Bharatiya Knowledge Systems (Archaeological Perspective with Special Reference to Rakhigarhi)

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We warmly welcome the book tilted Bharatiya Knowledge System Archaeological Perspective with Special Reference to Rakhigarhi, by Prof. Dr. Vasant Shinde, formerly Professor and Vice Chancellor, Deccan College, Post- Graduate and Research Institute, Deemed be a University, Pune and presently CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. It is now acknowledged by leading educationists that the Bharatiya Knowledge System (BKS) will form a base of our future education system in the country. The Bharatiya Knowledge System (BKS) is very rich in its content and relevant to the society and nation and hence continued uninterruptedly for almost seven millennia. There are two robust sources for the Indian Knowledge system textual and archaeological. The textual sources have been used by some Sanskrit scholars to dig deep into the information on traditional knowledge system in the country. However, there are issues of dating with these early texts and hence cannot be used extensively. The other, more reliable, source is archaeological. A large number of archaeological sites, ranging in age from Palaeolithic to the Late Medieval/Colonial periods, excavated in different parts of the country, have generated ample evidence regarding origin and development of the BKS.

When our education system was based on the Indian Knowledge System, and the BKS was taught before the arrival of the Europeans into this country, the Indian economy was the most powerful in the world all because of its people-friendly and relevant nature. The British rulers realized the challenges it may pose for them if the system is allowed to continue in the country and hence, they imposed on us the European education system, systematically decimating our own BKS. Though this is the most important subject matter, somehow scholars have not taken it seriously and therefore there are only a few stray researches carried out in the country. This is the first exhaustive book on Bharatiya Knowledge System based on archaeological evidence and data.

A famous nuclear physicist once said, "How can we lament the lack of national pride in Indians, without first acquainting them with the country's phenomenal scientific achievement in the dim distant past?" The South Asia was one of the most important regions in the world as it is most populous and has given birth to not only important religions like Brahmanism, Jainism and Buddhism, but also some of the basic sciences and technologies, termed as Bharatiya Knowledge System were born here. The Indian Knowledge System, the roots of which go back to the beginning of settled life around 7000 BCE, was created by the people for the people to meet their mundane requirement. A gradual growth is evident and most of the basic technologies were perfected by the Harappans in the middle of the third millennium BCE. The knowledge system created by our ancestors are so appropriate and relevant that they have survived till date and most of the people in South Asia are still dependent on it Recently, a former Chinese Professor Pak L. Huide from the University of Toronto presented a mind-blowing analysis on the topic Is Ancient India Overrated? He begins on a serious note, 'If anything. ancient India is sorely underrated. I am an ethnic Chinese living in Canada. But when I was growing up in Canada, I knew very little about India, besides, may be curry. I mean, people here have a vague understanding of Chinese history but they have no idea about Indian history. The achievements of ancient India are lost in obscurity. India's ancestors had invented many ways which eased the basic life of a common man.

The ancient heritage is primarily studied by using historical records and archaeological data. Historians mainly use written records, as the principle source for writing history, which begins from the third century BCE in the Indian subcontinent. Though we have many literary sources in the form of the Vedas, Epics, Puranas, etc., they can hardly be considered as reliable sources for writing history since their origin as well the authenticity of their data is not yet ascertained. Whether these texts were written in one attempt or over a period is not clear. Regarding the authenticity of the data, it has not been established whether the information provided in these sources depict the real picture of the period or if they are just legends. There are some well-documented and dated historical records starting with Buddhist and Jain texts, classical literature, inscriptions (see Fig. 1), Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, foreign travellers' accounts, etc., which contain information about the contemporary societies, economic developments, important religious sites, marketplaces, ports and locations of strategic importance. These sources can be employed to reconstruct some aspects of ancient heritage. However, since most of the records were written on behalf of the rulers, there is bound to be exaggeration in the information provided. Therefore, these sources may not reflect an unbiased history of the common people.

A large part of the human history has no written records. This part is reconstructed primarily by using material remains, collected by trained archaeologists, from an archaeological site. Extensive excavation is also done on the archaeological sites of the periods for which written records exist. Archaeology, therefore, plays an important role in the study of ancient heritage. Archaeology is defined as a'voyage to the past, where we discover who we were and therefore who we are' (Paglia 1999). A more elaborate definition is given by Brian Fagan (1991), who states, 'Archaeology is a special form of anthropological study of extinct human societies using the material remains and their behaviour. The objectives of archaeology are to reconstruct cultural history, reconstruct past life ways and cultural process.' The purpose of studying the heritage is to learn from the past so that we can better understand the present and are well prepared for the future. Preservation and conservation of ancient heritage is, therefore, necessary for posterity.