which have been handed down to us were composed in the schools which these priests founded. On great occasions men of learning came from distant towns and villages, and discussions were held not only on ritualistic matters, but on such subjects as the human soul, the future world, the nature of the gods, and the different orders of being, and lastly, on the nature of the Universal Being.
But learning was not confined to royal courts. There were Parishads, or Brahmanic establishments for the cultivation of learning, to which young men went to acquire learning. According to modern writers, a Parishad ought to consist of twenty-one Brahmans well versed in philosophy, theology, and law; but these rules are laid down in later law books, and do not describe the character of the Parishads of earlier days, when four, or even three, Brahmans in a village, who knew the Veda and kept the sacrificial fire, might form a Parishad.
Besides these Parishads, individual teachers often gathered round themselves students from various parts of the country. These students lived with their teachers, served them in a menial capacity during the time of their studentship, and, after twelve years or more, made suitable presents to their teachers and returned to their homes and their relatives. Learned Brahmans too, who retired to forests in their old age, frequently attracted students, and much of the boldest speculation of this period proceeded from these sylvan seats of sanctity and learning.
