Uniform syllabus in Vedic studies needed, says TTD EC member

VIJAYAWADA

Integration of formal education with Vedic studies is the need of the hour to preserve Vedas, said TTD Executive Committee member Vishnubhatla Lakshmi Narayana Ghanapati, adding that taking up research in Vedic studies and correlating the knowledge with science in day-to-day life was important.

Mr. Lakshmi Narayana Ghanapati, who was in the city recently to attend the three-day Krishna Mandala Veda Vidwat Pravardhaka Sabha, pointed out that there was a dearth of Vedic scholars who can interpret and explain the Vedas in their true essence and spirit.

Translations, commentaries and research in Vedas would be possible only if there was an integration of Vedic learning and formal education. Modern-day inventions, discoveries, concepts and laws were mentioned in Vedic literature thousand of years back. A student needs to be exposed to both formal education and Vedic learning to understand the Vedas vis a vis science, he said.

Also, the government has to come up with a comprehensive syllabus for Vedic learning. Right now, the students attend examinations conducted by various private organisation. There is no uniform syllabus, and it makes it difficult to assess the skill and mastery of a student or a scholar of Vedas, he said.

The Vedic scholar laments that there used to be 1,131 shakhas of four Vedas. There were 21 shakhas of Rigveda, 9 of Atharvaveda, 101 of Yajurveda (86 of Krishna Yajurveda and 15 of Shukla Yajurveda, and a 1,000 varieties of chanting of Samaveda. Now, not more than 10 shakhas being taught are in existence.

Many branches of the Vedas are lost now, as the line of guru-sishya did not continue for many of the Vedic branches. Nothing can be done for other shakhas that vanished, but at least these 10 shakhas can be preserved from further oblivion, he said.