Abstract
In this overview of the history of education in South Asia, the questions asked are: (1) regarding the sociology of knowledge: who produced it, who transmitted it, what spaces was it produced and transmitted in, and with the help of which patrons; (2) regarding the politics of knowledge: who was excluded from it, who benefited from it, and who resisted or sought to subvert it; and (3) regarding the culture and meaning of knowledge: what were the normalized relations between text, meaning, teacher, student, and the rest of society and the world, and how were these maintained, that is, with which discourses and rituals.
We ask these questions for the following periods: the Vedic, Buddhist, and Classical periods; the Sultanate and Mughal periods; and the Colonial and Nationalist periods. Within these broad divisions into periods are some important configurations not possible to label chronologically, such as the Bhakti tradition, which is a fount of learning for most Indians. In the colonial and nationalist period, questions arise that continue to today: such as question of “Change” versus “Continuity” and “Modernity” versus “the Indigenous or Vernacular.” What was the intention of the change? What was its technology? How far did it succeed, and when change hit against an obstacle – was this deliberate or accidental, “good” or “bad” for specific communities?
“Education,” it must be clear, is not being taken in the contemporary sense of located within four walls or part of a formal process of grades and degrees. Spatially, it occurs at a variety of sites. Intellectually, it consists of vocational, liberal, body-related, and ethical knowledge, as well as intellectual. It goes beyond a division (nonexistent at the time) into “home” and “school.” It is plural in its formation, medium, and reception.
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Kumar, N. (2021). The History of Education in South Asia. In: Sarangapani, P.M., Pappu, R. (eds) Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Global Education Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0032-9_48
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