Education in Karnataka through the ages
by Jyotsna Kamat

List of Illustrations

View by: Order of Appearance | Alphabetical Order

1. A cell and a bunk in a Buddhist cave.
2. A three-storied Buddhist school in Ellora. It included an assembly hall and prayer rooms. It is believed that the assembly was held around a statue of Buddha. Inside the building, stone desks and benches can be found, which confirm that it was an educational institution.
3. A Buddhist students on  way to fetch water
4. Writing styles -- today calligraphy is still taught on a slate, which is an inch wide and an arm long. The pen is made with bamboo and black ink is used.
5. Student and teacher- a teacher corrects the handwriting and calligraphic style of a student in a Buddhist school
6. Engrossed in study
7. Jaina teacher and disciples-- Jaina students devotedly listen to an ascetic teacher under the shade of a tree
8. A student-ascetic
9. A preacher and his tools: a Jaina teacher with his textbook, and a kamandalu
10. "Education is a tool to mokshā" - A Jaina preacher explains the doctrine to lay people
11. Education of women
12. A guru and his female students
13. A decorated steel pen (kanta):this was used to write on palm leaves
14. Usage of the kanta - the palm-leaf pen
15. Reading of palm-leaf scriptures
16. Cover page of a palm-leaf text
17. Cover pages of palm-leaf texts were decorated
18. A gamboling deer
19. A horse rider in a hurry
20. Geometric designs on a palm-leaf
21. Designing with circles
22. Complex circular designs
23. A depiction of Lord Ganesh on a palm-leaf
24. An artistically rendered hamsa
25. A box for storing scriptures
26. A decorated box for preserving of palm-leaf books
27. A warning against destroying legislation!
28. An ink-stamp
29. Cover page of a paper book. Paper arrived in India around the 13th century, but the art and science of palm-leaf texts has continued till today
30. Engraving on the cover of a palm-leaf book - medieval palm-leaf books were nicely bound, with elaborately decorated cover pages. The title was written in big letters so that readers could locate them easily.
31. Decorated chapter separator of an ancient text - this Jaina text has designs made just with lines and small curves.
32. An educator
33. A time-keeping volunteer at the ghatikā
34. A ball game
35. A prince who stooped to play a game of marbles!
36. The medieval version of a yo-yo
37. A wooden horse
38. The education of the future king
39. Granthapathana – the reciting of scriptures was a required skill among the learned classes in medeival India.
40. A Muslim prince at study
41. A dagger encounter
42. Using gadā or mace
43. Training in fighting with two swords
44. Horse Mounted Javelin Thrower
45. Taking aim
46. An expert in archery
47. A flag-post on a palm-leaf
48. Details on a pillar inscription
49. Art education
50. Color composition
51. The lamination of books
52. A student’s scrapbook
53. Animal drawings on medieval books
54. More animals: obviously by students of an art school
55. Heavenly girls
56. Musical training
57. Veena training for the princess
58. The cloth merchant
59. A grocer
60. A scholar’s wife -- a woman helping her scholar husband with texts. It is uncommon to find illustrations of women engaged in higher study in ancient India.
61. An uninterested wife reads books with husband! –the illustration depicts a woman having a difficult time in understanding a book. Her husband may have coerced her into taking up this study.
62. Savinirmadi of Kolar: an accomplished woman scholar. This astonishing sculpture depicts a tenth century woman scholar from Karnataka.
63. Romance with the teacher: The king wanted his daughter Champavati to be educated by scholar Bilhana, but thought it was not appropriate to leave the two youngsters be alone. The princess was told to keep her eyes closed, lest she should contact a horrible disease from the teacher. The teacher was then told that his student was blind! The painting illustrates Champavati opening her eyes out of curiosity and instantly falling in love with the teacher.
64. Love is blind!
65. Instrumental music
66. Dance lessons
67. The raising of the princess - a princess submits homework and the teacher critically examines it.
68. A girl engaged in self-study: self-study was given great importance in ancient Indian education. However, great accomplishments through self-study are rare to find, possibly due to the importance of the student-teacher relationship in Indian culture
69. Veena practice
70. A shilābālikā engaged in writing
71. A boy practices writing
72. A woman scribe from the Hoysala period
73. File indexing
74. The education of women
75. Puzzled Wrestlers
76. Wrestling Training
77. A Wrestling Contest
78. Stick Aerobics (kolāta )
79. Girls engaged in stick aerobics
80. Ladies stick aerobics
81. A Brahmin recites from a text
82. An arguing Brahmin
83. Adult education
84. Guru Dakshinā
85. An elder recites from the scriptures
86. Listening to the words of wisdom
87. A Sanskrit scholar
88. An elder engaged in study
89. A musician reciter
90. Woman reading palm-leaf text
91. Taking the son to a makthāb (school)
92. Maulvi, the scholar of Koran
93. When the Maulvi accepts a student
94. Group study
95. A student holding a book
96. When the Maulvi is out!
97. Punishment of a Pupil
98. Mohammed Gawan's madrassā
99. Asri Mahal library after Aurangjeb conquered Bijapur. Asri Mahal hitherto served as a great archive of Arabian and Persian literature, and was looted/destroyed. It is hard to describe the impact this library-destruction had on Indian history

Education in Karnataka through the ages
Preface | Buddhist Education | Jaina Education | Palm-leaf Texts | Ghatikasthana | Education of Royalty | Community Education | Vocational Training | Education of Women | Physical Education | Among Muslims | Conclusions

Kamat's Potpourri Research DatabaseHistory of Education in Karnataka