Covering topics from Indian history to Aryan civilisation, IIT Kharagpur's 2022 calendar in eye of the storm

While many hit out at the calendar, it found support in some quarters with its creator also claiming critics suffered from a 'colonial hangover'

IIT-Kharagpur has made news, not with scientific discovery, but with its official calendar for 2022, with each page challenging concepts ranging from the 'Aryan Civilisation' to the "dubious nature" of Indian history.

In its introduction, the calendar states, “The current Chronology of Indian Civilization and history is dubious and questionable. A long evolutionary sequence of literature, and cultural and spiritual texts are evident prior to the birth of the Buddha and the Mahavira...the long chronology has suffered suppression, compromises, contractions, and distortions.”

The calendar, titled ‘Recovery of the Foundation of Indian Knowledge Systems’, covers subjects such as the Indus civilization, cyclic time, space-time causation, non-linear flow and changes, Aryan sages, unicorn, aeons of time, cosmic symmetry, semantics and semiotics, and world wars.

Social media was quick to pounce on the release, with the publication facing a barrage of questions amidst a sprinkling of praise.

However, not all was gloom and doom.

The creator of the calendar, Professor Joy Sen, chairperson of IIT Kharagpur’s Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge Systems, responded to the criticism by saying that the creators suffered from a "colonial hangover," a report by The Print stated.

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