Bridging Vedic Science and Modern Tech

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Past tense, future perfect for BORI

 

Vijay Bhatkar, RA Mashelkar, Lila Poonawala and PP Chhabria to help

Sanskrit scholars change Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute's

face.

"The Sanskrit scholars and scientists will bridge the gap between

vedic science and modern technology and attempt to portray several

aspects of Indological history and culture."

 

By Avantika Bhuyan

 

Pune, July 6: TWO years ago, when the Bhandarkar Oriental Research

Institute (BORI) was in a shambles after it was ransacked by people

who felt its scholars should not have helped American author James

Laine write a book on Shivaji, hardly anybody would have expected

the institute to bounce back, much less steam ahead.

 

Even as the institute celebrated its 90th anniversary on Thursday,

it became a meeting ground for scientists and Sanskrit scholars. In

a unique venture, computer wizard Vijay Bhatkar and Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research Director General R A Mashelkar

recently sat with BORI scholars to draw up a plan to revamp the

institute.

 

 

 

The idea is a new-look institute 10 years hence. "The institute

should become the most prominent centre in Indological studies when

we celebrate our centenary in 2016," says treasurer Vasanta Gadgil.

 

The Sanskrit scholars and scientists will bridge the gap between

vedic science and modern technology and attempt to portray several

aspects of Indological history and culture. "We will study the

knowledge we have in metallurgy, medicine and agriculture and take

Vedic sciences ahead with the help of the latest technology," says

ex-deputy director of National Chemical Laboratory G T Panse, who is

a member of a special committee set up at BORI.

 

Other invitees to the committee are DeLaval chairperson Lila

Poonawalla, Finolex CMD PP Chabbria and Mashelkar who says, "I was

told about being a part of this project by Dr Bhatkar and I am happy

to be involved."

 

To push this, BORI is seeking to raise Rs 10 crore over the next 10

years. For starters, they have a corpus of Rs 50 lakh and will try

to add Rs 1 crore every year.

 

The funds will be channelised to modernise the infrastructure,

install new DTP centres and build an international hostel. "Plans

are to build a museum for Indological studies. We will try to

showcase how languages in India developed, the basis for different

cultures and how the Aryans travelled to the country," says Bhatkar.

 

The museum also aims to instill a sense of pride among Indians. "We

will showcase India's contribution to science, maths and culture in

ancient times," adds Bhatkar.

 

Other plans include renovation and digitisation of the library,

which houses more than 1,10,000 books and a huge manuscript

collection.

 

"These books are being codified and classified. Soon we will also be

connected to big libraries in the world," says Gadgil. The institute

is almost through with the Mahabharat project with an English

translation for the layman to understand.

 

Bhatkar is also working on a special project to prove that Aryans

were not invaders.

 

"Recent studies by eminent historians show that the theories of

Aryan invasion are wrong, their culture existed in India," says

Bhatkar. The topic will be researched at BORI and one of the studies

being referred to is In Search Of The Cradle Of Civilisation by

Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak and David Frawley.

 

Publishing of old and rare manuscripts will also be taken up. "One

such work in Sanskrit by Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje called

Budhabhooshan was published by BORI in 1926. We will be publishing

it in English," says Gadgil.

 

About BORI

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune was founded

on July 6, 1917, in memory of Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837-

1925), founder of scientific orientology with its critical,

comparative and historical methods.

 

In the last year alone, BORI restored 20,000 books and published six

works.

 

A laboratory to preserve rare manuscripts was started and so far,

around 6,000 pages have been processed in this lab.

 

Research on how to preserve palm leaf manuscripts is on.

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