My idea of writing the history of the evolution of education in India is.... just so that we have the right perspective.... I remember a lot of people talking about how great we were... we invented zero etc... but our present state made me cynical about our past.... I wanted to know what we actually knew back then... and why we lost it.... turns out we had the most brilliant ideas & theories and applications in the world (to put it very mildly)... we almost threw it all away because of several reasons some of them being..
1. Corrupt people in power thought not everybody should be educated.
2. With the division of people along the lines of varna... we lost focus on bigger issues such as national defense etc.. and ultimately almost lost the entire knowledge...
There is a very important lesson to be learned in the way Tantrism was evolved... though it had roots in Vedas.. this system of knowledge actually was developed by people who were sidelined from mainstream education... this gave birth to millions and millions of superstitions... I see Tantrism as a kind of educational revolution...
3. With the division of the country among various rulers many of whom were not even fit to be beggars on the side streets... Country was lost to a foreign company traded on the UK stock exchange... By this time our education system stooped down to such a level that this company had to employ a educational advisor to train its labor force... Now, this advisor designed an education system... which by even the standards of 1800s was not meant to really educate students but to create the idea of loyalty towards its masters....
For what ever reason, we lived with it till the masters were ruling the country... and even after 57 years after they leave we still follow the same system... without even questioning it....
Now, if the whole system itself is not designed for the students to think, innovate and be productive...... where does the question of approving different boards with in the same system arises... same goes with the EAMCET or what ever... But I agree there should a uniform education system across the country (like in the advanced countries... Japan is the best example... all kids have the same rules and even uniforms through out the country)
On the face of it... it might look like this is a huge task to change the education system... but we have to realize there are reams and reams of research already lying all over on how to change the system..... all we have to do is systematically implement it...
As for the issue of "unemployed graduate" educating the kids in a village... I think the government is already implementing it in the name of NFE... Non Formal education... But I think its a shame that we spend so much and can't provide the kids with proper education and leave them to the mercy of some guy with totally no idea of how education should be... All because these kids come from poorer backgrounds and poorer places... if we cannot provide 75% of India with the same quality of education as the rest 25% of India.... how can we say that we treat them all equally... Indian system is probably the most racist (for lack of a better word) system in the world... No wonder we need reservations in higher education....as long this bias towards urban well-off kids exists... Ambedkar keeps proving himself right...
Engineering education is only one aspect of the whole higher education... we need a total revamp of what kind of specialists we create whether its arts, sciences, engineering, medicine or philosophy...
Economics play a very important role in changing any system..... but let's take it up separately...
We don't have be pro Hindu or pro Muslim.. or pro any other religion... we need to teach the kids the TRUTH... that's where our responsibility lies... I'm not saying we have to be secular... I think being secular is most ABSURD because even the most secular guy on the street still goes to temple or mosque or church.. which makes him "NON-SECULAR"..... Only communists (Atheists) can be SECULAR... so we as people need to start admitting we are religious.. the country just happened to have more than one religion... we need to admit we are a predominantly HINDU country with Muslim, Christian & other minorities.. duh... I mean we don't even have to say it... its just plain truth... with 80% Hindus... if say we are secular... we are trying to bullshit ourselves.... we just have to treat every one EQUALLY irrespective of the majority or minority status... with no preferential treatment to anyone based on religion... But we need to teach our kids the reality of our history....
>>>>> YOU WROTE >>>>I would be very glad to hear what u guys think we should change in the current education system......<<<<<<
I'll keep my mouth shut and wait for others to respond.. :-)
-keshav
I don't know if you are aware of Sarasvati Sishu mandirs in Andhra and other places which are run by RSS or its supporters... they form the Hindu primary education centers.. BVBs are meant for higher education...
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Monday, September 20, 2004
Vimana Shastra
Ashoka's Secret Research into Vimana Shastra:
Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships! This is assumed to be the work of the "Nine men" summoned by Ashoka.
Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but then became more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the data for study in their space program! This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching anti-gravity.
Ashoka started a "Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men": great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been converted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle.
The "Nine Unknown Men" wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number was "The Secrets of Gravitation!" This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them dealt chiefly with "gravity control." It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere.
Ashoka was also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other "futuristic weapons" that had destroyed the ancient Indian "Rama Empire" several thousand years before.
Their method of propulsion, Dr.Reyna said, was "anti-gravitational" and was based upon a system analogous to that of "laghima," the unknown power of the ego existing in man's physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract all gravitational pull." According to Hindu Yogis, it is this "laghima" which enables a person to levitate.
Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called "Astras" by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old. The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of "antima"; "the cap of invisibility" and "garima"; "how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead."
The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was ever made but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is not clear whether this trip was actually carried out. However, one of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of a trip to the moon in a Vimana (or "Astra"), and in fact details a battle on the moon with an "Asvin" (or Atlantean" airship.
This is but a small bit of recent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much further back in time.
The so-called "Rama Empire" of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama existed, apparently, parallel to the Atlantean civilization in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, and was ruled by "enlightened Priest-Kings" who governed the cities, The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as "The Seven Rishi Cities."
According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer.
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships"). The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.
The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.
This is just a part of the text at the following link.
If our ancestors with their limited tools & limited sciences could come up with such sophisticated theories, I wonder why it takes us 20Yrs+ to come up with a solid model to fly these days... I'm sure there are a lot of people working very hard.. but we should analyze why it takes us so long... may be the answer is in the education system which doesn't focus on making a complete citizen of the student...
-keshav
http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_7.htm#Ancient%20Indian
Ancient Indian Flying machines
http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/scripts/vaimanika.html
Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships! This is assumed to be the work of the "Nine men" summoned by Ashoka.
Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but then became more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the data for study in their space program! This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching anti-gravity.
Ashoka started a "Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men": great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been converted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle.
The "Nine Unknown Men" wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number was "The Secrets of Gravitation!" This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them dealt chiefly with "gravity control." It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere.
Ashoka was also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other "futuristic weapons" that had destroyed the ancient Indian "Rama Empire" several thousand years before.
Their method of propulsion, Dr.Reyna said, was "anti-gravitational" and was based upon a system analogous to that of "laghima," the unknown power of the ego existing in man's physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract all gravitational pull." According to Hindu Yogis, it is this "laghima" which enables a person to levitate.
Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called "Astras" by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old. The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of "antima"; "the cap of invisibility" and "garima"; "how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead."
The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was ever made but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is not clear whether this trip was actually carried out. However, one of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of a trip to the moon in a Vimana (or "Astra"), and in fact details a battle on the moon with an "Asvin" (or Atlantean" airship.
This is but a small bit of recent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much further back in time.
The so-called "Rama Empire" of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama existed, apparently, parallel to the Atlantean civilization in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, and was ruled by "enlightened Priest-Kings" who governed the cities, The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as "The Seven Rishi Cities."
According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer.
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships"). The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.
The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.
This is just a part of the text at the following link.
If our ancestors with their limited tools & limited sciences could come up with such sophisticated theories, I wonder why it takes us 20Yrs+ to come up with a solid model to fly these days... I'm sure there are a lot of people working very hard.. but we should analyze why it takes us so long... may be the answer is in the education system which doesn't focus on making a complete citizen of the student...
-keshav
http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_7.htm#Ancient%20Indian
Ancient Indian Flying machines
http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/scripts/vaimanika.html
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Foundations of today's education system
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I think.....one of you should write about the other topics - Economy and Law & order (Defense).... I want to join the discussion instead of monotonously writing my point of view. :-) I know... its getting boring for me too :-)
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So, with the decline in the education system during the period since 1000AD when the foreign invasions picked up pace. Education started getting limited to fewer and fewer sections of the society till the East India Company occupied most of India (directly or indirectly) by early 1800s
The British ruled India with a population of 300 million at the time with a total of 60,000 British soldiers. Yet, for almost two centuries, the British were able to rule two-thirds of the subcontinent directly, and exercise considerable leverage over the Princely States that accounted for the remaining one-third. While the strategy of divide and conquer was used most effectively, an important aspect of British rule in India was the psychological indoctrination of an elite layer within Indian society who were artfully tutored into becoming model British subjects. This English-educated layer of Indian society was craftily encouraged in absorbing values and notions about themselves and their land of birth that would be conducive to the British occupation of India, and furthering British goals of looting India's physical wealth and exploiting it's labor.
the architect of the education system that achieved this goal was Thomas B Macaulay.
J. N. Farquhar (A contemporary of Macaulay and staunch supporter of Indian System of education) says he's the father of English system of education in India.
Here are a few quotes (Verbatim - From Original speeches) of Thomas Macaulay
In a Speech in the British Parliament on the Government of India Bill on 10th July 1833,
"It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive from the diffusion of European civilisation among the vast population of the East. It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages."
Minute of 2nd February 1835 on Indian Education:
"All parties seem to be agreed on one point, that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India, contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are, moreover, so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them. It seems to be admitted on all sides, that the intellectual improvement of those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at present be effected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them."
"What then shall that language be? One-half of the Committee maintain that it should be the English. The other half strongly recommend the Arabic and Sanscrit. The whole question seems to me to be, which language is the best worth knowing?"
"I have never found one among them (Orientalists - Indians) who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those members of the Committee who support the Oriental plan of education.
"And I certainly never met with any Orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations."
"It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say, that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgements used at preparatory schools in England."
"We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue."
"In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the East."
"Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our literature, or at the particular situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects."
"The question now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal confession, whenever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse; and whether, when we can patronise sound Philosophy and true History, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical doctrines, which would disgrace an English farrier [note: a horse shoer] -Astronomy, which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, History, abounding with kings thirty feet high, and reigns thirty thousand years long, and Geography, made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter."
"The literature of England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt whether the Sanscrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and Norman progenitors. In some departments,-in History, for example, I am certain that it is much less so."
"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population."
"We are at present a Board for Printing Books which are of less value than the paper on which they are printed was when it was blank, and for giving artificial encouragement's to absurd history, absurd metaphysics, absurd physics, and absurd theology."
Macaulay's motives behind his educational policy were not only political but religious as well as revealed in his letter of 1836 addressed to his father.
".... The effect of this education on the Hindus is prodigious. No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy, but many profess themselves pure Deists and some embrace Christianity. It is my firm belief if our plans of education are followed up there will not be a single idolator among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence."
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1833macaulay-india.html
http://www.orientalthane.com/speeches/speech_7.htm
Britain needed a class of intellectuals meek and docile in their attitude towards the British, but full of hatred towards their fellow citizens. It was thus important to emphasize the negative aspects of the Indian tradition, and obliterate or obscure the positive. Indians were to be taught that they were a deeply conservative and fatalist people - genetically predisposed to irrational superstitions and mystic belief systems. That they had no concept of nation, national feelings or a history. If they had any culture, it had been brought to them by invaders - that they themselves lacked the creative energy to achieve anything by themselves. But the British, on the other hand epitomized modernity - they were the harbingers of all that was rational and scientific in the world. With their unique organizational skills and energetic zeal, they would raise India from the morass of casteism and religious bigotry. These and other such ideas were repeatedly filled in the minds of the young Indians who received instruction in the British schools.
Like Gurcharan Das says, against the backdrop of casteism and oppression, this appealed to all the people who wanted to get educated or wanted to be treated atleast somewhat equally.
J.N. Farquhar, while writing about Christian missionaries in the last and early decades of the l8th and l9th centuries respectively says (in 1850):
"Then it was not long before the wiser men both in Missions and in the Government began to see that, for the immeasurable task to be accomplished, it was most necessary that missions should take advantage of the advancing policy of the government and that government should use missions as civilizing ally. For the sake of progress of India, co-operation was indispensable."
"The new educational policy of the Government created during these years the modem educated class of India. These are men who think and speak in English habitually, who are proud of their citizenship in the British Empire, who are devoted to English literature, and whose intellectual life has been almost entirely formed by the thought of the West, large numbers of them enter government services, while the rest practice law, medicine or teaching, or take to journalism or business. We must also note that the powerful excitement which has sufficed to create the religious movements we have to deal with is almost entirely confined to those who have had an English education."
A graphic image of English education initiated Indian of the early 20th century is given by Anand K. Coomarswamy in 1908. He writes :
"Speak to the ordinary graduate of an Indian University, or a student from Ceylon, of the ideals of the Mahabharata - he will hasten to display his knowledge of Shakespeare : talk to him of religious philosophy - you find that he is an atheist of the crude type common in Europe a generation ago, and that not only has he no religion, but is lacking in philosophy as the average Englishman : talk to him of Indian music he will produce a gramophone or a harmonium, and inflict upon you one or both; talk to him of Indian dress or jewelry - he will tell you that they are uncivilized and barbaric; talk to him of Indian art- it is news to him that such a thing exists; ask him to translate for you a letter written in his own mothertongue - he does not know it. He is indeed a stranger in his own land.'' (Modern Review, Calcutta, Vol.4, Oct. 1908, p.338)
William Carey (1767-1837) William Hodge Mill (1792r1853) and John Muir (1810-1882) are some of the pioneers in this field and have played remarkable role in constructing the psychology of the Indians (of course as per the vision of Macaulay) coming out of the Institutions of English education. All these three Oriental scholars were acclaimed Sanskrit scholars, who have done some original work in translating Christian scriptures and theology into Sanskrit and vice versa.
Carey, who was an English Baptist Missionary, founded the famous Serampore College in 1818. It was his ambition to turn Serampore into "Christian Benares". The syllabus of the course in Serampore College was framed with the above object in view.
Richard Fox Young, History Prof at Princeton says:
"His (William Carey) intentions were also avowedly aggressive, a direct result of conflicts with Brahmins. According to his plans, Hindu literature could be placed in disadvantageous juxtaposition with the Gospel, a task which would be done effectively only by evangelists acquainted with the original sources of both religions."
Richard Young quotes Carey himself to make clear the intentions Carey's exercises :
"To gain the ear of those who are thus deceived it is necessary for them to believe that the speaker has a superior knowledge of the subject. In these circumstances a knowledge of Sanskrit is valuable. As the person thus misled, perhaps a Brahman, deems this a most important part of knowledge, if the advocate of truth be deficient therein, he labors against the hill; presumption is altogether against him."
John Muir came to Calcutta somewhere in 1827-28, He was a firm believer in Christianity and its propagation and was an outstanding scholar in Sanskrit. He served the East lndia Company in various administrative departments in North-West Frontier Province. His knowledge gave him an opportunity to work in the Sanskrit Department of the famous Benares College (1844-45) Writes Young :
"Muir's manipulation of the philosophy curriculum aimed at depriving the dersanas of all vestiges of revelation. This he attempted to do by forcing pandits to abandon their way of teaching, which he thought was tantamount to indoctrination, and to adopt free debate instead."
Macaulay was the chief architect of educational policy and it was Lord William Bentinck (I'm sure we all remember this guy from our history textbooks in school) who introduced English as the Court language in India. He was very clear in his intentions of introducting English as Court language as seen in the letter of Court of Directors dated 29th July 1830 to Bengal :
".... From the meditated change in the language of public business, including judicial proceedings, you anticipate several collateral advantages, the principal of which is, that the judge, or other European officer, being thoroughly acquainted with the language in which the proceedings are held, will be, and appear to be, less dependent upon the natives by whom he is surrounded, and those natives will in consequence, enjoy fewer opportunities of bribery or other undue emolument."
Thus the interests of millions of Indians were sacrificed for the convenience and profit of a few Englishmen. Lord Bentinck was never in favour of educating the people of India in the real sense but he preferred anglicizing them, as he apprehended danger in spreading knowledge in this country. Bentinck's opinion is recorded in his Minutes dated 13th March, 1835. However, Charles Metcalf, Governor General of India, disagreeing with the views of Bentinck observed in his own Minute dated l6th May, 1835 :
"..... His Lordship (Bentinck), however, sees further danger in the spread of knowledge and the operations of the Press. I do not for my own part, anticipate danger as certain consequences from these causes."
The third architect, Sir Charles E. Trevelyan, brother-in-law of Macaulay, is so clear and explicit in his ideas that even his enemies will have to appreciate his candidness so explicit in his ideas, foresight, vision and judgment. In his Evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Government of Indian Territories on 23rd June, 1853, he says:
"..... the effect of training in European learning is to give an entirely new turn to the native mind. The young men educated in this way cease to strive after independence according to the original Native model, and aim at, improving the instabilians of the country according to the English model, with the ultimate result of establishing constitutional self-govertunent. They cease to regard us as enemies and usurpers, and they look upon us as friends and patrons, and powerful beneficent persons, under whose protection all they have most at heart for the regeneration of their country will gradually be worked out. ....."
In a paper submitted to the (British) Parliamentary Committee of 1853 on Indian territories titled "The Political Tendency of the Different Systems of Education in use in India" by Sir Charles E. Trevelyan, brother-in-law of Macaulay says:
"..... The spirit of English literature, on the other hand, cannot but be favorable to the English connection. Familiarly acquainted with us by means of our literature, the Indian youth almost cease to regard us as foreigners. They speak of great men with the same enthusiasm as we do. Educated in the same way, interested in the same objects engaged in the same pursuits with ourselves, they become more English than Hindoos, just as the Roman provincial became more Romans than Gauls or Italians... Every community has its ideas of securing the universal principal,
"As long as the natives are left to brood over their former independence, their sole specific for improving their condition is, the immediate and total expulsion of the English.....' It is only by the infusion of European ideas, that a new direction can be given to the national views. The young men, brought up at our seminaries, turn with contempt from the barbarous despotism under which their ancestors groaned, to the prospect of improving their national institutions on the English model......"
"The natives will not rise against us, because we shall stoop to raise them; there will be no reaction, because there will be no pressure; the national activity will be fully and harmlessly employed in acquiring and diffusing European knowledge, and naturalizing European institutions. The educated classes, knowing that the elevation of their country on these principles can only be worked out under protection, will naturally cling to us. They even now do so..... and it will then be necessary to modify the political institutions to suit the increased intelligence of the people, and their capacity for self-government.... In following this course we should be buying no new experiment. The Romans at once civilized the nations of Europe, and attached them to their rule by Romancing them; or, in other words, by educating them in the Roman literature and arts and teaching them to emulate their conquerors instead of opposing them. Acquisitions made by superiority in war, were consolidated by superiority in the arts of peace; and the remembrance of the original violence was lost in that of the benefits which resulted from it. The provincials of Italy, Spain, Africa and Gaul, having no ambition except to imitate the Romans, and to share their privileges with them, remained to the last faithful subjects of the Empire;...... The Indian will, I hope soon stand in the same position towards us in which we once stood towards the Romans."
You can read mode details of how many ways were used to influence the Indian mind can be read in the links....
We know most of today's writers criticize Max Mueller (and other historians) Who by the way, I think did far less damage to India than Thomas Maccaulay and his cohorts. Today almost all the books we see in English about Vedas Upanishads etc base at least some of it on Max Mueller's translations. Very few people like Aurobindo, Dr.S.RadhaKrishnan and Eknath Eswaran.... made an attempt to write a original translation or commentary for all the works.
We never actually tried to recover from the damage that Maccaulay did to our education system. because Nehru was not comfortable talking about India's past with respect to Hinduism. (The word Hindu came into limited use only after Ghazni invavded India, and later Babur established his "Empire of Hind" It was the British who made this word "Hindoo" popular..... since then we refer to ourselves as Hindus)
Our minds are so colonized that... to this day we name our kids (Indian names) with British pronunciation. Gandhi wrote in the "Harijan" that Indian education made Indian students foreigners in their own country. The Radhakrishnan Commission said in their Report (1950); "one of the serious complaints against the system of education which has prevailed in this country for over a century is that it neglected India's past, that it did not provide the Indian students with a knowledge of their own culture. It had produced in some cases the feeling that we are without roots, and what is worse, that our roots bind us to a world very different from that which surrounds us".
And today we still follow the same style of education and never thought of improving (making popular) our native sciences or educating our children more about ourselves. With Arjun Singh (HRD Minister) vowing to return the education system back what Nehru has dreamed of and de-toxifying it of Hindu elements, I don't think we'll ever teach our kids to find Indian solutions to Indian problems (While teaching the other stuff)..... Instead we create a strong labor force that can cater to the needs of the developed nations.
here's what a present day missionary (& Nehruvian) has to say about Macaulay:
"We may question the logic and the arguments of Macaulay, particularly his diatribe against Indian culture, religion, theology, arts, and sciences. He wrote these words nearly 175 years ago, and as a representative of a ruling power. Some of his words certainly hurt us even today when we read him, and if he were to write to this generation, I have no doubt that he would have been perhaps more circumspect, and would have been "restrained by the necessity of paying a decent reverence to the practices of an established religion" (to slightly alter the words of Young 1935: viii). However, we all know that the number of Indians who wish to learn and use English has been growing steadily for the last two centuries. We all know that English has come to stay in India. The ruling Indian castes or classes have embraced English with suitable modifications as to the contents of lessons and the lexicon that are used in textbooks and taught in classes. English has become the language of higher castes and the affluent in the Indian subcontinent. The lower castes and poorer classes try to emulate the model set by their peers. The net result is that English will continue, and no central or state government will dare to abolish it from the curriculum in India. Globalization makes English a value added language, the access to which becomes a passport for jobs around the world."
http://www.languageinindia.com/april2003/macaulay.html
People like Azim Pemji and Narayana Murthy think that if we loose the BPO business from America, we should look for new avenues opening in Germany and Japan (Premji said this in an interview). I guess it suits very well with our education system.... cheap labor for the developed world.
Every Indian (with one or two exceptions) interviewed by Thomas Friedman (in India) on outsourcing.... admitted that America still has the creative advantage because of its education system.... basically they were bravely admitting that we are just cheap labor with no creative brains....
We don't have to go too deep to figure out our Higher education is lacking.... consider this....Our ECE engineers don't know how to do board (PCB) design even after passing out with distinction.......
We talked about the sorry state of primary education & literacy and now we know the problem with our higher education.
I rest my case about Indian Education system.
-keshav
http://www.ignca.nic.in/cd_06.htm (Cultural Dimension of Education)
http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/pandey.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/britishedu.htm
I think.....one of you should write about the other topics - Economy and Law & order (Defense).... I want to join the discussion instead of monotonously writing my point of view. :-) I know... its getting boring for me too :-)
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So, with the decline in the education system during the period since 1000AD when the foreign invasions picked up pace. Education started getting limited to fewer and fewer sections of the society till the East India Company occupied most of India (directly or indirectly) by early 1800s
The British ruled India with a population of 300 million at the time with a total of 60,000 British soldiers. Yet, for almost two centuries, the British were able to rule two-thirds of the subcontinent directly, and exercise considerable leverage over the Princely States that accounted for the remaining one-third. While the strategy of divide and conquer was used most effectively, an important aspect of British rule in India was the psychological indoctrination of an elite layer within Indian society who were artfully tutored into becoming model British subjects. This English-educated layer of Indian society was craftily encouraged in absorbing values and notions about themselves and their land of birth that would be conducive to the British occupation of India, and furthering British goals of looting India's physical wealth and exploiting it's labor.
the architect of the education system that achieved this goal was Thomas B Macaulay.
J. N. Farquhar (A contemporary of Macaulay and staunch supporter of Indian System of education) says he's the father of English system of education in India.
Here are a few quotes (Verbatim - From Original speeches) of Thomas Macaulay
In a Speech in the British Parliament on the Government of India Bill on 10th July 1833,
"It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive from the diffusion of European civilisation among the vast population of the East. It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages."
Minute of 2nd February 1835 on Indian Education:
"All parties seem to be agreed on one point, that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India, contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are, moreover, so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them. It seems to be admitted on all sides, that the intellectual improvement of those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at present be effected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them."
"What then shall that language be? One-half of the Committee maintain that it should be the English. The other half strongly recommend the Arabic and Sanscrit. The whole question seems to me to be, which language is the best worth knowing?"
"I have never found one among them (Orientalists - Indians) who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those members of the Committee who support the Oriental plan of education.
"And I certainly never met with any Orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations."
"It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say, that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgements used at preparatory schools in England."
"We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue."
"In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the East."
"Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our literature, or at the particular situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects."
"The question now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal confession, whenever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse; and whether, when we can patronise sound Philosophy and true History, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical doctrines, which would disgrace an English farrier [note: a horse shoer] -Astronomy, which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, History, abounding with kings thirty feet high, and reigns thirty thousand years long, and Geography, made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter."
"The literature of England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt whether the Sanscrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and Norman progenitors. In some departments,-in History, for example, I am certain that it is much less so."
"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population."
"We are at present a Board for Printing Books which are of less value than the paper on which they are printed was when it was blank, and for giving artificial encouragement's to absurd history, absurd metaphysics, absurd physics, and absurd theology."
Macaulay's motives behind his educational policy were not only political but religious as well as revealed in his letter of 1836 addressed to his father.
".... The effect of this education on the Hindus is prodigious. No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy, but many profess themselves pure Deists and some embrace Christianity. It is my firm belief if our plans of education are followed up there will not be a single idolator among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence."
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1833macaulay-india.html
http://www.orientalthane.com/speeches/speech_7.htm
Britain needed a class of intellectuals meek and docile in their attitude towards the British, but full of hatred towards their fellow citizens. It was thus important to emphasize the negative aspects of the Indian tradition, and obliterate or obscure the positive. Indians were to be taught that they were a deeply conservative and fatalist people - genetically predisposed to irrational superstitions and mystic belief systems. That they had no concept of nation, national feelings or a history. If they had any culture, it had been brought to them by invaders - that they themselves lacked the creative energy to achieve anything by themselves. But the British, on the other hand epitomized modernity - they were the harbingers of all that was rational and scientific in the world. With their unique organizational skills and energetic zeal, they would raise India from the morass of casteism and religious bigotry. These and other such ideas were repeatedly filled in the minds of the young Indians who received instruction in the British schools.
Like Gurcharan Das says, against the backdrop of casteism and oppression, this appealed to all the people who wanted to get educated or wanted to be treated atleast somewhat equally.
J.N. Farquhar, while writing about Christian missionaries in the last and early decades of the l8th and l9th centuries respectively says (in 1850):
"Then it was not long before the wiser men both in Missions and in the Government began to see that, for the immeasurable task to be accomplished, it was most necessary that missions should take advantage of the advancing policy of the government and that government should use missions as civilizing ally. For the sake of progress of India, co-operation was indispensable."
"The new educational policy of the Government created during these years the modem educated class of India. These are men who think and speak in English habitually, who are proud of their citizenship in the British Empire, who are devoted to English literature, and whose intellectual life has been almost entirely formed by the thought of the West, large numbers of them enter government services, while the rest practice law, medicine or teaching, or take to journalism or business. We must also note that the powerful excitement which has sufficed to create the religious movements we have to deal with is almost entirely confined to those who have had an English education."
A graphic image of English education initiated Indian of the early 20th century is given by Anand K. Coomarswamy in 1908. He writes :
"Speak to the ordinary graduate of an Indian University, or a student from Ceylon, of the ideals of the Mahabharata - he will hasten to display his knowledge of Shakespeare : talk to him of religious philosophy - you find that he is an atheist of the crude type common in Europe a generation ago, and that not only has he no religion, but is lacking in philosophy as the average Englishman : talk to him of Indian music he will produce a gramophone or a harmonium, and inflict upon you one or both; talk to him of Indian dress or jewelry - he will tell you that they are uncivilized and barbaric; talk to him of Indian art- it is news to him that such a thing exists; ask him to translate for you a letter written in his own mothertongue - he does not know it. He is indeed a stranger in his own land.'' (Modern Review, Calcutta, Vol.4, Oct. 1908, p.338)
William Carey (1767-1837) William Hodge Mill (1792r1853) and John Muir (1810-1882) are some of the pioneers in this field and have played remarkable role in constructing the psychology of the Indians (of course as per the vision of Macaulay) coming out of the Institutions of English education. All these three Oriental scholars were acclaimed Sanskrit scholars, who have done some original work in translating Christian scriptures and theology into Sanskrit and vice versa.
Carey, who was an English Baptist Missionary, founded the famous Serampore College in 1818. It was his ambition to turn Serampore into "Christian Benares". The syllabus of the course in Serampore College was framed with the above object in view.
Richard Fox Young, History Prof at Princeton says:
"His (William Carey) intentions were also avowedly aggressive, a direct result of conflicts with Brahmins. According to his plans, Hindu literature could be placed in disadvantageous juxtaposition with the Gospel, a task which would be done effectively only by evangelists acquainted with the original sources of both religions."
Richard Young quotes Carey himself to make clear the intentions Carey's exercises :
"To gain the ear of those who are thus deceived it is necessary for them to believe that the speaker has a superior knowledge of the subject. In these circumstances a knowledge of Sanskrit is valuable. As the person thus misled, perhaps a Brahman, deems this a most important part of knowledge, if the advocate of truth be deficient therein, he labors against the hill; presumption is altogether against him."
John Muir came to Calcutta somewhere in 1827-28, He was a firm believer in Christianity and its propagation and was an outstanding scholar in Sanskrit. He served the East lndia Company in various administrative departments in North-West Frontier Province. His knowledge gave him an opportunity to work in the Sanskrit Department of the famous Benares College (1844-45) Writes Young :
"Muir's manipulation of the philosophy curriculum aimed at depriving the dersanas of all vestiges of revelation. This he attempted to do by forcing pandits to abandon their way of teaching, which he thought was tantamount to indoctrination, and to adopt free debate instead."
Macaulay was the chief architect of educational policy and it was Lord William Bentinck (I'm sure we all remember this guy from our history textbooks in school) who introduced English as the Court language in India. He was very clear in his intentions of introducting English as Court language as seen in the letter of Court of Directors dated 29th July 1830 to Bengal :
".... From the meditated change in the language of public business, including judicial proceedings, you anticipate several collateral advantages, the principal of which is, that the judge, or other European officer, being thoroughly acquainted with the language in which the proceedings are held, will be, and appear to be, less dependent upon the natives by whom he is surrounded, and those natives will in consequence, enjoy fewer opportunities of bribery or other undue emolument."
Thus the interests of millions of Indians were sacrificed for the convenience and profit of a few Englishmen. Lord Bentinck was never in favour of educating the people of India in the real sense but he preferred anglicizing them, as he apprehended danger in spreading knowledge in this country. Bentinck's opinion is recorded in his Minutes dated 13th March, 1835. However, Charles Metcalf, Governor General of India, disagreeing with the views of Bentinck observed in his own Minute dated l6th May, 1835 :
"..... His Lordship (Bentinck), however, sees further danger in the spread of knowledge and the operations of the Press. I do not for my own part, anticipate danger as certain consequences from these causes."
The third architect, Sir Charles E. Trevelyan, brother-in-law of Macaulay, is so clear and explicit in his ideas that even his enemies will have to appreciate his candidness so explicit in his ideas, foresight, vision and judgment. In his Evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Government of Indian Territories on 23rd June, 1853, he says:
"..... the effect of training in European learning is to give an entirely new turn to the native mind. The young men educated in this way cease to strive after independence according to the original Native model, and aim at, improving the instabilians of the country according to the English model, with the ultimate result of establishing constitutional self-govertunent. They cease to regard us as enemies and usurpers, and they look upon us as friends and patrons, and powerful beneficent persons, under whose protection all they have most at heart for the regeneration of their country will gradually be worked out. ....."
In a paper submitted to the (British) Parliamentary Committee of 1853 on Indian territories titled "The Political Tendency of the Different Systems of Education in use in India" by Sir Charles E. Trevelyan, brother-in-law of Macaulay says:
"..... The spirit of English literature, on the other hand, cannot but be favorable to the English connection. Familiarly acquainted with us by means of our literature, the Indian youth almost cease to regard us as foreigners. They speak of great men with the same enthusiasm as we do. Educated in the same way, interested in the same objects engaged in the same pursuits with ourselves, they become more English than Hindoos, just as the Roman provincial became more Romans than Gauls or Italians... Every community has its ideas of securing the universal principal,
"As long as the natives are left to brood over their former independence, their sole specific for improving their condition is, the immediate and total expulsion of the English.....' It is only by the infusion of European ideas, that a new direction can be given to the national views. The young men, brought up at our seminaries, turn with contempt from the barbarous despotism under which their ancestors groaned, to the prospect of improving their national institutions on the English model......"
"The natives will not rise against us, because we shall stoop to raise them; there will be no reaction, because there will be no pressure; the national activity will be fully and harmlessly employed in acquiring and diffusing European knowledge, and naturalizing European institutions. The educated classes, knowing that the elevation of their country on these principles can only be worked out under protection, will naturally cling to us. They even now do so..... and it will then be necessary to modify the political institutions to suit the increased intelligence of the people, and their capacity for self-government.... In following this course we should be buying no new experiment. The Romans at once civilized the nations of Europe, and attached them to their rule by Romancing them; or, in other words, by educating them in the Roman literature and arts and teaching them to emulate their conquerors instead of opposing them. Acquisitions made by superiority in war, were consolidated by superiority in the arts of peace; and the remembrance of the original violence was lost in that of the benefits which resulted from it. The provincials of Italy, Spain, Africa and Gaul, having no ambition except to imitate the Romans, and to share their privileges with them, remained to the last faithful subjects of the Empire;...... The Indian will, I hope soon stand in the same position towards us in which we once stood towards the Romans."
You can read mode details of how many ways were used to influence the Indian mind can be read in the links....
We know most of today's writers criticize Max Mueller (and other historians) Who by the way, I think did far less damage to India than Thomas Maccaulay and his cohorts. Today almost all the books we see in English about Vedas Upanishads etc base at least some of it on Max Mueller's translations. Very few people like Aurobindo, Dr.S.RadhaKrishnan and Eknath Eswaran.... made an attempt to write a original translation or commentary for all the works.
We never actually tried to recover from the damage that Maccaulay did to our education system. because Nehru was not comfortable talking about India's past with respect to Hinduism. (The word Hindu came into limited use only after Ghazni invavded India, and later Babur established his "Empire of Hind" It was the British who made this word "Hindoo" popular..... since then we refer to ourselves as Hindus)
Our minds are so colonized that... to this day we name our kids (Indian names) with British pronunciation. Gandhi wrote in the "Harijan" that Indian education made Indian students foreigners in their own country. The Radhakrishnan Commission said in their Report (1950); "one of the serious complaints against the system of education which has prevailed in this country for over a century is that it neglected India's past, that it did not provide the Indian students with a knowledge of their own culture. It had produced in some cases the feeling that we are without roots, and what is worse, that our roots bind us to a world very different from that which surrounds us".
And today we still follow the same style of education and never thought of improving (making popular) our native sciences or educating our children more about ourselves. With Arjun Singh (HRD Minister) vowing to return the education system back what Nehru has dreamed of and de-toxifying it of Hindu elements, I don't think we'll ever teach our kids to find Indian solutions to Indian problems (While teaching the other stuff)..... Instead we create a strong labor force that can cater to the needs of the developed nations.
here's what a present day missionary (& Nehruvian) has to say about Macaulay:
"We may question the logic and the arguments of Macaulay, particularly his diatribe against Indian culture, religion, theology, arts, and sciences. He wrote these words nearly 175 years ago, and as a representative of a ruling power. Some of his words certainly hurt us even today when we read him, and if he were to write to this generation, I have no doubt that he would have been perhaps more circumspect, and would have been "restrained by the necessity of paying a decent reverence to the practices of an established religion" (to slightly alter the words of Young 1935: viii). However, we all know that the number of Indians who wish to learn and use English has been growing steadily for the last two centuries. We all know that English has come to stay in India. The ruling Indian castes or classes have embraced English with suitable modifications as to the contents of lessons and the lexicon that are used in textbooks and taught in classes. English has become the language of higher castes and the affluent in the Indian subcontinent. The lower castes and poorer classes try to emulate the model set by their peers. The net result is that English will continue, and no central or state government will dare to abolish it from the curriculum in India. Globalization makes English a value added language, the access to which becomes a passport for jobs around the world."
http://www.languageinindia.com/april2003/macaulay.html
People like Azim Pemji and Narayana Murthy think that if we loose the BPO business from America, we should look for new avenues opening in Germany and Japan (Premji said this in an interview). I guess it suits very well with our education system.... cheap labor for the developed world.
Every Indian (with one or two exceptions) interviewed by Thomas Friedman (in India) on outsourcing.... admitted that America still has the creative advantage because of its education system.... basically they were bravely admitting that we are just cheap labor with no creative brains....
We don't have to go too deep to figure out our Higher education is lacking.... consider this....Our ECE engineers don't know how to do board (PCB) design even after passing out with distinction.......
We talked about the sorry state of primary education & literacy and now we know the problem with our higher education.
I rest my case about Indian Education system.
-keshav
http://www.ignca.nic.in/cd_06.htm (Cultural Dimension of Education)
http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/pandey.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/britishedu.htm
The Sciences we developed
History of present day sciences in India
http://india_resource.tripod.com/mathematics.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/physics.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/technology.htm
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Indexes/Indians.html
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/maths.html
Follow the links to read on the following topics...:
The Decimal System in Harappa (2500 BC)
Mathematical Activity in the Vedic Period (From Ganit in Vedanga Jyotishya, Vishnu Purana (1000BC), Sulabha Sutras (800BC) to Apasthamba (600BC)
Panini and Formal Scientific Notation (800BC)
Anuyoga Dwara Sutra (300BC).
five different types of infinities(300BC)
Permutations and combinations in Bhagvati Sutras (300 BC)
Sathananga Sutra (200 BC).
The Indian Numeral System
Particle Physics
Optics and Sound
The Laws of Motion
Influence of Trade and Commerce, Importance of Astronomy
Aryabhatta (476AD) - Astronomy - circumference of earth to planetary distances, Differential Equations
Brahmagupta (576 AD) - concept of negative numbers, Quadratic equations
Bhaskara I (600AD - Born in Nizamabad, Andhra) Triginometry - sine functions to indeterminate equations
Varahamira (600AD) Algebra, Permutations and combinations
Applied Mathematics, Solutions to Practical Problems
Yativrsabha's work Tiloyapannatti (600AD) gives various units for measuring distances and time and also describes the system of infinite time measures.
Mahaviracharya (900AD)wrote Ganit Saar Sangraha where he described the currently used method of calculating the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of given numbers.
Sridhara (900AD) Ratios, simple interest, Arith & Geo progressions, mixtures, purchase and sale, rates of travel, wages, and filling of cisterns. Vijayanandi (1000AD), Sripati other prominent mathematicians of the century.
Bhaskaracharya (1200AD) Lilavati, Bijaganita, Siddhanta Shiromani,Chakrawaat - Integration, He also discussed astronomical instruments and spherical trigonometry. Of particular interest are his trigonometric equations: sin(a + b) = sin a cos b + cos a sin b; sin(a - b) = sin a cos b - cos a sin b;
The Kerala School with Madhava and others (14th Century onwards)
Not only did India provide the financial capital for the industrial revolution. India also provided vital elements of the scientific foundation without which humanity could not have entered this modern age of science and high technology.
Experimentation versus Intuition
Technological discoveries and applications
The Impetus for Metallurgy
Scientific Rationalism and Technological Efficacy
Technological Innovation
State Support of Technology
Limitations of pre-industrial manufacturing
India and the Industrial Revolution
Astronomy and Physics
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/astro.html
Medicine
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/medicine.html
Production Technology and Mech Engineering
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/prod.html
Ship Building and Navigation
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/ship.html
Architecture and Civil Engineering
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/arch.html
Physics and Chemistry
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/physics.html
http://india_resource.tripod.com/mathematics.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/physics.htm
http://india_resource.tripod.com/technology.htm
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Indexes/Indians.html
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/maths.html
Follow the links to read on the following topics...:
The Decimal System in Harappa (2500 BC)
Mathematical Activity in the Vedic Period (From Ganit in Vedanga Jyotishya, Vishnu Purana (1000BC), Sulabha Sutras (800BC) to Apasthamba (600BC)
Panini and Formal Scientific Notation (800BC)
Anuyoga Dwara Sutra (300BC).
five different types of infinities(300BC)
Permutations and combinations in Bhagvati Sutras (300 BC)
Sathananga Sutra (200 BC).
The Indian Numeral System
Particle Physics
Optics and Sound
The Laws of Motion
Influence of Trade and Commerce, Importance of Astronomy
Aryabhatta (476AD) - Astronomy - circumference of earth to planetary distances, Differential Equations
Brahmagupta (576 AD) - concept of negative numbers, Quadratic equations
Bhaskara I (600AD - Born in Nizamabad, Andhra) Triginometry - sine functions to indeterminate equations
Varahamira (600AD) Algebra, Permutations and combinations
Applied Mathematics, Solutions to Practical Problems
Yativrsabha's work Tiloyapannatti (600AD) gives various units for measuring distances and time and also describes the system of infinite time measures.
Mahaviracharya (900AD)wrote Ganit Saar Sangraha where he described the currently used method of calculating the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of given numbers.
Sridhara (900AD) Ratios, simple interest, Arith & Geo progressions, mixtures, purchase and sale, rates of travel, wages, and filling of cisterns. Vijayanandi (1000AD), Sripati other prominent mathematicians of the century.
Bhaskaracharya (1200AD) Lilavati, Bijaganita, Siddhanta Shiromani,Chakrawaat - Integration, He also discussed astronomical instruments and spherical trigonometry. Of particular interest are his trigonometric equations: sin(a + b) = sin a cos b + cos a sin b; sin(a - b) = sin a cos b - cos a sin b;
The Kerala School with Madhava and others (14th Century onwards)
Not only did India provide the financial capital for the industrial revolution. India also provided vital elements of the scientific foundation without which humanity could not have entered this modern age of science and high technology.
Experimentation versus Intuition
Technological discoveries and applications
The Impetus for Metallurgy
Scientific Rationalism and Technological Efficacy
Technological Innovation
State Support of Technology
Limitations of pre-industrial manufacturing
India and the Industrial Revolution
Astronomy and Physics
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/astro.html
Medicine
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/medicine.html
Production Technology and Mech Engineering
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/prod.html
Ship Building and Navigation
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/ship.html
Architecture and Civil Engineering
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/arch.html
Physics and Chemistry
http://india.coolatlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/physics.html
Monday, September 13, 2004
Tantrism, Advaita, Visishtadvaita & Dvaita
Getting back to the original issue...... "Education" is defined by different people in different ways, but I think we can broadly agree that Education is meant to impart (or may be handover) the next generation with the knowledge that is gained by the existing generation and to mould the next generation to fit into the society while contributing to the society and making it a better place. In much simpler terms, Whatever the ways of living are, each society wants its children to fit into the society of the parents. The children are expected to carry on the values and ideas of their parents. Schools are expected to give children the tools they need to earn a living. That has been the traditional understanding of a good education.
The idea one gets from Upanishads etc. is that, during Vedic period, education was more or less like.... anybody can approach a guru and become his disciple and spend the next 12 years (in general) with the guru... staying with him & learning everything from "growing tomatoes and cultivating paddy" to learning about the "Origin of Universe" This system continued till the later part of the Epic period at which time the peace and prosperity lead to growth of population which started putting pressure on the system which didn't have any clear set of rules. nevertheless the education system continued and teaching was still happening in the guru Kula's. During this time (late epic period and early sutra period) the Varna system was more rigidly enforced and education was deprived to certain sections of the society based on the varna system. exceptions were made all the time to the rich, mighty and powerful. Later sutras were written down more like laws of the religion so that only certain methods can be employed for education and the law was strictly enforced. Here different texts say different things on how untouchability was enforced. and who was actually considered untouchable. Some say all Sudras were untouchables but more texts say that it was the foreigners who were considered untouchables and casteless. But the sudras themselves were clearly meant not to be educated as per Manusmriti. After the manu smriti was compiled in 4th century AD education was limited to Agraharas and was primarily aimed at Brahmins & Khsatriyas. Education of the others was neglected in general by both the kings and the priests. this resulted in a large vacuum which we see even 1600 years later... today
The continuous invasions from almost everyone outside India.... from the Greeks to Huns, Mongols and Arabs created a mixture of people in the west and north India... coupled with the weak education system which sidelined the majority of the people lead to a new system based partially on the Vedas (Atharvana Veda) called Tantrism.
The commoners who were mostly agrarians and worshipped the power of the feminine, which they associated with fertility and birth. Their deity was the goddess, idolized in the form of the yoni (vulva). This existed during the pre vedic times also but the Vedic culture replaced the existing female deities with their male gods--often represented by the phallic lingam symbol. Female deities were then relegated more to being consorts to the male gods.
Sexual intercourse was seen as a way to combine the male and female energies, which were seen as originating from the Cosmos. The manifestation of this duality are the deities Shiva (male) and Shakti (female).
Tantra in Buddhist and Hindu traditions was a method to activate and utilize Kundalini energy (bio-energy) for the expressed purpose of spiritual advancement. The word is a composite of tapestry, web and enlightenment. While some have dubbed Tantra a religion, that is for convenience sake. Tantra in essence defies all the tenants of a religion, while maintaining a spiritual core. And while there are indeed rituals, the rituals are for reference.
It is during this phase under Harshavardhana that Hinduism developed its classical forms of worship which entail devotees bringing their offerings of fruits, sweets and other delicacies to the icons of gods.
The origins and philosophy of the Tantric lifestyle can be traced to Tantric elements in both Hinduism (Laya Yoga) and Buddhism, and predate Taoist philosophy. Buddhist Tantra, and Taoism are outgrowths of the original form of Tantra which began in ancient India. Tantrism and shaktism are one and the same in Hinduism. Many of its practices were deliberately aimed at breaking the caste system, while others flouted convention in lesser ways by using drugs, magic, and sexual intercourse as part of religious ritual.
Stanley Wolpert, in his book "A new history of India" writes, "The orgiastic character of the Tantric ritual - Where group intercourse often occurred at "polluted" cremation grounds and is associated with eating meat and drinking alcoholic beverages - is so antipathetical to brahminic ethics and the norms of other types of Hindu behavior that we can hardly explain the popularity and persistence of such actions as reflecting anything but the most deep rooted aspects of Indian cultural consciousness." Eastern India, possibly Bengal appears to be the regional center from which Tantrism spread through out the subcontinent, transforming Buddhism as well as Hinduism with its form of worship. Today's most female goddesses originated from this movement. Kali and Durga are still the most popular goddesses in the east. Vajrayana Buddhism emerged from here in the seventh century. This was continued in Tibet and Nepal even after the demise of Buddhism in India. In fact this is said to have contributed to the almost non existence of Buddhism in India with the resurgence of Hinduism later.
The vast amount of sexual literature developed during this period was put together by sage Vatsayana in his famous sutras for Kama.The best part of
The best part of Tantrism is the knowledge about the vast untapped "Kundalini Energy" in the human body. The Kundalini power or serpent power is lying like a serpent in a coiled or inactive form at the base of the spine at the "Muladhara Chakra". (The three important nerves of the human body, Sushumna, Ida and Pingala also originate from the same point) As per tantras since this mighty force remains dormant throughout one's lifetime, most people are unaware of its existence. Along with Sushumna there are seven chakras (Psychic centers) in human body and each controls a sense organ's activity.
1. Muladhara Chakra - At the base of the spine - has four petals and controls smell
2. Svadishtana Chakra - at the base of the genitals - has six petals and controls taste
3. Manipura Chakra - Opposite the Navel - has ten petals and controls the sight
4. Anahata Chakra - at the level of the heart - has 12 petals and controls touch
5. Visuddha Chakra - At the medulla oblongata in the throat - has 16 petals and controls hearing
6. Ajna Chakra - Between the eyebrows - has 2 petals and controls the mind
7. Sahasrara Chakra - Located above the top most point of the head - has 1000 petals - here the Yogi attains cosmic consciousness. (Kapala Moksham)
Tantrism of Atharvana Veda also researched into alchemy, Astrology, Astronomy palmistry, cosmology and atomic theory. This Veda is also said to be the basis for Ashoka's secret R&D on Vimana Sashtra. The knowledge that existed during the ancient times in the form of Vedas, Upanishads and Theories of Jnana Yoga especially Vedanta form the basis for majority of the present day sciences. And this is not a xenophobic reaction or RSS inspired statement (Read Father of Quantum Mechanics - Erwin Schrödinger's remarks on Vedanta). let's talk separately on how much research ancient Indian's did into each of these sciences.
During the period after the sutra period (which according to Dr.RK is the scholastic period) commentaries were written on the sutras in order to explain them. Dr.RK says "Not only commentaries were written upon the sutras, but also commentaries upon commentaries, and commentaries upon these almost without limit. The commentaries were primarily explanatory, but also strongly and sometimes grossly polemical. Sometimes the commentaries were more confusing than enlightening. Obscurity of thought, subtlety of logic, and intolerance of opposition are marks of the worst type of commentators." according to him the better types were few and far. Some of the better types according to him were, Sankara (Adi Sankaracharya), Kumarila, Sridhara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vacaspati, Udayana, Bhaskara, Jayanata and Vijnanabhikshu. These great thinkers have been much more than commentators on the ancient systems. In fact they have created their own systems of thought. In fact the three major forms of Vedanta developed by Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are distinct and elaborate systems.
The Vedanta philosophy in one or another form is closely bound up with the religion of India. While Jamini's purva mimamsa deals with the "Karmakanda" duties enjoined by Vedas. Badarayana's uttara mimamsa or the Vedanta (500BC to 200BC) deals with the religious & philosophical speculations of the upanishads. The two together form a systematic account of the contents of the Vedas. It is also called "Brahma Sutra (deals with the doctrine of Brahman), and the "Sariraka sutra"(deals with the embodiment of the unconditioned self). In the 555 sutras an attempt is made to systematize the teachings of the Upanishads. These sutras which consist of two or three words each, cannot be understood without a commentary. According to Dr.RK different commentators develop different interpretations in the light of their own preconceived opinions.
Adi Sankaracharya's Advaita Vedanta (788AD to 820AD) : This is considered philosophy of non-dualism. according to him the "atman" and "brahman" are one and same. He introduced the concept of "Maya & Mithya" and explains the universe in terms of this. He also wrote commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Vishnu Sahasranama. Two books Upadesasahasri and Viveka choodamani. His Soundarya Lahiri is considered one of his best works. During his time Hinduism lost its appeal mostly because of the onslaught of Buddhism. In order to teach the values of Vedas and Upanishads, he traveled (He is said to have traveled as far north as Kashmir) through out India and established four religious schools in the four corners of the country. These are at Sringeri in Karnataka, in the south; Dwaraka in Gujarat in the west. Puri in Orissa in the east; and Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttaranchal in the north. The heads of the mathas trace their authority back to him. The Sankaramath in Kanchi (TN) is a sakha of the Sringeri Sankaramath. It is said that his philosophy is one of the reasons for the demise of Buddhism in India.
Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita (1050AD) - qualified non-dualism: He fixes his attention on world, self and god. For him all these are real but the world and selves depend on god. Ramanuja believes in the continued individual existence of the released selves. according to him the world, self and god form a unity as matter and selves have existence only as the body of "Brahman"
Madvacharya's Dvaita (1197AD - 1280AD) - Dualism - He holds that god, selves and the world exist permanently, but the later two are subordinate to god and dependent on him. According to him, "brahman or God possesses all perfection and is identified with Vishnu.
Later on the new commentaries were written by Aurobindo Gosh & Radhakrishnan. Present day Swami's (the good ones) continue this tradition in the Sat Sanghs etc.
While there were attempts to put the people back on track with the Vedic system of education, Like Dr.Radhakrishnan says, Indian thought had a serious decline during 17th century (Mughal India) and can be said to have perished during the Macaulay years which continues as of today.
I'll complete this discussion on education with my next post on Macaulay's education system that we follow today...
Books, Links & Resources
Indian Philosophy, Dr.Radhakrishnan
Am I a Hindu - Ed Vishwanathan
Upanishads - Juan Mascaro
The Principal Upanishads - Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
The Upanishads - Eknath Eswaran
Wisdom of the Vedas - JC Chatterji
Arrow of the Blue Skinned God - Jonah Blank
Everybody loves a good drought - P.Sainath
India Facts and Figures - Mohan M Mathew
History of education in India - Jyotsna Kamat
Vedas
http://www.tatvavada.org/audio/
http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_veda/doc_veda.html
http://swami-krishnananda.org/invoc_0.html
http://www.sanskritweb.de/rigveda/
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/yajur_veda_intro.htm
http://sanskrit.gde.to/links5_audio.html
http://www.geocities.com/absolut_ism/index.htm
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/
Upanishads in Sanskrit and English with transliteration
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org
Upanishads
http://www.hindunet.org/upanishads
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/upan
http://www.san.beck.org/EC7-Vedas.html
http://sanatan.intnet.mu
http://www.geocities.com/neovedanta/index.html
Caste Discussion
http://www.audarya-fellowship.com/showflat/cat/hinduism/5465/13/collapsed/9/o/1
Puranas
http://www.puranas.org/
http://www.urday.com/shastra.htm
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/texts/Puranas.html
http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_upanishhat/upanishadlinks.html
http://www.geocities.com/absolut_ism/naradapurana.htm
Charvaka:
http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/c/ca/carvaka.html
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Charvaka
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/history/athiesm.htm
Ancient Education
http://www.iish.org/administration/discoveries/Ancient_Indian_Number_System_2.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Indus-Sarasvati%20civilization
http://groups.msn.com/Mythus/worldhistorypart3.msnw
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/w/writing.htm
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/Resources/TimeLine/HinduHistory.html
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Panini.html
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Education_in_Ancient_India.htm
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/index.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Indus-Sarasvati%20civilization
http://groups.msn.com/Mythus/worldhistorypart3.msnw
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/w/writing.htm
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/Resources/TimeLine/HinduHistory.html
History of Kannada Agraharas
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/agraharas.htm
Education in Andhra - late 19th century and early 1900s.
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/andhra1900.htm
Dvaita (Madhvacharya)
http://www.dvaita.org
Contemporary Education:
http://www.ccsindia.org/
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Andhra-Pradesh
http://alochona.org/magazine/2002/april/special4.htm
http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/536/536%20vimala%20ramachandran.htm
http://sathyasaibaba1.tripod.com/summerdis02-1.htm
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/331021.cms
http://www.cprindia.org
http://www.cysd.org/
http://shikshanic.nic.in/cd50years/g/U/1A/Toc.htm
http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/edusta.htm
http://www.indianchild.com/womens_education_india.htm
http://www.ncw-india.org/
http://www.womenexcel.com/womenstudies/womanstudies.htm
http://gist.ap.nic.in/education/edumain.html
http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/
http://www.celextel.org/
Research on Primary Education in India
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/tooley.html
Languages and scripts
http://www.ancientscripts.com
http://www.unicode.org/unicode/uni2book/ch09.pdf
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/scripts.html
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html
The idea one gets from Upanishads etc. is that, during Vedic period, education was more or less like.... anybody can approach a guru and become his disciple and spend the next 12 years (in general) with the guru... staying with him & learning everything from "growing tomatoes and cultivating paddy" to learning about the "Origin of Universe" This system continued till the later part of the Epic period at which time the peace and prosperity lead to growth of population which started putting pressure on the system which didn't have any clear set of rules. nevertheless the education system continued and teaching was still happening in the guru Kula's. During this time (late epic period and early sutra period) the Varna system was more rigidly enforced and education was deprived to certain sections of the society based on the varna system. exceptions were made all the time to the rich, mighty and powerful. Later sutras were written down more like laws of the religion so that only certain methods can be employed for education and the law was strictly enforced. Here different texts say different things on how untouchability was enforced. and who was actually considered untouchable. Some say all Sudras were untouchables but more texts say that it was the foreigners who were considered untouchables and casteless. But the sudras themselves were clearly meant not to be educated as per Manusmriti. After the manu smriti was compiled in 4th century AD education was limited to Agraharas and was primarily aimed at Brahmins & Khsatriyas. Education of the others was neglected in general by both the kings and the priests. this resulted in a large vacuum which we see even 1600 years later... today
The continuous invasions from almost everyone outside India.... from the Greeks to Huns, Mongols and Arabs created a mixture of people in the west and north India... coupled with the weak education system which sidelined the majority of the people lead to a new system based partially on the Vedas (Atharvana Veda) called Tantrism.
The commoners who were mostly agrarians and worshipped the power of the feminine, which they associated with fertility and birth. Their deity was the goddess, idolized in the form of the yoni (vulva). This existed during the pre vedic times also but the Vedic culture replaced the existing female deities with their male gods--often represented by the phallic lingam symbol. Female deities were then relegated more to being consorts to the male gods.
Sexual intercourse was seen as a way to combine the male and female energies, which were seen as originating from the Cosmos. The manifestation of this duality are the deities Shiva (male) and Shakti (female).
Tantra in Buddhist and Hindu traditions was a method to activate and utilize Kundalini energy (bio-energy) for the expressed purpose of spiritual advancement. The word is a composite of tapestry, web and enlightenment. While some have dubbed Tantra a religion, that is for convenience sake. Tantra in essence defies all the tenants of a religion, while maintaining a spiritual core. And while there are indeed rituals, the rituals are for reference.
It is during this phase under Harshavardhana that Hinduism developed its classical forms of worship which entail devotees bringing their offerings of fruits, sweets and other delicacies to the icons of gods.
The origins and philosophy of the Tantric lifestyle can be traced to Tantric elements in both Hinduism (Laya Yoga) and Buddhism, and predate Taoist philosophy. Buddhist Tantra, and Taoism are outgrowths of the original form of Tantra which began in ancient India. Tantrism and shaktism are one and the same in Hinduism. Many of its practices were deliberately aimed at breaking the caste system, while others flouted convention in lesser ways by using drugs, magic, and sexual intercourse as part of religious ritual.
Stanley Wolpert, in his book "A new history of India" writes, "The orgiastic character of the Tantric ritual - Where group intercourse often occurred at "polluted" cremation grounds and is associated with eating meat and drinking alcoholic beverages - is so antipathetical to brahminic ethics and the norms of other types of Hindu behavior that we can hardly explain the popularity and persistence of such actions as reflecting anything but the most deep rooted aspects of Indian cultural consciousness." Eastern India, possibly Bengal appears to be the regional center from which Tantrism spread through out the subcontinent, transforming Buddhism as well as Hinduism with its form of worship. Today's most female goddesses originated from this movement. Kali and Durga are still the most popular goddesses in the east. Vajrayana Buddhism emerged from here in the seventh century. This was continued in Tibet and Nepal even after the demise of Buddhism in India. In fact this is said to have contributed to the almost non existence of Buddhism in India with the resurgence of Hinduism later.
The vast amount of sexual literature developed during this period was put together by sage Vatsayana in his famous sutras for Kama.The best part of
The best part of Tantrism is the knowledge about the vast untapped "Kundalini Energy" in the human body. The Kundalini power or serpent power is lying like a serpent in a coiled or inactive form at the base of the spine at the "Muladhara Chakra". (The three important nerves of the human body, Sushumna, Ida and Pingala also originate from the same point) As per tantras since this mighty force remains dormant throughout one's lifetime, most people are unaware of its existence. Along with Sushumna there are seven chakras (Psychic centers) in human body and each controls a sense organ's activity.
1. Muladhara Chakra - At the base of the spine - has four petals and controls smell
2. Svadishtana Chakra - at the base of the genitals - has six petals and controls taste
3. Manipura Chakra - Opposite the Navel - has ten petals and controls the sight
4. Anahata Chakra - at the level of the heart - has 12 petals and controls touch
5. Visuddha Chakra - At the medulla oblongata in the throat - has 16 petals and controls hearing
6. Ajna Chakra - Between the eyebrows - has 2 petals and controls the mind
7. Sahasrara Chakra - Located above the top most point of the head - has 1000 petals - here the Yogi attains cosmic consciousness. (Kapala Moksham)
Tantrism of Atharvana Veda also researched into alchemy, Astrology, Astronomy palmistry, cosmology and atomic theory. This Veda is also said to be the basis for Ashoka's secret R&D on Vimana Sashtra. The knowledge that existed during the ancient times in the form of Vedas, Upanishads and Theories of Jnana Yoga especially Vedanta form the basis for majority of the present day sciences. And this is not a xenophobic reaction or RSS inspired statement (Read Father of Quantum Mechanics - Erwin Schrödinger's remarks on Vedanta). let's talk separately on how much research ancient Indian's did into each of these sciences.
During the period after the sutra period (which according to Dr.RK is the scholastic period) commentaries were written on the sutras in order to explain them. Dr.RK says "Not only commentaries were written upon the sutras, but also commentaries upon commentaries, and commentaries upon these almost without limit. The commentaries were primarily explanatory, but also strongly and sometimes grossly polemical. Sometimes the commentaries were more confusing than enlightening. Obscurity of thought, subtlety of logic, and intolerance of opposition are marks of the worst type of commentators." according to him the better types were few and far. Some of the better types according to him were, Sankara (Adi Sankaracharya), Kumarila, Sridhara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vacaspati, Udayana, Bhaskara, Jayanata and Vijnanabhikshu. These great thinkers have been much more than commentators on the ancient systems. In fact they have created their own systems of thought. In fact the three major forms of Vedanta developed by Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are distinct and elaborate systems.
The Vedanta philosophy in one or another form is closely bound up with the religion of India. While Jamini's purva mimamsa deals with the "Karmakanda" duties enjoined by Vedas. Badarayana's uttara mimamsa or the Vedanta (500BC to 200BC) deals with the religious & philosophical speculations of the upanishads. The two together form a systematic account of the contents of the Vedas. It is also called "Brahma Sutra (deals with the doctrine of Brahman), and the "Sariraka sutra"(deals with the embodiment of the unconditioned self). In the 555 sutras an attempt is made to systematize the teachings of the Upanishads. These sutras which consist of two or three words each, cannot be understood without a commentary. According to Dr.RK different commentators develop different interpretations in the light of their own preconceived opinions.
Adi Sankaracharya's Advaita Vedanta (788AD to 820AD) : This is considered philosophy of non-dualism. according to him the "atman" and "brahman" are one and same. He introduced the concept of "Maya & Mithya" and explains the universe in terms of this. He also wrote commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Vishnu Sahasranama. Two books Upadesasahasri and Viveka choodamani. His Soundarya Lahiri is considered one of his best works. During his time Hinduism lost its appeal mostly because of the onslaught of Buddhism. In order to teach the values of Vedas and Upanishads, he traveled (He is said to have traveled as far north as Kashmir) through out India and established four religious schools in the four corners of the country. These are at Sringeri in Karnataka, in the south; Dwaraka in Gujarat in the west. Puri in Orissa in the east; and Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttaranchal in the north. The heads of the mathas trace their authority back to him. The Sankaramath in Kanchi (TN) is a sakha of the Sringeri Sankaramath. It is said that his philosophy is one of the reasons for the demise of Buddhism in India.
Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita (1050AD) - qualified non-dualism: He fixes his attention on world, self and god. For him all these are real but the world and selves depend on god. Ramanuja believes in the continued individual existence of the released selves. according to him the world, self and god form a unity as matter and selves have existence only as the body of "Brahman"
Madvacharya's Dvaita (1197AD - 1280AD) - Dualism - He holds that god, selves and the world exist permanently, but the later two are subordinate to god and dependent on him. According to him, "brahman or God possesses all perfection and is identified with Vishnu.
Later on the new commentaries were written by Aurobindo Gosh & Radhakrishnan. Present day Swami's (the good ones) continue this tradition in the Sat Sanghs etc.
While there were attempts to put the people back on track with the Vedic system of education, Like Dr.Radhakrishnan says, Indian thought had a serious decline during 17th century (Mughal India) and can be said to have perished during the Macaulay years which continues as of today.
I'll complete this discussion on education with my next post on Macaulay's education system that we follow today...
Books, Links & Resources
Indian Philosophy, Dr.Radhakrishnan
Am I a Hindu - Ed Vishwanathan
Upanishads - Juan Mascaro
The Principal Upanishads - Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
The Upanishads - Eknath Eswaran
Wisdom of the Vedas - JC Chatterji
Arrow of the Blue Skinned God - Jonah Blank
Everybody loves a good drought - P.Sainath
India Facts and Figures - Mohan M Mathew
History of education in India - Jyotsna Kamat
Vedas
http://www.tatvavada.org/audio/
http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_veda/doc_veda.html
http://swami-krishnananda.org/invoc_0.html
http://www.sanskritweb.de/rigveda/
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/yajur_veda_intro.htm
http://sanskrit.gde.to/links5_audio.html
http://www.geocities.com/absolut_ism/index.htm
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/
Upanishads in Sanskrit and English with transliteration
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org
Upanishads
http://www.hindunet.org/upanishads
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/upan
http://www.san.beck.org/EC7-Vedas.html
http://sanatan.intnet.mu
http://www.geocities.com/neovedanta/index.html
Caste Discussion
http://www.audarya-fellowship.com/showflat/cat/hinduism/5465/13/collapsed/9/o/1
Puranas
http://www.puranas.org/
http://www.urday.com/shastra.htm
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/texts/Puranas.html
http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_upanishhat/upanishadlinks.html
http://www.geocities.com/absolut_ism/naradapurana.htm
Charvaka:
http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/c/ca/carvaka.html
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Charvaka
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/history/athiesm.htm
Ancient Education
http://www.iish.org/administration/discoveries/Ancient_Indian_Number_System_2.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Indus-Sarasvati%20civilization
http://groups.msn.com/Mythus/worldhistorypart3.msnw
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/w/writing.htm
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/Resources/TimeLine/HinduHistory.html
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Panini.html
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Education_in_Ancient_India.htm
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/index.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Indus-Sarasvati%20civilization
http://groups.msn.com/Mythus/worldhistorypart3.msnw
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/w/writing.htm
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/Resources/TimeLine/HinduHistory.html
History of Kannada Agraharas
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/agraharas.htm
Education in Andhra - late 19th century and early 1900s.
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/edu/andhra1900.htm
Dvaita (Madhvacharya)
http://www.dvaita.org
Contemporary Education:
http://www.ccsindia.org/
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Andhra-Pradesh
http://alochona.org/magazine/2002/april/special4.htm
http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/536/536%20vimala%20ramachandran.htm
http://sathyasaibaba1.tripod.com/summerdis02-1.htm
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/331021.cms
http://www.cprindia.org
http://www.cysd.org/
http://shikshanic.nic.in/cd50years/g/U/1A/Toc.htm
http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/edusta.htm
http://www.indianchild.com/womens_education_india.htm
http://www.ncw-india.org/
http://www.womenexcel.com/womenstudies/womanstudies.htm
http://gist.ap.nic.in/education/edumain.html
http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/
http://www.celextel.org/
Research on Primary Education in India
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/tooley.html
Languages and scripts
http://www.ancientscripts.com
http://www.unicode.org/unicode/uni2book/ch09.pdf
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/scripts.html
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html
Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga & Raja Yoga
OK, back to the original digression..... I'll appreciate any comments....
quick recap...
we have 4 major periods of development in Indian thought... Vedic Period, Epic Period, Sutra Period and Scholastic period or Period of elaboration of Vedanta. According to Dr.Radhakrishnan, this period is still continuing but the actual development of thought already declined during the 17th century.
After Vedas and Epics, came the Sutras where we have systematic explanation of the earlier works and also new theories and thesis developed during this period. During this period, new ways of life and new social systems gained widespread popularity mainly because of the opposition to the existing social structure. Charvaka's (also known as Lokayata's) Nastikatvam, Buddhism & Jainism were the main new fields of thought that emerged strongly. Charvaka's Brihaspati sutra in its original form was destroyed but it was proved that the charvaka philosophy existed since the days of rig Veda. (References to charvaka were found in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) we also know about this through other texts. Bhagavad Gita refers to this indirectly in chapter 16:8 while describing divine and demonic natures. Other sources where this is referred to is Mahabharata : Shanti Parva, Salya Parva. Vishnu Purana and Manu smiriti.
While these (Nastika, Buddhism & Jainism) were considered un-orthodox systems of schooling the Vedic systems were considered orthodox.
Since we mostly follow Vedic system, let's focus on that
The 4 Yogas or ways of life - (Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga) mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita are given a systematic and logical explanation during this period.
Jnana Yoga was explained by various Rishis in the theories of Samkya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Yoga, Purva mimamsa and Uttara mimamsa.
we'll get back to details of Jnana Yoga pertaining to today's education later...
Bhakti Yoga: It is said that one of the easiest way to salvation (Moksha) is Bhakti Yoga. The Bhakti relationship between man (or woman) and god is described in six different forms:
1. Madhura Bhava - Romantic Love (Like that of Krishna & Radha),
2. Kanta Bhava - Love of wife for husband (Like that of Sita or Rukmini & Rama or Krishna),
3. Shanta Bhava - Love of child for parent,
4. Vatsalya Bhava - Love of a parent for child (Like that of Sita towards Sons)
5. Sakhya Bhava - Friendship (Like that of Kuchela & Krishna)
6. Dasya Bhava - Affection of servant for his master (Like that of Hanuman in Ramayana)
In the highest aspect of Bhakti Yoga, the devotee goes for "Total surrender to god" Bhakti leads to the total dissolution of "I" or the ego which is considered the cause of all problems.
Lord Chaitanya (His followers started the ISKON), Tulsi Das, Meera Devi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (His followers started RK mission) are considered the greatest exponents of Bhakti Yoga
Karma Yoga : According to Karma Yoga, one attains salvation through unselfish actions - "Nishkama Karma". A Karma Yogi may or may not believe in God or in any religious doctrine.
Karma Yoga according to Bhagavad Gita:
a. No person will reach a state of actionlessness (Nishkarmata) by shunning Karma
b. Karma is the nature of beings in creation - (Bhagavad Gita 2:47)
c. One who controls the desires of flesh and does "Nishkama Karma" is honorable person.
d. Look at me, "I am God". There is nothing I have to do in the three worlds, There is nothing in the three worlds I need or I can't get. Still I work all the time.
e. One Should do his duty (Svadharma). One will meet with disaster if he or she does some one else's duty. Svadharma, however despicable is better than someone else's duty (Para Dharma).
f. The senses are good, Mind is better than senses. The soul is better than mind.
g. He who performs unattached actions by surrendering them to me will be untouched by sin, just like water drops on a lotus leaf do not wet it.
h. Actions do not taint me nor do I have any desire for the fruits of actions. He who knows me in this way, no action is binding on him
Raja Yoga: Patanjali's Yoga Sutras have the unique distinction of being a part of both Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga. This shatters the myth (created by westerners) that each of these paths to god realization are separate and cannot be intermixed.
Raja Yoga in essence is a very scientific path of God realization. In this path god is more or less treated as "Pure Energy"
Patanjali described Yoga as "Chitta-Vritti-Nirodha" meaning controlling the modifications of mind.
According to Dr.RK the main interest of Patanjali is not metaphysical theorizing, but the practical motive of indicating how salvation can be attained by disciplined activity.
As per Patanjali, Chitta (mind or consciousness) undergoes modifications when it is affected by objects through the senses. We have as many "Chittas" as there are selves. The ego (Ahamkara) is different from the self and is dependent on the experience of the world. The life of ego is restless and unsatisfied, being subject as it is to the five afflictions:
1. Ignorance or the mistaking of the non-eternal with the eternal
2. The erroneous identification of oneself with the instruments of the body and mind
3. Attachment to pleasant things
4. Hatred of unpleasant things
5. Instinctive love of life and dread of death.
When the self is freed from chitta it withdraws itself into its own pure nature.
Patanjali explains Yoga sutras in 4 chapters, Samadhi pada, Sadhana Pada, Vibhuti pada, Kaivalya pada. He gives us the eight fold method (Asthanga Yoga) of : abstention (Yama), observance (Niyama), posture (Asana - This is called Hatha Yoga), breath-control (Pranayama - Kriya yoga, perfected by Paramahamsa Yogananda is an advanced form of Pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), fixed attention (Dharana), contemplation (Dhyana) and concentration (Samadhi)" for salvation. Apart from Yoga Sutras, Patanjali also wrote books on Medicine and Grammar. The most widely known Yoga today through out the world, Patanjali's Raja & Hatha Yoga described in 150BC gives us an idea of the depth of the knowledge our ancestors possessed 2000 years ago.
Finally, Dr.Radhakrishnan says "Through yogic practices, one can attain super normal powers. The classical authors do not encourage the acquisition of these powers, as they consider spiritual calm and moral virtue to be superior to magical powers, which are only incidental to the attainment of the true goal of spiritual freedom.
During the sutra period, The age of Tamil Sangam (500 BC -500 AD) began in South India. Sage Agastya wrote Agattiyam, first known Tamil grammar. Tolkappiyar wrote Tolkappiyam. Purananuru, also on grammar, stating that he is recording thoughts on poetry, rhetoric, etc., of earlier grammarians, pointing to high development of Tamil language prior to his day. He gives rules for absorbing Sanskrit words into Tamil. Other famous works from the Sangam age are the poetical collections Paripadal, Pattuppattu, Ettuthokai Purananuru, Akananuru, Aingurunuru, Padinenkilkanakku. Some refer to worship of Vishnu, Indra, Murugan and Supreme Siva. All the literature composed during the first sangam was washed away by a great flood...
Different languages originated because there were different tribal groups and not everybody was allowed to learn the brahmi script & Sanskrit language. So, common man in India (Ashoka's empire) for most part understood Pali (and /or prakriti) and in the south common man had different languages under different rulers Pandyas(TN), Cheras (Kerala), Cholas (Coromandel).
Potential Timeline of Language Development:
1. Vedic Sanskrit (4000-400 B.C.E.)
2. Classical Sanskrit (400 B.C.E.onwards; post-Panini)
3. Prakrit/Pali (Brahmi script) (400 B.C.E.-1000 C.E.)
4. Hindi and other Sanskrit derivatives (Devanagari Script)... (1000 C.E.-onwards)
This period (Sutra period) not only saw the emergence of new religions and evolution of other great philosophies within Sanatana Dharma. But the emergence of sciences as we know them today as part of Jnana Yoga. It is after this period that Sanatana Dharma started emerging as a religion.
Towards the end of the sutra period, In the south, Thiruvalluvar wrote the "Thiru Kural" which talks about virtuous living... explaining the Dharma, Artha and Kama of living.... he happens to be a sudra (Weaver).... but people took to his system more eagerly because it relates to the common man.
quick recap...
we have 4 major periods of development in Indian thought... Vedic Period, Epic Period, Sutra Period and Scholastic period or Period of elaboration of Vedanta. According to Dr.Radhakrishnan, this period is still continuing but the actual development of thought already declined during the 17th century.
After Vedas and Epics, came the Sutras where we have systematic explanation of the earlier works and also new theories and thesis developed during this period. During this period, new ways of life and new social systems gained widespread popularity mainly because of the opposition to the existing social structure. Charvaka's (also known as Lokayata's) Nastikatvam, Buddhism & Jainism were the main new fields of thought that emerged strongly. Charvaka's Brihaspati sutra in its original form was destroyed but it was proved that the charvaka philosophy existed since the days of rig Veda. (References to charvaka were found in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) we also know about this through other texts. Bhagavad Gita refers to this indirectly in chapter 16:8 while describing divine and demonic natures. Other sources where this is referred to is Mahabharata : Shanti Parva, Salya Parva. Vishnu Purana and Manu smiriti.
While these (Nastika, Buddhism & Jainism) were considered un-orthodox systems of schooling the Vedic systems were considered orthodox.
Since we mostly follow Vedic system, let's focus on that
The 4 Yogas or ways of life - (Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga) mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita are given a systematic and logical explanation during this period.
Jnana Yoga was explained by various Rishis in the theories of Samkya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Yoga, Purva mimamsa and Uttara mimamsa.
we'll get back to details of Jnana Yoga pertaining to today's education later...
Bhakti Yoga: It is said that one of the easiest way to salvation (Moksha) is Bhakti Yoga. The Bhakti relationship between man (or woman) and god is described in six different forms:
1. Madhura Bhava - Romantic Love (Like that of Krishna & Radha),
2. Kanta Bhava - Love of wife for husband (Like that of Sita or Rukmini & Rama or Krishna),
3. Shanta Bhava - Love of child for parent,
4. Vatsalya Bhava - Love of a parent for child (Like that of Sita towards Sons)
5. Sakhya Bhava - Friendship (Like that of Kuchela & Krishna)
6. Dasya Bhava - Affection of servant for his master (Like that of Hanuman in Ramayana)
In the highest aspect of Bhakti Yoga, the devotee goes for "Total surrender to god" Bhakti leads to the total dissolution of "I" or the ego which is considered the cause of all problems.
Lord Chaitanya (His followers started the ISKON), Tulsi Das, Meera Devi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (His followers started RK mission) are considered the greatest exponents of Bhakti Yoga
Karma Yoga : According to Karma Yoga, one attains salvation through unselfish actions - "Nishkama Karma". A Karma Yogi may or may not believe in God or in any religious doctrine.
Karma Yoga according to Bhagavad Gita:
a. No person will reach a state of actionlessness (Nishkarmata) by shunning Karma
b. Karma is the nature of beings in creation - (Bhagavad Gita 2:47)
c. One who controls the desires of flesh and does "Nishkama Karma" is honorable person.
d. Look at me, "I am God". There is nothing I have to do in the three worlds, There is nothing in the three worlds I need or I can't get. Still I work all the time.
e. One Should do his duty (Svadharma). One will meet with disaster if he or she does some one else's duty. Svadharma, however despicable is better than someone else's duty (Para Dharma).
f. The senses are good, Mind is better than senses. The soul is better than mind.
g. He who performs unattached actions by surrendering them to me will be untouched by sin, just like water drops on a lotus leaf do not wet it.
h. Actions do not taint me nor do I have any desire for the fruits of actions. He who knows me in this way, no action is binding on him
Raja Yoga: Patanjali's Yoga Sutras have the unique distinction of being a part of both Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga. This shatters the myth (created by westerners) that each of these paths to god realization are separate and cannot be intermixed.
Raja Yoga in essence is a very scientific path of God realization. In this path god is more or less treated as "Pure Energy"
Patanjali described Yoga as "Chitta-Vritti-Nirodha" meaning controlling the modifications of mind.
According to Dr.RK the main interest of Patanjali is not metaphysical theorizing, but the practical motive of indicating how salvation can be attained by disciplined activity.
As per Patanjali, Chitta (mind or consciousness) undergoes modifications when it is affected by objects through the senses. We have as many "Chittas" as there are selves. The ego (Ahamkara) is different from the self and is dependent on the experience of the world. The life of ego is restless and unsatisfied, being subject as it is to the five afflictions:
1. Ignorance or the mistaking of the non-eternal with the eternal
2. The erroneous identification of oneself with the instruments of the body and mind
3. Attachment to pleasant things
4. Hatred of unpleasant things
5. Instinctive love of life and dread of death.
When the self is freed from chitta it withdraws itself into its own pure nature.
Patanjali explains Yoga sutras in 4 chapters, Samadhi pada, Sadhana Pada, Vibhuti pada, Kaivalya pada. He gives us the eight fold method (Asthanga Yoga) of : abstention (Yama), observance (Niyama), posture (Asana - This is called Hatha Yoga), breath-control (Pranayama - Kriya yoga, perfected by Paramahamsa Yogananda is an advanced form of Pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), fixed attention (Dharana), contemplation (Dhyana) and concentration (Samadhi)" for salvation. Apart from Yoga Sutras, Patanjali also wrote books on Medicine and Grammar. The most widely known Yoga today through out the world, Patanjali's Raja & Hatha Yoga described in 150BC gives us an idea of the depth of the knowledge our ancestors possessed 2000 years ago.
Finally, Dr.Radhakrishnan says "Through yogic practices, one can attain super normal powers. The classical authors do not encourage the acquisition of these powers, as they consider spiritual calm and moral virtue to be superior to magical powers, which are only incidental to the attainment of the true goal of spiritual freedom.
During the sutra period, The age of Tamil Sangam (500 BC -500 AD) began in South India. Sage Agastya wrote Agattiyam, first known Tamil grammar. Tolkappiyar wrote Tolkappiyam. Purananuru, also on grammar, stating that he is recording thoughts on poetry, rhetoric, etc., of earlier grammarians, pointing to high development of Tamil language prior to his day. He gives rules for absorbing Sanskrit words into Tamil. Other famous works from the Sangam age are the poetical collections Paripadal, Pattuppattu, Ettuthokai Purananuru, Akananuru, Aingurunuru, Padinenkilkanakku. Some refer to worship of Vishnu, Indra, Murugan and Supreme Siva. All the literature composed during the first sangam was washed away by a great flood...
Different languages originated because there were different tribal groups and not everybody was allowed to learn the brahmi script & Sanskrit language. So, common man in India (Ashoka's empire) for most part understood Pali (and /or prakriti) and in the south common man had different languages under different rulers Pandyas(TN), Cheras (Kerala), Cholas (Coromandel).
Potential Timeline of Language Development:
1. Vedic Sanskrit (4000-400 B.C.E.)
2. Classical Sanskrit (400 B.C.E.onwards; post-Panini)
3. Prakrit/Pali (Brahmi script) (400 B.C.E.-1000 C.E.)
4. Hindi and other Sanskrit derivatives (Devanagari Script)... (1000 C.E.-onwards)
This period (Sutra period) not only saw the emergence of new religions and evolution of other great philosophies within Sanatana Dharma. But the emergence of sciences as we know them today as part of Jnana Yoga. It is after this period that Sanatana Dharma started emerging as a religion.
Towards the end of the sutra period, In the south, Thiruvalluvar wrote the "Thiru Kural" which talks about virtuous living... explaining the Dharma, Artha and Kama of living.... he happens to be a sudra (Weaver).... but people took to his system more eagerly because it relates to the common man.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
the art of debate
based on whatever limited background I have on the subject, I felt
that creating a new telangana state is perhaps in the best interest of
everyone (may be not to the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats)
I found some compelling arguments (and counter too) on thatstelugu.com
you may or may not agree but these certainly are well written and
thought provoking- hope you enjoy them as much as I did
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/viplav1.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/viplav2.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/burningissue/prasad.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/amar2.html
what's going in India/Vizag? it will be nice to see some blogs
from our international reporters
that creating a new telangana state is perhaps in the best interest of
everyone (may be not to the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats)
I found some compelling arguments (and counter too) on thatstelugu.com
you may or may not agree but these certainly are well written and
thought provoking- hope you enjoy them as much as I did
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/viplav1.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/viplav2.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/burningissue/prasad.html
http://www.thatstelugu.com/feature/columns/amar2.html
what's going in India/Vizag? it will be nice to see some blogs
from our international reporters
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