Addressing the inaugural annual conference of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS), VP highlighted that India’s rise as a global power must be accompanied by the rise of its intellectual and cultural gravitas.

What is the Traditional Indian Knowledge System (IKS)?

• It encompasses a millennia-old intellectual tradition covering fields like art, music, dance, drama, to mathematics, astronomy, science, technology, etc., hidden in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil, Pali, etc.
  • For example, ayurveda, yoga, Surya Siddhanta, Natya Shastra, number systems (including zero), etc.
• Global Centres of Learning: Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Vallabhi, Odantapuri, etc. were global universities in ancient India, where seekers came from Korea, China, Tibet, and Persia.

Need for Safeguarding IKS

• Decolonization of Mind: To undo the colonial legacy that undervalued indigenous thought systems and imposed Western epistemologies as universal truths.
• Prevent Marginalization of Knowledge System: Dominance of European cultural perspectives hinders India’s TKS integration into mainstream academia.  E.g., attempts of patent application for healing properties of haldi in the US.
• Limited Engagement: Young scholars are discouraged from pursuing IKS as a field of study as it is often misunderstood, misrepresented, or relegated to the periphery.
• Soft Power: IKS can boost cultural diplomacy (e.g. International Yoga Day), academic influence (e.g., revival of Nalanda university), tourism (e.g., ingenious architecture of World Heritage Sites like Rani ki Vav)