The new National Education Policy has initiated formal attempts to view and explain the history and intellectual heritage of India from an Indian perspective. Although some similar efforts have been made at IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, IIM Kozhikode and many other international institutes earlier, the Center for Excellence for Indian Knowledge System at Kharagpur IIT initiated a new narrative. The main objective of the Center is supposed to create a comprehensive knowledge base by involving top institutions as well as experts from the best universities and institutions of India and the world.
The center will mainly focus on the collection and aggregation of a constructive database already done by experts within India and around the world. Promotion of digitalization of selected texts is another area of activity, inducting an advanced scientific method of exploration and investigation. It includes GPR based explorations, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy and photoluminescence dating, paleo radiology, CT tomography and Kirlin imagery, paleobotany and advanced geo hydrological exploration studies and decoding NLP(natural language processing) & allied methods of language science using sanskrit base. All these will make the center not second to any other world class institution. Center will promote all round pursuit of research, development and application of the Indian knowledge system based on proper methodological construct of recovery. Interdisciplinary approach, integration with the Indian value system and ecosystem suitable to the modern scientific world will be developed and shared with the upcoming education activities.
To start with, ten domains of the Indian knowledge system are selected as, Arthashastra – Indian system of welfare, environmental, behavioral and ecological economics, Sanskrit and Indian languages, Indian system of numbers, mathematics and geometry, Chemistry, Ayurveda or Indian Biology, Astronomy, Ecology, Architecture, Nyaya sastra – Indian thoughts on Governance, law and Justice and Silpa – Natya kalas(Indian Arts) – performing as well as fine arts. Areas of study will be extended to almost all ancient knowledge systems and languages such as Pali, Brahmi, Tamil and other Indian languages.
IIT Kharagpur has released a calendar this year for the popularisation of the center. The calendar presents twelve pieces of evidence to recover the foundations of the Indian Knowledge system, recognising the secrets of Vedas, reinterpreting the Indus valley civilization, and making a rebuttal to the Aryan invasion theory.
The theory of Aryan occupation is one of the areas in which Western scholars have made significant damage to the history of India. This has distorted and discredited the long history of India. The Indian chronology suffered suppression, compromise, contraction and distortion. Not only Indian chronology, but also the values and knowledge system has been misrepresented and distorted by vested interests.
Kharagpur IIT tries to present a different narrative with an Indian perspective through a simple calendar. The first four pages refute the claim of the Western-occupying forces and the next four pages argue that the Vedic culture and the Indus Valley Civilization are one and the same. The last four pages present the Aryan fallacies- the history of the rise and fall of Western Aryan racial geo politics in the world, from a system of philosophy and linguistics to racial primacy. No one is claiming that this is a great piece of evidence. It is not possible through the pages of a calendar. Here are just a few suggestions on how to look at antique items. Truth-seekers can examine its scientificity and authenticity. As the lines on one page of the calendar states, the gospel of the vedas is based on principle of adaptation, acceptance and assimilation whereas the Aryan inflation theory is based on aggression, invasion and exterminal of other races, which do not match with each other.
Comparing the west and east that is Bharat, Swami Vivekananda highlighted the myth of an Aryan influence on Indian vedic culture by stating, “In Europe, it is everywhere victory to the strong and death to the weak. In the land of Bharat, every social rule is for the protection of the weak. “Maharishi Aurobindo who criticised the theory saying, Aryan race and their kinship is built on the basis of falsehood, is the most far reaching political – social ends or pseudo scientific conclusion. Dr. Ambedkar was one of the popular Indians who strongly opposed Western Aryan invasion theory in detail. None of these people opposed this theory because they were archaeologists, anthropologists or genealogists. Rather, it is through a socio-political approach. Because this theory was more of a political agenda than a scientific fact. Many are coming forward to criticize the new narrative by their prejudicial approach. All of them are only representatives of the western colonised minds of the present generation, as Swami Vivekananda described in his article East and West an Hundred years ago.
The attitude of the critics is selectivism, which distorts science and logic. Over the past five decades, numerous studies have been published refuting Aryan myth. It is unfortunate that the genetic heritage of human remains found in Haryana is found only in the Irulas, a tribal group in South India. Our common genetic heritage can be traced among the eastern, western, southern, northern and central populations of India – both among tribals and non-tribals. It also says it does not share a common heritage with the Central Asian population. The real finding of research is that there has not been a single genetic invasion to India in the last five thousand years. This is the modern scientific evidence that underlies the theory of an Aryan occupation from the outside.
Those who argue that the very old swastika seal was found in Ukraine, the ancestral home of the so called Aryan people, and that it cannot be said to be a sign of the unbridled flow of life in India, are obliged to prove that the philosophical interpretation of the swastika and its application in life existed outside India se it do here till now.
On what scientific grounds was Max Muller’s Aryan Invasion Theory (1861) accepted by those who argue that the arguments presented to reject Aryan aggression have no scientific basis? The excavations at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa took place even after 60 years, the theory presented on the basis of the study of linguistics. Today, archeological excavations have unearthed the remains of thousands of ancient historical sites throughout India, especially in the northwestern region and gangetic plain.
Studies of the Paleochannels have uncovered the story of the lost river- the Saraswati. Numerous studies have been published based on the changes in river course, topography and human settlement caused by the massive land move in the Shivalik -Himalayan region. Those who have criticized the IIT calendar are not ignorant of all these. Criticism and debate are needed, and it must be done in a way that replaces prejudice and politics. We must be able to approach new scientific conclusions and historical analysis with an open mind. When old scientific conclusions give way to new scientific discoveries, shouldn’t we apply the same scientific approach to historiography as well?
Vinod karuvarakundu is Director, Madhava Ganita Kendram.
©️ The content of this Article is intellectual property of The 4th Estate and can not be used except with prior written consent of the Editor, The 4th Estate.
