Ramya,
A wonderful post and fascinating discussions thereafter. Yes, we are turning to western writers to validate our own heritage and wealth of learning!
I think as we need to delve more and more into our rich knowledge of the past, our Vedas, and other sources of knowledge, we also need to introspect why we lost all this in the first place, and why do we turn to foreign writers to learn about our own past.
A large part of this reason of course is the fact that for 200 years of British Raj we were schooled into dismissing our great ancient past. But now we have had almost 70 years of independence, today we celebrate our 67th republic day, the present generation has been born and brought up in independent India, with no shackles of being continuously told how we are inferior and meant only to serve the "white masters".
our national pride is at an all time high, and we are now globally recognised as a country with brains! Time is now ripe for our education system also to break the shackles of the outdated Macauley system of learning, and to encourage the true spirit of enquirer, scientific thinking, pathbreaking research and innovation right from school level.
We also need to respect divergent thinking and go back to the tradition of shastrarth- the sprit of free debates where learned men where free to introspect and fearlessly share their ideas, that is the atmosphere which will once again foster creativity.
While we learn from the past, let's also remember that our great gurus gave this rich leagcy, not by resting on the glories of the past, but by questioning it, challenging it, and by inventing, innovating, creating.
So let's be proud of our legacy, but let's not treat it like a holy cow, and something sacred - let's examine it and learn from both the good and bad
As I write this,the news about women planning to walk into the inner sanctotum of the shani temple is playing on the tv amid local protest against breaking of this tradition and the police bandobast there.
This is the disconnect between life and religion that we are living with today, where one of us can become a prime minster, an army officer, a world badminton champion, a doctor, a ceo, but cannot enter some temples !
If our ancient glory is to be regained, then we have to restore the faith of all in our dharma, and that can only happen if we give equal status to all - regardless of gender, caste, colour, religion etc.
Sorry long post, but I got carried away by the wonderful topic you chose and the spirit of the republic day!
Edited by Arshics - 9 years ago
Music Corner
