New Delhi: The science of yoga and knowledge about ancient Indian thinkers like Sushruta, Panini, Aryabhata and Chanakya, among others, will soon be a part of a web series lecture to be offered to college students.
This will be a part of their academic course, which will carry credits too.
The lecture series will be launched by Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) likely in May and the idea behind launching it in form of a web series is to make it engaging and educative at the same time.
The course will include a host talking about various topics, along with illustrations and stories, among other things.
The two courses namely — ‘The basics of Yogasanas’ and ‘Knowledge leaders of ancient India’ — will each be in the form of a 10-episode series and each course will carry two credits.
The idea has been conceptualised by University Grants Commission (UGC) vice-chairman Bhushan Patwardhan, whose research is also in the related field of alternate medicine at SPPU.
Patwardhan told ThePrint even as the course is being launched by the SPPU, its reach is not limited to the students of the university as those from other institutes can also take up the courses and earn credits.
“We decided to come up with a web series for students because we realised that a lot of online content, which is currently available to students is not engaging enough. I along with the researchers at Pune university have tried to come up with a more engaging and fun way to learn,” said Patwardhan, who is due to demit office as the UGC vice-chairman and re-join his parent university SPPU, where he is a professor, next month.
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The course on yoga
The 10-episode course on yoga is being launched in association with yoga expert Ram Kumar Rathi, who also heads the Patanjali Yoga chair at SPPU.
According to the teaser of the course, seen by ThePrint, it will have details about what yoga is, its history and the related myths.
There will also be games and quizzes to teach students about the scientific facts of yoga. Scientists from various biomedical fields will also discuss the latest research, and its applications in life as part of the course.
The second course
The other web series — ‘Knowledge leaders of ancient India’ — will educate students about the life and works of ancient Indian thinkers.
This course will also be 10-episode long and will have information about 10 ancient Indian scholars — Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Panini, Sushrut, Bharat Muni, Patanjali, Charaka, Kanada, Bhaskaracharya and Chanakya. All of them were specialists in the field of medicine, science and mathematics.
The teaser of the course starts with former BJP MP Nitish Bhardwaj talking about ancient Indian wisdom and how we seem to have forgotten about it a bit.
Referring to the 10 Indian thinkers, Bhardwaj says they have changed the course of humanity with their wisdom and left their mark everywhere — from inventing zero, medicine and atoms to the knowledge about the secrets of stars.
“India has a rich tradition of learning and education. With the purpose to highlight the importance of and create a sense of pride for the rich knowledge legacy of India’s scholars, SPP university is launching a course. It will feature a course on knowledge leaders of India,” the teaser said.
The aim of this course is to teach students about character building, moral upliftment, knowledge of culture and an awakening of national pride, according to the teaser.
Also read: Brahmins on India’s elite campuses say studying science is natural to upper castes: Study