Sushrut in 600 BCE practised plastic
surgery and arrived at sure solutions to some of the problems which
the Europeans could not solve as late as the 16th century. In that
century Copernicus and Galileo proclaimed the truth that the earth
is round. The Indian astronomer, Aryabhatta, was already aware of
this in 5 BCE.The law of gravity was already known to Bhaskaracharya
500 years before Sir Isaac Newton. How many of us know this astronomical
truth? At the university of Takshashila thousands of students studied
in 42 faculties. The same situation prevailed at that equally famous
seat of learning at Nalanda. It was these universities that gave birth
to modern India.The concept of air travel which has become so common
nowadays was known to ancient Indians. Hundreds of books were written
on the aerial mode of transportation. From these books, a volume written
by Bharadwaj called Yantrasarvasvam is available even now. It comprises
68 volumes on aeronautics. How many of us know of them? A part of
a second - 34,000th part to be exact - was known as 'krati'. Such
was the advanced state of calculation in those far-off days. How brilliant
must have been scholars like Vishvamitra, Yagnavalkya, Kanad and Chanakya
Pandit Kedarnath Prabhakar of Pune has unearthed many interesting
things connected with our achievements and published them in the form
of letters. He wrote about the Kutub Minar at Delhi. "How expert
were our people in construction and architecture? Kutub Minar provides
an example. It can be considered as a memorial column to Varahamihir,
because he was one of the nine jewels at the court of king Vikramaditya.
He was a famous scientist and the Minar was his creation." But
Sultan Kutubuddin Aibek, as was the habit of his ancestors, appropriated
the Minar and put his name on it. We do not have a placard around
our necks proclaiming the greatness of our culture or traditions.
But, we should not forget that we have a glorious heritage and a history
of illustrious people who have made significant contributions in all
fields of life.The foundation of religion has been laid by holy men,
religious texts and mandirs. The arts owe their origin to dharma and
sadhus; and sadhus have evolved faith and traditions. There have been
several storms and obstacles on our march this far. But in that we,
the youths of today, have not shared any burden. We did not bear the
torch. We did not raise the sword to defend our tradition against
aggressors. We have also not made any sacrifice. That is why we do
not have the moral right to speak lightly or disparagingly of our
country, its religion or traditions. A rich man's son once lost a
gold chain at the Swaminarayan mandir in Junagadh. The founder returned
the chain to Swami Gunatitanand. When the boy came to the mandir to
claim the chain, Swamishri asked, "Who is the owner of the chain?
Your father or someone else?" "It belongs to my father."
"Then don't you have a sense of responsibility? You had lost
it." Yes, traditions and customs are like gold. Gold, itself,
has no sense of responsibility. However, we must have responsibility
for the gold. So we must preserve it. If we earn the gold, we will
know its value. Those who utilise traditions in their lives know their
value.
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