IIT Madras Launches the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems

The Department of Humanities of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras launches a Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems. It will be focusing on key areas—astronomy and mathematics in India, Indian political thought, Vāstu and Śilpa-śāstra, Indian aesthetics and grammatical traditions, and architectural engineering.

The institute will also design and offer thematic-related courses to the students of IIT Madras. For wider dissemination, these courses will then be available on the NPTEL platform. With this Centre, the IIT aims to public quality research on the Indian Knowledge Systems. Students will also have the opportunity to collaborate with outside institutions and scholars.

In order to familiarize students as well as school teachers with different areas of Indian Knowledge Systems, the Centre will host workshops. They will also reach out to the public via social media posts, popular writings, and more.

The Centre was inaugurated by the president of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, and the director general of ICCR, Shri Kumar Tuhin. During his speech, Sahasrabuddhe talked about the need for research into India’s contribution to the fields of science, technology, linguistics, architecture, arts, culture, politics, and economics. These findings will then be disseminated to the public.

The Principal Investigator of the Centre is Dr. Aditya Kolachana. There are other faculty members of IIT Madras who will be involved with the Centre, including Pro. Aron Menon, Prof. Santosh Kumar Sahu, Prof. Manu Santhanam, Prof. Rajesh Kumar, Prof. Jyotimarya Tripathy, and Prof. Sudarsan Padmanabhan. The Indian Knowledge Systems Division of the Ministry of Education will fund the Centre.