Education in the Indian subcontinent began with the teaching of traditional subjects, including Indian religions, mathematics, and logic. Early Hindu and Buddhist centers of learning, such as the ancient Takshashila (in modern-day Pakistan), Nalanda (in India), Mithila (in India and Nepal), Vikramshila, Telhara, and Shaunaka Mahashala in the Naimisharanya forest, served as key sites for education. Islamic education became prominent with the establishment of Islamic empires in the region during the Middle Ages. Later, Europeans introduced Western education during the colonial period in India.
Early history
Early education in India began under the guidance of a guru or prabhu.Prabhu, 24 Instruction was based on varna (social class) and the specific duties associated with each caste. Brahmans studied scriptures and religion, while Kshatriya were trained in various aspects of warfare. Shudras, who belonged to the working class, were taught skills necessary for different occupations.
The earliest educational institutions in India were often isolated from populated areas, where students followed strict monastic rules set by their guru and lived in ashrams away from cities.Prabhu, 25 However, as the population grew during the Gupta Empire, urban centers of learning became more common, with cities like Varanasi and the Buddhist center at Nalanda gaining prominence.
Education in India traditionally had strong ties to religion.Blackwell, 88 Among the heterodox schools of thought were the Jain and Buddhist traditions.Blackwell, 90 Buddhist education, in particular, was more inclusive. In addition to monastic training, Buddhist centers of learning such as Taxila and Nalanda evolved as urban institutions where subjects like grammar, medicine, philosophy, logic, metaphysics, arts, and crafts were taught.
These early Buddhist institutions of higher learning, including Taxila and Nalanda, continued to thrive well into the Common Era and attracted students from regions as far as China and Central Asia.
On the subject of education for the nobility, Joseph Prabhu writes: "Outside the religious framework, kings and princes were educated in the arts and sciences related to government: politics (danda-nıti), economics (vartta), philosophy (anvıksiki), and historical traditions (itihasa). Here, the authoritative source was Kautilya's Arthashastra, often compared to Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince for its worldly outlook and political scheming."
The Rigveda (c. 1700–1000 BCE) mentions female poets called brahmavadinis, such as Lopamudra and Ghosha. By 800 BCE, women like Gargi and Maitreyi were noted as scholars in the Upnishads.Raman, 236 Maya, the mother of the historical Buddha, was an educated queen, and other women in India contributed to the writing of the Pali canon. Among the composers of Sangam literature, 154 were women.Raman, 237 However, despite these contributions, education and society of the era continued to be dominated by the educated male population.Raman, 236–237
Early Common Era—High Middle Ages Chinese scholars such as Xuanzang and Yi Jing traveled to Indian institutions of learning to study Buddhist texts.Scharfe, 144–145 Yi Jing additionally recorded the arrival of 56 scholars from India, Japan, and Korea.Scharfe, 145 However, during this period, Buddhist institutions of learning were gradually giving way to a resurgent tradition of Brahmanism.
Indian scholars also traveled to China to translate Buddhist texts.Scharfe, 161 In the 10th century, a monk named Dharmadeva from Nalanda journeyed to China and translated several texts. Another center, Vikramshila, maintained close relations with Tibet, and the Buddhist teacher Atisa served as the head monk at Vikramshila before his journey to Tibet.
Examples of royal patronage include the construction of educational institutions under the Rastrakuta dynasty in 945 CE. These institutions provided multiple residences for educators, state-sponsored education, and arrangements for students and scholars.Scharfe, 180 Similarly, the Chola dynasty in 1024 CE supported selected students in educational establishments through state funding.Scharfe, 180–181
Temple schools in the 12th–13th centuries, such as the school at the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, employed 20 librarians. Among them, eight were tasked with copying manuscripts, two were responsible for verifying the copies,Scharfe, 183–184 and the rest handled other duties, including preservation and maintenance of reference materials.
Another institution from this period was the Uddandapura institute, established in the 8th century under the patronage of the Pala dynasty.Sen (1988), 12 This institute developed ties with Tibet and became a center of Tantric Buddhism. By the 10th–11th centuries, the number of monks at Uddandapura reached a thousand, matching the strength of the monastic community at the sacred Mahabodhi complex.
By the time the Islamic scholar Al Biruni arrived, India already had an established system of science and technology.Blackwell, 88–89 However, by the 12th century, invasions from India's northern borders began to disrupt traditional educational systems, as foreign armies raided educational institutions, among other establishments.
Late Middle Ages—Early Modern Era With the advent of Islam in India, traditional methods of education increasingly came under Islamic influence.Sen (1988), 22 Pre-Mughal rulers, such as Qutb-ud-din Aybak and other Muslim leaders, established institutions focused on imparting religious knowledge. Prominent scholars like Nizamuddin Auliya and Moinuddin Chishti became influential educators and founded Islamic monasteries. Students from regions such as Bukhara and Afghanistan traveled to India to study subjects in the humanities and sciences.
Islamic educational institutions in India included traditional madrassas and maktabs, which taught grammar, philosophy, mathematics, and law—subjects influenced by Greek traditions inherited by Persia and the Middle East before the spread of Islam into India.Kumar (2003), 678 A key feature of traditional Islamic education was its emphasis on the connection between science and the humanities.
One prominent educational center in 18th-century Delhi was the Madrasah-i Rahimiyah, led by Shah Waliullah, an educator who advocated for a balanced approach integrating Islamic scriptures with scientific studies. The curriculum at Madrasah-i Rahimiyah included two books on grammar, one on philosophy, two on logic, two on astronomy and mathematics, and five on mysticism.
Another notable center emerged in Lucknow under Mulla Nizamuddin Sahlawi, who taught at Firangi Mahal and developed the Dars-i-Nizami curriculum. This program combined traditional studies with contemporary knowledge and emphasized logic.
Under Akbar's rule, the education system adopted an inclusive approach, with the monarch encouraging courses in medicine, agriculture, geography, and texts from various languages and religions, including Patanjali's work in Sanskrit.Kumar (2003), 678–679 Traditional sciences during this period were influenced by the ideas of Aristotle, Bhāskara II, Charaka, and Ibn Sina. This inclusive approach was not uncommon in Mughal India.Kumar (2003), 679
Even the more conservative ruler Aurangzeb supported the teaching of subjects useful for administration. The Mughals generally took a liberal approach to the sciences, and as contact with Persia increased, the more rigid Ottoman manqul school of education was gradually replaced by the more flexible maqul school.Kumar (2003), 678-680
The Middle Ages also saw the rise of private tuition in India as the state failed to invest in the public education system. A tutor, or riyazi, was an educated professional who could earn a suitable living by performing tasks such as creating calendars or generating revenue estimates for the nobility.Kumar (2003), 680 Another trend during this era was the mobility among professions, exemplified by Qaim Khan, a prince renowned for his mastery in crafting leather shoes and forging cannons.
Traditional schools
Male education in India traditionally began under the supervision of a guru in schools called gurukuls. These gurukuls, supported by public donations, were among the earliest forms of publicly funded educational institutions.
Dharampal played a key role in reshaping the understanding of pre-colonial education in India. His primary works are based on documentation by the colonial government concerning Indian education, agriculture, technology, and arts during the colonial period. Dharampal's pioneering historical research, conducted over a decade, provides evidence from early British administrators' reports of the widespread presence of indigenous educational institutions in the Bombay, Bengal, and Madras Presidencies, as well as in the Punjab. These institutions taught a sophisticated curriculum, with daily school attendance by about 30% of children aged 6–15, the majority of whom were from the Shudra caste.
Austrian missionary, linguist, and orientalist Paulinus of St. Bartholomew spent 13 years traveling the Malabar Coast of Hyder Ali's Kingdom of Mysore, starting in 1776. During this time, he compiled and later published the first European grammar of Sanskrit, highlighting similarities between Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages. He also provided a critique of education in the Kingdom, noting:
A nearly identical system was observed, described, and documented in Adam's 1836 report on vernacular education in Bengal and Bihar. This report detailed village schools where boys, typically between the ages of 5–6 and 10–12, received instruction from a respectable guru at or near his home for a small fee. This system of instruction was still being illustrated by local artists in the 1850s.
Indigenous education held significant importance from early times through the colonial era.
G.L. Prendergast, a member of the Governor's Council in the Bombay Presidency, recorded the following about indigenous schools on 27 June 1821:
Colonial era The Jesuits introduced India to both the European college system and book printing by founding Saint Paul's College in Goa in 1542. The French traveler François Pyrard de Laval, who visited Goa around 1608, described the College of St. Paul and praised the variety of subjects taught there free of charge. Like many other European travelers who visited the college, he recorded that it had 3,000 students at the time, drawn from missions across Asia. Its library was one of the largest in Asia, and the first printing press in the region was established there in September 1556.
British India
In 19th-century India, "English education" was synonymous with "modern education." Most schools taught a curriculum similar to that of British public schools, using English as the medium of instruction, particularly in institutions sponsored by missionaries. Some schools, however, taught the curriculum in vernacular languages, with English as a second language.
The term "pre-modern" referred to three types of schools: Arabic and Sanskrit schools, which taught Muslim or Hindu sacred literature, Persian schools, which focused on Persian literature, and vernacular schools across India, which taught reading, writing in the vernacular language, and arithmetic.
As a result of decades of lobbying by figures such as William Wilberforce and Charles Grant, the 1813 renewal of East India Company's charter included a duty to educate the population and allowed previously excluded Christian missionaries to aid in this endeavor, in addition to the Company's corporate activities.