Seminar on
Growth of the Indian Knowledge Systems: The Regional Contribution
Organised by
Indian Institute of Advanced Study
Centre for Heritage Studies, Government of Kerala
(3-5 February 2014)
Venue: Centre for Heritage Studies, Thripunithura, Kochi (Kerala)
It is well recognized today that Indian systems of knowledge have contributed immensely to the world of scholarship. Indian astronomy, mathematics, grammar, philosophy, theatre, architecture, healthcare, agriculture science and irrigation technology have a prominent place in the world map of sciences. These multiple systems of knowledge demonstrate how deep and pervasive the Indian roots of modern sciences have been. Thanks to the tradition of both the household based and institution based facilitation of learning all over the country each system of knowledge had a steady and stable course of exponential growth across centuries till the British occupation of the subcontinent. The University of Takshila dating back to 700 BC, the first of its kind in the world, and later ones like Nalanda and Vikramsila are indicative of how systematically established was the tradition of production and dissemination of the various systems of knowledge in India. It is said that over 10,000 students, drawn from the Far Eastern as well as the Eastern Mediterranean world, studied these systems of knowledge at Takshasila. The universities of Nalanda and Vikramsila, too, attracted many students from such far off regions. Students from the distant part of the country also contributed to and sustained the tradition of higher learning based on these knowledge systems through the institution of Gurukula.
In the sustenance of this tradition of knowledge creation and dissemination, Kerala played a most significant role. It was an important contributor to the production of new ideas in systems of knowledge such as jyotisastra, golavidya, ganita, ayurveda, vyakarana, natyasastra, mimamsa, darsana, arthasastra, and vastuvidya. Although many a text produced by scholars in these systems of knowledge was apparently vyakhya (interpretation), it was strikingly original and was in reality new knowledge capable of correcting and integrating previous methods of understanding. This is true of the vyakhya texts in any of the systems of knowledge. There have been some earlier attempts at comprehending and assessing the region’s contribution to the various knowledge systems of India. However, the several recent studies on the question have not yet been integrated in a comprehensive manner. The proposed seminar on ‘Growth of the Indian Knowledge Systems: The Regional Contribution’ will over three days, seek to examine, review and understand through an interactive process the new knowledge that was produced by the specialists of each field, engaged in teaching and practising at the Gurukula-s of pre-modern Kerala.
The broad themes under which the seminar would be organised are:
1.Jyotisastra, Golavidya and Ganita
2.Ayurveda
3.Vyakarana
4.Arthasastra and Natyasastra
5.Mimamsa
6.Darsana
Link:
http://www.iias.org/growth-Indian-Knowledge-Systems.html
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