EITK_EEE
Unit 5Education System in IndiaQuestion 1. How the education in ancient period takes place?Answer:Vedic PeriodLearning in ancient India was imparted by the teachers called Gurus to the pupils who gathered around them and came to live with them in their house as members of the family. Such a place was called Gurukul. The Gurukul functioned as a boarding school, an ashram, where the children’s learning was developed by the Guru who gave personal instruction as well as attention to the students. Education was primarily the privilege for the upper castes. Learning was an intimate relationship between the teacher and the pupil called the GuruShishya Parampara. The process of learning generally began with a religious ceremony, ‘Upanayana’ (sacred thread ceremony). Education was normally imparted orally. It included memorization of texts like Vedas and Dharmashastras, fully or partially. Subjects like Grammar, Logic, and Metaphysics came later to be taught and studied. The Maitrayani Upanishad teaches us that the supreme knowledge (gyan) is the result of learning (vidya), reflection (chintan) and austerity (tapas). Through introspection (atma vishleshana) one was to attain goodness (Satva), purity of mind and satisfaction of the soul. During this time self-education was regarded as the method of attaining the highest knowledge. The best example of this can be found in the Taitteriya Upanishad where Bhrugu, son of Varuna, approaches his father and asks him to teach what Brahmana is. The father tells him to find this out through meditation.Mauryan PeriodDuring the Mauryan and the post-Mauryan periods, the Indian society went through a phase for intensive change. With the growth of urban centres and trade, the mercantile community came to acquire the important position. As a result, the guilds of the merchants began to play an active role in providing proper education. They became main centres of technical education and fostered the knowledge of mining, metallurgy, carpentry, weaving and dyeing. There were new formulations of building and architecture. With the emergence of city life, new architectural forms evolved. The guilds also gave patronage to astronomy, the study of the position of stars, to help them in ocean navigation. The astronomers and cosmologists began a debate on “time” (kala). This helped in the development of a sharp sense of “time” (kala) in comparison to the past. Medical knowledge began to be systemized as Ayurveda. The elements formed on the basis for the Indian medical system. A right combination of the three was necessary for a healthy body. Knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs and their usage reached a very advanced stage. ‘Charaka’ became famous for the medicine and ‘Sushruta’ for the surgery. ‘Charak Samhita’ written by Charaka was an authentic and exhaustive work of medicines.You must have heard of Chanakya, who was a renowned philosopher, scholar and also teacher. His most famous work is ‘Arthashastra’. The curricula of studies mentioned in the Arthashastra refers primarily to the education of princes. After Upanayana the prince learnt the four Vedas and the Vedic study included a study of sciences. They also learnt logic, economics and politics. Education of those times were primarily life skills based which was so different from what education is today. The curricula in the Ramayana for the princes was Dhanurveda, Nitishastra, Siksha (lore) of elephants and the chariots, Alekhya and Lekhya (Painting and writing), Langhana (jumping) and the Tairana (swimming).Gupta PeriodIn the Gupta period, the Jain and Buddhist systems of education assumed a different dimension. Buddhist monasteries admitted students for ten years. Learning began with the oral method. Later they shifted to the reading of literary texts. The monasteries had libraries. Important manuscripts were copied and stored. Students from other countries like China and South-East Asia came to the Buddhist monasteries for education. The monasteries were normally maintained by grants from kings and the rich class. They attracted scholars from far and near. Fa-Hien also spent many years in the monastery at Pataliputra, studying Buddhist religious books. Besides Pataliputra, there were other centres of learning like Varanasi, Mathura, Ujjain and the Nasik. Nalanda University was known all over Asia for its high standards of scholarship. The subjects taught included Vedanta, philosophy, study of the Puranas, epics, grammar, logic, astronomy, philosophy, medicine etc. Sanskrit, the court language was the medium of instruction. The Jains used Sanskrit literature like ‘Adi purana’ and ‘Yashatilaka’ for education purposes in the earlier phase. But to make education more popular, the medium was changed to Prakrit and other regional languages like Tamil, Kannada and so on. Books in the Jain and Buddhist libraries were written on the palm leaves that were tied together and are known as “granthas”. Slowly, Jainism and Buddhism lost patronage and their monasteries started declining as centres of education and learning. The ‘mathas’ supported by Brahmins were institutions parallel to Jain and the Buddhist monasteries. The ‘mathas’ functioned like ashrams for educational purposes.Post Gupta PeriodArt and the education made great strides in the reign of Harsha. He encouraged education at all the levels; education was given in temples and monasteries and higher education in universities of Taxila, Ujjain, Gaya and Nalanda. In Nalanda, Hiuen Tsang spent several years studying Buddhists sculptures. Shilabhadra, a renowned scholar was its head. In the 7th and 8th centuries, ‘ghatikas’, or colleges attached to the temples emerged as new centres of learning. The ‘ghatikas’, provided Brahminical education. The medium of instruction was Sanskrit. Entry to these temple colleges was only open to the upper castes or ‘dvijas’ (twice born). Use of Sanskrit in the medium of instruction distanced the common people from education. Education became the privilege of only the uppermost categories of societyQuestion 2. What were the main Subjects studied in ancient India?Answer: Knowledge of applied sciences like metallurgy, baked bricks, glazing, measurement of areas and volumes were known to people in an ancient India. The scientific system of medicine was developed in the post-Vedic period. Medicine became a subject at centres of learning like Takshila and Varanasi. The ‘Charak Samhita’ on medicine and ‘Sushruta Samhita’ on surgery were two vital works in this field. Sushruta considered the surgery as “the highest division of the healing arts and least liable to fallacy”. Mathematics or ‘Ganita’ included topics liken Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Astronomy and Astrology. Interest in Arithmetic was due to its use in trade and commerce. ‘Aryabhattiya’, by Aryabhatta was a major contribution in the field of mathematics. Astronomy was overshadowed by Brahmanical superstitions. ‘Surya Siddhanta’, a work on astronomy consisted of the description of the instruments and the methods of observation which were neither accurate nor impressive. The bronze and copper remains from the time of Indus Valley Civilization are indicative of the development of chemistry and metallurgy. The processes of leather tanning, dyeing, and fermenting were devised during this era.Question 3. Write about the Languages as a medium of studyAnswer: Sanskrit enjoyed a position of privilege in ancient India. It served as a medium of Brahminical education. Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the educated upper castes as well as the Hindu rulers and courtiers. ‘Prakrit’ is a language developed with the rise of Buddhism. It became the language of the masses. The Mauryan king Ashoka used ‘Prakrit’ in his edicts. It is interesting to note that in Sanskrit drama, women and the humble characters made to speak in formal Prakrit. Pali was one of the early and important variants of Prakrit. Most of the Buddhist canonical writings are available Prakrit and Pali, though some Sanskrit literature was also in circulation. Another language ‘Apabhramsha’ was used by Jain writers in Gujarat and Rajasthan for the composition of poetry. The Dravidian languages like the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and the Malayalam were in use in the southern parts of India. They found expression in the literature of this era as well.Question 4. Write a note on contribution of Aryabhatta.Answer: Aryabhatta is a fifth century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and physicist. He was a pioneer in the field of mathematics. At the age of 23, he wrote Aryabhattiya, which is a summary of maths of his time. There are 4 sections in this scholarly work. In the first section he has described the method of denoting big decimal numbers by alphabets. In the second section, we find difficult questions from topics of modern day Mathematics such as number theory, geometry, trigonometry and Beejganita (algebra). The remaining two sections are on astronomy. Aryabhatta showed that zero was not a numeral only but also a symbol and a concept. Discovery of zero enabled Aryabhatta to find the exact distance between the earth and the moon. The discovery of zero opened up a new dimension of negative numerals. As we have seen, the last two sections of Aryabhattiya were on Astronomy. Evidently, Aryabhatta contributed greatly to the field of science, also, particularly Astronomy.Even in ancient India, the science of astronomy was well advanced. It was called Khagolshastra.Khagol was the famous astronomical observatory at Nalanda, where Aryabhatta studied. In fact, science of astronomy was highly advanced and our ancestors were proud of it. The aim behind the development of the science of astronomy was the need to have accurate calendars, a better understanding of climate and rainfall patterns for timely sowing and choices of crops, fixing the dates of seasons and festivals, navigation, calculation of the time and casting of the horoscopes for use in astrology. Knowledge of astronomy, particularly knowledge of the tides and the stars, was of great importance in trade, because of the requirement of crossing the oceans and deserts during night time.Question 5. Write a note on Agriculture in medieval period.Answer: In the medieval era, the pattern of agricultural practices was more or less the same as that in the early India. Some important changes occurred in the introduction of new crops, trees as well as the horticultural plants by foreign traders. The principal crops were wheat, rice, barley, millets, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugar-cane and the indigo. The Western Ghats continued to yield black pepper of good quality and Kashmir maintained its tradition for saffron and fruits. Ginger and cinnamon from the Tamil Nadu, cardamom, sandalwood and coconut from Kerala, were becoming increasingly popular. Tobacco, chilies, potato, guava, custard apple, cashew and pineapple were the important plants which were introduced to India during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was during this era that the production of opium from poppy plants began in Malwa and Bihar regions. Improved horticultural methods were adopted with the great success. The systematic mango-grafting was introduced by the Jesuits of the Goa in the middle of 16th century. Imperial Mughal Gardens were suitable areas where extensive cultivation of fruit trees came up. For irrigation, wells, tanks, canals, rahat, charas and dhenkli charas (a sort of a bucket made of leather used to lift water with the help of yoked oxen) were used. Persian wheels were used in the Agra region. In the medieval era, agriculture was placed on a solid foundation by the State by introducing a system of land measurement and the land classification, beneficial to the rulers as well as the tillersQuestion 6. Write a note: Srinivas RamanujanAnswer: Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan (FRS) better known as Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan, one of India’s greatest mathematical genius, was born at Erode in Tamil Nadu on 22 December, 1887. Later on, his parents shifted to Kumbakonam, 160 km from Chennai. Ramanujan studied at the Town Hall School in Kumbakonam, where he proved himself to be all-rounder. However, his love of mathematics was unusual. In school itself at the age of 13, he came across a book called Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Math by G. S. Carr. Though outdated, this book introduced him to the world of maths. He started working and developing his own ideas in mathematics. He used to write his ideas and the results and make notes on his findings. Three of his research note books are available to us. They are called Ramanujan’s Frayed Notebooks. He could not complete his college education as he kept on developing his ideas and started posing problems and solving them in the Journal of Indian Mathematical Society. In 1911, he published in the same journal a brilliant research paper on the Bernoulli Numbers. This got him recognition and he became well known in Madras circles as a mathematical genius.Lack of the formal education made it very difficult for him to make both ends meet. With great difficulty he could get the job of a clerk at Madras Port Trust which proved fortunate for him. Here he came in contact with many people who had training in mathematics. He found a book ‘Orders of Infinity’ written by G. H. Hardy. He wrote a letter to him in which he mentioned 120 theorems and the formulae. Hardy was quick to recognize his genius and he responded by arranging for him a passage to the London. Despite his lack of required qualification he was allowed to enroll at the Trinity College from where he got Bachelor of Science degree in less than two years. He formed a wonderful team with Hardy and J.E. Littlewood and made amazing contributions in the field of mathematics. He published many papers in London. He was the second Indian to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the first Indian to be elected Fellow of Trinity College. Ramanujan had an intimate familiarity with numbers. In 1917, he fell seriously ill, however the numbers remained his friend, though his body betrayed him. Unfortunately, his health became worse and he returned to India in 1919, “With a scientific standing and reputation”. He died in 1920. His mathematical genius is a proof that India indeed is the birthplace and source of great maths ideas.Question 7. Explain the contribution of Chandrasekhara v. RamanAnswer: Chandrasekhara V. Raman, popularly known as C.V. Raman, was not only a great scientist but also believed in the promotion of human wellbeing and human dignity. He won the Nobel Prize for the Physics in 1930. He was the first ever Asian to receive this award. C.V. Raman was born on 7 November 1888 in Tiruchirappalli, in Tamil Nadu. His father was a professor of Physics and Maths. He grew up in an environment of Sanskrit literature, music and the science. Nature had gifted him with great power of concentration, intelligence and the spirit of the inquiry. Even in his childhood, he was popular as a genius. He stood first in the Indian Audit and Accounts (IAAS) Examination and was appointed as Assistant Accountant General in the Finance Department in Calcutta at the age of nineteen. He sacrificed his high post for his love for science and joined the Science College of Calcutta University as a professor of Physics. Due to his deep love of music, he started working on musical instruments like the veena, violin, tabla and mridangam. In 1921, he read a paper on the theory of Stringed Instruments before the Royal Society of London. In 1924, he was made Fellow of the Royal Society. On his journey to England, he was greatly attracted by the blue colour of the sea. He was curious to know why it remained blue even when big waves rolled up. Then he got the intuitive flash that it was due to the breaking up of sun’s light by water molecules. He conducted many experiments and prepared a long paper on molecular scattering of light and sent it to the Royal Society of London. The world of science was dumb struck at the brilliance of his mind.Question 8. Write about any 2 scientists their contribution in Indian scienceAnswer: Jagdish Chandra Bose J.C. Bose another great scientist of modem India brought glory and respect for the country. He was born on 30 November, 1858 at Mymensingh, now in Bangladesh, where he had his early education. He had his higher education at St. Xaviers College, Calcutta. In 1885 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics at the Presidency College but refused to take salary because it was nearly half of that of an Englishman. Later on, he decided to become a scientist to recover the fame that India enjoyed all over the world in ancient times. He made an apparatus to study the properties of electric waves. For his paper on “The Electromagnetic Radiation and Polarization of Electric Ray”, he was made a Knight in 1917 and Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1920. He was the first Indian scientist in Physics to receive this honour.Dr. Bose is famous all over the world as the inventor of Crescograph that can record even the millionth part of a millimeter of plant growth and movement. Dr. Bose proved through graphs taken by the Crescograph that plants have a circulatory system too. Cresco graph has also shown that the upward movement of sap in plants is the activity of living cells.Dr. Bose also made many other instruments famous all over the world as Bose instruments, to prove that even metals react to outward stimuli. Bose’s instruments have shown, how even steel and metals used in scissors and machinery get tired and regain efficiency after a period of rest. Besides Crescograph and other Bose instruments, his wireless inventions too antedated those of Marconi. He was the first to invent a wireless coherer (radio signal detector) and an instrument for indicating the refraction of electric waves. When someone drew his attention towards this fact, he simply remarked that it is an invention which is more important for mankind than the inventor.HOMI JEHANGIR BHABHA (1909-1966)Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha was a great scientist. He led India into atomic age. He is called the father of the Indian Nuclear Science. He was born on 30 October, 1909 in a Parsi family. Even as a boy, he showed his intelligence and won many prizes. He did his early studies in Mumbai. He took a degree in Mechanical Engineering in First Class from Cambridge, completed research work there and received his doctorate in 1935. Till 1939, he carried outstanding original research relating to a cosmic radiation. Dr. Bhabha joined the Indian Institute of Sciences at Bangalore as a Reader by the request of Dr. C.V. Raman. Soon he became a Professor of Physics. It was here that he got the idea of building a research institute for some of the new areas of Physics. He took a very bold decision of writing a letter to Sir Dorab Ji Tata suggesting that an institution should be established which would lay the foundation of India as a world nuclear power. This institute would produce experts and the country would not have to depend on outside sources. As a result, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) was started in 1945, at the Dr. Bhabha’s ancestral home.India’s first atomic research Centre now called Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) was established at Trombay. India’s First atomic reactor, Apsara was also established under his guidance. Bhabha became the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission set up in the 1948. His studies in the field of atomic energy are considered of great importance in an international circle. He served as the chairman of international conference on peaceful uses of atomic energy, where United Nations supported. The Government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan. In 1966, Dr. Bhabha died in a plane crash.Question 9. Write a note on Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai Answer: Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai is another genius of modem India. He was the main personality behind the launching of India’s first satellite the Aryabhatta. He received his primary education at a school run by his own parents. He studied cosmic rays under the guidance of Dr. C.V. Raman and received Ph.D. degree from Cambridge University. His studies in cosmic rays have made it clear that cosmic rays are a stream of energy particles coming from the outer space. While reaching the earth, they are influenced on the way by the sun, the earth’s atmosphere and the magnetism.Dr. Sarabhai had a multifaceted personality. He was a great industrialist. Even Today, there are many industries founded by him such as Sarabhai Chemicals, Sarabhai Glass, Sarabhai Geigy Ltd., Sara Bhai Merck Ltd. and many others. He also helped in saving crores of rupees for India by starting the mission of manufacturing military hardware and producing antibiotics and penicillin in India which were imported from abroad. He was also the founder of the Ahmedabad Textile Industrial Association and the Ahmedabad Money Association. In this way, he established a large number of the successful industries.Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai established many institutes which are international repute. Most notable among them are Indian Institutes of Management (IIMS) which are considered world class for the management studies. He was the Chairman of an Indian National Commission for Space Research (INCOSPAR) and of the Atomic Energy Commission. He directed the setting up of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). He also made plans to take education to the villages through the Satellite communication. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan after his death. His death was a great loss to the nation.Question 10. Write in brief about Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s contribution in science.Answer: Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President of India was born on 15 October, 1931, in the island town of Rameshwaram, in Tamil Nadu. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor in 1997 for his contributions in the field of science and engineering.Dr. Kalam had his primary education at Rameshwaram. He passed his class ten exams from the Schwartz High School, Ramanathapuram and obtained a degree in the Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of TechnologyDr. Kalam served in Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1963 to 1982. At Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, he developed the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV 3), which put the satellite Rohini in orbit. In 1982, as Director, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), he was given the responsibility of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He developed five projects for defense services - Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag and the Agni. He led India into an era of self-dependence. Agni, which is a surface to surface missile, is a very unique achievement. Its successful launch made India a member of the club of highly developed countries in the world. The light weight carbon material designed for Agni have been used to make calipers for the polio-affected. The material has reduced the weight of calipers to 400 grams from the 4 kg. It is a great blessing for humans. The material has also been used for making spring like coils called stents, which are used in Balloon Angioplasty for treating heart patients.Dr. Kalam’s life is a symbol of the true spirit of the India. He is a true follower of Indian tradition and the religion. He has integrated science with religion and the philosophy. He strongly believes in being guided from the inside i.e. “relying more on inner signals and less on external cues” as well as doing duties selflessly. Dr. Kalam says, “I have no belongings in the worldly sense. I have acquired nothing, built nothing, possess nothing, no family, sons, and daughters.”
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