When we were asked to blog or add content to the Wiki, i was puzzled, perplexed and sort of disgusted with the whole idea of blogging. After all, who would be spending hours to write a blog (I hardly write anything other than exams!!). I prefer being a micro-consumer (be it food or knowledge, I just want to consume) but I never want to be a micro-producer, however small be the production quantity. Quantity is of least priority when I think of writing, I believe any product needs to be of perfect quality (of course, in line with the price!!!) but an exam writer can't produce a quality blog; that’s what I believed in and will continue to believe.
Alas, I had no choice but to blog... So, I was searching for a topic to blog on for almost a week or two. But couldn't find a topic I can comfortably write about.
All of a sudden, something struck me. I love(d) history (Rajaraja cholan, who built Tanjore temple, is my favorite King. As legend would have it, he still lives in that temple.)... How did the people in those ages live?? They didn't have the luxury of papers, ink pens, data management devices and advanced computing devices.. But they created engineering wonders like Tanjore temple and many such around the world, which we (supposedly the most advanced generation, which cannot build an inn without the aid of computer - what a joke!!!) admire??
So, how Knowledge was created and managed in ancient India (oh!! talking about the world would be a gargantuan task!!) ???
Thus, I found a topic on which I shall blog - Knowledge management in Ancient India..
Before any ado, lemme tell u something (they call it 'disclaimer'), I'm not a primary writer (not an original thinker. In biological terms I'm not an autotroph, I feed on secondary information - in biological terms, a heterotroph) and can never be one (it needs a lot of thinking man, damn it.. I can't and don't want to think too much, often I keep thinking not knowing what I'm thinking).
Thus, I can proudly say I violate, break all the codes of conduct and laws that say, "Obey copyright laws". Not in this life!
Knowledge is for sharing and why should it be priced or protected (exceptions are defense and weapons of mass destruction) ???
Ok. Coming back to how Indians managed so much of knowledge (I have the bad habit of digressing from the main discussion to such an extent I often forget what I’m supposed to talk :P)
Knowledge creation:
I do not know the exact process in which our ancestors created knowledge but my understanding is this: they observed, experienced and then thought about (m)anything(s) deeply, very deeply for creating a knowledge base. This process would have taken years, decades or even centuries but I firmly believe they went through this process of OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE and THINKING THROUGH every idea. This could have been ‘the’ possible way in which they would have gained precious knowledge and later converted it to wisdom.
A small digression here – more of an addendum – KNOWLEDGE is learning, acquiring a thorough (often half-baked people call themselves “I’m a knowledge bank of XYZ..”) understanding of an object or a subject while WISDOM is the application of what has been learned and acquired for a constructive (these days for destructive) purposes. Thus, knowledge, only when put into action, becomes WISDOM and attains its meaning.
Knowledge Sharing
Possible means are:
It was primarily through oral interaction. “Listen, Practice, and remember” was the method adopted by our predecessors, I guess. For instance, father used to pass the secrets or uniqueness of his profession to the next generation through oral interaction and daily practice (perhaps, this led to the creation of division of labor). Thus, each one had their competitive advantage with the amount of know-how they possessed in their field.
Schools and Universities:
Unlike western counterparts and other civilizations, Indians had the distinction of well-developed education system (though not accessible to everyone) for the transfer of knowledge. Indians had the habit of teaching morality to the children through story telling. Stories were often real life examples. For instance, the most popular Vikramadhithya and Vedhala story – every time the king had to crack the story of different nature ranging from family to a nation and explain the underlying moral in the story to the vedhala. Panchathanthra stories are used in a similar light.
I believe this is the method followed in Case based discussions in Business Schools, drawing real life examples and letting the student work on it to understand the complexities of real life. This creates a simulated environment for the students to apply what has been taught in the school.
Knowledge Storing and Management
How the acquired knowledge had been shared and stored with others in ancient days?
What were practices?
Though ancient Indians did not use methods adopted by Egyptian kingdoms (like paper), they had their own methods of storing the knowledge.
Inscriptions on the temple walls served as the knowledge that had been stored and was shared with forthcoming generations. Other than inscriptions, Indians were using palm leaves (chief example is Thirukkural), which were said to be rewritten by the possessor of it over a period of time to protect it from the decomposition of palm leaves.
Let’s look at some of the feats (I lifted it from blogs) our ancestors achieved and gave to this world.
Alas, I had no choice but to blog... So, I was searching for a topic to blog on for almost a week or two. But couldn't find a topic I can comfortably write about.
All of a sudden, something struck me. I love(d) history (Rajaraja cholan, who built Tanjore temple, is my favorite King. As legend would have it, he still lives in that temple.)... How did the people in those ages live?? They didn't have the luxury of papers, ink pens, data management devices and advanced computing devices.. But they created engineering wonders like Tanjore temple and many such around the world, which we (supposedly the most advanced generation, which cannot build an inn without the aid of computer - what a joke!!!) admire??
So, how Knowledge was created and managed in ancient India (oh!! talking about the world would be a gargantuan task!!) ???
Thus, I found a topic on which I shall blog - Knowledge management in Ancient India..
Before any ado, lemme tell u something (they call it 'disclaimer'), I'm not a primary writer (not an original thinker. In biological terms I'm not an autotroph, I feed on secondary information - in biological terms, a heterotroph) and can never be one (it needs a lot of thinking man, damn it.. I can't and don't want to think too much, often I keep thinking not knowing what I'm thinking).
Thus, I can proudly say I violate, break all the codes of conduct and laws that say, "Obey copyright laws". Not in this life!
Knowledge is for sharing and why should it be priced or protected (exceptions are defense and weapons of mass destruction) ???
Ok. Coming back to how Indians managed so much of knowledge (I have the bad habit of digressing from the main discussion to such an extent I often forget what I’m supposed to talk :P)
Knowledge creation:
I do not know the exact process in which our ancestors created knowledge but my understanding is this: they observed, experienced and then thought about (m)anything(s) deeply, very deeply for creating a knowledge base. This process would have taken years, decades or even centuries but I firmly believe they went through this process of OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE and THINKING THROUGH every idea. This could have been ‘the’ possible way in which they would have gained precious knowledge and later converted it to wisdom.
A small digression here – more of an addendum – KNOWLEDGE is learning, acquiring a thorough (often half-baked people call themselves “I’m a knowledge bank of XYZ..”) understanding of an object or a subject while WISDOM is the application of what has been learned and acquired for a constructive (these days for destructive) purposes. Thus, knowledge, only when put into action, becomes WISDOM and attains its meaning.
Knowledge Sharing
Possible means are:
It was primarily through oral interaction. “Listen, Practice, and remember” was the method adopted by our predecessors, I guess. For instance, father used to pass the secrets or uniqueness of his profession to the next generation through oral interaction and daily practice (perhaps, this led to the creation of division of labor). Thus, each one had their competitive advantage with the amount of know-how they possessed in their field.
Schools and Universities:
Unlike western counterparts and other civilizations, Indians had the distinction of well-developed education system (though not accessible to everyone) for the transfer of knowledge. Indians had the habit of teaching morality to the children through story telling. Stories were often real life examples. For instance, the most popular Vikramadhithya and Vedhala story – every time the king had to crack the story of different nature ranging from family to a nation and explain the underlying moral in the story to the vedhala. Panchathanthra stories are used in a similar light.
I believe this is the method followed in Case based discussions in Business Schools, drawing real life examples and letting the student work on it to understand the complexities of real life. This creates a simulated environment for the students to apply what has been taught in the school.
Knowledge Storing and Management
How the acquired knowledge had been shared and stored with others in ancient days?
What were practices?
Though ancient Indians did not use methods adopted by Egyptian kingdoms (like paper), they had their own methods of storing the knowledge.
Inscriptions on the temple walls served as the knowledge that had been stored and was shared with forthcoming generations. Other than inscriptions, Indians were using palm leaves (chief example is Thirukkural), which were said to be rewritten by the possessor of it over a period of time to protect it from the decomposition of palm leaves.
Let’s look at some of the feats (I lifted it from blogs) our ancestors achieved and gave to this world.
Ø The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century CE was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education
Ø India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta[1]. The earliest inscription regarding the Data by a System of Nine Digits and a Zero is dated as 595 A.D[2].
Ø Aryabhata has fixed the period of sidereal rotation at 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds. Modern astronomers have fixed the same period at 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds. Moreover, Indian astronomy has fixed the number of planets at five; modern astronomers who discovered nine planets earlier have now reduced the number to eight after it was established that Pluto is not a planet. This number may come down to five soon[3] (very likely given the fact that Western scientists have the distinction of contradicting their own stance over the years :P).
Ø Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
Ø The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
Ø Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, contracts, artificial legs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
These are only few of the marvels ancient Indians made in the field of Astronomy and mathematics. It is to be noted that Indian kingdoms had well-developed political administration system (can be seen from the inscriptions of the Tanjore temple which depicts proportion of tax levied on different professions, who owned what etc in a clear manner. In fact its accounting system was very clear though I do not have any information whether it has any resemblance to double-book keeping methods followed today), water management, agricultural cropping, civil engineering – the list is endless. One thing is certain – the contemporary science & engineering advancements have their roots in ancient Indian civilization.
These facts notwithstanding, why did India take a backseat in scientific progress?
Despite having so much knowledge and wisdom, India as a country was not making giant leaps in the globe. Why?? Call it British Invasion. True, to some extent The English men demolished our system of education and introduced the western education, which was in its nascent stage – when compared to the legacy of the Indian education system. And, surprisingly, we happen to follow the same system even today. But, what happened before the British rule?? Sadly, there is no account of it, as far as I have searched.
Somewhere, in the middle, religious forces took shape and destroyed the old practices that led to the disappearance of knowledge creation, sharing and management. This is because most of the literatures were recorded in languages (say, Sanskrit) that were accessible only to limited number among the populations. On top of it, only a sect had access to those literatures: thanks to the prevalent caste system that was so meticulously followed. Thus, the bottom strata of the society never had the chance to access such precious literature paving way for illiteracy and creating a barrier for the spread of knowledge.
I do not blame any sect of the society for the barriers that were created in spreading the knowledge. People who had access to those literatures protected it as if they were the owners and thinking it as their competitive advantage to have command over the commoners. Unfortunately, this became a barrier for sharing of knowledge - the restricted access thus put a comma in the creation of knowledge too. Hence, India’s intellectual power started taking a hit.
Though, the situation is changing for the better in recent times, capturing knowledge hidden in people is still a daunting task. The so-called knowledge factories are facing tremendous challenge in capturing the hidden or tacit knowledge from knowledge workers. For a powerful India which everyone is dreaming of, sharing knowledge is more important than possessing it. So, my request is “Create - Acquire – Spread” the KNOWLEDGE.
These facts notwithstanding, why did India take a backseat in scientific progress?
Despite having so much knowledge and wisdom, India as a country was not making giant leaps in the globe. Why?? Call it British Invasion. True, to some extent The English men demolished our system of education and introduced the western education, which was in its nascent stage – when compared to the legacy of the Indian education system. And, surprisingly, we happen to follow the same system even today. But, what happened before the British rule?? Sadly, there is no account of it, as far as I have searched.
Somewhere, in the middle, religious forces took shape and destroyed the old practices that led to the disappearance of knowledge creation, sharing and management. This is because most of the literatures were recorded in languages (say, Sanskrit) that were accessible only to limited number among the populations. On top of it, only a sect had access to those literatures: thanks to the prevalent caste system that was so meticulously followed. Thus, the bottom strata of the society never had the chance to access such precious literature paving way for illiteracy and creating a barrier for the spread of knowledge.
I do not blame any sect of the society for the barriers that were created in spreading the knowledge. People who had access to those literatures protected it as if they were the owners and thinking it as their competitive advantage to have command over the commoners. Unfortunately, this became a barrier for sharing of knowledge - the restricted access thus put a comma in the creation of knowledge too. Hence, India’s intellectual power started taking a hit.
Though, the situation is changing for the better in recent times, capturing knowledge hidden in people is still a daunting task. The so-called knowledge factories are facing tremendous challenge in capturing the hidden or tacit knowledge from knowledge workers. For a powerful India which everyone is dreaming of, sharing knowledge is more important than possessing it. So, my request is “Create - Acquire – Spread” the KNOWLEDGE.
References
- http://www.cylive.com/content/18174/Some_Great_Contributions_of_India_to_Human_Knowledge
- http://udayabhaaskarbulusu.wordpress.com/the-ancient-indian-civilization-culture-science-technology-and-management/the-ancient-indian-civilization-culture-science-technology-and-management-1-introduction/
- http://spaceyuga.com/study-secrets-behind-ancient-indias-successes/
