Genesis of the Trans-Disciplinary University, Bengaluru - Notes of a Founder Trustee.

Darshan Shankar

Abstract

Education systems in every society are closely linked to its political economy. The Indian education system carries unmistakable signs of unhealthy colonial influences. The adjective “unhealthy” is used not to object to colonial influence per se but to refer to the neglect of rich and diverse indigenous cultural, technological, intellectual and spiritual traditions. While transmission and transfusion of knowledge across cultures and modern nation States is a historical fact and a welcome phenomena, the author is of the view that the process of cultural exchange must be without overwhelming domination of colonial influences and utter suppression of indigenous genius and cultural diversity. A balanced cultural exchange is critical for healthy growth of any society.This essay narrates the genesis of the Trans-Disciplinary University. It is a critical dissent of the monoculture in higher education system in India.

1. Reflections on some limitations of the National Education System

The political and sociological history of modern education in India is a subject that deserves urgent attention. It is important because it may partially explain why the education system does not generate the diversity of knowledge and skills to effectively serve the cultural, ecological and economic interests of the agricultural, forest, fishing, mountain, desert communities that make up the Indian society.

Urgent attention is needed for two reasons. Firstly, because it is evident from historical facts that the modern National Education System we possess in India, was introduced or rather imposed in the early 20th century, on a culturally diverse society, by a colonial power. The system was not designed to serve Indians. It was a transplant of the content, form and categories of knowledge extant in UK. Subsequently in the post -independence period it appears to have been simply endorsed and continued till date with superficial changes in its implicit goals, form and content, by the ruling Indian political elites with tacit support of generations of academia, who were in fact products and beneficiaries of the system. The second reason for urgent review is that the National Education System generates a large part of the human resources who play leadership roles in social and economic transformation of the society.

Given the fact that there have been several reports of education commissions including the most recent one, adopted in 2020, one may raise a question, about the kind of review that this essay is suggesting and how it will be different from the several post-independence reviews led by experts conducted thus far?

The kind of review being proposed is different. It has been visualized from first principles of design for a new system. It is assumed that in a democratic society, the National Education System should be designed to serve needs of all the major cultural communities who constitute the society. The cultural communities in India are diverse. It is evident from history that the cultural outlook of communities of India has been influenced over time by several influences some indigenous, and others foreign. Thus, India like most countries possesses a pluralistic culture. In designing an education system, the needs of this plural culture encompassing all major resident communities needs to be taken into account irrespective of their economic and social status and historical origin. Their needs have to be assessed through a deeply participatory process. This kind of a consultation is complex. It will need to be structured and systematic in order to receive representative participation. The first step would be to identify the distinct ethnic and cultural communities whose educational needs are to be served. Their core needs will naturally be related to their different cultures and ecologies terrestrial and aquatic in which they reside. This is because for generations their lives, knowledge and skills have revolved around the resources available in their native habitats. Such a participatory design effort for building the pillars of the National Educational System has never been attempted.

The second step in the participatory process to build an Education System is, to have a fresh look at the goals of the system because its current goals were in large part articulated by colonial minds. The colonial goals appear to be in line with the European vision of nature, the social and political order and economic development. The inevitable consequence of adopting goals related to a European vision is that the cultural diversity within and across Indian communities and the development needs of hundreds of native habitats, were bound to be neglected. In fact, over the decades, data on loss of a range of cultural and ecosystem diversity reveals growing degrees of destruction of local languages, skills, knowledge and natural habitats. The author’s hypothesis is that this destruction is partially due to the skew in the euro-centric goals adopted by the National Education System. It is evident that the content, knowledge and skills for education in schools and universities were not built upon the rich diversity of knowledge and skills available with ethnic communities nor did it focus on development of native ecosystems. The curricula imposed on schools and universities in India instead focussed almost wholly on content drawn from western cultural and intellectual traditions and on the present and future requirements of the European communities. This is perhaps why Indian youth who graduate from the reputed institutions fit so well into western knowledge and economic institutions.

I believe a society-oriented education policy and system in any culturally diverse society, needs to adopt an adaptive, non-uniform, yet unified education model, that nurtures the evolving knowledge needs of culturally diverse communities, alongside the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial and aquatic habitats and ecosystems in which they have been living for centuries. Alongside this central goal, other important goals may include goals to develop strategies that create a national identity across diverse cultural communities and goals for helping learners to link with the international knowledge environment.

While one of the goals of a National Education System can certainly be global alignment with evolving European knowledge systems, this goal cannot be the dominant agenda in design of education systems. As mentioned above a National Education System needs to build upon the endogenous knowledge already available within communities living in a culturally rich, multi-ethnic society across diverse ecosystems like forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains and waterscapes. It also needs to draw upon facets in our culture that transcend space and time.

Thus, formulating goals and subsequently the form and content of an education system, has necessarily to be a carefully structured, participatory exercise which may be coordinated by a national commission but will need involvement of community representatives across ethnic and ecological geographies. The design of a such an Education System needs to be based on a creative interpretation of the principle of unity in diversity.

We could learn from analysis of indigenous education systems of the past. However a comprehensive study of the pre-colonial history of education in India has perhaps not been written, although there are many references about reputed centres of learning like Taxila (5 BCE) and several advanced centres of education established across India uptill 13 CE. Apart from such well-known centres which were supported by royalty, even today there exist many living oral traditions of deep learning, pertaining to philosophy, arts, crafts, sports, textiles, agriculture, metallurgy, medicine, across ethnic communities. These have also not been studied in depth.

In the recent past great contemporary thinkers like Gandhiji and Tagore’s did propose limited educational reforms expressed in their writing and experiments like Nai Talim and the Shanti Niketan university. There have also been deep scholarly historical reviews on different aspects of the evolution of indigenous knowledge traditions in fields like mathematics, logic, astronomy, religion, philosophy, health, agriculture, metallurgy, architecture arts and crafts. However, these studies have not influenced the content of education in schools and universities because they were not undertaken with the purpose of reforming the contemporary education system.

To summarize, the observed alienation and disconnect of education from society has its genesis in the recent colonial history of education. Today one needs to reassess and critique the goals adopted. Such a critique may help Indian educationists to see the major gaps in the cultural content of modern education system. The analysis may help educationists to undertake meaningful and diverse educational reforms, deeper in form, and content than have been attempted via the several National Education Commissions including NEP 2020 which has perhaps been the most consultative post-independence endeavour on educational reforms even though the consultation did not focus on cultural and ecological diversities.

In the paragraphs below I summarise my own limited social exposure to health sciences which constitute only one single facet of Indian cultural and intellectual traditions. Even this limited exposure to cultural diversity was so powerful that it inspired me to spend an adult lifetime working for educational reform which is being narrated in this essay. I pray that much more will be done by many others in multiple domains inspired by the cultural diversity and intellectual heritage of this country.

2. How I got drawn to the traditional health sciences of India

As an urbanite, I had studied the natural sciences in school, college and university. My formal education was inspired by western cultural & intellectual traditions. I was not exposed to any other form of knowledge. I did not know that other useful knowledge systems - indigenous ones - existed in an organised form in our society or that they were still functional and widely used by a vast number of people.

During my twenties, while working as a social activist, I lived in the Karjat tribal block, in Maharashtra for 12 years. There, for the first time in my life, I encountered medicinal plants and forests. I could not fail to notice, often with amazement, that the local Thakur, Mahadev Koli, and the Katkari tribals used many local plants and animals for health care. The methods of treatment I saw first-hand were incredible and impressed me deeply. Lactating mothers used Ipomoea mauritania (vidari kand) to enhance breast milk. The leaf of the common plant Calotropis gigantea (arka patra) was used to reduce in four days a testicle swollen to twice its size (presumably hydrocele): The latex of the same plant applied on the skin could draw out a thorn from deep within. The fruits of Terminalia bellirica (bibhitaka) were used to treat dry cough. The roots and bark of Holarrhena pubescens (kutaja) could cure dysentery. Helicteres isora (muradasinge in Marathi) could stop diarrhoea. The ‘touch-me-not’ plant (Mimosa pudica or lajjavanti) was used to stop uterine bleeding, and the juice of durva grass (Cynodon dactylon) could dissolve gall bladder stones.

I discovered that the tribals of this area knew the uses of over 400 plants, animals, birds and reptiles. The people who had access to and used this kind of knowledge were ordinary householders as well as more specialised village healers. Several households knew of home remedies for managing more than 30 common health conditions. Every village had a birth attendant (called sueen) and at least one other socially recognised healer whom the villagers called vaidu (healer). There were vaidus who specialised in treating snakebites, others specialised in treating broken bones, and there were those who treated veterinary problems. None of the vaidus depended on healing for their livelihood. They had other occupations and healing was only a social service, performed with ethical values that surpassed the most compassionate of city physicians.

Once, when a colleague of mine was suffering from a severe bout of jaundice, I consulted a vaidu. He promised to get me a remedy the next day. In fact he did not show up for two days. He then cheerfully explained that he had to go deep into the neighbouring forests to locate the herbs he needed. He had spent two whole days looking for the plant, which fully cured my colleague. The healer, however, did not ask to be compensated for the trouble he had taken. It was left to us to express our satisfaction in whatever way we could afford. In the tribal culture, no patient expects ‘free service’ and they show their gratitude by giving the healer some grain, a hen, or a bottle of the local brew; but all this is not demanded as a precondition for the service.

I asked university-based phytochemists and pharmacologists their opinion of these practices and if they could scientifically verify these remedies. I found out that they had no pharmacological or clinical data on the applications of these materials. In few cases, the chemistry of a plant was known and the biological activity of an active compound had been studied on rabbits or mice. This information was not sufficient to validate tribal practices. The tribals did not in fact use active compounds - they used flowers, fruits, bark, root, latex and gum, either in combination or in their entirety. Chemists and pharmacologists unfortunately did not know anything of the biological activity of the entire plant. The scientists I approached worked in reputed institutions like the IIT, the university of Bombay department of chemical technology and medical colleges. However, they could not help. They said they needed huge funds and several years of research to carry out systematic studies. Hence in my pursuit of validation for local health practices, I was led to the learned, scholarly traditional physicians of Ayurveda. The word Ayurveda itself means ‘Science of Life. The tribal’s also are carriers of the ‘knowledge of life, but their’s is an oral tradition and one that is purely empirical. I now learnt that AYURVEDA also existed in a codified form.

As an Indian citizen, my exposure to the rich culture and knowledge of my own people inspired me. I felt inspired by the decentralised nature of India’s health knowledge and its two streams one oral and carried by millions and the other codified by physician scholars. Rural India already appeared to have the futuristic ideal of ‘health in your own hands’ that social thinkers dream of. Every village household had the knowledge of dozens of common ailments and also of preventive and promotive health care aimed at introducing practices that result in holistic solutions. Along with this, every village has its own Grama-Vaidyas[1] who have the appropriate skills to manage most primary health problems.

It is extremely important to note that village based healers are not only rooted in the community, they are also supported by the community. The size of the Grama Vaidya tradition in any locality, and thus all over India, is so large that it is only the whole community that has the capacity to sustain the tradition. In the 1980s, on the recommendation of the WHO, the Health Ministry of Govt. of India made the mistake of declaring that they would pay Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) for every delivery conducted. It soon found out that state governments could not afford to pay the 600,000 TBAs of India. Nor was it easy for them to monitor & compensate them for their services. So today, the TBAs of India continue to be paid by their own communities.

I also felt proud to see that, apart from the Grama Vaidya tradition, there was another stratum to the Indian medical heritage. This comprised the codified traditions, which are based on sophisticated theoretical foundations. There is evidence to show that these codified traditions always enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the village based healing traditions.

From the Karjat Tribal experience, & exchange of information with grassroot NGO’s in other parts of India. I could infer that Indian medical traditions have an amazingly large resource base. In the Karjat tribal block itself, which covers an area of 30 sq km in a dry, deciduous forest, the tribals had knowledge of the medicinal uses of around 400 plants and a dozen birds and animals, and across the country more than 6500 species are used by rural communities.

But along with this inspiration, I also felt anger that this wisdom and these traditions were being neglected. The younger generation in Karjat was not keen to be apprenticed to healers, and respect for the local vaidu (healer) tradition outside the tribal setting was quite low. Even in the institutionalised tradition I observed that the level of self-confidence and self-esteem of vaidyas, hakims and siddhars[2] (who are India’s physican-scholars) is quite low. This is because educated Indians do not regard them as highly as they deserve. I asked myself why mainstream students and teachers in schools and universities do not engage in studying indigenous knowledge when it is so rich and relevant; or why outstanding physicians of the villages or codified systems are not sufficiently respected and honoured in their society. I was saddened by the fact that in our health policies and systems, ethnic communities are not encouraged to use their amazing innovations based on ecosystem resources.

These feelings kindled in me a desire to do something to revitalise Indian medical traditions and demonstrate their contemporary relevance. Thus, the years since 1984 have been spent in trying to work at the grassroots as well as regional and national levels in the pursuit of this dream. In 1993, with the help of a very open-minded telecommunications engineer, who is also a great nationalist, I established the Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT). FRLHT has done some pioneering work in conserving the plant resource base of Indian medicine. It has also built up valuable databases on the traditional codified knowledge of plants and built laboratories to bridge traditional knowledge and science. In rural areas, the foundation has initiated pilot projects – like certification and accreditation of folk healers. In 2011 with help from TATA Trust, FRLHT established a hundred bed Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (I-AIM). In 2013 the Government of Karnataka, legislated the Trans-Disciplinary University of Health Sciences and Technology.

[1]Means a village based traditional healer, called by various local names in different region of India.

[2]Doctors in traditional systems of medicine in India are called by these titles.

3. Why a Trans Disciplinary University?

A university platform has advantages for a knowledge institution because it has the autonomy to legitimise innovative content of knowledge, methods of learning and assessment systems, via the awarding of its UG, PG and doctoral degrees.

The reader will appreciate based on the first part of this essay. why the concept of a trans Disciplinary knowledge university for promoting serious cross-cultural studies arose.

As TDU’s name suggests the university focuses on content that is trans Disciplinary. The term has no settled meaning. Some use it to refer to a more refined interpretation of inter and multi-disciplinary wherein particular concepts are studied in multiple disciplinary contexts to derive new meaning. TDU uses the term trans-disciplinary to include study of particular knowledge domains for example, “health sciences” from a cross-cultural perspective. The cross-cultural approach is in itself an innovation in modern 21st century Indian university education because today unfortunately most of the content across domains, in conventional universities, is almost entirely based on European cultural and intellectual traditions.

The idea underlying the Trans -Disciplinary approach, is to re -introduce students to the conceptual and functional values implicit in a multi and cross-cultural strategy to learning about a knowledge domain. This is a complex task and has several challenges. The engagement needs to be done recognising firstly that all knowledge systems even if they possesses universal attributes are cultural products and secondly that several culturally inspired knowledge systems may all possess universal values derived from different epistemologies and ontologies. The fact is that every culture generates knowledge of nature from its own world view and employs methods of knowing that use the human sensory and mental faculties in unique ways. Therefore, exploration of cross-cultural integration needs enormous open mindedness and needs to be pursued without undermining or disrespecting the value of knowledge derived from any particular cultural and intellectual tradition. A test of maturity of a knowledge system is its ability to equip knowledge holders to observe, classify, analyse causality and interpret the inter-connection between multiple facets of the constantly changing universe in a relatively holistic way, in order to deal “effectively”, with change.

In fact, when one looks at the global history of knowledge across the centuries, one can observe that not only inter cultural transmission but also trans-fusion of knowledge has taken place and is a part of the evolution of knowledge and culture in all societies. There are striking examples of how inter-cultural transmission and fusion across societies has impacted both theoretical and practical knowledge domains from logic and mathematics to religion, architecture, agriculture, medicine, metallurgy, music, performing arts and culinary arts.

It is only in the colonial and recent post-colonial period that knowledge has become mono cultural, deriving most of its content from modern Europe. One hopes that this exclusionary view of nature and society from a modern European perspective despite its strengths alongside its weaknesses, will be a temporary phenomenon and university systems globally will soon get enriched with multi-cultural content and form.

TDU believes that today the prevalence of a dominant mono-cultural orientation particularly in a university/knowledge institution, is a political aberration. It has its genesis in a centralised strategy to manage the global economic and social order.

The strategy seeded during the colonial era is already showing signs of being unsustainable.

Ayurveda – biology is currently the focus of trans- disciplinary knowledge being pursued in TDU. This is a natural pairing because the etymological roots of the Sanskrit and Greek terms Ayurveda and biology refer to a common goal of studying biological change. Their pairing therefore has complementarity and promise for expanding the frontiers of knowledge because it will combine a molecular and systemic understanding of biological change, deriving from the strengths of their respective principles, concepts, theories, logic, methods, and products and overcome limitations of both knowledge systems. However, managing the differences and constructing meaningful outcomes, without distorting the integrity of participating disciplines is a challenge.

While today in TDU, Ayurveda-Biology is the core focus of trans-disciplinary study. in future it may encompass several domains like mathematics, architecture, music, design, fine and performing arts, and so on.

4. TDU ongoing experiences in pursuing trans disciplinary research & education.

Let me outline some important examples of the ongoing trans-disciplinary research initiatives in TDU and their trajectories.

4.1 Ayurveda Biology and Holistic Nutrition

TDU research emphasizes a transdisciplinary approach that integrates Ayurveda with fields of chemistry, biology and processing technology. We have created facilities like Integrative Food Databases, Biology, Wet Chemistry, Microbiology and Analytical Laboratories, Research Kitchen for Sensory & Ayurveda Characterisation of Foods and Pilot Plant for new processes, design & product development.

TDU has also pioneered the first transdisciplinary MSc program in the country (and the world) on Ayurveda-Biology. Medical, Natural Sciences and Pharmacy graduates are eligible to enroll in this program.

Our Current Focus Areas are

• Mass personalization of food and development of integrative nutrition database combining modern and Ayurveda pharmacology.

• Micronutrient deficiencies with focus on food interventions based on Ayurveda and biology for iron deficiency anemia and malnutrition.

• Metabolic health exploring systemic solutions for correcting complex biological mechanisms that express as molecular symptoms that characterize type-2-diabetes.

• Restoration of mild cognitive impairment: pre-clinical and clinical studies to assess strategies with Ayurvedic formulations widely used in clinical practice.

• Quality standards for medicinal plants & products based on traditional knowledge and biochemistry.

4.2 Community Health, Clinical Research and Education

TDU key activities are documentation, assessment and validation of traditional health practices. We have expertise in developing innovative curriculum for lay persons, paramedics and physicians on knowledge and skills related to health sciences. We have established wide network with traditional healers across 18 States and are pioneering the operationalization of a new concept of a community based non-institutional 4th tier in the National Healthcare System.

TDU has pioneered a National Scheme in collaboration with Quality Council of India (QCI), New Delhi to certify prior learning of traditional healers, following the International norms as per ISO 17024.

We have experience in conducting algorithm guided clinical trials and observational studies for the effect, efficacy and safety of Ayurveda based treatment in non-communicable diseases.

We are currently collaborating with a number of reputed organisations like., IISc, CCRAS GoI, ASTER CMI, HCG and St John’s Hospitals Bangalore, NCBS, Thera Index Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, NAWA (Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association), Mbarara University of Health Sciences and Technology, Uganda and Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru.

4.3 Conservation of Natural Resource

TDU is a leader in insitu conservation of wild gene pools of medicinal plants and in collaboration with State Forest Departments has helped to established the largest global network comprising 110 Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas across 13 States in the country.

TDU has established the only National Herbarium and Raw Drug Repository of Medicinal Plants of India.

TDU has contributed centrally to trade studies on medicinal plants, prepared threat assessment reports on medicinal plants for 17 States based on IUCN standards, prepared State inventories of medicinal plants for 12 States through floristic, ethno-botanical and botanical surveys.

We have created an ethno-medicinal garden harboring living collection of 1500 plant species on campus. A citizens nursery is attached to this garden.

TDU has created a dynamic, fully referenced multi-dimensional database on Indian Medicinal Plants covering 6500 species. The database has information on two lakh vernacular names linked to scientific names, botanical identity, geographical distribution, photographs, maps, pharmacology and TK of the species.

4.4 Ethno-Veterinary Science and Practice

TDU has a small team with expertise on traditional veterinary practices. During the last 12 years TDU in collaboration with NDDB has trained over 30,000 farmers, over 1500 veterinarians and faculty from several universities. It has been working with State Dairies from across Punjab to Kerala on the use of herbal recipes (derived from pashu-ayurveda) for treatment of 30 major health conditions of cows. This outreach program has demonstrated that the herbal remedies can replace anti-biotics and thus reduce AMR in consumer of animal products. The program has potential for upscaling and with research inputs could give India a leadership role in animal healthcare.

4.5 Functional Genomics and Bio-Informatics

TDU team works on genetic profiles of ayurvedically important medicinal and food crops (eg Bhodi tree, Karkatashringi (Pistacia integerrima), Sita Tree (Saraca asoca), Amrutaballi (Tinospora cordiflora), Amla (Embelica officianalis), Rice (Oryza sativa) and Raagi (Eleusine coracana.). These studies have laid the foundations for further work on Ayurveda-biology. There is ongoing research on the corelation of Ayurvedic phenotypes with HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) in the context of developing low cost but effective strategies for organ transplants.

The team has capacity to assess Microbiome (Host-pathogen interactions, Culturomics) in humans, plants and animals and to undertake DNA fingerprinting, use computational tools like NGS Technology, Bioinformatics and big data analysis. Work on building Genealogy, omics and Phylogenetic Databases has been initiated.

5. Closure

TDU is an outcome of a critical dissent of the monoculture in higher education system in India. It is an evolving endeavour to give constructive shape to the dissent. The author welcomes feedback and is hopeful that several others will follow suit and create innovative knowledge institutions to explore contemporary relevance of different dimension of Indian knowledge systems from theoretical areas like philosophy, mathematics, logic to practical fields like agriculture, medicine, architecture, metallurgy and fine and performing arts. These efforts need not ignore western cultural and intellectual traditions. One expects that such institutions with excellence in multi-cultural knowledge and skills will inspire a cadre of young persons to contribute to India’s development and globalization in ways that can strengthen the cultural, intellectual and spiritual genius that is inherent not only in the fabric of Indian society but all societies and build new economies based on the restoration and sustainable use of diverse ecosystems.

Darshan Shankar, FNASc

(darshan.shankar@tdu.edu.in)

Vice Chancellor

The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU)

(http://www.tdu.edu.in/)

Bengaluru.

&

Founder Trustee, FRLHT.

Bengaluru.

A brief profile of the author is available at https://www.ppstindiagroup.in/_files/ugd/74461f_f1cea4a757564891a0bf789825a52fc2.pdf

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