The Indian Knowledge System (IKS) has evolved through thousands of years of research, deliberation, and experimentation in various fields of human endeavour—ranging from art and aesthetics, architecture and construction, archaeology and anthropology, economy and trade to education and learning, engineering and technology, geography and climatology, governance and administration, health and medicine, language and literature, mathematics and astronomy, philosophy and psychology, politics and sociology, natural and life sciences including botany, microbiology, zoology; and agriculture, ecology, environment, flora, fauna—and what have come down to us today through centuries of oral and written traditional practices, technological transmission through the ‘Guru’, and textual part-translation–part-student study, are an elaborate body of knowledge that is at once unique, diverse, interdisciplinary, and evergreen.
Over millennia, Bharatiyas have developed wonderful institutions of learning, both at the Gurukul and University level; written enduring scriptures on what today is referred to as Education Pedagogy; engaged students in discussions and debates, in laboratories, or in the field conducting experiments in innovative created courses, that went a long way in sustaining their interest and motivation; and developed an excellent educational system that continues to be the envy of the world even today. The students of the time, scholars from all of Asia, Europe, and Africa, have returned to their homes with a profound, lifelong learning in Bharatiya cultural jurisprudence, Bharatiya languages and literature, Bharatiya medicine, veterinary science, agriculture, and trade. Trade education in addition to tourist travel exchanged knowledge and tradition across regional boundaries.
As the breadth and depth of the Bharatiya Knowledge System has become apparent globally, it is both necessary to review them and important to identify how these reconstruct the attitude through which we view the world. The Bharatiya Knowledge Systems are integral and complement to the work of identity construction, conception, and patterning, within which all cultures operate.
The IKS captures a sophisticated philosophy with an unbroken, esteemed history, furnished with rationality, logical precision, comprehensive exploration and testing of empirical facts, particularly in the aspects of knowledge systems with pan-Bharatiya authority, yet with pluralism for regional variations in communities and cultures in Bharat. Bharat was not a singular civilisation, but a multitude of local sanskriti with uniqueness as well as with typical features of civilisations. The word IKS emphasises the totality of intelligence and skill systems, which support the cultures and livelihoods of the people in particular regions. Multiple sources of tangible and intangible heritages of distinct communities in Bharat need to be searched, compiled, reflected upon, preserved and popularised by each generation. IKS is the collective memory and continuing learning of a community and the custodians of this keystone are the elderly people with their wisdom and experience, the folklore traditions, extensive local and regional archives and publications that document the wisdom and ingenuity of the entire civilisation.
Over the last decade, large volume efforts have been undertaken to rethink, remould and redevelop the Bharatiya education with a fresh understanding of the Bharatiya aspirations of today. A new kind of effort is focused on understanding the Indian Knowledge System, developing the house of the knowledge system through extensive synergetic studies and experiences, relying on the Shastras, Shastrarthas, Lokavidyas, and Guru-Shishya traditions that have shaped the human civilisation over centuries. In Bharatiya traditions, Gurukuls and Ashrams were the traditional centres of education, and the Gurus guided the Shishyas in all aspects of knowledge and education. Branches of subjects included how to be a good manager, teacher, doctor, engineer, and even a good citizen.
Further, in contemporary times, conventionally, universities are supposed to be the custodians of the ethnic practices of the region. They were duty-bound to promote the regional’s IKS and were closely monitored and required to report on the role they played in promoting the IKS and education and sanskriti.
As the mainstream of education, IKS will show our own themes and lessons in the subjects that we teach, and highlight concepts and methods that have their roots in the Bharatiya way of thinking. Subjects such as mathematics, science, philosophy, logic, history, culture, economics, linguistics, arts, social and natural sciences are to be integrated with IKS to create interest, build identity and lay a proper foundation for further explorations.
Career in IKS
Career development concerns one’s participation in society and one’s placement in the socio-economic structure of the society. A proper Integrated Career Development Model is needed to augment the existing initiatives adequately and may be based on IKS, so that the family and society as a whole would participate in and reap the benefits of career development.
The development of new frameworks for IKS-related research is a major requirement. It is expected that researchers from different fields working on diverse IKS topics like philosophy, science, engineering, mathematics, management, literature, art, perception, and so on would work together to provide necessary frameworks for each area. It is also expected that people from different fields in education, like psychology, sociology, linguistics, and teacher training, would work together to establish the requirements of IKS-related research. This work must necessarily be collective. These meetings need to be organised at many levels to discuss and clarify issues related to language, research methodology, use of technology, and experimental designs among others. Funding agencies must also be aware of these requirements. Creating appropriate funding patterns and establishing a minimum number of partners for each project are issues that are expected to be discussed.
