook "Dharma" provides us. It is the firm conviction of Maharishi Vyas that "Artha" and "Kama" can be had through Dharma. But due to deviation from the path of Dharma a value crisis has emerged as a global phenomenon. Therefore, the Mahabharata declares firmly, "Righteousness, thy name is victory" (Yto Dharmastato Jayah). Chapter VII deals with the entire gamut of the perception. There is no gainsaying the fact that the value-system as visualized in the Mahabharata is very complex and at times rather self-contradictory. But this self-contradiction is because of the very character of the epic. It is not an epic of art like the Ramayana, but an epic of growth, wherein there had been profuse interpolations from time to time. In spite of all odds and conflicting views "Dharma" stands as victor. In Chapter VIII status of women has been critically examined from the educational point of view. Special stress has been laid on the informal type of education, which was the order of the day.

**Contents and Sample Pages**