Department of Nyaya
प्रदीपः सर्वविद्यानां उपायः सर्वकर्मणाम्।
आश्रयः सर्वधर्माणां शश्वद् आन्वीक्षिकी मता॥
Navya Nyaya represents one of the finest products of human intellect that has been sustaining India’s Intellectual culture for the last few centuries. This shastra offers devices of logical argumentation and supplies us with the novel set of terminology for mapping reality. This school of philosophy exerted influence on different systems of thought so much that they adopted the Navya Nyaya methods to counter their opponents and propagate their thesis. A re-look of Navya Nyaya language and methodology at this modern age may be highly rewarding.
The Department of Nyaya is one of the six full-fledged Departments of the Karnataka Sanskrit University, Bangalore. The Department was established in the year 2018 with Prof. Shrinivasa Varkhedi as Professor. Currently Prof. Shrinivasa Varkhedi has taken charge as the Vice –Chancellor of Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi.
The Department undertakes teaching of Nyaya Philosophy through Samskrit medium at Under Graduate and Post Graduate level and is actively engaged in pursuing research. One of the unique traits of the department is to give emphasis on concept-based studies rather content (textual) based studies. Another feature of the department is it acts a facilitator to both youth and elders. Even the older people with exemplary Zeal are also given an opportunity to explore the nuances of this shastra.
The Department offers courses in Under Graduate, Post Graduate and Ph.D. (Vidyavaridhi) levels and has produced several valuable dissertations/theses. The faculty members have participated in several traditional “Shastratha Sabhas” and Seminars at National and International level presenting papers, including 16th World Sanskrit Conference, Thailand, 17th World Sanskrit Conference, Vancouver Canada.
Objectives of the Department
The Nyaya and Vaisheshika department at Karnataka Sanskrit University aims to enable students to The Nyaya department at KSU aims to enable students to
• Acquire command over Sanskrit language, Philosophy and Indian Logic.
• Understand Navya-Nyāya language and conceptual scheme along with its development
• Build Research aptitude in Indian Logic and allied systems
• Study, analyze and solve problems in logic and epistemology
• Understand rationally the ancient Indian wisdom and its cultural history and relate it to the contemporary academic knowledge in Sanskrit studies.
• Analyse, appreciate and interpret the Human and Ethical values in Indian Logic.
Programmes Offered
Post-Graduate Programmes
MA in Nyaya
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Under- Graduate Programmes
· BA in Nyaya
Short-term Courses
Short-term Program in Indian Epistemology (three months duration)
Future Plans
The Department is whole heartedly involved in reviving ancient Indian studies by starting a few innovative programs, which in turn could act as a bridge between the ancient and modern study systems. Following are the programs planned to be started in future.
1. Short–term course in Visitadvaita Vedanta
2. P.G. program in comparative studies in Western & Indian logic.
3. Short term program on Ancient Law & jurisprudence.
4. Short term program in Ayurveda.
Extensional Activities
Workshops and Seminars and Conferences
- Ten-day National Workshop on Shabdashaktiprakashika-karakaprakarana 4th August 2021 to 13th August 2021
- ICPR Sponsored ten-day National Workshop on Aatmatattvaviveka-Kshanabhangavada Of Udayanacharya 18th July 2022 to 27th July 2022
- Short term course conducted on Introduction to Epistemology conducted from September,2020 to February ,2021
Projects
Funded
- Editing & Publishing of the text Tarkachudamani – A sub- commentary of the text Tattvachuntamani
- The Manuscript, Aloka-gadaddhari, a commentary on Aloka, is written by Gadadhara Bhattacharya
- Sarvapratyayamala
- An Interpretable Unified Framework for Text-to-Text Translation among Indian Languages using Sanskrit-based Interlingua Representation
Gallery
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Faculty Profiles
Prof. Shrinivasa Varkhedi
Professor
Prof. Shrinivasa Varakhedi was working as Professor and Dean of Shastra Faculty in Karnataka Samskrita University, Bangalore, Karnataka. He is currently on deputation to Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi as its Vice-Chancellor. Prof. Varakhedi started his academic carrier as a lecturer in purnaprajna Vidyapeeth sanskrit college and later in 2000, he joined and served in Tirupati Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth a deemed university.
He is member of various committees and national & international academic bodies such as Academic Council of RSVP Tirupati, Board of Management in Chinmaya University, Board of Studies in many universities. He is also appointed as Hon. Chairman of Managing committee of Mumbadevi Adarsh Mahavidyalaya mumbai. He worked as a member of the committee for vision document for the development of Sanskrit constituted by MHRD Govt of India. He is a part of the NAAC guidelines preparation committee for sanskrit universities. He was also member of Grant in aid committee, MHRD, Govt of India. He participated in faculty selection in EFLU hyd as the nominee of President of India.
He has been serving as a member in the selection committees for various awards in central Sahitya academy. He has been associated with many national and international research journals as editorial or advisory board.
He has earned the respect of being invited as visiting faculty in many national level institutions. Recently he was sent to an international conference organised by Indian embassy in Paris by the Ministry of external affairs , Govt of India.
He is known for organisation of summer schools, workshops, international and National conferences and seminars in many places. He has delivered around 50 key note addresses and Spl lectures in the national events. He presented around 30 papers on different topics in the seminars.
He has extensively worked in the field of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics. His current interests are Sanskrit Pedagogy, E-repository for Sanskrit, Research Methodology of Shatsras and Philosophy of Language. He has been engaged in dialogues between traditional systems of knowledge and modern thinking. He has more than 30 publications to his credit in National and International journals apart from a good number of books authored and edited.
He has been awarded the Maharshi Badarayan Vyas Samman – an award given by the President of India in 2008 and Swami Chinmayananda Research Gold medal in 2013.
Dr Bhaskar Bhat Joshi
Assistant Professor
Dr. Bhaskar Bhat Joshi studied Shukla Yajurveda in Anandavana Gurukul, Agadi, Karnataka. He has done M.A. and M. Phil. in “Nyaya Sastra” at Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati and also pursuing Ph.D. in “Nyaya Shastra” from there.
He worked as visiting Lecturer in Sri Gajanana Samskrita Mahapathashala, Sudi, Karnataka and Research Associate in highly reputed “ Philosophico-Literary Research Department” at Kaivalyadhama Yoga and Research Institute, Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala. He also worked as an Editor and Content Developer for Samskrit Wikipedia-Project at Samskrit Bharati (An organization committed to spread Samskritam from past 30+ years), Aksharam, Bangalore. He has published a book on ‘Sandhyavandanam’ at Sri Chidambar Swami Temple, Babhulgaon, Maharashtra. He has participated in South Zone Youth Festival conducted by Association of Indian Universities in Kamaraj University, Madhurai. He has also participated various Sanskrit related programs such as All India Kalidasa Samaroha, Vikram University, Ujjain; International Ramayana Conference, S.V. University, Tirupathi; All India elocution competition conducted by Rashtriya Sanskrit Samsthanam, New Delhi. Currently he is working as Assistant Professor and Coordinating Jotishya Certificate and Diploma Courses.
Dr. K.E. Srivenkatanathan
Assistant Professor
Dr. K.E. Srivenkatanathan has over a decade of experience in teaching Nyaya to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He studied Navya Nyaya and Vedanta Sastra under Prof. K.E. Govindan, Prof. K.E. Devanathan and O. Sri Ramlal Sharma. He obtained doctoral degree for research work on “Baladhanvi Rangacharyakruta Nyaya Nakshatra-mala Granthasya Hetvabhasa Samanyaniruktikrodapatrasya Vimarshatmakam Sampadanam”. It included critical edition and publication of the manuscript. He was selected for the the prestigious Dr. S Radhakrishnan Post-Doctoral Fellowhip in Humanities for the year 2017-18.
Dr. Venkatanathan has been conferred with the title of “Vedashastra Praveen” by Veda Shastra Poshaka Sabha in the year 2018. He also contributed to the Ramanujacharya project, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, by editing two books namely, Vedanta Kantakodhara and Tulika (commentaries on Sri Bhasya). He is also working on a research project entitled, Tarka Chudamani, a SUB Commentary of tattvachintamani as a part of the Ashtadashi Project. He also has expertise in reading and writing ancient Grantha Script and obtained knowledge on learning and deciphering of manuscripts.
Dr. Venkatanathan is a polyglot proficient in Samskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and English. He also possesses working knowledge of French.
Dr. V.V.S.R. Lakshmi
Assistant Professor
Dr. V V S R Lakshmi completed post graduate studies specializing in Nyaya Shastra from Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati. She obtained many awards and recognitions which include gold medals during Acharya studies. As a part of her research work she did “A Critical Study & Edition of Vivechani Krodapatra of Mathuri Panchalakshani by Golokanatha Bhattacharya”. She has written a number of papers in the Nyaya – vaisheshika domain.