JNU hosts first Indian Knowledge meet, Vice President seeks cultural revival
'The lamp of knowledge that once burned bright in the halls of Nalanda and Takshashila must be rekindled through discourse here,' he said, urging scholars and institutions to create spaces where ancient and modern disciplines could engage in dialogue.JNU TAKES A LEAD IN IKS INITIATIVEThe conference, organised in collaboration with the Indian Knowledge Systems Heritage Alliance (IKSHA), the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), received over 600 extended abstracts from more than 120 institutions.Of these, 100 papers were selected for presentation across 17 focused sessions based on originality, rigour, and relevance.Professor Yugank Goyal from FLAME University, representing IKSHA, said the selection process was rigorous. 'First, authors submitted extended abstracts. Those accepted were then invited to submit full drafts for final review,' he noted.BEYOND TEXTBOOKS: A CALL FOR REINVENTIONVice President Dhankhar underlined that India's ancient centres of learning like Takshashila and Nalanda were once global hubs for knowledge, attracting scholars from across Asia. He noted that colonial and earlier invasions disrupted this flow, replacing intellectual inquiry with utilitarian training."Our glorious, inalienable facet over millennia. We stopped thinking, contemplating, writing, and philosophizing. We started cramming, regurgitating, and swallowing. Grades replaced critical thinking. The great Bharatiya Vidya Parampara and its allied institutions were systematically drained, destructed and decimated," he said."Now is the time to cast off the chains of borrowed narratives, inherit distortions. It is time to reclaim our intellectual sovereignty."He urged institutions like JNU to become 'laboratories of this great intellectual reinvigoration' by integrating fields such as philology, computational analysis, and ethnography in IKS research.GLOBALISING WITHOUT DILUTIONThe Vice President also stressed that India must globalise its knowledge systems without losing their depth. "Our knowledge traditions had reached the shores of the world centuries ago. From the pristine and towering spires of Angkor Wat to the unalloyed performance of Ramayana in Southeast Asia, Indian Knowledge Systems continue to radiate from hotspots around the world. We should reclaim that heritage," he said.Reiterating the need for tangible outcomes, he called for the digitisation of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Pali, and Prakrit, and the development of training programmes to equip young scholars with robust methodologies.'Friends, this endeavour cannot remain confined to India. The time has come to globalise Indian knowledge without diluting its depth,' he said.- Ends
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