Introduction to Indian

Knowledge Systems
Session 1
Indian
Knowledge
System?
 Irrigation & Water
Management: Dams
• During the Saṅgam Period (300 BCE to 300 CE), in
the southern parts of India, rainwater-harvesting
structures such as tanks were constructed
• The Grand Anaicut (Kallanai Dam) in Tamil Nadu
is the world’s oldest “still in use” dam and is also
credited with being the fourth oldest dam in the
world
• The Grand Anaicut was constructed by the Chola
King Karikalan during the first century CE on river
Cauvery
• In 1804, the British raised the height of the dam
Grand Anicut – World’s oldest “still in use” dam
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kallanai.jpg
by 27 inches
 Irrigation & Water
Management: Stepwells
• Stepwells depict the finest architectures and
integrate culture and religion with social
• Commonly found in western India (mainly
Gujarat and Rajasthan) and other such arid
regions of the Indian subcontinent, extending
into Pakistan.
• The Aparājita-pṛccha, a canonical text on art
and architecture from Gujarat has details on the
construction and ornamentation of stepwells

Chand Baori, Rajasthan, one of the deepest and largest stepwells in India
Source: By Doron, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChandBaori.jpg
 Our Purāṇas are encyclopaedic !
Dyes, Paints and Perfumes Technology

• Viṣṇu-dharmottara-purāṇa
• Discusses different aspects of painting in the
third kāṇḍa
• In chapter 40, it gives a formulation for
preparing a coating that could be applied first
on the surface (wall) where painting has to be
done
• The 64th chapter in the second kāṇḍa has 46
verses in which the issue of perfumes is
discussed
Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā (5th century CE), Chapter 77, titled Gandha-
yukti, addresses the issue of preparation of perfumes in 37 verses
Iron Pillars & Iron Beams
• Iron pillars
• At Kutub Minar (Mehrauli near Delhi) which
weighs about 6,000 kgs
• At Dhar (12th century CE) which weighs
7,000 kgs, nearly twice as big as the Delhi
pillar
• Another on Mount Abu
• Iron Beams
• 29 iron beams in the Konark temple in Orissa
• Gigantic iron beams at Konark, which lay
buried in the sea sand for a few centuries
were recently unearthed
• Numerous iron beams at Puri and
Bhubaneswar and 239 pieces found in the
Puri Gunduchibāri temple
 • Dated to mid-Gupta period (~ 375 CE)
• Composition of material of the pillar, viz.
less than 0.05% carbon strongly suggests
Kodachadri age-old indigenous methods for making
Iron Pillar the so-called Adi-vasi (tribal) iron with
pure iron ore and wood charcoal
(Kollur) • Pillar has withstood onslaught of the sun
wind & rain in living memory, and
perhaps also of marine air with the
Arabian Sea only 40–50 km away, is proof
of its high corrosion resistance
 Stages of foetal development as per
Bhāgavata Purāṇa*
Months 5 - 6
First five days •Month 5:‍‍Feelings of
•First night: sperm & Months 1 - 2 hunger, thirst felt
ovum mix •Month 1: Head formed •Month 6: Movement
•Fifth night: mixture •Month 2: Limbs formed (right side of the
ferments into a bubble abdomen)

Next ten days Months 3- 4

•Tenth night: Takes the •Month 3:‍‍Sensory and
shape of a plum other organs, bone, skin
•Next few days: Lump of formed
flesh •Month 4:‍‍Seven dātus fully
formed

* Srimad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa, Book 3, Chapter 31

Is there any value in
Ancient Wisdom?
• Issues of Business, Govt. & Society
are as old as rocks and rivers…
• God blessed our ancestors also
with a Cauliflower in their heads!
• Path dependence – A key concept
in strategy
Why bother about Indian Knowledge System
(IKS)?
IKS is not about merely knowing about some ancestral knowledge
• Protecting received wisdom, economic security, and national pride
• Documenting traditional knowledge, to provide evidence of prior knowledge

An US company was awarded a patent for neem as a pesticide

• We failed in our efforts to get the US patents on products of the neem tree cancelled

CSIR successfully forced the USPTO to revoke a patent it granted on use of

powdered turmeric (Curcuma longa) for wound healing
Importance of IKS
• Defines the context for several aspects of the
day-to-day living of every individual
• Manifestation of human intellectual
achievement regarded collectively by society
over time
• Without the continuity of thoughts, it is very
difficult to make further progress in terms of
new ideas
• Avoiding “reinventing” the wheel
• Transforming knowledge into economic value
has been fully formalized with the global
intellectual property rights regulations and
patent laws
 Views of the Architect of Prevailing Educational System
On Ancient Indian Wisdom*

• … the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of

this part of India contain neither literary nor scientific
information, and are moreover so poor and rude that,
until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will
not be easy to translate any valuable work into them
• …a single shelf of a good European library was worth
the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
• … I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical
information which has been collected from all the
books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable
than what may be found in the most paltry
abridgments used at preparatory schools in England

* http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html
Minute by T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835. Last accessed on Sep. 30, 2021
Ancient Indian Wisdom
Some hard facts…
• What is it?
• Mythology, Nothing other than God, Religion
• Religious Prescriptions – long list of do’s & don’ts
• Matters of blind faith, unscientific …?
• Where is it?
• Extinct?
• Incomprehensible – Uninteresting
• Too difficult to cull out
Ancient Indian Wisdom
Some hard facts…

• Why do we need it?

• Useful for chanting mantras and for rituals
• Saffron Agenda – Communalising the society
• Mere “unqualified” glorification of the past
• No material gains
• Will it provide two meals a day for the poor?
• Will the society be any better?