creatures. Few, accordingly, give instruction for any stipulated
pecuniary remuneration, and what they may receive is both ten-
dered and accepted as an interchange of kindness and civility
between the master and his disciple. The number of those who
thus resort to the private instruction of masters is not great.
Their attendance and application are guided by the mutual
convenience and inclination of both parties, neither of whom is
placed under any system nor particular rule of conduct. The
success and progress of the scholar depend entirely on his own
assiduity. The least dispute or disagreement puts an end to
study, no check being imposed on either party, and no tie
subsisting between them beyond that of casual reciprocal
advantages which a thousand accidents may weaken or dissolve.
The number of pupils seldom exceeds six. They are sometimes
permanent residents under the roof of their masters, and in
other instances live in their own families; and in the former case,
if Mussalmans, they are supported at the teacher’s expense. In
return, they are required to carry messages, buy articles in the
bazar, and perform menial services in the house. The scholars in
consequence often change their teachers, learning the alphabet
and the other introductory parts of the Persian language of one,
the Pandnameh of a second, the Gulistan of a third, and so on
from one place to another, till they are able to write a tolerable
letter and think they have learned enough to assume the title of
Munshi, when they look out for some permanent means of
subsistence as hangers-on at the Company’s Courts. The chief
aim is the attainment of such a proficiency in the Persian
language as may enable the student to earn a livelihood; but not,
unfrequently, the Arabic is also studied, its grammar, literature,
theology and law. A proper estimate of such a desultory and
capricious mode of education is impossible.
The number of institutions of Hindoo learning, now existing
in Calcutta and the Twenty-four Pergunahs, is not accurately
known. Mr Ward in his work published in 1818 enumerates 28
schools of Hindoo learning in Calcutta, naming the teacher of
each school, the quarter of the city in which the school was
situated, and the number of students receiving instruction.
These institutions are also mentioned as only some amongst
others to be found in Calcutta. The nyaya and smriti shastras
chiefly were taught in them; and the total number of scholars
belonging to the colleges actually enumerated was 173, of whom
not less than three, and not more than fifteen, received the
instructions of the same teacher. The enumeration to which I
refer is subjoined in Mr Ward’s words:—