Sanskriti School

Heritage Club Newsletter

MIIRAAS

MIIRAAS CLUB NEWSLETTER

Heritage; an essential part of human life

Heritage is an integral, inseparable and indelible part of human life. It comprises of all lessons provided to us by our forefathers, tangible as well as non- tangible knowledge bestowed upon us by our predecessors in the forms of land, architecture, traditions and most commonly, holy texts and scriptures.

However a person should not blindly abide by or be charged with the task of continuing his legacy, nor should he disregard them completely. He should be inquisitive enough to realize the importance and value of his heritage, judicious enough to discern between right and wrong in his inheritance and pragmatic enough to know what practicality and reason lay in the traditions and dogmas he upholds.

He should attain that level of maturity, wherein he learns from the mistakes of the past, applies the principles of truthfulness and honesty in the present, can determine the veracity of antecedent facts and correlate then with modern innovations and ideologies in order to lead a successful life in the future.

                                     

The quintessential heritage is one which does not give a person unfathomable orders as to how to live his life, but tells him what a good life is, merely showing its path.

-          Vikramaditya  Mishra   11-I

Why heritage?

India is blessed with a vast and rich heritage. One has only to see the various architectural marvels and cultural institutions that dot the geographical expanse of India to glimpse the richness of our heritage.

The science and technology of ancient India was quite advanced. Many historians believe that most of the scientific advances believed to have been made in Europe had been achieved centuries ago in India. Such advances covered major fields of human knowledge and activities like mathematics, astronomy, physics, medicine, metallurgy, surgery, fine arts, civil engineering and architecture, shipbuilding, navigation, etc.

Indian mathematicians have made important contributions to the study of the decimal number system, zero, negative numbers, arithmetic and algebra. The study of linguistics was initiated by Indian grammarians who began the trend by first attempting to catalogue and codify the rules of Sanskrit. Even today, the main terms for compound analysis are taken from Sanskrit.

India is the birthplace of Ayurveda and Yoga; these systems are now finding many followers in the West. India’s rich spiritual tradition has attracted many troubled Westerners, fleeing the materialistic and spiritually empty worlds they inhabit, to her shores, seeking solace and salvation.

Classical Indian music and dance have a wide fan following all over the world. Each state has its own art forms which are well documented. Imposing and architecturally splendid temples, mosques and churches embody the diverse religious and cultural influences that have made India unique. Cuisine too is an important part of our heritage.

As Indians, we ought to be proud of our rich heritage and strive to preserve it for our descendants by respecting it and ensuring its survival.

                                                                                                                       -Sherlin Prem Verma  11-F

India’s heritage

India or Bharat, the fifth largest and the second populated country in the world, is one of the few countries which can boast of an ancient, deep rooted and diverse culture, which stretches, back to 5000 years.  In ancient times, India was known as “Bharata Varsha”,, the country of the legendary king of puranic times called bharat, and was supposed to be a part of the island continent called “jambu Dvipa” Geologically speaking, India formed a part of the Gondwana land and was attached to Antarctica and Australia, before it was liberated from the Antarctica complex about 135 million years ago and started drifting towards the north and finally joining South Asia about45 million years ago.

-          Harshula sharma 11-F

Cultural heritage

Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Cultural Heritage is often expressed as either Intangible or Tangible Cultural Heritage .

As part of human activity Cultural Heritage produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles. As an essential part of culture as a whole, Cultural Heritage, contains these visible and tangible traces form antiquity to the recent past.

Cultural Heritage is a wide concept. We prefer to concentrate on the similarities between the various heritage sectors, instead of on their differences.

                                                                                                                      -vani narayanan 11-F