Srinagar, June 20: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday said that the goal is to revive India’s great inheritances of knowledge and spirituality, strengthen the country’s civilisational traditions, and shape a future-oriented education system that connects the youth to both the nation’s rich past and modern technology.
Delivering the keynote address at the Srinagar–Nalanda Dialogue here, the Lieutenant Governor said, “Together, the scholars of Jammu and Kashmir and Nalanda shaped one of the world’s oldest living civilisations. This heritage is our guiding light. The Srinagar–Nalanda Dialogue is our opportunity to carry that light forward with wisdom, courage, and a new vision for Viksit Bharat.”
The Srinagar–Nalanda Dialogue was organised by the Ministry of Tourism, the Department of Culture, Jammu and Kashmir, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), the National School of Drama, and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University.
The Lieutenant Governor said that the youth have inherited a rich legacy of languages, beliefs, artistic traditions, philosophical schools, and diverse ways of life, adding that this diversity is India’s greatest strength.
He observed that Indian civilisation has always been defined by its centres of knowledge. Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramashila, and several other institutions were hubs of global intellectual exchange, attracting travellers from China, Korea, Java, Persia, and West Asia.
“Nalanda was a living intellectual cosmos of its time. It was a seat of critical thinking and curiosity where thousands of scholars engaged deeply with logic, grammar, medicine, mathematics, philosophy, religion, and the arts. Likewise, Jammu and Kashmir was home to the unique Sharda Peeth of learning, drawing people from afar for instruction across disciplines ranging from mathematics to music,” he said.
He said the younger generation needs to understand India’s knowledge traditions, whose roots were strengthened in the Bihar region during Emperor Ashoka’s era around the third century BCE. “European scholars once overlooked this legacy, but I am happy to note that the host city of this event, Srinagar, was also established by Emperor Ashoka,” he added.
The Lieutenant Governor further said that India’s ancient towns are living centres of learning and that cities such as Nalanda, Srinagar, Jammu, Purmandal, Varanasi, Hampi, Sanchi, Madurai, Puri, and Thanjavur carry centuries of experience and knowledge.
