When it comes to Vedic texts, separate learnings for humanity from unscientific practices

It is an irony of our times that we want modern medicines to pass several stages of tests and layers of trials before accepting them, but have unwavering faith in many ancient rituals and remedies just because they have been mentioned in our sacred texts.

Consider our belief in a variety of yajnas mentioned in the Vedic literature. Our texts are full of claims that several powerful kings were blessed with more power, territory and wealth, and their queens with children after performing a horse sacrifice (Ashwamedha Yajna) — an elaborate ritual that also involved the chief wife’s cohabitation with a slain stallion.

The horse sacrifice is now rarely performed, but many other Vedic rituals are still popular. Several people perform Mahamrityunjaya Yajna to beat illness and seek long lives for themselves and family members, believing that fumes from herbs used in the ritual have healing powers. During times of drought, yajnas propitiating the rain god Indra are common sight in many north Indian states.

And then there are prayers and rituals that are supposed to silence enemies and sort out problems. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, for example, regularly visits a shrine in Datia, where she locks herself up for several days to pursue prayer and sacred rituals.

But, do these rituals actually work? Did the Ashwamedha Yajna actually make queens more fertile? Can yajnas cure illness, slay enemies or generate dark clouds and force them to pour down on parched land?

If the recommendations of a panel formed by the Central government are implemented, we may soon find out. The Second Sanskrit Commission, a 13-member panel set up by the UPA-II for suggesting measures for promoting our ancient culture and reviving Sanskrit, has recommended that scientific labs be set up to test the efficacy and power of Vedic rituals.

According to The Indian Express, the panel has made several other recommendations, including a four-language formula for school education, making Sanskrit compulsory for students from classes VI to X.

It is a misconception that making Sanskrit mandatory can make it popular. Until a few years ago, it was part of every school curriculum, including convent schools in north India. But, it disappeared from classrooms because students didn’t find it of any practical use: It was neither spoken in public, nor was it part of popular culture. Cramming it like parrots did not guarantee future employment either, unless a student’s ambition was limited to teaching Sanskrit or becoming a priest in temples, or at weddings and funerals.

While the efficacy of the new set of ideas for reviving Sanskrit without finding too many practical uses for it can be put up for academic scrutiny, it is the proposal for subjecting our ancient wisdom to scientific tests that should be welcome. It is an excellent suggestion for separating myths from facts, superstition from scientific logic and blind faith from verifiable formulas.

The biggest problem with much of our ancient wisdom and rituals is that it has never been subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny. Much of what passes off as Vedic knowledge is either mythology — we had Pushpak Vimans, our ancestors were capable of plastic surgery, queens could summon gods with mantras for conceiving — or is too  fantastic to believe — just reciting mantras can prolong life or gaumutra has rare healing qualities.

The incredulity inspired by such untested (even laughable) claims gets magnified because of our blind faith in hokum like astrology, palmistry and vaastu shastra that is often presented to the world as wisdom bequeathed by our ancestors.

But, there may indeed be a lot in our texts that can be of great benefit to humanity. The real challenge is to separate it from the unscientific, illogical and far-fetched ideas that masquerade as Vedic practices and knowledge.

The Narendra Modi government will do a huge favour to our ancient texts by accepting the suggestion for testing the power of our rituals in labs. Like a proverbial yajna, it will purify them by cleansing them of superstition, irrationality and blind bhakti.