To revive Indian tradition and culture, it is must to know, understand and live according to them, said Arun Shourie, former Union Minister, and journalist, at a function held in the city on Friday.
He was speaking on ‘India – from a scientific and cultural perspective' on the third day of the birthday celebrations of P.R. Krishnakumar, managing director, The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy Ltd., Coimbatore.
Not many knew even one per cent of the contributions of Aryabhata, Bhaskara and other scholars. One could turn to author Dharampal to know them but that was not enough. “A first hand understanding is necessary for better appreciation.”
Indian tradition also had things for the day-to-day life, which one must know. There was no point in repeating what the pundit said. Unless one knew the meaning, he or she could not reap the benefit of the action.
He lamented that there had been very little creative work on the tradition in the recent past. In India, there was no department for Hinduism whereas all Western universities of repute had one. In India if some institution were to open a department, it would be dubbed communal.
It was not enough to know the tradition, Mr. Shourie said. One must live it. In this regard, the credit for keeping alive the Indian tradition must go to the South, especially to the women there who continued to nurture it. The basis of Indian tradition was truth and this ought to extend to the public life as well.
He suggested that practitioners of the tradition should be open to receive new facts and orient the tradition to suit the new reality. They must also open the tradition to the West. There was nothing to be defensive about. By doing so, the culture could be kept abreast of developments.
K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission, said since pre-historic times, people who occupied this part of the earth had contributed immensely to all branches of science and quoted extracts from texts related to astronomy, maths, medicine and practical arts.
India enjoyed commendable sophistication in metallurgy and the Iron Pillar in Delhi was one such example. India's achievements in science and technology continued and the country was active in space exploration, missile defence and use of nuclear energy.
He suggested that the financial allocation to science and technology be increased from 0.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product to two per cent, with contributions from the corporate sector.
Indian traditional knowledge encompassed the traditional knowledge (shastriya parampara) and folk knowledge (lok parampara), said A.V. Balasubramaniam, Director, Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, Chennai.
He quoted Charaka Samhita and Susrutha Samhitha to underscore his argument. Mr. Krishnakumar thanked the participants for their wishes.
