Chapter 5 - Admission to Studies

We shall now take up the subject of the considerations that governed admission to medical studies We give below an exhaustive list of the qualifications required in a student of medicine and it is clear from its perusal that as much importance was attached to moral fitness as to physical and intellectual fitness. In fact the insistence on moral fitness was the greatest as can be seen from the fact that the vast majority of the required qualifications concern the ethical side of the student’s personality. This insistence which is generally absent to-day, and the elaborateness with which it was set out in ancient days was no doubt due to the consideration that moral excellence is the very basis of all true education But this is less readily ascertainable than intellectual and physical worth. This probably is the reason why moral fitness in students has gradually tended to be ignored, although the general decline in the standards of public and private morality cannot be denied its share. We should remember in this connection that the aim of all education, including medical education, was not to enable the student to earn a livelihood so much as to inculcate in him a love for the good life. As regards the practical difficulties in ascertaining whether a student had the necessary moral equipment, they did not exist, as under the ancient system of Gurukula education, the relation between the teacher and the pupil was as intimate as that between the father and the son. In fact, during the entire period of education the teacher was actually in the place of the father, the pupil being fed, clothed and housed by him.

Thus two of the most common names for a “Shishya” (Śiṣya) or a student are:

1. “Antevasin” (Antevāsin—ante samīpe vastu śīlamasya[?]) and
2. “Chatra” (Chātra—gurudoṣācchādanaṃ chatram, tacchīlamasya).

Both denote this intimate association, while the word “Acarya” (Ācārya) signifies that his primary business was in helping his pupils to develop a sound character.

Great care was taken to see that no undesirable candidate got admission to studies. The universities of Vikramaditya, in the words of the Chinese traveller, were guarded scrupulously by the most erudite of scholars who held the examination for admission which was difficult to pass. The members of this admission committee were aptly called “Dvara Panditas” (Dvārapaṇḍita) whose business was to see that the standard of the University’s scholarship was not lowered by the invasion of mediocrity

That such strict selection was most important is seen from Caraka’s statement that knowledge like a sword or water requires a clean repository:—

[Carakasaṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 9.20]

“Weapons, learning and water are wholly dependent for their merits or demerits on their holder”

As a result only two of three of them could have admission for studies. If the person possessing knowledge is unworthy of it, it is worse than useless and it is fraught with danger

It was accordingly prescribed that before a prospective -student was admitted to studies, he had to undergo a period of probation which extended from six months to one year. Thus we find Vagbhata saying in the Astanga Sangraha that it is only after the teacher has been fully satisfied of the character -and worth of the candidates that the actual schooling should begin and this schooling once begun should continue till the student had mastered the subject both in theory and practice.

[Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha Sūtrasthāna 2]

“A disciple who is capable and possessed of modesty, purity and arts and who has served a probationary period of six months, should be taught as long as he gains perfection in the theory and practice of the science.”

Thus the danger of morally unworthy persons acquiring the power that comes through knowledge as well as the danger of incompetent or half-baked practitioners being let loose upon society are avoided. The system of probationary studentship, it should be pointed out, is not altogether absent in modern education; it obtains in certain western universities though the rules governing such probationership are neither so stringent nor so complete as those which obtained in the medical institutions of ancient India.

It is true that considerations of the caste (varṇa) and lineage (gotra) of the candidate played an important role in the determination of his admission for the studies contemplated, but even here the underlying factor was purely one of moral worth. Thus in the famous story of Satyakama (Satyakāma) the son of a serving woman (Paricāriṇī) the teacher is confronted with the problem of deciding the eligibility of the bov who is unable to provide him with a Gotra or paternal lineage but who is otherwise eminently fitted for the life of a student. The teacher concerned, who is no less a person than Uddalaka Aruni (Uddālaka Āruṇi) decides that no one who was not a Brahmana could tell the truth so boldly as Satyakama and accordingly commands him to fetch wood for the sacrificial fire, a token that he has been admitted to studentship.

It is clear from this story related in the Chandogya Upanisad (Chāndogya Upaniṣad) that only Brahmanas were normally received as student by the great teachers of the day. This privileged position of the Brahmana in the sphere of learning continued for long, but in the course of time, Ksatriyas and Vaishyas were admitted in increasing numbers into what had been a jealously guarded preserve of the Brahmanas, and later even the Shudra as mentioned in Sushruta and Kashyapa was considered eligible.

[Suśrutasaṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 2.4]

“Some say that one should coach up even a Shudra possessed of good lineage and qualities withholding the instruction of Mantras and also the sacred thread”

[Kāśyapasaṃhitā Vimānasthāna Pṛ. 42]

“By whom should Ayurveda be studied? It should be studied by Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Shudras.”

This gradual enlargement of what we may call the educational franchise was in keeping with the progress of the times.

There is everything in favour of a specialized learning such as medicine and surgery being imparted to members of families with long medical traditions rather than to others. This was the practice in ancient India, a practice which derived its sanction form considerations of heredity and home environment. It was believed that one belonging to a medical family would have a better aptitude for medical learning and practice than one who is from non-medical family.

In support of this statement Dr R. K. Mookerjee says in his ancient Indian education that—“Social psychology has proved that every individual has his own equipment of emotions, action-attitudes and ways of thinking, which is the gift of the traditions and social environment in which he is brought up”

Each scheme of training must therefore take into account the concrete individual, a product of biological gifts and social heritage. A neglect of this basic situation renders the process of education less fruitful and sometimes even risky to the personality

The investigation of Haggerty, Nash and Goodenough show further that the educational status and vocation of the parents lave a significant correlation with the level of capacity of the children as indicated by the intelligence quotient. For instance, the children o professional parents of those of a higher academic standing possess, on the whole, a higher value of I Q. The implication of sue acts cannot be ignored in schemes of national education.

It is neither necessary nor indeed possible here to comment on all desiderata, item by item. Two of the requirements, both connected with the moral equipment of the student, may however be noticed in passing. These are Brahmacarya and Jitendriyatva and both are qualities whose importance in the life

of a student cannot be over-emphasised. The life of one who is following the pursuit of learning is a dedicated one and the votary of knowledge should therefore be able to turn his back on all sense-pleasures in the manner of the boy Naciketas, who when tempted by king Yama to give up his determination to seek the truth said (“tavaiva vāhāstava nṛttagīte”)—

“Keep thou thy chariots, thy dancing girls and singing; I will have none of them”.

It is then and then only that the great king of the the Dead considered him worthy of being taught, saying:—

[...]

“I know that you Naciketas, are a true seeker after knowledge, for you resisted all the temptations I put before you.”