A cursory look at India’s glorious educational past, and the events which have led to its current, degraded state. While we’ve often heard of Takshshila, Nalanda, Vikramshila and other universities of yore, we don’t learn much about how these universities came about and functioned under the patronage of various kings, in a conducive and collaborative ecosystem. Reading the accounts of students, both native and foreign, who went through many hardships in order to secure a place and study in these centers of excellence was a bitter-sweet experience. Countless experts and world renowned personalities in the fields of astronomy, medicine, mathematics, arts and so forth have produced their best works and treatises here.

That our civilization, which was at the forefront of scientific and technological advances at the time, had been subject to repeated invasions, first by Muslim rulers, who destroyed thousands of books and centers of learning, and later by the British, who imposed English while treating local languages as inferior and less cultured, ultimately led to the disconnect with our glorious past, and a prolonged lack of any advancement in the sciences.

The author concludes by urging us to learn from our past and reclaim the heights we were known for by standing for the truth.

Originally published here.