Saṃskṛtist's View point: Gurukula and Kulapati!

This morning (04/02/2018) I saw a front page news in the New Indian Express. Vice Chancellor of Bharatiyar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, arrested being caught red handed while taking bribe from an Assistant Professor and trying to flush the bribe money in the wash room.

Now contrast it with the following -

Head of a very big Educational set up is called kulapati in Samskrta . The term is defined as -

मुनीनां दशसाहस्रं योऽन्नदानादिपोषणात् ।

अध्यापयति विप्रर्षिः स वै कुलपतिः स्मृतः॥

(see screen shot of the Vacaspatya dictionary (compiled by Taranath Tarkavacaspati 1812-1885) - Vacaspatya, Vol.3, Rashtryia Samskrta Sansthan, Reprint 2002, pg.2132 )

He is a Kulpati, who is highly educated (Vipra - vidyayā yāti vipratvam) and a person who is known for truthfulness/integrity* (ṛṣi) and who teaches ten thousand Munis (initiates) while providing them with food and other amenities.

(* I have given the meaning to the term ṛṣi as a person with great integrity based on a Ramayana reference. It says - ...uktānṛtamṛṣim yathā (2.16.6) - Rama just before his coronation as a the prince was summoned by Daśaratha at the behest of Kaikeyi. When Rama entered Daśaratha's room, he saw Daśaratha being seated with - a great sense of guilt - like a ṛṣi who had lied (ukta-anṛta))

So Kulapati is a Vipra. Kulapati is a ṛṣi. Most importantly, Kulapati is the one who PROVIDES food and other amenities and not the one who receives above or below the table.

Further more, in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (7.4) we find an interesting passage in this connection. A teacher who intends to impart education to the students, performs a ritual called  āvahantī. The following are the mantras related it.  The meaning of the mantra will make the purpose of the ritual very clear.

āvahantī vitanvānā

kurvāṇā cīramātmanaḥ।

vāsagṃ si mama gāvaśca ।

annapāne ca sarvadā।

tato me śriyamāvaha।

lomaśām paśubhissaha svāhā।

āmāyantu brahmacāriṇaḥ svāhā।

(Meaning according to the 14^th century commentary of Sāyaṇācārya)

O! parameśvara bestow me wealth from all sides. Wealth that includes – clothing, cows, food and water to drink, goat, horse, wooly animals like sheep and so on. Let such wealth come to me in plenty, let it grow and stay with me and my students for long time to come. For the attainment of such wealth I make this offering of ghee into the sacred fire.

As there is plenty of clothing, food and water to drink now let students come to me from all sides!    

This ancient Upaniṣadic reference clears all doubts. It is the teacher who has to prepare himself with resources and not the students, in the process of education. This is the vedic perspective.

 
Think of the current scenario of a VC getting jailed for corruption.This is where we end up when we are disconnected from our moorings. More skeletons will tumble from the cupboard called university set-up which is already jaded and moth-eaten. Main stream educational set up will crumble.

But Samskrta not only has such references that remind us of the ideals but also has a living tradition of teachers who are Kulapatis in the real sense (albeit in a smaller scale). 

Of course those who hold important positions in the current educational set up should try to reform the existing scenario  to the extent possible. 
But as a Saṃskṛtist, educated in a Gurukula set up, I am of the firm view that Gurukula with Kulapatis is the way forward and not universities with Vice(pun intended)-chancellors 

- Jayaraman Mahadevan