Supreme Court senior advocate P.S. Narasimha has emphasised the need for court arguments, parliamentary debates, planning by bureaucrats, rational thinking in science, technology and archaeology and ethical conduct of business to be based on sound Shastric knowledge.
Speaking on ‘Importance of Sanskrit for the future of law and governance’ at the 23rd Convocation of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (RSVP) here on Sunday, he urged Sanskrit students to reach out to policymakers. “We have great Sanskrit scholars on one side and great professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers and bureaucrats on the other. Both sections are wide apart and this ‘disconnect’ has made us suffer for seventy years,” he lamented, indicating the need for Sanskrit scholars to disseminate the essence of ancient Indian practices to present day politicians, bureaucrats and professionals.
Elaborating, he explained how the knowledge of ‘Vaiseshika Shastra’ could help one argue trade mark, patent, goods and services related cases. While logic-based debates had been going on from the days of Adi Shankaracharya, Mr. Narasimha regretted the manner thousands of cases were being argued sans logic due to the lack of ‘Shastric base’.
Referring to the enrolment of 25 RSVP students for civil services, Chancellor N.Gopalaswami expressed contentment that his suggestion made in the past had been considered. He wanted to see Sanskrit students at the decision-making levels in the State and Central governments. He also commended the university for coming out with fifteen publications under the union government’s Sri Bhagavat Ramanuja 1000 years’ celebrations scheme by publishing, editing and digitising rare manuscripts.
The honorary title ‘Mahamahopadhyaya’ was conferred on scholars R. Sundararama Vajapeyayajee, S. Venkata Rangaramanujacharyulu, A. Haridasa Bhat and Sripada Subrahmanyam, while the title ‘Vacaspati’ was bestowed on Betavolu Ramabrahmam, Janardana Hegde, H.R. Vishwasa and Penna Madhusudhan.
