NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

Assignment

COURSE CODE: HiS101

SECTION: 05

SUBMITTED BY

Rakib Hasan Talukder

ID: 1921040011

Introduction: Education is an integral part for developing civilization in every

Country. We all concerned about origin and evolution of Education in Bengal ,education is a
powerful implement for individual and social development. It is difficult, mainly due to paucity
of sources, to trace, even in outline, the system of education that prevailed in Bengal from the
remote past. However, whatever is available allows us to reconstruct a very generalised idea
about the educational system in ancient and medieval Bengal. In the colonial period the picture
becomes clear and we are in a position to trace the development of education in a much
more coherent way.

Ancient: It is indeed difficult to determine the system and nature of education in

ancient Bengal. We have ample evidence of the flourishing condition of the nourishment
of various branches of knowledge in ancient Bengal, but hardly do we get any
information about the education system in the available sources. The Vedic Aryans
looked down upon the people of Bengal and designated them as dasyus and
mlechchhas. But with the passage of time Aryan language and culture entered Bengal;
most probably in the Maurya period.

It appears that the pundits (teacher) of Bengal could not establish a strong link with
Aryan language and culture before the 6th century AD, though the process might have
started a few centuries earlier. The Buddhist sangharamas and Brahmanic religious
centres, large or small, served as educational centres. 

All the Buddhist viharas and sangharamas in Bengal were centres for the cultivation of
Buddhist learning and for imparting education. They not only taught and cultivated
Buddhist religious knowledge, but the curriculum for the education of the Buddhist
sramanas included grammar, philology, dialectic, medicine, astronomy, music and arts,
chaturveda, sankhya, mahayana xastras, yoga xastra etc. Hiuen Tsang have mentioned
many Deva temples, where lived innumerable Brahmanic Acharyas and Upadhyayas
and Devapujakas, who not only cultivated and taught religious subjects, but also various
secular subjects.

The period of the Senas is considered to be a golden period for the cultivation of various
branches of knowledge through Sanskrit language and the extant texts bear testimony
to it. So it can be assumed with some amount of certainty that though we are not aware
of institutionalised education there must have been a fairly large educated class who
could produce those literatures. There must have been some predecessors of the tols
and pathsalas of medieval age, where there were arrangements for education, if not for
the common people, but definitely for the people belonging to the upper classes of the
society. Gurugrhas, asramas and Buddhist viharas served as centres of education. That
secular subjects were taught along with religious studies are clear from the books that
have come down to us. But they do not, however, give us any indication about the
system of education.
Medieval: Muslim sultans of Bengal encouraged the spread of education,
scholastic or elementary, to fulfil their religious obligations. The rulers, the sufis, ulamas,
the nobles, chieftains and philanthropists all contributed in this regard. Through the
patronisation of the Muslim rulers mosques and madrasas were established in System
of education was closely associated with religious instructions. So the Hindus and the
Muslims, the two major religious groups, developed separate educational structure on
the basis of their religious traditions. To meet the demands of religion as well as
livelihood education was encouraged throughout the medieval period by the rulers as
well as by the elite of both the communities, though their respective system of education
completely differed.

The educational establishments that had grown for the Muslims were known as
maktabs and madrasas and for the Hindus as pathshalas. Many Muslim institutions
arranged for the study of the Quran, while the study of Arabic was encouraged for
religious education. Some schools combined the study of grammar, literature, theology
and law with Arabic. The local pathsalas, where the Hindus studied, taught Sanskrit and
Bengali along with religious studies. So the Muslims seldom preferred these vernacular
schools. As Persian was the state language, both the Hindus and the Muslims learnt the
language to earn a living.

The educational centres grew at Gaur, Pandua, Sonargaon, Dhaka, Murshidabad,

Rajshahi, Chittagong and Rangpur. Scholars from home and abroad were engaged in
teaching at these places. The Muslim rulers bestowed honours on indigenous talents,
spared neither pains nor expense to attract to their courts from neighboring countries
men of high literary attainments. Maktabs sprang up in imitation of Pathsalas, wherever
the Muslims predominated in numbers.

During the medieval period Nabadvip was the principal centre of education for the
Hindus and attracted students from various parts of Bengal. Besides Nabadvip
instruction in Sanskrit and Persian languages were also given at Saptagram, Sylhet,
and Chittagong. Students and religious devotees gathered at these places to satisfy
their educational and spiritual needs.