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IITs must continue to study ancient knowledge systems. Methods should be open to criticism

In modern research, we do not shy away from controversial or unconventional research questions. Instead, we subject it to stricter safeguards. 

India’s intellectual history contains a large and varied record of inquiry. Some of this material is well-documented. Some survive only in manuscripts, oral traditions or practice. That diversity is precisely why Indian Knowledge Systems, or IKS, deserve serious academic study. In recent years, several IITs have established centres, courses and research initiatives devoted to IKS, rooted in the vision of NEP 2020.

Their studies focus on a range of topics including mathematics, linguistics, logic, metallurgy, architecture, water systems and manuscripts. Some researchers are even examining contested claims involving consciousness, ritual or traditional beliefs. Many see them as a long-overdue effort to recover, document and examine India’s intellectual inheritance. But critics worry that some weakly-tested claims may be presented as science, lending them legitimacy.

These developments have attracted both interest and criticism in recent years, drawing our attention to how IITs can remain open to unconventional questions without compromising the methods that underpin academic research’s credibility. That position raises many questions.

Should IKS be judged primarily by their cultural and historical value, their empirical validity, or by a clearly defined combination of these? What minimum standards of research evidence, ethics review, peer scrutiny and replication should apply before an IKS-related claim is presented as scientifically credible?  How can IITs ensure that every testable IKS claim is held to the same standards of modern research? Good IKS scholarship, therefore, requires epistemic clarity, not reverence or ridicule. That is why IITs are building capacity to study IKS by distinguishing among historical significance, philosophical value,........

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