Vidya & Kala
Knowledge of different domains over a period of time has been institutionalized as so many
disciplines, vidya विद्या and crafts, kala कला .
Indian disciplinary formations include fields as diverse as
- philosophy,
- architecture,
- grammar,
- mathematics,
- astronomy,
- metrics,
- sociology (dharmaSastra),
- economy and polity (arthaSastra),
- ethics (nitisastra),
- geography,
- logic,
- military science,
- weaponry,
- agriculture,
- mining,
- trade and commerce,
- metallurgy,
- mining,
- shipbuilding,
- medicine,
- poetics,
- biology and veterinary science.
In each of these a continuous and cumulative series of texts continues to be available in spite of widespread loss and historically recorded destruction.
The tradition talks of 18 major विद्या vidyas, theoretical disciplines, and 64 कला kalas, applied or vocational disciplines, crafts.
The 18 विद्या vidyas are:
- the four Vedas,
- the four subsidiary Vedas
- आयुर्वेद Ayurveda, medicine,
- धनुर्वेद Dhanurveda, weaponry,
- गंधर्ववेद Gandharvaveda, music and
- शिल्प Silpa, architecture,
- पुराण Purana,
- न्याय Nyaya,
- मीमांसा Mimansa,
- धर्मशास्त्र DharmaSastra and
- वेदांग Vedanga – the six auxiliary sciences,
- phonetics,
- grammar,
- metre,
- astronomy,
- ritual and
- philology —
these constituted the 18 sciences in ancient India.
As far as the applied sciences are concerned, there are competing enumerations of 64.
These “crafts” have a direct bearing on day-to-day life of the people and most of them are still a part of the Indian life.
For the craftsmen, the craft is not only their profession, it is also their worship.
These crafts were taught, are still taught, by a teacher to his disciples, for the learning of a craft requires watching the teacher at work, starting by doing odd, little jobs assigned by the teacher and then the long practice, अभ्यास abhysa, on one’s own.
Only after considerable experience the learner refines his art and then may set-up on his own. We can see this even today in Indian dance, music and even automobile-repair, which must now be counted among the crafts.
The traditional lists, as the Sriibasavarajendra’s list, enumerate,
- history,
- poetry,
- calligraphy,
- metrical compositions,
- dancing,
- evaluating precious stones,
- wrestling,
- cooking,
- magic,
- shoe-making,
- thieving,
- iron smithery,
- painting,
- gardening,
- carpentry,
- hair-dressing,
- hunting,
- trading,
- agriculture,
- animal husbandry,
- making medicines,
- leather work,
- driving,
- fishing,
- speech-making among the crafts.
Other lists add - singing,
- playing musical instruments,
- preparing manuscripts,
- garland-making,
- dyeing,
- body-care,
- use of weapons,
- making moulds,
- performing puja (daily worship),
- inlay work,
- arranging flowers,
- preparing scents,
- bangle-making,
- stitching,
- making ornaments,
- making sweets,
- home-planning,
- training animals,
- training birds,
- coding,
- making instruments/machines,
- training memory,
- physical exercise and
- yogic practices.
It is easy to see their close relationship with ordinary life. It is also easy to see that these crafts are still important means of livelihood. It is also easy to see the realism in the enumeration — gambling and thieving are also recognized as “arts.”
It is significant that no opposition is set-up in the Indian tradition between “art” and “craft.”
The craftsman is held in high esteem as a साधक sadhaka, a devotee whose mind attaches with great reverence to his object.
His training is a form of तप tapa, a dedication and the primary virtue he has to acquire is concentration, एकाग्रता ekagrata.
Even for the crafts, which are “practical” disciplines there are basic texts, for example, the popular prosody text, Pingala. But it is true in the case of crafts just as it is true in the case of vidyas that the knowledge resides in the teacher, the गुरु guru or the उस्ताद ustad, the term a man in the street uses these days. This is the root of the great reverence attached to the gurus in the Indian tradition as he is the source and the ultimate authority in the given domain of knowledge. In each discipline, there are Schools; in each School there are thinkers and texts.
We illustrate this with reference to Poetics.