The Gurukul education was a prominent system in ancient Bharat (India) and it was there till the nineteenth century when the Macaulay Minute was formulated in 1835. The story under consideration revolves around Gurukul education[i] prevalent in Mahabharat times.

Once upon a time there lived a rishi, Ayodha Dhaumya in an āśrama surrounded by a thick forest. Upamanyu, Aruni & Veda were his three disciples. It was Gurukul system of learning, and all the students were learning language, grammar, mathematics, Vedic texts, Itihasas and a whole lot of yoga, pranayama, and meditation techniques under the benevolent patronage of the teacher.

The arduous tests- the victorious student

After a passage of a few years, Ayodha Dhaumya wanted to test his students. One day he ordered Aruni to erect a bund so as to prevent the flow of water into the field. Aruni tried his best, but it was futile as the river water was gushing into the field.  Aruni, however, did not go back to his teacher without completing the assigned task. He just laid down against the gush of river and forcefully stopped the water fury.

The Guru came in the evening and saw how Aruni was dutifully performing his task. He was pleased and asked him to come out of the field. As Aruni came out of the mud, he was given the epithet, Uddālaka (भवान् केदारखंडं विदार्योत्थितः तस्मात् उद्दालक – bhavān kedārakhaṃḍaṃ vidāryotthitaḥ tasmāt uddālaka). The Guru blessed him with all knowledge and relieved him from āśrama.

The test for Upamanyu

The work assigned to Upamanyu was to take care of the cows of the āśram, graze them in mountainous regions and ensuring to enhance the number of cows over a period. Upamanyu was a dutiful shishya and he was taking care of them meticulously. One evening he came back with all cows and the Guru saw it.

He called Upamanyu and said, ‘My dear vatsa! You look very stout and very healthy. What are you eating every day?’

‘Guruji, every day I am going out for a while for alms, and I have been eating the food offered at grihastas’ houses’, Upamanyu said.  (Grihasta is a married person and who is living with family members).

Guru said, ‘Don’t you know that you should not eat it before offering it to me?’

From now onwards, Upamanyu used to give the food to Guru every day and the Guru was eating the whole food. Still Upamanyu did not lose weight even after offering the food to him. The guru called Upamanyu and said, ‘My dear vatsa! I am eating all the food that is brought by you. Even then you look very stout and very healthy. What are you eating every day?’

‘Guruji! I am going out for alms for the second time everyday and sustaining my life’.

Guru said, ‘Going out for alms second time on the same day is adharma. Some other needy persons may not get food for the day if any one person go for alms more than one time in a day’.

Upamanyu stopped going for alms for the second time and still, his weight has not come down.

Guru said, ‘My dear vatsa! I am really surprised. I am taking the entire food and I had forbidden you from going for alms second time. You look very stout and very healthy. What are you eating every day?’

‘Hi Guruji! It is true that I am not going for alms second time. But I am taking the milk of cows everyday’.

Guru said, ‘I have never permitted you to drink the milk. You are not allowed to drink without my permission’.

A few days passed and still Upamanyu was stout and very healthy. On being asked, he said, ‘Guruji! I have been taking the froth that arises from the udders of the cows when they give milk to their calves’.

The Guru heard and said, ‘Our calves are compassionate towards you, and they are purposefully ejecting the froth while swallowing the milk from udders. I don’t permit you to take the froth’.

Upamanyu obeyed the order of the Guru and, as usual, took out all cows to the forest region for grazing. He had not taken anything on that day. Unbearable to quench the thirst and hunger, he ate the leaves of a poisonous plant. It so happened that he lost his vision. Wandering here and there, he fell into a waterless well and he was crying aloud with pain in the stomach.

The Sun was set, and all the cows returned to āśram. When Upamanyu was not to be seen, the Guru enquired with other disciples. He thought that Upamanyu must be angry as he restricted all his eating activities. He took all his śiṣyās and went into forest in search of him. He was calling aloud, ‘Dear Vatsa! Upamanyu! Where are you?’

Upamanyu heard the voice of his Guru and replied, ‘Hi Guruji! I have lost my vision and I have fallen into a well’. Guru came running and saw the plight of his śiṣyā.

Guru said, ‘I invoked the Asvin Gods. You pray and praise them with a Stotra. They are the physicians for the Gods. They shall bless and restore your eyesight’.

To the surprise of everyone present there, Upamanyu started invoking the Rig Vedic verses and prayed Asvin Gods. The Asvin Gods were very much pleased and appeared before Upamanyu. They presented an appam (a sweet commonly used in Vedic times for propitiating the Gods in yagnas) and asked Upamanyu to eat it.

Upamanyu said, ‘I cannot eat it without offering it my Guru’. The Asvins said, ‘you need not worry. In similar circumstances your Guru had eaten appam without offering it to his Guru’.

Upamanyu said, ‘I cannot compare myself with my Guru. I am quite inferior before his towering personality. I cannot eat it without offering it to him’.

Asvins were pleased by his steadfast devotion towards his Guru and blessed him with eyesight. The Guru blessed his disciple that all Vedas, śāstrās and Dharma śāstrās shall get bestowed upon him. He relieved Upamanyu from Gurukulam.

The test for the third śiṣyā, Veda

The test for Veda was arduous as the Guru used to assign difficult tasks including carrying heavy luggage. With all fortitude Veda adhered to the dictums of his Guru. Ayodha Dhaumya was satisfied and felt happy. The blessings of Guru resulted in all wisdom dawning upon the śiṣyā. Later with the consent of his Guru, he underwent samāvartana saṃskāram[ii] and snātaka saṃskāram[iii] and finally entered into Gruhasta āśrama[iv].

Veda established his own āśrama, and he had three śiṣyās and Uttanka happened to be his favourite śiṣyā. Since he (Veda) knew the difficulties of Gurukula, he wanted to be a benevolent Guru, and he was not assigning any difficult task to his disciples.

Understanding the Story

The story revolves around Gurukul education system of our past. On primary reading it appears that the gurus used to behave like dictators and the students were made to perform the errand works of Guru and they were working like servants in the house of Guru. But this is far from truth, and we are not suppose to look at the system with moral lenses of the current century. ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ was the dictum of the Gurukul system. Discipline brings forth other virtues and naturally, they used to insist on discipline, punctuality, adherence to the words of guru and the like. The gurus use to hiss and never use to bite the disciples. They have all love and affection, and they don’t distinguish śiṣyās from their own children. From the story of Drona, we find that he had given some special अस्त्रास् (astrās ) to Arjun and never gave them to his own son, Asvatthama. Certainly, there was no pampering of students by gurus or parents; and gurus’ actions were never questioned by parents.

In Gurukulas, the disciples use to learn plethora of subjects including astronomy, grammar, language, philosophy, ayurveda, and also Vedas, Itihasas, Dharmasastras and the like. Vedas unlike other subjects require high sense of intonation with उदात्त, अनुदात्त, स्वरित (udātta, anudātta & svarita corresponding to high stress, low stress and uniform stress) and can be learnt directly under Guru. This requires high sense of discipline physically and mentally. Hence, teachers in Gurukul used to give more importance to discipline. If Ayodha Dhaumya was very strict, it is due to its importance in Gurukul system of pedagogy.

In this story Ayodha Dhaumya is very strict but at the same time he was bestowing all knowledge to his disciples at the right time. Upamanyu got the opportunity of getting blessed by Asvin Gods.

The second aspect of the story is that Vedavyasa has written a powerful Stotra for Asvin Gods which was sung by Upamanyu. The tradition says that this Stotra has a potency to have good vision and eyesight. In traditional houses this Stotra is a नित्यपारायण स्तोत्र (nityapārāyaṇa Stotra)- a Stotra that is recited every day.

Why did Vedavyasa introduce this story in the beginning of Mahabharata? In Mahabharata we are going to read the stories of many śiṣyās – like Arjuna under Drona; Karna under Drona & Parasurama; Ekalavya under Drona; Bhishma under Parasurama; Drona under Agnivesa & Parasurama etc. In these stories we are going to find that the cunning students getting admonitions and disciplined students getting commendations. The future events of Mahabharata story are portended in the beginning itself by Vedavyasa.

Footnotes

[i] Gurukul System of education – It is type of residential schooling system in which the śiṣyās lives with the acharya or guru. The acharya feeds him, teaches him, and treats him one with the family. The śiṣyās helps the guru in his day-to-day work and learns secular and religious lessons. This is how the education was imparted to everyone during the Vedic period and Mahabharata period well up to the 18th century till the British introduced an alternative day-boarding system.

[ii] Samāvartana saṃskāram – briefly, this ritual indicates the end of विद्यार्थि जीवनं (vidyārthi jīvanaṃ) and returning back to home. It is a sort of convocation wherein the teacher dictates the dos and don’ts to his disciple in gruhasta life. For example, in Taitiriya Upanishad we have a passage of a teacher to his disciple thus:

सत्यान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । धर्मान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । कुशलान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । भूत्यै न प्रमदितव्यम् । स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ।

देवपितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव । आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव । यान्यनवद्यानि कर्माणि । तानि सेवितव्यानि । नो इतराणि । यान्यस्माकं सुचरितानि । तानि त्वयोपास्यानि । नो इतराणि ।

ये के चास्मच्छ्रेयांसो ब्राह्मणाः । तेषां त्वयासनेन प्रश्वसितव्यम् । श्रद्धया देयम् । अश्रद्धयाऽदेयम् । श्रिया देयम् । ह्रिया देयम् । भिया देयम् । संविदा देयम् । अथ यदि ते कर्मविचिकित्सा वा वृत्तविचिकित्सा वा स्यात् । ये तत्र ब्राह्मणाः संमर्शिनः । युक्ता आयुक्ताः । अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः । यथा ते तत्र वर्तेरन् । तथा तत्र वर्तेथाः । अथाभ्याख्यातेषु । ये तत्र ब्राह्मणाः संमर्शिनः । युक्ता आयुक्ताः । अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः । यथा ते तेषु वर्तेरन् । तथा तेषु वर्तेथाः ।

एष आदेशः । एष उपदेशः । एषा वेदोपनिषत् । एतदनुशासनम् । एवमुपासितव्यम् ।

एवमु चैतदुपास्यम् ॥

Meaning:

When the Master has declared Veda, then he gives the commandments to his disciple.

Speak truth, walk in the way of thy duty, neglect not the study of Veda. When thou hast brought to the Master the wealth that he desires, thou shalt not cut short the long thread of thy race. Thou shalt not be negligent of truth; thou shalt not be negligent of thy duty, thou shalt not be negligent of welfare; thou shalt not be negligent towards thy increase and thy thriving; thou shalt not be negligent of the study and teaching of Veda.

Thou shalt not be negligent of thy works unto the Gods or thy works unto the Fathers. Let thy father be unto thee as thy God and thy mother as thy Goddess whom thou adorest. Serve the Master as a God and as a God the stranger within thy dwelling. The works that are without blame before the people, thou shalt do these with diligence and no others. The deeds we have done that are good and righteous, thou shalt practise these as a religion and no others.

Whosoever are better and nobler than we among the scholars, thou shalt refresh with a seat to honour them. Thou shalt give with faith and reverence; without faith thou shalt not give. Thou shalt give with shame, thou shalt give with fear; thou shalt give with fellow feeling.

Moreover, if thou doubt of thy course or of thy action, then to whatsoever great people be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they do in that thing, so do thou. Then as to men accused and arraigned by their fellows, whatsoever great men be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they are towards these so be thou.

This is the law and the teaching. These are the Commandments. In such wise shalt thou practise religion yea, verily, in such wise do ever religiously.  (Translation taken from Kirit Joshi archives)

[iii] Snātaka saṃskāram – this ritual is done before the विवाह संस्कारं (vivāha saṃskāraṃ or marriage ceremony) wherein the brahmachari is made eligible for marriage.

[iv] Gruhasta āśrama – In this āśrama, the head of the family has to earn Artha or money through dharmic means and perform the vihita karmas or the rituals ordained by vedas; and he should provide food to brahmacharis, sanyasis and other guests.

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