The Revival of Interest in Ancient Knowledge Systems and the Issues Involved in the Management of Ancient Indian Knowledge Systems—The Advaita Sharada Project

摘要

Does knowledge from the past have a bearing on current thinking in science and technology? Will past knowledge enable lateral thinking among scientists and technologists? Will ancient thought - the process of thinking, help for instance in developing algorithms for deductive databases? Do the concise set of rules that have been formulated two millenniums ago by Maharshi Panini pertaining to the science of Sanskrit language, incorporating concepts of class, inheritance, scoping and superseding, have anything to teach present and future scientists? These are a few of the questions that some modern scientists and technologists have stalled asking, A few of them have also made attempts to learn Indian logic systems, linguistics, mathematical sciences, life sciences and medicinal sciences. Scientists and non-scientists are also looking at ancient knowledge to better understand the riddle of life, its purpose and its goal, in order to make human endeavour and living more meaningful and purposeful. It is well known that knowledge is in the minds of people, particularly so ancient knowledge. Knowledge and information stored in books or Pustakams are useful only to those who have some grounding in that "Sastra"- the religious or philosophical, or scientific treatise that constitutes the body of teaching in several diverse and distinct subjects. The seeker needs a teacher or guide, who is well versed and is willing to impart his knowledge. Even modern Knowledge management literature underscores the importance of "socializing". The Advaita Sharada project of Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, an institution of 1200 years' standing in the preservation and propagation of ancient Indian knowledge, is one of the early attempts in making ancient Indian knowledge available on the Internet, incorporating aspects of "socialization", "externalisation" and "combination", so that the seeker can "internalise" this knowledge over a period of time.