Culture

[This paper was submitted to the Swadeshi Indology Conference held in Chennai (December 2017)]

Dr. B G L Swamy

[This paper was submitted to the Swadeshi Indology Conference held in Chennai (December 2017)]

It was this enduring, prosperous and robust temple ecosystem that the first wave of alien Muslim armies encountered when they knocked on the doors of Bharatavarsha. The incisive historian and scholar, Sita Ram Goel describes[i] this encounter vividly:

Introduction

The conception, origin, evolution, and development of temples as physical, architectural structures is perhaps as old as the dawn of human civilisation as we know it. Temples represent one of the finest, deepest, grandest, and most profound expressions of the Human Spirit of awe, wonderment, and a timeless yearning for spirituality, philosophy, art and creativity etched in stone, wood, and other mediums.

The author wrote this open letter as part of a recent assignment. The letter summarises and adds to his earlier essays on related topics. The assignment was to “Imagine that the Prime Minister has sought your advice for institutionalising Ayurveda in India and abroad. He wants you to tell him the current challenges and solutions to overcome them.” – Editors

Dear Prime Minister,

In 1957, the Central Government constituted a commission under the leadership of renowned linguist Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji. Great scholars like Dr. V Raghavan, Panditaraja V S Ramachandra Shastri, and Prof. S K De were its members. The findings of mega report – comprising more than three hundred pages prepared by the committee after travelling to the nooks and corners of the country for a year, consulting hundreds of institutions and thousands of scholars, and researching the data – would surprise even a hater of Sanskrit, and he would melt.

Having borne the title of Śatāvadhāni, I’m often referred to as having a ‘computer mind.’ Whether this is done out of affection or ignorance, it causes me a great deal of embarrassment. It’s true that the art of avadhāna is a special one and gaining any level of mastery over it, is remarkable. Perhaps devoid of nuanced understanding based on analysis of its internal and external facets, it is branded as a gigantic memory feat; this is an injustice to the art form.

It was on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1949 that India gave unto herself the Constitution; indeed a historical event for all Indians. We celebrate it as the Samvidhan Divas (Constitution Day of India) every year. The Constitution of India is one of the most detailed and lengthy constitutions in the world.

Swami Chinmayananda

A plain language summary of the paper is provided at the end for the benefit of the lay reader. -- Editors