communicate objections to the director IIT

communicate objections to the director IIT

Started
26 December 2021
Petition to
Director (IIT Kharagpur)
Signatures: 2,760Next Goal: 5,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Ashish Ranjan

To,
The Director,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur

Dear Sir,

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has published a calendar for 2022 that aims at “Recognition of the Secret of the Vedas”, “Reinterpretation of the Indus Valley Civilisation” and “Rebuttal to the Aryan Invasion Myth”. We find that it is filled with conjectures about the antiquity and authorship of the Vedas without any hard evidence in support. At important places it has cited from Time Magazine, Down To Earth Magazine and National Geographic For Scholars but none from any scholarly articles on the subject. Statements such as “A long evolutionary sequence of literature, and cultural and spiritual texts are evident prior to the birth of the Buddha and the Mahavira. It must have taken a few 1000 years to achieve that. From the early Vedic Srutis (oracular form) before it took the form of literature to later Vedic Age and Puranic literature, it is definitely few 1000 years” is made without any reference to scholarly articles on the subject.

The problem with attributing a date and authorship to the Vedas is that there is no hard evidence regarding when and who composed them originally in the oral form before they began to be written down around 500 BCE. Similarly there is no credible evidence at present regarding the link between the intellectual achievements of the Harappan civilisation and the Vedic civilisation because the script of the former is yet to be deciphered. The calendar, therefore, relies on conjectures about the symbols and figures in the seals of the Harappan civilisation and the verses in the Rig Veda to say that there was a link between the two. However, this kind of conjecture about history is not the sphere of work of an institute of technology. Even if it wants to delve into ancient history it must either focus on the history of technology in ancient India or seek out hard scientific evidence about the history of the formation of civilisation in India. This Calendar has unfortunately done neither. “The Aryan Question” is a contentious historical subject and one of the most complex questions in Indian history.

Recent research (see paper titled  "The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia" in Science, September 6, 2019)   by 117 scientists across the world including some from India on the genetic sequencing of 523 ancient humans establishes the following -

1. The first humans came into India about 60,000 years ago.
2. These humans spread across the Indian subcontinent.
3. More humans came into India from present day Iran about 4000 BCE and along with the earlier ones initiated the Harappan civilisation which later declined most probably due to drought about 2000 BCE.
4. After this there was further migration of humans from the central asian steppes into north India around 1800 BCE.
5. The Harappans migrated south after the collapse of their civilisation and intermingled with the earlier inhabitants there and they also intermingled with the new migrants coming in from the Central Asian steppes.

However, this does not provide any evidence regarding the dates and authorship of the intellectual development that took place during this time which still remains a matter of research.

Under the circumstances, it does not behove IIT Kharagpur to publish conjectures regarding these matters which is not the core area of its work in the form of a calendar without providing any hard evidence in support.

We, the alumni of this institution, strongly condemn this effort by IIT Kharagpur to pass off dubious conjecture as established science in this calendar.

 

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Decision Makers

  • Director IIT Kharagpur