Little Jagadis received his first lesson in a village _pathsala_. His
father, who had very advanced views in educational matters, instead of
sending him to an English School, which was then regarded as the only
place for efficient instruction, sent him to the vernacular village
school for his early education. "While my father's subordinates" says
Sir Jagadis "sent their children to the English schools intended for
gentle folks, I was sent to the vernacular school, where my comrades
were hardy sons of toilers and of others who, it is now fashion to
regard, were belonging to the depressed classes."[3] Speaking of the
effect it produced on him, observes Sir Jagadis "From these who tilled
the ground and made the land blossom with green verdure and ripening
corn, and the sons of the fisher folk, who told stories of the strange
creatures that frequented unknown depths of mighty rivers and stagnant
pools, I first derived the lesson of that which constitutes true
manhood. From them too I drew my love of nature."[3]
"I now realise" continues Sir Jagadis "the object of my being sent at
the most plastic period of my life to the vernacular school where I was
to learn my own thoughts and to receive the heritage of our national
culture through the medium of our own literature. I was thus to consider
myself one with the people and never to place myself in an equivocal
position of assumed superiority."[3]
"The moral education which we received in our childhood" adds Sir
Jagadis "was very indirect and came from listening to stories recited by
the "Kathaks" on various incidents connected with our great epics. Their
effects on our mind was Very great."[4]
And it is very interesting to learn from the lips of Sir Jagadis himself
"that the inventive bent of his mind received its first impetus" in the
industrial and technical schools established by his father.[4]