04-13-2006, 07:51 PM
from [url=http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?
main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit2%2Etxt&counter_img=2]Daily Pioneer[/url]
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Pioneer Edit Desk
It's heartening to note that a Japanese association has offered to rebuild the ancient university of Nalanda, now lying in ruins, into a global institute of learning and a centre of excellence. The Union Government should have undertaken the task of rebuilding Nalanda university to show case India's rich heritage and civilisational history. Other countries with far less resources but much greater pride in their past have tried to rejuvenate centres of excellence. For instance, Egypt has rebuilt the ancient library of Alexandria with single-minded determination, recreating the splendour that was ravaged by earthquakes and invaders thrice in history.
Today, Bibliotheca Alexandrina stands as a monument to Egypt's past and as a symbol of hope for its present and future generations. In India, however, there has been little or no effort to recreate the past apart from organising son et lumiere shows at historical sites for the entertainment of casual tourists. The compulsions of Congress-style 'secular' politics forged by leftists for whom India's history begins and ends with hagiographic tribute to Islamic invaders and marauders have prevented the Union Government as well as State Governments to build institutions for India's future on foundations of the past.
A classic example of 'secular' neglect is Nalanda university which has been virtually reduced to nothing more than a footnote of India's history by 'secular' historians and their political patrons; they would have succeeded in erasing the story of Nalanda entirely from the pages of our history had it not been for Buddhist pilgrims, most of them from Japan and other Sout-East Asian countries. What has now been proposed by the Japanese association should have been done by Government long ago.
After all, Nalanda university predates Al Azhar, the world's so-called oldest university: Between 5th and 12th Century AD, Nalanda boasted of 2,000 teachers, including scholars like Nagarjuna, and 10,000 students and was renowned as a centre of learning and Buddhist studies. In his lifetime, and before Nalanda gained its reputation as a residential university, Gautam Buddha visited the site several times and gave sermons near what is known as the mango grove of Pavarika.
During its heyday, Nalanda university enjoyed the patronage of powerful kings, notably Ashoka and Harshavardhana. The Tang dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuangzang's writings include detailed descriptions of academic life in Nalanda in the 7th century. If our 'secular' politicians are discomfited by the overtly religious syllabus of Nalanda university and are thus loath to rebuild it, they are horrified by the very thought of admitting that this ancient seat of learning was sacked in the 12th Century by Bakhtiyar Khilji whose dark shadow is presented in radiant colours by their kept historians.
And now that there is a Japanese offer to rebuild Nalanda as a centre of modern education, the same politicians are salivating at the prospect of subjugating yet another institution to identity politics: <b>Witness the alacrity with which Mr Ram Vilas Paswan has sought to link quotas with the proposed university even before the Japanese offer has been officially accepted.</b> Obviously, India is yet to learn any lessons from its history, least of all from the chapter on Nalanda.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit2%2Etxt&counter_img=2]Daily Pioneer[/url]
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Pioneer Edit Desk
It's heartening to note that a Japanese association has offered to rebuild the ancient university of Nalanda, now lying in ruins, into a global institute of learning and a centre of excellence. The Union Government should have undertaken the task of rebuilding Nalanda university to show case India's rich heritage and civilisational history. Other countries with far less resources but much greater pride in their past have tried to rejuvenate centres of excellence. For instance, Egypt has rebuilt the ancient library of Alexandria with single-minded determination, recreating the splendour that was ravaged by earthquakes and invaders thrice in history.
Today, Bibliotheca Alexandrina stands as a monument to Egypt's past and as a symbol of hope for its present and future generations. In India, however, there has been little or no effort to recreate the past apart from organising son et lumiere shows at historical sites for the entertainment of casual tourists. The compulsions of Congress-style 'secular' politics forged by leftists for whom India's history begins and ends with hagiographic tribute to Islamic invaders and marauders have prevented the Union Government as well as State Governments to build institutions for India's future on foundations of the past.
A classic example of 'secular' neglect is Nalanda university which has been virtually reduced to nothing more than a footnote of India's history by 'secular' historians and their political patrons; they would have succeeded in erasing the story of Nalanda entirely from the pages of our history had it not been for Buddhist pilgrims, most of them from Japan and other Sout-East Asian countries. What has now been proposed by the Japanese association should have been done by Government long ago.
After all, Nalanda university predates Al Azhar, the world's so-called oldest university: Between 5th and 12th Century AD, Nalanda boasted of 2,000 teachers, including scholars like Nagarjuna, and 10,000 students and was renowned as a centre of learning and Buddhist studies. In his lifetime, and before Nalanda gained its reputation as a residential university, Gautam Buddha visited the site several times and gave sermons near what is known as the mango grove of Pavarika.
During its heyday, Nalanda university enjoyed the patronage of powerful kings, notably Ashoka and Harshavardhana. The Tang dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuangzang's writings include detailed descriptions of academic life in Nalanda in the 7th century. If our 'secular' politicians are discomfited by the overtly religious syllabus of Nalanda university and are thus loath to rebuild it, they are horrified by the very thought of admitting that this ancient seat of learning was sacked in the 12th Century by Bakhtiyar Khilji whose dark shadow is presented in radiant colours by their kept historians.
And now that there is a Japanese offer to rebuild Nalanda as a centre of modern education, the same politicians are salivating at the prospect of subjugating yet another institution to identity politics: <b>Witness the alacrity with which Mr Ram Vilas Paswan has sought to link quotas with the proposed university even before the Japanese offer has been officially accepted.</b> Obviously, India is yet to learn any lessons from its history, least of all from the chapter on Nalanda.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->