Some Reflections on Education and Indian Heritage

Education and Indian Heritage 

Some Reflections 

Addressing the Indians born in the New Millenium at a School in Patna

As an Indian fully aware and proud of the nation’s vast and diverse Heritage, there are two shades of feelings whenever I happen to interact with the youngsters in school or college. It makes me proud to note that the light of education is more widespread than it ever was in India, indicative of the bright future that our country will achieve when the present generation would be delivering the fruits of learning in different fields. At the same time I get worried when I visualize the present generation’s growing disconnect with Indian Heritage and core ideas which had always shaped Indian thought. While speaking to students, one is always in the important role of passing on what one has duly received from one’s teachers and society, akin to the Indian concept of absolving oneself from the ‘Acharya rina’.  For those unfamiliar with the concept of ‘rina’ in Indian culture, it is worth mentioning that the ancient texts detail certain obligations, whose non-fulfilment lead to incompleteness in the purposes of life and existence. As per ancient understanding, as one delivers one’s role in society as a householder i.e. ‘grihastha’, one is to be reminded of the three major obligations or ‘rina’ which include ‘Pitri rina’, ‘Acharya rina’ and ‘Deva rina’ i.e. those towards the ancestors, teachers and the Almighty. 

Ancient Indian Heritage lying neglected in Sultanganj, Bhagalpur, Bihar

The shastras speak in detail about one’s duties and ways which absolve one of the major obligations. One is relieved from the obligation towards the ancestors or ‘Pitri rina’ after entering into marriage and producing off-springs to sustain the lineage. Teachers have a major role in shaping the personality of the individual. One is absolved of the obligation towards the contribution of teachers or ‘Acharya rina’ by providing proper education to the next generation in order to give back to society individuals who can continue to deliver their role in sustaining the high ideals. One is absolved from obligations towards the almighty or ‘Deva rina’ by learning the true ideals of Dharma and practicing the same with efforts for their propagation in society. Thus talking to the youngsters, I am often in the role of a teacher and thus expose them to the concepts that shaped Indian thoughts in the past. I talk to them about the versatile past of India which gave birth to revolutionary thoughts which influenced mankind across continents, and about their being heirs to the ancient traditions. Starting with the utopian ideals that we find in our scriptures and traditions, which once formed a part of traditional Indian learning, I often reflect upon the practical necessity of education about Indian Heritage in the present scenario.

Addressing the New Generation about our Heritage

I often speak to the young students about the future challenges for humanity especially in a changing global atmosphere of rising intolerance and violence. I apprise them about their special role in the ever changing world scenario as balancing factors who would always stand on the side of good sense and proper reason, being students representing the worldly ethos of India and especially as ones hailing from the land, which had in the past spread the message of peace and non-violence to regions far and wide. While the developments of technology in the modern world have connected humans at an unprecedented level like never before on a virtual digital platform, they have also given rise to sources of dangerous extermination. The future belongs to the students of today, and they must prepare for their roles in stabilizing the future of humanity based on the ancient values of peace, non-violence and mutual co-existence. As technology has closely knit the world digitally, the ancient Indian thought of the world as a family needs to be emphasized, for the betterment of humanity.

Addressing about the Neglected Heritage of India

The reason for such discussion with the young generation is not remote to seek. Even as education and literacy have spread light among larger numbers of India’s ever-growing population, the emotional disconnect with its original cultural ideals is also being increasingly felt. Children of today complete their education without being exposed to the best of human thoughts that are found in the ancient Indian texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, Kural or Buddhist sutras. The rhythm and richness of playwrights and poets like Kalidasa or Bhavabhuti is unknown to the new generation of Indians who try to understand and appreciate the literary heritage of Shakespeare and the like. The children of India are growing up singing nursery rhymes with foreign names, watching cartoons with foreign characters and reading from the fables of Aesop avoiding the stories from the Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, epics or Jatakas. They often grow devoid of thoughts which can lead to fulfilment in their spiritual lives and at the end of their education do not have the innate cultural confidence and often seem to be aping the ideals of the west and denigrating everything Indian. The vast Historical heritage of the country lying around neglected does not motivate them or strike an emotional chord. A generation without strong cultural foundations is likely to deviate from the original moorings of India and one may visualize an India in the future which apart from the representative names will have none representing the true ideals of India. 

Documenting Indian Heritage at a Temple in Kachaniyah, Buxar

Howsoever one may criticize the traditional Indian educational system; it cannot be denied that it did lead to a multitude of learning and literature dealing with subjects ranging from religion, philosophy to the sciences, medicine and astronomy. India gave to the world the present decimal system along with the zero. The Pythagoras theorem was explained almost a thousand years ago in the Bauddhayan sutras which were a part of Vedic learning. Centuries before the modern renaissance and abandonment of the geocentric theory, Aryabhatta in ancient India was already aware about the earth’s revolution around the Sun. The Nasadiya and Hiranyagarbha suktas of the Rig Veda still retain their mystery as our understanding about creation and the big bang theory evolves with time. Many modern scientific concepts including the theory of relativity are found to have been mentioned in the ancient texts, albeit in a traditional manner often interspersed with legendary stories. The Sanskrit language with its scientific grammar is believed to be one of the most evolved languages used by mankind, and is repository of much of ancient Indian learning, only a part of which has survived the millennia and of which only a miniscule part having been fully rationally studied and interpreted. The Indian concept of medicine as found in the texts of Ayurveda and others are still to be fully appreciated. The music and other arts referred to in the texts are still not fully comprehensible in the absence of proper research. It is also to be noted that the evolution of Indian learning was prevented by constant foreign invasions which led to an overall atmosphere of violence and conflict during the medieval times and thus stagnated at the level attained during ancient times. To summarize, it is worthy to mention that while much contained in the repository of ancient wisdom remain to be fully explored and utilized, the probability of it being so done for its deemed natural evolution earlier hindered by external factors, is reducing with time as modern Indian education system has disassociated from its past almost fully with only a ritualistic form remaining.

Ancient Statues at the Math, Bodh Gaya

Amidst these reflections on the hindered natural evolution of traditional Indian learning and its subsequent present neglected state, I am reminded of the discussions in or around 1835, when the British were debating about the issue of grants for the Indian educational system. As the education system evolved in India after coming of the British, the outdated traditional system of learning was abandoned in favour of the secular British system of learning which included the modern sciences along with rational subjects from humanities. While it did integrate the modern Indian with the global renaissance, it also served to disassociate him from his ancient traditions, as desired by Macaulay who had in 1835 argued that providing education based on Sanskrit and Arabic in India was of no use for India’s development, and argued instead for education based on English literature. He envisaged creating, “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”. The Minute was based on an idea that English education was not just superior in ‘science’, but would also inculcate superior morals, etc. that were responsible for making the English superior. 

The New Generation holds the Key to the Future of India

Looking retrospectively, one will surely notice that traditionally proper education was always immensely valued in India, but had its limitations and though containing the highest spiritual ideals it practically was quite restrictive in nature. On the qualitative side, it was supposed to be giving form to a different elevated human existence as one ‘twice-born’ in comparison to another individual who remained uneducated. Though discriminatory in terms of rigid hereditary caste-based system which evolved in due-course and wrongly denied the fruits of education to a section of society, the silver lining about the qualitative meaning and social impact can still never be underestimated. What it meant was that education resulted in a complete transformation of a human being from being uncouth to the most cultured and prepared him for a foundational role in preserving social ideals. Education in ancient India relied upon the knowledge acquired through experience by ancestors and valued reliable traditions also preserved in various texts. Hinduism gradually evolved as a set of universally valued traditions which gained acceptance and due mention in the holy scriptures with time. Moral education was an intrinsic part of the educational system which motivated one towards following highest ideals and was based in trust for the religious beliefs. A renaissance was required in Indian society from within to make it more egalitarian and to include all sections within the realm of education, but in the stagnated position that it had got relegated into by the end of the medieval times did not provide any such scope. Thus an external British push actually served to introduce modern education under which Indian society has been evolving ever since.

A Sanskrit Inscription liable to damage at Rohtas Fort

The traditional education system of India was quite different from the contemporary one. In traditional Indian society, the numbers of educational institutions were less and the contents of education were often esoteric and essentially related with religion, philosophy, metaphysics and scriptural subjects. We find from the ancient texts that students were generally sent to the house of the teacher who was usually from the Brahmin caste. The students would there stay with the family of the teacher and continue with their education till final graduation. However, such education was only confined to the ‘twice-born’ castes and the upper classes. The organizational structure was more restrictive and hereditary. The lower castes, particularly the scheduled castes, were almost denied regular education. The same continued till the advent of the British and the adoption of the system of modern education which was un-discriminatory.

As compared to the traditional system, the Modern education adopted in most schools was comparably more exoteric, open and liberal, and thus was the need of the hour. The world-view was scientific-rational; the theme consisting of freedom, equality, humanism and denial of faith in dogma and supersti­tions. The course contents were rationalistic and in tune with the needs of the present-day society. Science and technology, grammar and literature, social philosophy, history and culture, geography and ecology, agriculture and horticulture comprised the vast range of subjects which are taught today in schools, colleges and universities. The modern education lays emphasis on the subjects like freedom, nationality, law, human rights, democracy and scientific world view. The other parts of education are the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, which are often organized for total personality development of a student. The present industrial society has opened up a multiplicity of occupations and professions and each one of them is associated with scientific knowledge and skills. It is a society of complex division of labour and requires people with specialized knowledge. The modern education fulfills needs of the industrial economy. A vast range of subjects like medicine, health, engineering, management and law have become hot areas of professionalization and specialization today. The modern education is change-oriented and, therefore, courses are modified time and again corresponding to the changes taking place in society at large so as to keep pace with the needs of the changing situations in the wake of fast-changing industrial society. 

Buddha - 'The Light of Asia' at Kauvadol, Gaya

When one visualizes the results of the present educational system in India, one surely observes that while the spread of education has been wide and ever-increasing, the quality available is not standard. At the School level, good quality education is available at high prices in private institutions while the state run institutions are seen to be lagging behind. Many social ills prevailing in society are often traced to lack of proper moral education. In the traditional system of education, several social issues were addressed and integrated into the thinking and overall personality of the student. The modern system is seen to prepare humans cut off from the traditions, who in utter absence of intrinsic value systems often drift towards the negative aspects. The education has become highly competitive and is focused to prepare students towards passing certain examinations, and prohibits critical thinking and analysis. This results in a pool of mediocres who can serve as middle ranks in the industrial set-up but do not act as innovators with free-thinking. There has been a mushrooming of a parallel coaching industry in addition to the normal school system which act like factories which cull out individuals whose only focus is to succeed in life at any cost and often devoid of value based principles. Due to the nature of secular education avoiding any study of subjects which are remotely deemed as connected with religion, a lot of traditional wisdom which was often necessary in the Indian context is not available in the current system. The modern student is totally unaware about the spiritual and material accomplishments of his ancestors and is shaped much in the way as desired by Macaulay.

Let's spread the Word around !

This should worry all concerned Indians. Even as the educational system in vogue doesn’t serve to educate about the original texts of India or about the traditions and wisdom of our ancestors, it is the duty of society at large to step in to fill the void. While the modern educational system does prepare competitive individuals to serve the modern industrial and service sector requirements, the cultural void and disconnect have to be taken care of. The core human values of peace, non-violence, unity of mankind, standing up for the right and having the courage to speak for the truth and stand for the sake of it need to be inbuilt within all individuals. The children need to be exposed to the learning of our ancestors which can be in the form of special materials culled out from the original texts to serve as supplementary reading materials. Mahatma Gandhi had once said that one should keep the windows of the house open to let in fresh air from outside, but should also remain conscious about the airflow and not allow the incoming air to sweep one’s foot from the foundations. Such should be the approach in character building by the educational system. While the best of modern and secular education should be fully promoted in the interests of modern economy, it should also take care of the cultural foundations which would serve to give a purpose to existence in the long run.

Let's make Young India aware !

The solution to the impasse lies not in reverting back to the traditional system, or in blindly promoting the present system. What is required is a synthesis that includes the best of Indian learning along with the modern system. Children can have an exposure to various facets of Indian Heritage as a supplementary part of their school lessons. One could be introduced to extracts from the plays of Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and other classical writers along with the stories from the epics and the Vedas and Upanishads. Joys of Sanskrit poetry should be a part of the learning even as one is exposed to Shakespeare and Robert Frost. The importance of character building and serving society as per Indian ideals should be emphasized. This will surely fill the gap as prevailing, but it may not fully be possible to impart as a part of the school’s original or supplementary curriculum. Apart from the school curriculum, children should also be motivated to visit places of Historical importance and appreciate various forms of Indian heritage including music, dances and folk entertainment. Parents and society at large will have to understand the need for the same and will have to think of innovative ways and means to ensure that the ‘Acharya rina’ is duly ensured. The onus lies on us as a generation if we want some of the highest traditions that have been passed over to us since generations, to survive and see the light of the future.