OCHS Weblog

Times of India, ZINIA SEN, 24 Oct, 2006 

With Cambridge closing its doors on Sanskrit, will this signify the death of the subject?  Old is gold. That’s what we were made to believe half our lives. But the turn of events of late has provoked a brain racking session even from those who hate thinking one bit. With Cambridge closing the doors on Sanskrit, we are left brooding over one question. Has the Oriental language fallen from grace? 

Arindam Biswas, who is doing masters in the subject at the Calcutta University, says that there’s demand for the subject in suburban Bengal. “I’m from Bongaon and there are many schools near the place where I live. There is demand for Sanskrit but there’s hardly anyone to teach the language. Bongaon Dinabandhu College, that had a pass course in Sanskrit, has introduced an honours course since last year,” says Biswas. So, does he plan to try his hands there once he’s over and done with his studies? “We’ve got 162 students doing masters at CU. Not everyone would be able to become a lecturer or a school teacher.” Is there any other career option? “I don’t think so. You are not left with many choices. I’ve heard that in Uttar Pradesh, banks employ people who pursue Sanskrit. But I’ve no clue about the authenticity of this news.” 

There are also many small pockets in our educational system that are trying their best to keep the interest in the subject alive through teaching vedas and creating an ambiance apt for studying the language, in terms of dress code and discipline. Achintya Mukhopadhyay, supervisor of Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Samaskrita Siksha Samsad that’s located in Southern Avenue, says that Sanskrit can never be a dead subject. “In our five-six outfits across the city, we have around 100 students who religiously learn vedas along with the other texts that are a part of the Madhyamik syllabus,” he quips. Nudge him on the career issue and Mukhopadhyay says, “No learning goes to waste.

After learning seriously, one can always take up teaching earnestly.” Sudarshan Roychowdhury, West Bengal’s minister for higher education, lashes out when asked whether Sanskrit is a dead subject. “If the parameter for measuring whether a subject is alive or dead is its market value, how many subjects can actually be called alive? If one sees the figure in the school service commission, one will find out that there’s a demand for Sanskrit teachers in schools. For the demand of lecturers in colleges, one has to check out the college service commission. If you ask why aren’t there any other career option then I’ll ask you to point out one subject that has that option. Cambridge was probably not getting adequate students which led them take a decision like that,” says Roychowdhury. Well, it’s time to celebrate. For once, we are not following the West. 

www.pib.nic.in

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 26, 2006: The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005 is now in effect. The Ministry of Women and Child Development issued a notification the law would be enforced beginning October 26. The Act was passed Parliament in August of last year and assented to by the president in September. However, implementation was pending as detailed consultations were required between agencies for framing the rules. Primarily meant to provide protection to the wife or female live-in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives, the act extends its protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers. Domestic violence under the act includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands to the woman or her relatives would also be covered under this definition.

Oxford: If you want to study Hinduism, you might have to go to England for the best course. The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies has now been recognised as an independent centre for studies on Hindu tradition and philosophy.

The status has made the centre’s association with the University more formal and it becomes the only academic institution in Europe and one of the first in the world dedicated to a study of this kind.

“This is the first such centre of its kind in the world at this level of scholarship that is so multidisciplinary that’s a big accolade especially for Oxford, 50 years after it was the centre for training the imperialist approach the older civil service of the Raj,” Director, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Shaunaka Rishi Das says.

The centre, established seven years ago works closely with Oxford’s theology department and conducts programmes in philosophy, history, anthropology, Sanskrit and even music. And as the Centre’s director explains, it’s not a Hindu centre, but a centre for Hindu studies.

“Its an important distinction. It means it’s not sectarian or political. People from every religious tradition or none can come and study Hinduism in its breadth. When we say Hinduism, especially in India, they want to back off,” Das says.

The centre also hopes to develop exchange and scholarship programmes with Indian universities soon. The students come from all over the world including third generation Indians from US and Britain.

“Hinduism is a field that hasn’t been studied academically especially with science. Here we are able to create resources, have professors, study this in an environment that is conducive,” a student from the US, Gopal Gupta says.

From: rediff News October 25 2006

A team of scientists has digitally restored a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing key aspects of the Dvaita philosophy in Hinduism.

The team, led by P R Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, were working on the Sarvamoola granthas, a manuscript attributed to 13th century scholar Madvacharya. The collection of 36 works had been damaged over the centuries by inappropriate storage, botched preservation efforts and degradation because of improper handling. It contains commentaries in Sanskrit on sacred Hindu scriptures and conveys Madvacharya’s Dvaita philosophy, which addresses the meaning of life and the role of God.

“It was crumbling to dust, literally at my guru’s matha (monastery) in Udupi, India,” said Mukund, the Gleason professor of electrical engineering at the university, who studies and teaches Hinduism informally outside the university.

The story began last year when Mukund visited his longtime guru in Udupi and was told of the decrepit condition of the invaluable scriptures. “My guru had vaguely heard of some restoration work of some other ancient Hindu scriptures by some American university. He wanted to know if I could come up with any solution,” he said.

Mukund felt it a vital request to address. “I started saying to myself, ‘Let me try and do something before these invaluable scriptures are totally disintegrated,”‘ he said.

Once he was back in New York, Mukund sought the expertise of his colleague Easton, who had imaged the Dead Sea Scrolls and is currently working on the Archimedes Palimpsest. In turn, Easton a professor at RIT’s Chester F Carlson Center for Imaging Science, brought in Keith Knox, an imaging senior scientist at Boeing LTS as a consultant. Mukund added Ajay Pasupuleti, a doctoral candidate in microsystems at RIT.

Once the team was formed, the scientists traveled to India in December last year to make preliminary assessments of the documents. “Helped by a grant of $20,000 by the RIT, of which we have spent $18,000 for expenses, we went to Udupi in June for about a week to image the document,” Mukund said.

The scientists used a scientific digital camera and an infra-red filter to enhance the contrast between the ink and the palm leaf. Images of both sides of each palm leaf were captured in eight to ten sections, processed and digitally stitched together.

Easton, who also traveled to India with the team, said he was happy to be part of the project. ‘This has also been one of the most enjoyable projects in my career since the results will be of great interest to a large number of people in India,’ he said.

The processed images of the scriptures that was completed last week will be stored in a variety of media formats, including electronically, in published books and on silicon wafers that are both fire-proof and water-proof, for long term preservation.

Mukund said he and Pasupuleti would go to India next month to give printed and electronic versions of the scriptures to the monastery in Udupi at a public ceremony in Bangalore. “We feel we were blessed to have this opportunity to do this. It was a fantastic and profoundly spiritual experience and we came away cleansed,” he said.

For now Mukund is looking forward to funds to image other Dvaita manuscripts in the Udupi region written since the time of Madhavacharya. There are some 800-odd palm-leaf manuscripts, including some in private collections, in the region, and they all came from the Dvaita school of thought, he said.
Mukund said the team was now trying to raise some $300,000 to employ one scholar in the US and another in Udupi so that the work can be done without the cost of travel.
 ”We hope that with generous help from Indian Americans we can completely digitise the whole thing. After all, these manuscripts are repository of great knowledge.”

A team of scientists has digitally restored a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing key aspects of the Dvaita philosophy in Hinduism.The team, led by P R Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, were working on the , a manuscript attributed to 13th century scholar Madvacharya. The collection of 36 works had been damaged over the centuries by inappropriate storage, botched preservation efforts and degradation because of improper handling. It contains commentaries in Sanskrit on sacred Hindu scriptures and conveys Madvacharya’s Dvaita philosophy, which addresses the meaning of life and the role of God.

Dear all,Week three already. This week we have:

Dear all,Week two begins. There is the Sanskrit lunch at Balliol today at 1.00 and the following in the rest of the week:

Dear All,Welcome to a new term at Oxford and a new term at OCHS, particularly a very warm welcome to all new students who are joining us for the first time and to our visiting Shivdasani Fellow Professor Narasimhacary.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

LONDON, ENGLAND, October 12, 2006: In 1831, or 175 years ago, Cambridge University started teaching Sanskrit. Now the university has made an administrative decision to refrain from offering the ancient language as part of its Oriental undergraduate program. Dr. John Smith, who has taught Sanskrit for 22 years at Cambridge, expresses his perspective on the decision, “There are some subjects simply worth doing. This is a language that has been going 3,000 plus years and hasn’t stopped yet. You cannot understand the culture of the Indian sub-continent and the world outside it without learning Sanskrit. ” Dr. Gordon Johnson, Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge, insists that, “South Asian Studies are thriving at the University of Cambridge and an agreed plan for their expansion is underway. Students continue to study specialist papers with a South Asian content in History, Geography, Economics, Social and Political Sciences, Social Anthropology, Divinity and Archaeology.” However, according to the news release Smith warns that when he retires and his Sanskrit-scholar colleague does as well, a dozen years from now, Cambridge may be left with no one to teach this liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism and Janinism.

cities.expressindia.com

AHMEDABAD, INDIA, September 28, 2006: Modi continues to court controversy, states this article. This time, it is his Government’s decision to include Jainism into the Hindu fold that has unleashed a debate among the community members. While Ahmedabad witnessed dharnas (akin to “sit -ins”) and agitations, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara remained relatively quiet. In Ahmedabad, this decision is not welcomed by community leaders. According to Shobhagmal Kataria, president of Bharat Jain Maha Mandal (Gujarat), the main issue is the Government has termed Jainism as one of the denominations of Hinduism. “We have no problem people converting from Jainism to Hinduism or vice-versa. But to say that Jainism and Buddhism are part of Hinduism is ridiculous. It seems that the Government is not aware of reality,” he said. At a dharna held at the Town Hall o n Thursday, members of Jain and Buddhist communities gathered under the banner of ‘Committee to Fight Against Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act’ to register their protest.

In other areas, Jains are split on the bill. “Jains have welcomed the Bill. Jainism is very much part of Hinduism. I do not see any protest in this regard,” said Vijay Rupani. Leading businessmen are also in support of the Modi Government. “We support the Bill. There is nothing wrong in it,” said Chandrakant Sheth, a businessman and a Jain leader from Rajkot. Sheth added, “The Modi government had the consent of Jain leaders before taking the step. In Surat, Jain leaders claimed that Jainism and Hinduism run parallel to each other and Vadodara has remained quiet.

Bauman Rare Books, New York, has posted the following in its NY Times advert:

“The Bhagavad Gita: Circa 1770. Beautifully illuminated Sanskrit manuscript of ‘one of the greatest and ost beautiful of the Hindu scriptures’, containing 26 exquisite full-page miniatures, hand-painted and heightened with gold. $16,000.”

Any takers?