HT Bureau

GUWAHATI, April 6: Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Saturday said that India is the land of knowledge. The continuous stream of knowledge of this land has irrigated the entire world.

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The Governor said this while speaking at the curtain raiser event of an international conference titled ‘Unravelling Indian Knowledge Across Asia (UNIKAA 2024)’ held at IIT- Guwahati on Saturday. He said that the Indian knowledge tradition has been very rich since ancient times. Its objective was to develop the complete personality of man by incorporating in its fold dharma, artha, kama and moksha.

“When the entire world was wandering in the darkness of ignorance the sages of India spread the highest knowledge, freed humans from animalistic behaviour and made them perfect human beings with noble values. India gave culture and civilization to the world. When many communities were living as forest dwellers about 5000 years ago, the Harappan culture was born in the Indus Valley Civilization in India,” said Gulab Chand Kataria.

He said that the world’s first university was established in Taxila in 700 BC, with more than 10,500 students from around the world studying more than 60 subjects. Nalanda University, built in the 4th century BCE, was one of ancient India’s greatest achievements in the field of education.

The Governor also said that India gave the world the divine language Sanskrit, which is the purest and most suitable language in the world. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. He said that realizing the importance of Sanskrit, studies and research are being done all over the world to know its usefulness.

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“When Atomic theory was not known about 913 years ago, Rishi Kanad had propounded the atomic theory on the basis of the formulas written in the Vedas. India’s astronomical calculations were much more advanced. Bhaskaracharya had correctly calculated the time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun hundreds of years before other astronomers,” he said.

The Governor pointed out that India is the father of mathematics. India’s great mathematician Kanka gave the knowledge of numbers to the world, and gave the concept of zero to infinity. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also originated from India. Quadratic equations were created by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. He also said that the value of “pi” was first calculated by Budhayana, who also explained the concept known as the Pythagorean Theorem. The place value system, the decimal system, was developed in India in 100 BC. The great mathematician Aryabhata has also made invaluable contributions to mathematics.

He also said that the Indian knowledge systems have a strong foundation in Indian culture, philosophy and spirituality and have evolved over thousands of years. These knowledge systems, including Ayurveda, Yoga, Vedanta and Vedic science are still useful in the modern world. In the National Education Policy 2020, multidisciplinary education of Indian knowledge tradition, holistic development, from root to world, from human to humanity has been included. This education policy is meant to upgrade the entire Indian education system, including both learners and teachers.

Applauding the Centre for Indian Knowledge System and IIT Guwahati for organizing the curtain raiser event on this important topic, Kataria said that the initiative will strengthen the ecosystem in connecting students as well as teachers of universities and higher educational institutions with the roots of knowledge tradition. The Governor also said that the conference has a vision to provide an education system that will provide high quality education to the youth and inspire them to make India a global superpower. He also said that he is glad that IIT Guwahati is making a significant contribution in reviving and promoting India’s rich knowledge tradition.

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Director of IIT, Guwahati, Rajeev Ahuja, noted scholar Diganta Bishwa Sarma, Suvrokamal Dutta, head of the Centre for Indian Knowledge System, U.S. Dixit, organizing secretary Lalit Mohan Pandey along with a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.