Knowledge without narrative attached: Pune institute’s motto

Pune: A city-based institute is offering online courses on India’s rich heritage and knowledge system with an aim to provide authentic information to people without any narrative attached to it. Topics like religion, literature, philosophy, governance and policy making, astronomy, mathematics, sciences, medicine, art, architecture, history and culture are covered as part of the courses offered by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), through its online learning platform ‘Bharat Vidya’. “When these topics are taught in schools and colleges, only the given syllabus is taught and a large part of the topic remains unexplored. So, the idea is to provide expertise and resources to educational institutes,” said Chinmay Bhandari, Coordinator, Digital Initiatives. The online learning platform is getting a good response as people from different walks of life are enrolling themselves in its courses, said officials. The institute launched its online learning platform recently to take this treasure trove of knowledge to people across the country and globe. The platform offers free as well as subscription-based resources and courses on India’s rich civilizational heritage and Indian knowledge system, said Bhupal Patwardhan, Executive Chairman of BORI. Set up in 1917 for Indology and Asian studies, BORI is home to more than 28,000 manuscripts and 1.53 lakh rare books. Bhandari said that BORI has been working on the digitization of manuscripts and books for the last few years. “In 2019, we started our digital library, and to complement it we thought of creating a parallel learning platform where people with diverse interests can explore the resources available with the institute and interact with each other,” he said. Among the subscribers, Bhandari said, the largest demographic was persons between 25 and 40 years old, mostly working professionals, trainers, coaches, engineers, professors and doctors.—PTI