India's famous book Panchatantra starts with a king who despairs of his moorkh [intellectually weak] sons who're incapable of understanding Shastras. He wonders how they can govern without the intellect that's developed during the course of a proper education. (1)
While he's expressing his angst and going so far as to wish that his sons had died during childbirth rather than turn out so stupid, one of his ministers gives us a wonderful insight into what a basic education would have been considered ideal during ancient times (2)
The minister says that instead of drowning in a sea of complex texts, just 3 main texts could be studied: 1)Dharmashastras composed by various sages 2)Arthashastra by Chanakya 3)Kamashastra by Vatsayana. He says that by studying these, one could cover Dharma, Artha and Kama (3)
The minister exemplifies the holistic nature of Indic thinking. Can we imagine an education today which includes the art of erotic lovemaking enabling students to become good lovers apart from expertise in political sciences, economics, moral values & other subjects?(4)
Also, note how the minister implies that even if studies in science and spirituality could be ignored by a worldly person, one could not ignore moral values, financial and economic intelligence as well as being desirable to the opposite sex. (5)
