CHAPTER TEN

FROM TEMPLE SCHOOLS TO UNIVERSITIES

Little is known about educational developments in brahmanical society during the earlier part of the first millennium A.D.; the old system of the iiciirya-kula probably continued, and the grant of so-called agrahara-s to communities, first mentioned in the , 1 created an economic basis for Vedic instruction. agrahara at first denoted the grant of a village ( or the revenue from it) to feed , 2 whether for ritual duties, temple worship or instruction we do not know - but a combination of these is probable. The term has been more popular in Southern India: a typical South Indian agrahiira nowadays is a cluster of narrow lanes with narrow row houses that may each stretch quite a way back, with a temple at the end of the lane, in the center of a village or town. It was governed by a sabhii,3 and entry was often forbidden to non-brahmins. In Northern India, -deya (also brahma-diiya)4 denoted tax-free land given to brahmins, first in the Kauµiliya Artha­ sastra,5 and such land given to temples is mentioned in inscriptions from

1 Mahabharata III 65,3; 222,43: XV 2,2. Such grants are frequently found in inscriptions, e.g., B.V. Rao, El 3 I (I 955/56), pp. 1-10 (third century A.D.); King Harsa (seventh century A.D.) granted a village as agrahara to two brahmins: G.Biihler, EI 4 (1896/97), pp.208-2 I I. 2 S.Gurumurthy, Education in South India, Madras I 979, pp.25-45. His etymology (agrahara from agra + ahara as "foremost district" on p.26) must be rejected, as it violates sandhi rules; is it perhaps "first take" after a conquest or a forest clearance? A common name for these large villages was also caturvedi-mangalam: K. V .Subrahmanya Aiyer, Historical Sketches of Ancient Dekhan, Madras 1917, repr. Coimbatore 1969, vol.III pp.149-157. 3 Proceedings of such sabha-s are recorded in Tamil inscriptions from Tamilnad and : E.Hultzsch, SII2/l (1891 ), p.74 (cf. V.Venkayya, ibid., p. [19)); ARE 1898, p.18 (no. 77 of 1898) and V.Venkayya, Archaeological Survey ofIndia, Annual Report 1904/05, pp. 131-145; A.K.Nilakanta Sastri, Studies in Cola History and Administration, Madras 1932, pp.74-78, 85-95, I 12-116, 163, etc.; EC.9 (1905), Channapatna Taluq nos. 127-132, text pp.197-200, trans. pp.159-161. 4 K.V.Subrahmanya Aiyer, El 30 (I 953/54), p.103 (brahmadeya); V.V.Mirashi and LR.Kulkarni, El 23 ( 1935/36), p.17 (brahmadaya). 5 KA II I, 7; 20,20. FROM TEMPLE SCHOOLS TO UNIVERSITIES 167 the eighth century on. 6 Asoka and his son and successor Dasaratha donated caves to the Ajivikas 7 as a residence during the rainy season, 8 and about two hundred years later a high official under the Satavahana king ~i:ia donated a cave to the Buddhists.9 In a further development, the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakari:ii in A.D.124 donated two hundred nivartana-s of land for the sustenance of the ascetics living on a nearby mountain (i.e., in caves), 10 later replacing it with another hundred nivartana-s of better quality, 11 and in A.D.149 Vasi~thiputra Pu~umavi gave a village to the Buddhist community ofthe Bhadraya¢yas living in the Queen's Cave. 12 It is not known if any service was expected in return from these monks. The grant by the King Satakari:ii Harifiputra 13 of a brahmin settlement at Belgame (Shimoga District, Kama~ka)14 started a development by which Belgame with five ma_tha-s, three pura-s, and seven brahma­ puri-s (i.e., agrahiira-s) 15 became an important educational center. That

6 Vasudev Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era (Cl/ vol. IV) Ootacmund 1955, pt. I p. l 02 in an inscription of Jayabhata IV from A.D. 736. 7 On this religious movement cf. AL.Basham, History ~nd Doctrines ofthe Ajivikas, London 1951. 8 Barabar inscriptions of Asoka, Nii.gii.rjunI Hill inscriptions ofDasaratha ( all in Gayii. District, Bihar). 9 E.Senart, El 8 ( 1905/06), p.93, no.22; D.C.Sircar, Select Inscriptions, 2nd ed., 1993, vol.I pp. 189f. 10 E.Senart, EIS (1905/06), p.7lf., no.4; D.C.Sircar, ibid., vol.I pp.197-199. 11 E.Senart, El 8 (1905/06). p. 73, no.5; D.C.Sircar, ibid., pp.200f. 12 E.Senart, EIS (1905/06), pp.60-62, no.2, and pp.65-67, no.3; D.C.Sircar, ibid., pp.203-209. 13 It is not clear if this king and his family (the Cutus) were a branch of the Sii.ta­ vii.hanas or were their successors in the southern part of their dominions: K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, History ofSouth India, 3rd ed., London 1966, p.99; D.C.Sircar, The Successors of the Siitaviihanas, Calcutta 1939, pp.219-221, El 35 (1963/64), p.72, and Select Inscriptions, vol.l, 2nd ed., Delhi 1993, p.479; S.Sankaranarayanan, ALB 58 (1994), pp.102f. 14 B.L.Rice, EC 7 ( 1902) Sk.263 (text pp.251 f., trans. p.142; approximately A.D. 300); this Belgame (from Bali-grii.ma) is different from its larger namesake in Northwestern Karnataka: J.D.M. Derret, The Hoysalas, London 1957, p.x. It was the capital of Banavii.se, called alternately riijadhiini Balligiive, Balligriima, Balipura or Balinagara (EC 7 [1902] Sk.106, 131 and 133). Afready in A.·o. 105 an inscription refers to a master of the Katha branch, one Somayasas from Saketa (Uttar Pradesh) who settled in Belgame/Belgaum and conducted as many as eighty Vedic sacrifices: S.Sankaranarayan El 39 (1972), pp.183-188. 15 EC7 (1902) Sk 119 (textp.163, trans. p.91)and 123 (textp.169, trans. p.94); the five matha-s and the three pura-s are mentioned frequently. e.g., Sk.99, 100, 123.