'Exhibition in line with PM Modi's vision at SCO...': Former IAS ahead of conference on South Asia contributions to Mathematical Sciences

New Delhi [India], September 3 (ANI): Ahead of the seminal conference and exhibition on South Asia's contributions to mathematics, former IAS officer and Director of India International Centre KN Shrivastava on Wednesday said that the event reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of sharing traditional knowledge with the world.

He made the remarks ahead of the international conference on South Asia's manuscript heritage and mathematical contribution, which is being organised in support with the Ministry of External Affairs. The conference will shed light on the rich and diverse traditions of South Asia, particularly India, on how knowledge has been preserved through various media like palm leaves, sculptural representation, epigraphy and manuscripts.

The Exhibition will be inaugurated by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on September 4 (Thursday).

Speaking to ANI on how the exhibition in line with the idea of the creation of a 'Civilizational Dialogue Forum' at the recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China where PM Modi highlighted how the region's ancient literature and tradition elements must find their way on the global stage, KN Shrivastava said, "This is an international conference, focused on ancient mathematical knowledge."

On Monday, during the 25th SCO Summit, PM Modi gave a call for strengthening the people-to-people ties in the region by the creation of a Civilizational Dialogue Forum under the SCO. "Such a platform will allow us to share the richness of our ancient civilisations, art, literature, and traditions on a global stage", he said.

Sharing that more conferences would be organized on other subjects highlighting monumental contributions through the manuscripts, epigraphy, oral traditions of Shruti and Smriti, Shrivastava said, "In this way we will be really working in the direction of what Prime Minister has already mentioned at the SCO conference, and I'm quite sure that we would be able to connect with a lot of people globally who are interested in these subjects. We will definitely be working very sincerely to achieve what the Minister has intended to do."

KN Shrivastava informed that the two-day conference and exhibition is "with an intent to apprise our youngsters about the contributions made by ancient mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskar II."

"We are quite sure that this is going to be of great benefit to our younger generation and place our accomplishments of the ancient people in the knowledge of the world community," he said.

Speaking about the conference, Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Project Director of SAMHiTA (South Asian Manuscript Histories and Textual Archive), highlighted how there is a big ecosystem of knowledge, underscoring how the knowledge of mathematics permeates across fields such as music, dance, architecture and sculptures and brings the best minds of mathematics from across the world to the national capital.

Speaking to ANI about the novel ways in which the knowledge of ancient mathematical traditions can be introduced into the present-day education system, she highlighted texts such as 'Lilavati' by Bhaskara, which works on the play-way method of education and said other novel methods would be discussed during the series of lectures to be organised.

The India International Centre is hosting an International conference on South Asia's Manuscript Heritage and Mathematical Contributions from September 4-5. The exhibition, which External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will inaugurate, will showcase the rich mathematical contributions of India right from the ancient to contemporary legends such as Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, Srinivas Ramanujan and CR Rao, amongst others.

With inaugural remarks by Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and a keynote address by world-renowned mathematician Prof. Manjul Bhargava, the conference will feature talks on the historical development of mathematics and exchanges with knowledge systems across Asia and beyond.

The Conference is in collaboration with the Centre for Traditional Indian Knowledge Systems and Skills, IIT Bombay, with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Exhibition would be on display from September 5-14 at the India International Centre. (ANI)

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