I feel that the adoption of Indigenous Indian Education model by the Europeans is an example of the digestion you have discussed in BD. The works of Dharampal are quite helpful in this regard.I intend to study this subject in greater detail. Please find below a brief summary of this case study.
When the British came to India, they knew little about Indian society [1]. However, in due course of time, the ‘fabulous and exotic east’ generated enormous interest among the European elite [2].Among other motivations to learn about Indian knowledge and scholarship, was "a fear, born out of historical experience, philosophical observation and reflection (the uprooting of entire civilizations in the Americas) that the conquest and defeat of a civilization generally led .......... to the disappearance of precious knowledge associated with it "[3]. Having learned of the educational set-up and its functioning, the British then proceeded to accomplish their task of ‘reforming Indian education’ [4]. Simultaneously, a parallel and unnoticed development took place. The cost effective teaching methods of Indian indigenous education system were imitated in Britain, then across Europe and the world, and did so much to raise educational standards [5].
Arriving in India in 1787, Dr.Andrew Bell observed how techniques like 'peer learning' and 'monitorial system' worked successfully in Madras schools. "After returning to London in 1797, he published the description of his 'Madras Method'. Following that, he was in great demand to introduce the system in British schools. By 1821, 300,000 children were being educated under Bell's principles. His ideas were adopted around Europe and as far away as the West Indies and Bogota, Colombia. Joseph Lancaster, who created the famed Lancastrian schools across Britain introduced peer learning in his first London school, in Borough Road, in 1801. The system transformed education in the western world and was arguably the basis by which mass literacy in Britain was achieved" [6]. The number of those attending schools in England was estimated at around 40,000 in 1792 and this figure rose tremendously to 21,44,377 in 1851 [7].
Despite such heavy borrowing, Bell and Lancaster are revered in their country as education reformers and innovators [8] [9]. As a result, the indigenous educational model which had been practiced for centuries in Madras before the British came and which was 'conveniently broken up' and imitated in Britain, has today been reduced to a brief sub-note in Wikipedia under the main article titled "Monitorial Systems" [10].
References :-
1. Dharampal. 2000. The beautiful tree : Indigenous Indian education in eighteenth century. Goa . Other India Press. (pp.13) (originally published in 1983)
2. Ibid. pp.14
3. Ibid. pp.16
4. Ibid. pp.252-253
5. Tooley, James. 2009. The beautiful tree. United States of America : Cato Institute. (pp.230)
6. Ibid.
7. Dharampal. 2000. The beautiful tree : Indigenous Indian education in eighteenth century. Goa . Other India Press. (pp.10) (originally published in 1983)
-AK
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I would like to share another case study on this digestion..
In Germany, the Bio-Dynamic Farming method is very famous and widely practiced today. This concept was introduced to them by Rudolf Steiner in 1930s. This is a farming method, which is based on planetary positions. Rudolf steiner, gave a series of 7 lectures, and then died later. He did not give any explanation to his techniques, but simply asked farmers to follow it blindly. After seeing the success of this techniques, a group of farmers started researching more on this, and it became a movement. Today, they had created a certification for bio-dynamic farm products called "Demeter Internationale".
http://www.demeter.net/
(And pls note their name "Demeter".. this is goddess of agriculture in germany.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter )
Today few agri students who went to germany for higher studies, learn from them and started implementing in india. But these were common practices in indian agriculture, although in different way.
Most of the techniques should have got from indian sources, but indian sources are NOT mentioned in their writings. Because, when steiner taught these techniques to german farmers, he could not explain these, and just asked them to follow what he says. Steiner might have concealed original source, either because of backlash from church or as part of the digestion process, that was taking place at that time.
Steiner was a member of Theosophical society, and there is a very good possibility that he had learned these techniques through it, from indian sources.
We need to be assertive in reclaiming the credit to india, and for that proper research has to be done.
As a side note, my friend who studied in one of german universities shared an incdent, where his german professor said "Britain might have colonised the land of India. But germans had colonised the indian knowledge".
Rajiv comment: Steiner was a major intermediary in the uturn of collective systems. He broke away from theosophy when Annie Besant selected J. Krishnamurti as the new head. Steiner started a new movement called Anthropomorphism, which became a staging ground for taking dharmic ideas (via Theosophy) and scrubbing them to turn into "new" interpretations of Christianity. I know some very powerful anthropomorphists today who are very good at impressing dhamric people with their knowledge (and apparent "respect), but upon scratching beneath the surface they betray a deep aspect of Western Universalism.
At a prominent Hindu guru's ashram, one of the top teachers conducts evening classes on Steiner, claiming that his ideas "make dharma more accessible to modern people". Many of the guru's followers are taking these classes. I tried to explain the long term consequences to the guru, but he was dismissive, citing that such followers are dedicated to the work in the ashram, and many are big donors. So, you see how some of our own gurus have been selling out!
In Germany, the Bio-Dynamic Farming method is very famous and widely practiced today. This concept was introduced to them by Rudolf Steiner in 1930s. This is a farming method, which is based on planetary positions. Rudolf steiner, gave a series of 7 lectures, and then died later. He did not give any explanation to his techniques, but simply asked farmers to follow it blindly. After seeing the success of this techniques, a group of farmers started researching more on this, and it became a movement. Today, they had created a certification for bio-dynamic farm products called "Demeter Internationale".
http://www.demeter.net/
(And pls note their name "Demeter".. this is goddess of agriculture in germany.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter )
Today few agri students who went to germany for higher studies, learn from them and started implementing in india. But these were common practices in indian agriculture, although in different way.
Most of the techniques should have got from indian sources, but indian sources are NOT mentioned in their writings. Because, when steiner taught these techniques to german farmers, he could not explain these, and just asked them to follow what he says. Steiner might have concealed original source, either because of backlash from church or as part of the digestion process, that was taking place at that time.
Steiner was a member of Theosophical society, and there is a very good possibility that he had learned these techniques through it, from indian sources.
We need to be assertive in reclaiming the credit to india, and for that proper research has to be done.
As a side note, my friend who studied in one of german universities shared an incdent, where his german professor said "Britain might have colonised the land of India. But germans had colonised the indian knowledge".
Rajiv comment: Steiner was a major intermediary in the uturn of collective systems. He broke away from theosophy when Annie Besant selected J. Krishnamurti as the new head. Steiner started a new movement called Anthropomorphism, which became a staging ground for taking dharmic ideas (via Theosophy) and scrubbing them to turn into "new" interpretations of Christianity. I know some very powerful anthropomorphists today who are very good at impressing dhamric people with their knowledge (and apparent "respect), but upon scratching beneath the surface they betray a deep aspect of Western Universalism.
At a prominent Hindu guru's ashram, one of the top teachers conducts evening classes on Steiner, claiming that his ideas "make dharma more accessible to modern people". Many of the guru's followers are taking these classes. I tried to explain the long term consequences to the guru, but he was dismissive, citing that such followers are dedicated to the work in the ashram, and many are big donors. So, you see how some of our own gurus have been selling out!
-SR
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