From the times of Macaulay till today, we Indians have been told that western education is the pathway to success. We have been constantly reminded of the superiority of western maths and science. Unfortunately many Indians blindly imitate the West and when Western authority is challenged, they react in an insular and ignorant manner.
From the times of Macaulay till today, we Indians have been told that western education is the pathway to success. We have been constantly reminded of the superiority of western maths and science. Unfortunately many Indians blindly imitate the West and when Western authority is challenged, they react in an insular and ignorant manner.
The cover story in this issue tries to critically re-examine the history of western mathematics and science. In a thought provoking contribution C K Raju, who has deeply studied cultural foundations of mathematics and has thrown new light on the practicalities in Indian mathematical tradition and also non secular Christian theological connections with foundations of European Mathematics, explains how a truly universal mathematics and science can be taught in our universities.
In the evolution of philosophical traditions of Tamil Nadu there is considerable literature on Nayanars and Alwars who pioneered the Bhakti movement but very little is known about another trend – that of Siddhas. These early-age wandering saints have contributed a lot to our medicine, science and literature. We carry an article in this issue to get an overview of Siddhas.
A young contributor Srinath, has questioned the traditional popular narrative of Mahabharat where Duryodhana is painted in black while Pandavas are painted as paragons of virtue. He finds gray as the leitmotif of the main characters of Mahabharat as life itself is gray rather than black and white.
In the Events section we have reproduced a letter to Ghadar Jari Hai by the Late Prof U R Ananthamurthy where he philosophically points out that “renewal of the people of an ancient nation like ours lies in neither rejecting the past, nor in reviving the past, nor in entirely manipulating our future as we desire it in our immediate greed”.