Dutt, Romesh Chunder: The literature of Bengal: being an attempt to trace the progress of the national mind in its various aspects, as reflected in the nation’s literature from the earliest times to the present day ; with copious extracts from the best writers (Calcutta, 1877)

CHAITANYA. 69
I .

age with Lakshmi with feelings of mingled joy a,nd
sorrow.

As Chaitanya advanced in y ears, he began to gather
, round him a large number of pupils, and his deputation
as a scholar became great. The method in which philo-
sophy, literati/re and science have always been cultivated
among the, Hindus up to the time of the English con-
quest, and even Bince then, is well known. There were
no regular academies, no schools, no colleges, properly so
called. The sages of ancient India, however, set them-
selves up as instructors, and gathered round them pupils
rarying in number. Such pupils lived with their tutor
in his house as the members of the same family, looked
on him as their fathei-, and on his wife as tb.eir. pother.
Whatever might be their rank or status in society, they
were all equal in his eyes, served him with equal fidelity
• during the period of their eduaation, and vied with each
other in obedience and respect towards their tutor. The
tutor or sage received no fees, but the pupils looked to
his cattle, milked his cows, procured for him wood from
the forest and water' from the well, served him as his
menial servants, respected him as their father, and lived
together in harmony and peace. When their educa-
tion was completed, each pupil was expected to make a
handsome present to his tutor, and this,—often a con-
siderable sum of money,—was all that the guru received
for his pains. Each pupil would then return to his
own rank and status in life, a few of the more clever
and advanced setting themselves up as new tutors and
gathering pupils around them. Thus the ancient lore