Photo Courtesy: Ministry of Culture, Govt of India

From ancient times, Kashi (aka Varanasi or Banaras) has been the seat of learning of Vedas. You may have heard stories of foreign intellectuals, scholars, and inquisitive minds in the past visiting Kashi to learn Vedas and other Hindu scriptures from the Pandits (Priests) of Kashi.

As per a story, Max Muller in his visit was highly impressed with the Hindu way of life and carried with him a copy of Vedas and many other Hindu scriptures.

In 2021, you may, if inclined and interested, learn Vedas and other Hindu Scriptures, sitting right at your home. You may save money on air travel, boarding and lodging, and have access to 24×7 referable Vedic knowledge and scriptures.

Thanks to the internet and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, for launching Vedic heritage website (https://vedicheritage.gov.in/).

It is an invaluable treasure of knowledge.

What is ‘para’ and ‘apara’ vidya (knowledge)?

What is the number of the sources of vidya (Knowledge)?

2 or 10 or 12 or more?

What are those sources?

You can have answer to these and many other such questions right under ‘Introduction’.

And I am not going to describe what more you have there.

I don’t want to diminish your joy of discovery.

The rare beauty of the site is that it also presents Vedic knowledge in the present context.

I will specially appeal to ‘motor mouths’ of the world to visit and see for themselves Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) elements of Indian culture, before recklessly criticizing Indian knowledge and culture.

The Peril is: They would be unnecessarily exposing their own ignorance and bias.

They should particularly read articles by highly recognized experts highlighting Vedic knowledge in the present context.

I also appeal to every Indian to visit and see the extraordinary richness of Indian knowledge and culture, so that they can help out reckless and biased critics, to know the truth, unless they are closed minds.

Indians would particularly realize how badly have they been short changed in the name of British or Macaulay’s English Education Act, 1835?

Here is a quotable quote from the 1835 minutes by Macaulay:

“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern,  —a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”

The real purpose of Macaulay’s education system was to develop ‘interpreters’ and ‘fit vehicles’ (conduits or agents) of British Raj; and through them enriching native dialects with ‘terms’ of science (and not science) borrowed from the western nomenclature.

And Indians have continued to be taught the same way till date. No surprise, even many educated Indians have minimal idea of Indian Knowledge system and culture. They generally distinguish themselves by their English speaking skills and dress.

This website is a ‘Must Read’ for Indians as much as foreigners to understand Indian Knowledge system and culture.

Thank you, Government of India!

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.