Wednesday, 1 May 2019

TISS and Indian Philosophy

The complete colonization of the westernised Indian mind.
(Vis Hindol Sengupta)
APPALLED to hear that TISS does not teach Indian philosophy. What a pathetic joke Indian education is. One should of course learn Western philosophy but to create a curriculum which purposely leaves out Indian philosophy is a scandal. This is criminal destruction of a civilisation's heritage of the mind. Amazing.

I had topped my class in the Philosophy paper in my first year at TISS. In the land of Shankaracharya and Buddha and in a school running in India, there was not one little smudge of Indian philosophy covered. Plato, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, Chomsky, Heidegger.

 

    1. New conversation
    1.  11 hours ago
      Last year I had the opportunity to interact with the Philosophy department students at Amrita University and I was blown over by their course material. Almost everyone had some background in Sanskrit and the others were teaching themselves that. Rooted Indic knowledge.
      10 replies154 retweets411 likes
       
       
       
    2.  11 hours ago
      Their course material included Indian Darshanas, ancient Indian sciences, Indian art and architecture. Absolutely rich material and that reflected in the quality of the students. Needless to say the foreign students knew way way more than I did about Indic philosophy.
      2 replies95 retweets305 likes
       
       
       
    3.  11 hours ago
      For instance Redfield's great n little traditions were combined with Shakta Tantric philosophy to understand temple rituals. Cannot imagine something like that at TISS or JNU. And everyone was unapologetic about the Hinduness of the philosophy. Clear n complete acceptance of it
      3 replies83 retweets256 likes
       
       
       
    4.  11 hours ago
      Philosophy was only an elective paper for me and also had to be contextually suited for a Development Studies student. So it's understandable that the whole richness of Indic philosophy would perhaps not find space in the syllabus. But it was just completely absent.
      2 replies66 retweets196 likes
       
       
       
    5.  11 hours ago
      What a shame that we study in India but are so completely cut off from our own rich history and philosophy, in our classrooms.
      7 replies118 retweets360 likes
       
       
       


 

    1. New conversation
    1.  11 hours ago
      Their course material included Indian Darshanas, ancient Indian sciences, Indian art and architecture. Absolutely rich material and that reflected in the quality of the students. Needless to say the foreign students knew way way more than I did about Indic philosophy.
      2 replies96 retweets308 likes
       
       
       
    2.  11 hours ago
      For instance Redfield's great n little traditions were combined with Shakta Tantric philosophy to understand temple rituals. Cannot imagine something like that at TISS or JNU. And everyone was unapologetic about the Hinduness of the philosophy. Clear n complete acceptance of it
      3 replies84 retweets259 likes
       
       
       
    3.  11 hours ago
      Philosophy was only an elective paper for me and also had to be contextually suited for a Development Studies student. So it's understandable that the whole richness of Indic philosophy would perhaps not find space in the syllabus. But it was just completely absent.
      2 replies66 retweets200 likes
       
       
       
    4.  11 hours ago
      What a shame that we study in India but are so completely cut off from our own rich history and philosophy, in our classrooms.
      7 replies119 retweets363 likes
       
       
       
      5. End of conversation
    2. New conversation
    1.  11 hours ago
      Replying to 
      Can you suggest some introductory reading material?
      4 replies1 like
       
       
       
    2.  10 hours ago
      I am not the best person to suggest this Abhinav as my reading is very scattered. But I would definitely suggest Andrew Nicholson's Unifying Hinduism.
      2 likes
       
       
       
      3. End of conversation
    3. New conversation
    1.  11 hours ago
      Replying to 
      referring to the one in Coimbatore?
      1 reply
       
       
       
    2.  11 hours ago
      No. The one in Kerala. Amritapuri.
      1 like
       
       
       
      3. End of conversation
    1.  6 hours ago
      Replying to 
      Amrita University coimbatore?
       
       
       
    1.  6 hours ago
      Replying to  
      🚲 which is shown to invented in 200 years back has been sculptured with a man riding it in our 2000 year old Temple
       
       
       
    1.  10 hours ago
      Replying to  
      Jai Sharda
       
       
       
    1.  11 hours ago
      Replying to 
      Wow thats a silver lining a cynic in me never hoped is possible. I too chose philosophy as one of my humanities electives. Most of it was about Kant, Plato and others mentioned above. That when India's known for its philosophers. Heard about Bhartuhari?
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