Dozens of students, researchers, academics, and members of the scientific community Breakthrough Science Society gathered at the main gate of Indian Institute of Science, the country’s premier research institute in science, engineering, design, and management, to protest against ‘unscientific,’ ‘irrational,’ and ‘unfounded’ claims made by certain participants at the 106th Indian Science Congress in Punjab.
On Friday last week, the VC of Andhra University claimed at one session of the Congress held at Lovely Professional University that the Kauravas were test-tube babies, and that Ravana possessed 24 aircrafts. For clarity, Kauravas and Ravana were characters from Mahabharata and Ramayana, respectively. Both the epics were first written at least between 8th and 9th BCE, and kept evolving over centuries. Those oriented towards the right-wing and ultra-nationalists have time and again sought to sensationalise Vedic narratives to present an idea of Bharat that suits their religious identity based politics.
The Indian Science Congress, held every year, has come under heavy criticism for giving wind to ‘unfounded’ claims before as well. In 2016, Indian-born Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan refused to attend the congress ever again, calling it a “circus.”
Along the same lines, the demonstrators at IISc held placards with slogans like “Do not mix mythology with science,” “Defending science in India is true patriotism,” and “Stop spreading unscientific ideas in the name of science.”
Additionally, Breakthrough Science Society, in a statement said, “It is important to note that no technological accomplishment can be made without the relevant, scientific foundations. For instance, construction of guided missiles requires electricity, metallurgy, mechanics, projectile motion, radars, optics, motion sensors, wireless communication, and more, and there is no evidence for the existence of these in ancient India. Puranic verses and epics are poetic, enjoyable, rich in moral elements and imagination, but not scientifically-constructed or validated. Hence, it is wrong to mix mythology and science. To claim that such innovations already existed in ancient India, citing these sources, is not only false, but an affront to the real achievements in science in ancient and medieval India. Further, such false facts are, as Darwin said, more dangerous than false views.”