Narratives of French Travelers’ and Adventurer’s of Indian Education System

Abstract

The French travelers and adventurers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries stated that Hindu philosophy, meteorology, Sanskrit language, literature, history and culture were taught by the Brahmans in schools. Indian education system has been a fascinating domain for the French voyager's observation who make compare and contrast with standard, knowledge and rationality of the Orient with Occidental world. Most of the travelers showed in their observations, a kind of superiority in terms of rationality and scientific knowledge of the west in comparison to east. These travelers highlighted a demeaning picture of Indian education system which according to them was based on sluggish, monotonous and irrational basis. The objective of this paper is to narrate the observations made by the French voyagers regarding Indian education system and its implications. Many firsthand French adventurers' records have been used in this paper in order to make an assessment of Indian education system by analyzing their records.