Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/64

 54 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [February, 1873. present, and bestow sweetmeats upon the boys. This sort of thing goes on till the list of expected donors is gone through. Thus ends the long list of presents which, in a respectable school, enable the master to hold a suitable position in the com¬ munity. Things are different in a Pyal school for the children of the poor. Here no entrance fee is offered, nor any monthly payment until the alphabet is fully mastered. Nor is the customary present made on commencement of a new book or chapter. A small payment is made each month of, say, one or two annas, and a tiny present every fourteenth day. The same ritual is performed at Dasera as in the more respectable school, but the gains of the master are smaller in proportion, and similarly for each festival throughout the year. The daily bratti is given and the weekly oil. Combining all sources of income, the teacher of a respectable Pyal school with about twenty-five pupils will receive from 15 to 25 rupees per mensem, while his fellow labourer in a poor locality will not receive more than from 5 to 10 rupees. In Musalman schools no monthly fee is charged, and the teacher is entirely dependent on presents. Thus, whenever a new chapter of the Koran is commenced, the pupils should give from four annas to as many rupees, according to the wealth of the family. At the commencement of every festival, as theMuharram, Shab-i-barot, Ramazan, Bakri ’Id, &c., the teacher also receives presents—not more than four annas or less than one fanam. Once a week, on the day before the sabbath, every pupil must also reward his teacher with two pies, just previous to the weekly half-holiday on that day. When the Koran is finished, the teacher receives a handsome gift, according to the means of the pxrent, including generally a pair of new cloths, shawls, or a silk khaba or cloak, as worn by the priests. The gift of a shawl or khaba is supposed to express deeper honour or greater thanks than a mere money present, as it especially denotes that the donee is a person of high respectability or learning. Beyond all this, the father of each child must send with him as large an entrance donation as his circum¬ stances permit, together with a present of sweetmeats to be distributed among the school-boys. It is not easy to estimate the Musalman teacher’s receipts from the school alone, seeing that it is the teacher’s duty also to perform all religious cere¬ monies in the houses of those who entrust their children to his care, and for each of these he receives a certain present of money, cloths, or food. It is evident, therefore, that the teacher must be a highly respectable person, and I am informed that none but really learned men of good descent are permitted to set up as teachers. Their gains correspond with their position, and are considerable for so poor a community, varying usually between rupees 15 and 30 per mensem. Only four subjects are taught in a Pyal school, whatever its character. These are reading, writing, arithmetic, and memoriter work in the high dialect and Sanskrit. Taking the first-named subject, it must be noted that all the text-books are in the high dialect, and that ordinary modern Tamil,&c., is not taught at all. The books used in almost every Tamil school are :—The Kural of Tiiuvalluva; Attisudi of Auvciyar ; Krishman-thudu ; Pancha- tantra ; Ram&yana of Kamban ; and Kada Chinta- mani. The grammatical portion of study is drawn from the Nannul, and the Nighsntu. In Telugu schools the list is different, and in¬ cludes—Sabhaparva ; Saptamaskanda; Sumati Sha- taka; Nulu Pakyanano. There is no grammatical instruction in Telugu schools corresponding to that from the Nannul in Tamil schools, but the Telugu Amaram takes the place of the Tamil Nighantu. Some of the books in both lists have been printed, and, if the price is small, printed editions are used, otherwise the teacher alone has the book itself, and from that he daily copies on kaj&n the portion required for the next day’s work. When the pupil becomes pretty dexterous in writing with his finger on sand, he has then the privilege of writing either with an iron style on kaj&n leaves, or with a reed on paper, and sometimes on the leaves of the Aristolochia Indies, or with a kind of pencil on the balaka, hulligi, or kadala, which answer the purpose of slates. The latter is most common in Telugu districts. The palaka, or hulligi, as it is called in Canarese, is an oblong board, about a foot in width and three feet in length. This board, when planed smooth, has ouly to be smeared with a little rice and pulverized charcoal, and it is then fit for use. The kadala is made of cloth, first stiffened with rice water, dou¬ bled into folds resembling a book, and it is then covered with a composition of charcoal and several gums. The writing on either of these may be effaced by a wet cloth. Each school day, after 2 o’clock, the pupil copies the morrow’s lesson from the teacher’s kaj&n on to the palaka or portable black-board, which the parent must provide for his son, and which has to be blacked by the pupil as often as is required, usually three or four times a day. The pencil used is made of soft gypsum or balapam, as it is called in the vernacular. Having copied his lesson, the pupil carries it first to his master, who hears him read it two or three times, making the necessary corrections both in writing and verbal deliver}’. The palaka is then carried home, its contents learnt by heart, and next morning the lesson must be repeated from memory to the teacher. This exercise is a very profitable one, as it teaches how to write, how to read, improves the memory, and stores it with the best literature of past ages. To deliver the lesson, the boys go one at a time to the teacher, hold the palaka before them with its front to the teacher and its back to themselves, thus by one act refresh¬ ing the teacher’s memory, proving their own, and preventing fraud. In this way every pupil obtains a thorough