Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) represent a repository of indigenous knowledge that remains relevant in modern contexts, such as wellness, sustainability, and interdisciplinary research. IKS is a term that has come into vogue recently and its meaning might be mostly unclear to many lay persons.

What is IKS? Is it a new development in studies of epistemology or is it of ancient provenance? Is it mostly a qualitative and incoherent jumble of superstitions and stories about an imaginary India where everything was just fine? Or were we just untamed savages waiting for the white man to come and educate us and make us civilized and after we got educated, are we trying to imagine something glorious in the past and ascribe everything we know to IKS? Still, others note that the government of a secular country should not indulge itself or support an education system that is rooted solely in the religious and socio-cultural beliefs of one community, namely the Hindus, even if they account for 80% of India’s population today. Even here, the naysayers hold that IKS is the property of savarna Hindus, and it is by no means inclusive in nature.

The meaning of IKS can be described by the three words Indian, Knowledge, and Systems. By Indian, we mean the entire land that is called Bhāratvarsha, namely all the land between Kandahar and Mandalay, from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean, in today’s terminology consisting of all countries that are loosely clubbed together as South Asia. This is the geographical sacred space of Sanātana Dharma and when one refers to IKS, one refers to the knowledge systems that were developed and emanated from this sacred space. IKS uniquely belongs to Sanātana Dharma and may be enjoyed and appreciated by all who adhere to the principles of Dharma.

By Knowledge, we mean the entire corpus of written documentation and oral traditions accompanying Sanātana Dharma in addition to various allied bodies of knowledge that have accrued from experiences in day-to-day life, folklore, traditions, and customs that have enabled this sturdy civilization that is going strong after 5000 years, some say possibly longer. The written documentation is based around the 14 knowledge silos or chatrurdasa vidyasthanas, namely the four Vedas, the six darshanas, the epics, and the Puranas.

PurAna nyAya mimAngsA dharmshAstrAnga mishritAh |
VedAh sthAnAni vidyAnAm dharmasya cha chaturdasha ||

The Vedas are the blueprint and the Vedāngas, literally, the limbs of the Vedas, unlock the Vedas and make them accessible. The six Vedāngas are Siksha, Chhanda, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Jyotisha and Kalpa. These subjects were an integral and essential part of the ancient Vedic education system, aimed to promote an all-round development of the students with a better understanding of the Vedas and Vedic practices. The aspects from the Vedas that lead to better living for all are also a part of the knowledge corpus. These include the medicinal treatises of Chāraka and Susruta, the Arthasāstra of Chānakya, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, the Kāvyas of Kalidasa and others, Bharatā’s Natyasastra, Sārangadeva’s Sangita Ratnākara and the Rasa Ratna Samuchchaya of Vāgbhata and Nagārjuna, the study of chemistry and materials. This is just a sampling. There was a time when Sāmaveda, which is just one among the four Vedas, had over a thousand branches! It is practically impossible to collect and collate all of the knowledge available to us within the Sanatani tradition.

In the context of IKS, the term Systems refers to structured frameworks of thought, practices, and disciplines developed in ancient and classical India that span various fields of knowledge. These systems are holistic and interdisciplinary, addressing subjects such as philosophy, science, arts, medicine, and governance. The key components are Philosophical Systems (Darshanas etc), Medical Systems (Ayurveda, Siddha), Linguistic and Grammatical Systems (Pānini), Mathematical Systems, (Aryabhata, Varāhamihira. Brahmagupta, Bhāskara), Artistic and Aesthetic Systems:
Political and Economic Systems (Arthshāstra, Nitisastra), Environmental and Ethical Systems, Spiritual and Ritualistic Systems. Systems refer to the manner in which these items are integrated into a holistic unity that is both contextual and practical.

In summary, IKS is intimately connected with our ancient scriptures. The Nyāya Darshana, or school of thought, centres on logic and epistemology, emphasizing rational inquiry to attain knowledge and truth. Key features include methods of debate, valid sources of knowledge (perception, inference, comparison, and testimony), and techniques to distinguish valid reasoning from fallacies. Its foundation is in Indian philosophy for developing rigorous logical methods. IKS is similarly based on a methodology of rigorous questioning and rejection of fallacies that fail the tests of logic. In the context of the scientific disciplines, the Vaiseshika Darshana focuses on categorizing reality into fundamental elements or dravyas. It emphasizes atomism, proposing that all physical substances are composed of indivisible atoms. Key features include exploring six categories or padārthas: substance, quality, action, generality, particularity, and inherence, aiming for liberation or moksha through knowledge of these universal principles. The strong influence of holism is again shared with IKS which should be imparted with the goal of being able to solve advanced scientific problems of the modern age.

There is little doubt that the time is ripe for an educational revolution in India. For too long, we have struggled with a system that had its roots in the Macaulay dictum and was then further corrupted after independence by a situation where a very limited amount of funding was available to educate a population that was just around 12-18% literate. This number has risen to 77% today but let us remember that being technically literate does not mean that one is educated. We still limp along and there is little connection between formal education as expressed by a school or college degree and employability. The economic problem more or less spontaneously led to a social problem with the limited funding available for education being cornered by special interest groups with political influence—an educational jati system. This was formalized in the institutionalization of reservations, initially for the SC ST communities but later going up to a minimum of 49.5% across the country with the inclusion of the OBC group, and further delinking merit from outcomes (in Tamil Nadu this number is an absurd 69%). Realizing these almost insurmountable contradictions between aspirations and abilities, the governments of the day sporadically instituted various commissions to look into the education system and make recommendations, specifically in 1948, 1964, 1986, and most recently in 2020, the National Educational Policy (NEP 2020). Most of the recommendations of these committees never saw the light of day.
It is in this disappointing context that one must look at the Indic Knowledge System (IKS) initiative, which attempts in its own way, a reversal of the education pattern to a system that is more reminiscent of what prevailed in this country before Macaulay, in other words, to go back to a cognitive system that relied on holism, inductive logic, and intuitive thinking. Holism is the essence of IKS and it embodies the holistic and integrative wisdom of ancient India, covering diverse domains like science, art, medicine, philosophy, and spirituality. Unlike modern Indian education, which often focuses on rote memorization and standardized testing, IKS nurtures critical thinking, contextual knowledge, and values-based education.

Rooted in texts like the Vedas and Upanishads, IKS emphasizes experiential learning, ethics, interconnectedness, and lifelong inquiry. There is no doubt that IKS is derived from Sanātana Dharma, and no one should artificially try to conflate it with woke ideas of Nehruvian secularism or try to integrate it with concepts that are unique to the Abrahamic faiths. The twain do not intersect, and IKS is and will only be a part of the Hindu Rashtra that is eagerly awaited by an overwhelmingly large section of our population, namely the 80% Hindus of India. IKS is based in the Hindu religion and as such it cannot be interpreted within the rubric of Abrahamic faiths.

India’s NEP 2020 recommends integrating the IKS into the educational curriculum to promote a deeper understanding of the country’s traditional wisdom, sciences, languages, and cultural heritage. This includes learning about ancient sciences, arts, linguistics, philosophy, and environmental conservation practices, along with modern subjects. The goal is to foster holistic education, instill pride in India’s diverse heritage, and bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and contemporary learning methods.

Now, all this is very well but it simply restates what is known about the nature of IKS. How exactly do schools and colleges go about in this business and is it really possible to integrate IKS within a Macaulay system that is fundamentally different, in that the very cognitive processes in the two systems are diametrically opposite? One option is to not even try and mix these two streams but rather set up universities like Nalanda University or Rishihood University to operate wholly within the IKS pattern, more or less like Jewish Yeshivas that are based on Talmudic principles, and yet are able to turn out graduates that easily take their place in the secular world outside. Operationally, an IKS curriculum needs appropriate teachers and at present, we see the need for teachers with expertise in three different areas: (i) the domain expertise in the subject being taught; (ii) the Sanskrit language, and; (iii) a working knowledge of the Vedas. It will be difficult to find people with simultaneous expertise in all three areas till two or so generations of IKS students graduate at the PhD level. Faculty in IKS departments need therefore to be wisely chosen.

The Government of India needs to actively fund IKS programmes in private universities because many extraneous political factors might creep in if IKS is aggressively pushed in public universities especially state universities in Tamil Nadu and other places. IKS should be taken forward in as many places where there is eagerness and willingness to learn subjects through IKS. Once it is seen that there are employment opportunities for IKS-trained graduates, its popularity and relevance are bound to grow.

Overall, for IKS to be a practical reality in India, we need a civilizational reworking, in other words integrating India’s re-awakening with respect to its identity. IKS cannot be treated as a purely educational exercise, nor even as a subpart of the overall educational policy of the country as most recently articulated in NEP 2020. IKS can only have viability and relevance when a nation-state, namely India, remakes itself as a civilizational state, namely Bhārat.

This is a major exercise that needs reforms in all aspects of governance: the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature. The reforms should be directed towards a redefinition of the country as a Hindu Rashtra. For, if Sanātana Dharma lives, Bhārat lives—if Sanātana Dharma dies, Bhārat dies. Education can and must be viewed as a part of a grand design in which a country comes out of a millennium of physical, mental, intellectual, and above all, civilizational servitude.

The colonial mindset that has persisted even after 75 years of independence from Britain has been a really serious problem in India partly because the upper echelons of decision makers, the highest-level politicians and bureaucrats, were largely Macaulayist in their thinking till the mid-1970s, conservatively speaking. The diplomatic and organizational aspects of governance were, inter alia, gravely impaired. The matter of the rediscovery of India and its remaking as Bhārat its origins in the very nature of Sanātana Dharma.

The civilizational revolution is an immediate and short-term priority. The several policy and governmental changes during the past decade can only increase the feelings of self-confidence and self-pride among vast sections of Indians. We are mostly concerned here with the effects of the civilizational and cultural revolution on bringing in a dharmic educational system, governance institutions, and overall social regulation that will give a long-term, resilient thrust to India’s economic expansion. It is in this context that IKS should be considered, and its practitioners should ideally be aware that the synergy of IKS with the overall movement towards a Hindu Rashtra can certainly lead to a fundamental change in our educational policies for the better.

Gautam Desiraju is Professor Emeritus in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

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