Code Swaraj
thought to knowledge in India, but I have been touched and pleased with how well my efforts have been received and wish to redouble those efforts.
It is my firm belief that if there is to be a global revolution in universal access to all knowledge, a decolonization of knowledge, then India is the place in the world best positioned to lead that revolution. I close with two anecdotes that illustrate why I believe this is so.
I was struck very much by a passage in Dr. Kaviraj Nagendranath Sengupta’s 2-volume The Ayurvedic System of Medicine, a classic work in Bengali that was translated into English in 1901. Sengupta was the scion of a family of noted vaidyas and Sanskrit scholars who had long practiced in Kolkata. In his introduction he stated “knowledge in this country has never been bartered for money. The sale of knowledge has been condemned by the Hindu Scriptures.”
That resonated with me. Indeed, on the cover of every one of the Indian Standards I posted, I had inscribed the words from Bhartrhari’s Nitisatakam, “knowledge is a treasure which cannot be stolen.” I had not expected to see that in an 1901 Ayurvedic textbook, but of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Sengupta-ji then surprised me again, for he went on to quote Lord Francis Bacon’s classic text The Advancement of Learning. Bacon said that the practice of making knowledge should not be a “shop for profit, or sale” but that rather knowledge should be “a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man’s estate.”
Dr. Sengupta then dove deep into the classic texts, explaining how it worked in ancient times:
“He who has acquired proficiency in any branch of knowledge is bound to impart it to deserving pupils who wish to master it. Professors have not only to teach but even to feed and shelter their pupils as long as the latter stay with them. The rich and well-to-do of the land always do their best to support the learned who are engaged in teaching.”
One of course must take that principle with a grain of salt. As Shamnad Basheer reminded me, many Brahmins carefully protected access to religious texts, going so far as to punish any shudras who happened to hear them by filling their ears
with molten lead. However, I do stand by the proposition that access to knowledge, despite the prohibitions of caste and other barriers, is a principle that runs deep in the history of India.
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