India’s traditional knowledge systems are the theme of the 2021 calendar published by Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur’s Nehru Muse...
India’s traditional knowledge systems are the theme of the 2021 calendar published by Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur’s Nehru Museum of Science and Technology. Each page focuses on a discipline that had been studied in ancient India such as astronomy, law and the arts, highlighting quotes from Western figures from Voltaire to Mark Twain speaking approvingly of the achievements of the people of the subcontinent.
For instance, the page for March is dedicated to bijaganita and jyamiti, algebra and geometry. It has a quote from Albert Einstein declaring, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Kharagpur is the oldest of the IITs and commands great respect in India as well as abroad. One would have welcomed its interest in ancient Indian scientific heritage. But, regrettably, respect for fact, the separation of fact from fiction, critical evaluation of various types of texts, and the intellectual probity that one would like to associate with the IITs are missing here.
History of mutual exchange
A calendar is a temporary thing. What is worrisome here is its use as a pretext for the de-intellectualisation of ancient India.
Indian culture is characterised by antiquity, continuity and interaction with the...
