De Nobili School, Sindri is a school located in Dhanbad, India. The De Nobili School shield displays part of a Sanskrit sloka Vidya Dadati Vinaym (Education Bestows Humility) in Devanagari script in the scroll under the school shield. The school is named after an enigmatic Jesuit, Roberto de Nobili, who was the first foreigner master Sanskrit, incognito, in sixteenth century Madurai Madurai. He ap
parently conducted himself like an orthodox Brahmin and is even said to have declared himself to be a descendant of Brahma. Vidya Dadati Vinayam is the opening fragment from the sixth verse of the preface to Hitopadeśa, Hitopadesha a collection of fables that provide "Good Advice". The entire verse translates to "Knowledge giveth humility, from humility he attaineth worth, From worth, wealth he attaineth, from wealth the power of being religious, from thence happiness". Through a Sanskrit sloka, a Catholic School in India, named after a "Brahmin Jesuit", managed to imply that "being happy" and "being religious" comes after the "attainment of wealth". Perhaps the Puritanical influence on the American Jesuits who founded the School would explain this.
