www.indiatoday.com

HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 7, 2006: An extraordinary way to start a university: Andhra Pradesh Governor Rameshwar Thakur flagged off academic activity at the prestigious Sri Venkateswara Vedic University, devoted exclusively to Vedic studies, at Tirumala by participating in a yagna fire worship at the Sri Venkateswara Vedapatasala. “The intrinsic values, knowledge and wisdom enshrined in the Vedas have to be harnessed for humankind,” declared Thakur, recalling that former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had advocated the need for a university comparable to the historic Nalanda and Taxila universities. “Our university is to preserve, foster and promote oral traditions of Vedic and related literature, with focus on the right intonations, to bring out the depth of rational approach and the scientific temper present in the Vedas,” says executive officer, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) A.P.V. Narayana Sarma. The TTD is to fund both the establishment and the running of the university, the idea for which was first mooted by the then Vice-President Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1992. Significantly, TTD funds and runs many colleges affiliated to the Sri Padmavathi Mahila Vishwavidyalayam, and Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. The new university’s ambitious plans include translation and publishing of the Vedas in all modern Indian languages, preparing digital editions after developing required software and networking with institutes that promote the learning of the Vedas and Sanskrit. This is in line with what the TTD is already doing to promote Vedic learning, including running two schools exclusively for this purpose at Tirumala and Keesaragutta in Ranga Reddy district and funding several other such schools in the state.

Post Views: 648