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Compare and contrast these two passages and relate some of their ideas to the present time:(1) From the module on Education:Indian education aimed at both the inner and the outer dimension of a person. Truth, patience, regularity, self-mastery, humility, self-denial, purity of self (sattvaśuddhi), cognition of the underlying unity of life, nature and environment, reverence for all beings were the inner values cultivated by Indian education. Learners were taught to grow by pursuing the realisation of puruśārtha catuṣṭaya (four ends of life), dharma (righteousness), artha (material well-being), kāma (enjoyment), and mokṣa (liberation from worldly ties). Pupils were trained to guide their life in consonance with dharma, the modelling principle for the individual, the family and the society. Dharma required all, including students, to perform their duties towards parents, teachers, people and gods. The outer goal of mastering a discipline, history, art of debate, law, medicine etc., was also assiduously pursued but this „outer goal‟ of gaining knowledge could not be divorced from the inner dimension as all knowledge in the tradition is ethically inflected.Physical education was important and students participated in krīdā (games, recreational activities), vyāyāma prakāra (various types of exercises), dhanurveda (archery, sword play etc.) for acquiring martial skills, and yoga-sādhanā (prānāyāma, āsana, nāḍīśuddhi etc.) for developing control over the sense organs. Examinations had a different form in the Indian system. In order to demonstrate what they had learnt, students engaged in the exercise of learned debates (śāstrārtha) and defended their position. Advanced students were often called upon to teach beginners and in the process acquired some valuable teaching experience as well. …Education in India was supported by the community. A gift in support of education was seen as the highest donation (dāna). All members of society supported the cause of education by offering food, gifts, shelter, etc. The wealthier sections of society substantially supported education by building hostels and making educational endowments (adhyāyanavṛttis).(2) From the module on Martial Arts:Sections of the Mahābhārata describe wrestlers and wrestling and boxing bouts, such as Bhīma‟s famous fights with Jarāsaṅdha and with Duryodhana. According to the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, both Sri Kṛṣṇa and his brother Balarāma were masters of the art of wrestling. Śarira bala (physical strength) was gained through various krīḍa (games) including the martial arts. Various disciplines such as śastravidyā, knowledge of arms, dhanurvidyā, archery, khaḍgavidyā, aśvārohaṇa, horse riding and fighting on horseback, and gajarohaṇa, fighting on elephant back, were widely practised. The gadā or mace was also used during these bouts.Mallayuddha or wrestling was accorded the status of a respectable sport, pastime and method of warfare with a set of rules prescribed by the Mallas, a warrior clan mentioned in the Mahābhārata and the Buddhist texts. Mallayuddha enjoyed royal patronage and was one of the sixty-four arts that all could learn. So popular was wrestling that a treatise, Mallapurāṇa, which was probably composed in Gujarat, listed various types and techniques of wrestling, besides giving detailed information on the arena, rules of engagement or the wrestlers‟ diet and training regime. Martial arts in India were perfected between the 6th and 11th century CE when the Gurjara-Pratihāra, a warrior dynasty, ruled much of north India. Cālukyan king Someśvara III in his 11th-century treatise Mānasollāsa, an encyclopaedic work in Sanskrit, gives detailed information about various types of wrestlers and their training methods.There were specific arenas for the practice of each martial art. The Dhanurveda describing the ground for weapons training says that such a ground should be free from ash, bones, dust, stones, thorns and thorny bushes and should be spacious and sufficiently broad in dimension and surrounded with a compound wall.The wrestling arena was known as the mallaśālā. The Manasollāsa gives a detailed description of the wrestling pit and says that it should be filled with smooth village soil free from pebbles and other hard objects and should be levelled and kept slightly wet. The ground for combat was known as khalaka; it was to be high, round, even and strong and surrounded by a vīkṣaṇamaṇḍapa (visitor‟s gallery). Mallakrīḍāmahotsava or grand wrestling festivals were popular and periodically organized.

Answer»

A good answer would be that the ancient educational system took care of all aspects of the student’s personality, including the physical body, which was developed and maintained through exercises, yoga, games, and martial arts. All techniques of wrestling, combat, etc. were regarded as noble and part of a desirable all-round development, and the educational system took care to impart them. It seems to compare favourably with our current system, in which the place given to physical skills and accomplishments is minimal.



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