Indian Knowledge System (IKS)

Indian Knowledge System (IKS) are complex knowledge systems that our ancestral communities have accumulated over many generations as a result of their interactions with the environment. It refers to a set of empirical information and ideas about how living things interact with one another and their environment that have been passed down culturally through generations of long-term inhabitants of a particular region. These were downplayed by the English rulers and went close to oblivion through the years of violence and oppression that we faced.

The Indian Government has launched a cutting-edge innovative cell called Indian Knowledge Systems under the Ministry of Education (MoE) to promote interdisciplinary research on all facets of IKS and preserve and promote the theories for further research and societal applications. IKS aims to reopen important files that were shut during the modernization and development process, delve into it and actively engage in spreading the rich knowledge that our country contains in every field of practice.

IKS & Education

IKS essentially teaches us how to ask questions. In what manner? To what extent? Our way of thinking will be directed and reoriented by fundamental sutras. The axiomatic beliefs that “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ” (the entire universe is a family) and “Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah ” (may all be happy) form the foundation of IKS’s new worldview.

Revival or reinforcement of IKS does not mean preservation of it as a new compartment of learning but rather to integrate it with contemporary knowledge. The integration process includes a basic overview of IKS, its nature and structure, scope, and history, as well as the incorporation of core IKS ideas into contemporary textbooks. Finally, Indian Thought models are developed based on the literature that is currently available in IKS, and are then applied to various modern problem-solving techniques. Changing the medium from preservation to utilization will help us to accomplish the goal of serving as a hub of emerging knowledge to the world.

IKS & Language

No knowledge exists without words. Language serves as the path of light to wisdom and all knowledge is intertwined with words. Therefore, language education has been considered an integral part of our education system. Indian languages are extremely important in the context of IKS or IKS-based education. The understanding of fundamental categories is necessary to comprehend the IKS. Terms from the Indian language are used to express these fundamental categories in any Indian Knowledge System. Translating the core ideas and theories into the English language would deplete the crux of it. As a result, Indian education should carefully balance IKS and Indian languages education to encourage high-quality research that promotes harmonious economic growth.

IKS has been a vast, unattended source of knowledge for many years. Even though some of it was being continued in teaching and learning in Sanskrit and other traditions, there has been no undivided attention to its power and knowledge. In order to get India to the peak of ancient and contemporary knowledge, integration is the key. And such harmonious integrations demand effort and certainty.