West Bengal, India: Under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge Systems (CoE-IKS), IIT Kharagpur organized an international conference on Indian Knowledge Systems – The Bharata Tirtha II from 14th to 18th June, 2022 in association with department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur and key knowledge partners including Indian History Awareness and Research (IHAR) Houston, USA, IHAR India, DHARA, Ode to Indian Knowledge System, the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, Government of India. The conference which is a continuation of the programme Bharata Tirtha – I organized in November 2020 in association with Ministry of Education, was conducted in a hybrid mode in Gargi-Maitreyi Auditorium Complex of the Institute. The invocation ceremony witnessed the footfall of eminent speakers and experts including Mrs. Priyanka Chandra, Director, Ministry of Culture, Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; and Prof Amit Patra, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur.
With Bharata Tirtha II, IIT Kharagpur has proclaimed that Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) is not a nostalgia of the past but seeks the relevance of the primitive cultures of traditional knowledge systems & ancient wisdom in contemporary times. IKS synergizes modern scientific knowledge with Indian art, architecture, sociology, culture and language as envisaged by National Educational Policy 2020. It should not be just a value additive process, but a main stream pedagogy for the future generations.
Prof V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur stated, ‘Bharata Tirtha II has forwarded the narratives, the folklore and deep ecosystems that embed our heritage systems, heritage tourism as a deep pilgrimage and the assimilation of cultures beyond races and genetics dethroning both racial biostatistics and eugenics that so far guarded the erroneous Aryan Invasion Myth. IIT Kharagpur in association with Ministry of Culture will soon plan a series of programs under DHARA – the flow for Indian Knowledge Systems to take the relevance of ancient Indian wisdom to various colleges and school children in the country.’
Prof. Joy Sen, the Convener of the conference and the Chairman of the chairperson of the Centre of Indian Knowledge System, IIT Kharagpur remarked, ‘The emphasis on creative economy based on the eternal principles of Indian community ethos of ‘Small is beautiful’, ‘restraint based on less in more’ based on farm and cottage stead economies, is a solution to the looming economic crisis in the modern age. The current advances in Quantum Sciences, Quantum Biology and Astrophysics begin to match the ancient wisdom of Indian Sages based on the principles of involution and evolution, Krishna and Sukla (black and white) lineages of Cosmology and the evolution of consciousness in it.’
