बोधन-कुतूहलम्

An Online Contest for Teaching Saṁskṛta Subjects in Saṁskṛta medium

Saṁskṛta teaching-learning, as a medium of knowledge, has been one of the most underrated and underutilized spheres of higher education in our times.

To encourage young scholars to turn their minds and efforts to this end, MIT School of Vedic Sciences announces a Contest for teaching śāstras in Saṁskṛta (at college level).

We urge the scholars to focus on how to make the content and method of teaching śāstras more interesting and relevant to learners in colleges coming from modern education backgrounds by approaching the śāstras with a view to utilizing them in the contemporary context and propagation of Saṁskṛta as a medium of dissemination of valuable Indic knowledge.

Participant Guidelines

• Choose a module in the list of topics as your teaching content.
• Record a video of a teaching session of yours of length 20-60 minutes, upload it on YouTube and send us the link. You can use a white/black board, PowerPoint slides, charts or diagrams in your presentation.
• You may include the following along with your lecture video:
  • Lecture notes (prepared as teacher to provide to students)
  • Written exam questions (20 marks)
  • Assignment / project (5 questions)
  • References to material used (if any)
  • Suggested additional reading materials
  • PowerPoint slides, charts, diagrams used

Evaluation Criteria

• Command over content
• Teaching skill
  • Student engagement
  • Summarization and Simplification
• Material Preparation
• Assessment

To conduct the contest in a category, we need a minimum of 3 participants. Evaluators’ judgement is final.

Important Dates

• Registration Starts: March 10, 2019
• Registration Ends: May 31, 2019
• Submission of Lecture Video and supplementary Material: June 17, 2019
• Announcement of Winners: July 16, 2019 (Guru-pūrṇimā)

Steps to Participate

•  – use the code to pay fees of Rs 255 and register
• Alternately, go to the link https://rzp.io/l/8nhVqp6 for paying fees and registration
• Inform us at info.mitsvs@gmail.com providing the proof of payment
• Send the YouTube video link of your teaching session to us at info.mitsvs@gmail.com on or before 17^th June 2019
• After scrutiny by our evaluators the results of the contest will be announced on 16^th July 2019

Prizes awaiting the winners of the contest

*Third prize will be declared only in case there are a minimum of 5 entries in the category. If there are less than 3 entries in any particular category, then the contest will not be conducted in the category.

Eligibility

No formal degree or educational qualification is set as the eligibility criteria for this contest. Any person above 18 years of age interested and confident in teaching the notified śāstras/topics in Saṁskṛta medium is eligible to participate in the contest.

Expected outcome

• This is an opportunity for scholars who intend to teach śāstras in Saṁskṛta medium to present their capability
• Achieving a victorious position may add to your qualifications while applying for job positions etc.
• The contest provides an opportunity to consider, experiment/demonstrate how to teach śāstra/topics in Saṁskṛta medium to the modern educated learners
• The participants may get to engage with MIT SVS in further online educational opportunities
• Coming to know of scholars interested in teaching śāstras/topics in Saṁskṛta medium, a network may be formed to further the cause through deliberations, forming policies, projects, demonstrations and application

Audience Profile

The lecture should be targeted for students with the following profile:

• Understands conversational Saṁskṛta as well as śāstrīya-saṁskṛta in spoken and written modes
• Expected to independently search for meaning of unknown words by themselves
• Not expected to have any background in the particular subject matter taught
• The audience might have diverse professional and educational backgrounds and will be aged 18 years or older

Teaching Topics

The following categories of subjects are available for selection to teach.

Topics to be taught in the first category (one among) –

• Kāvya-śāstra – Rasa-niṣpatti according to Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata
• Kāvya – 4^th Act of Abhijñāna-śākuntala of Kālidāsa up to verse 1
• Vyākaraṇa – Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (Sūtra 1.1.9)
• Vedānta – Īśāvāsya-upaniṣad mantra 1 (with commentaries of Śankarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya)
• Jyotiṣa – Chapter 1 of Bṛhajjātakam of Varāhamihira (Verses 1 – 5)
• Nyāya – Nyāya-sūtra of Gotama 1.1.1
• Pūrva-mīmāṁsā – Dharmalakṣaṇa and dharma-pratipādakatva of Vedas from Arthasaṅgraha of Laugākṣi Bhāskara

Topics to be taught in the second category (one among) –

• Sāṅkhya-yoga – Sāṅkhya-kārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa (verses 1 – 3) / Yogasūtra of Patañjali (sutra 1)
• Artha-śāstra – Vṛddha-saṁyoga and Indriyajaya from Artha-śāstra of Kauṭilya
• Āyurveda – 6^th Chapter of Sūtra-sthāna of Caraka-saṁhitā (verses 1 – 15)
• Dharma-śāstra – Manusmṛti – 4^th adhyāya (verses 1 – 20)
• Veda-bhāṣya – Sāyaṇa-bhāṣya for Puruṣasūkta (ṛk 1 – 5)
• Āgama – Pauṣkara-saṁhitā – 2^nd adhyāya (verses 1 – 15)

Topics to be taught in the third category (one among) –

• Indic pedagogy – Teaching methods in Indic tradition
• Indic research methodology – Topic for research – Adhikaraṇa-vicāra
• Indic philosophy of life – Varṇa system in Indic worldview
• Relevance of Vedic practices – Yajña – Role and relevance
• Tradition of Indic knowledge/thought – The tradition of vāda and the evolution of Indic knowledge systems
• Śāstras relevant to trivarga – Choice of contestant