Jack of all trades: Understanding polymaths from a modern Indian perspective

A polymath, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, refers to "a person who knows a lot about many different subjects" ("Polymath," 2024). The gurukul system in India is famous for birthing many polymaths who went on to derive their fame in a multitude of fields, like the scholar Vedantika Desika of the late 13th to early 14th century (Raghavan, 1978). Even further back, the Pandava and Kaurava brothers, educated by the guru Dronacharya, specialised in weaponry but derived their education in arts, statecraft and war. Before the need for specialisation, subjects like music were also a mainstay at the gurukul, leading students to gain proficiency in the arts along with the sciences and grammar. However, this slowly gave way to the modern notion of university education that we know today. Some of the earliest established universities included those at Nalanda, Kashi, and Ujjain (Banisudha, 2022). This essay looks into developing the capacity for polymathy in the educations system, its Indian roots, and lessons for policy that can be derived.

History: from the Indian perspective

The ancient Indian system of the gurukulam is famed for its emphasis on creating the perfect citizen. The objective of citizen creation for the functioning of a democratic and peaceful nation has been the epitome of the Indian education system long before the Western notion of nation-building (Selvamani, 2019). Textually, education encompassed the Upanishads, Vedas, Aranyakas, and Brahmanas. Along with textual knowledge of the ancient scriptures, morality was taught- including the law of Dharma- and academic pursuits like numeracy, grammar, and science that made up the pillars of Indian education. The material taught reflected critical analysis; lectures, debates, and discussions often stirred the interest of students, allowing them to engage with the material beyond memorising it. At the end of the student's seven years of education, he had mastered grammar, literature, maths, and spiritual knowledge. In short, he was a polymath. The student's goal was rooted in Chitti-Vrittinirodha, or "the control of mental activities connected with the so-called concrete world", as provided in the text by Sehgal (2023). There is not just a need, but an emphasis for holistic development in the ancient education system that treated everything from social work to astronomy with equal importance.

Modern Indian education

The Indian education system has undergone a transformative shift in recent decades, de-emphasising the need for curiosity in favour of depth of knowledge in one discipline, and moving away from the historical nature of educating polymaths and towards a more specialised approach that emphasises proficiency in one or a few skills. Basic skills regarding computing and literacy are taught at a lower level. However, the specialisation process is being shifted further and further back, with some systems asking thirteen-year-olds to decide their subjects of choice for the rest of their careers. This shift reflects a broader global trend, as education systems have tried to keep pace with the increasing complexity and need to specialise in modern knowledge and professions (Sehgal, 2023). For example, a historian today is limited to pursuing and understanding history and its sources. A historian may explore the history of a nation and its political and economic nature, but rarely does he delve into the sciences.

The need for specialisation came from the modern Indian education system, which found its roots in Macauley's 1835 dictate (Banisudha, 2022). The modern job market requires one to be the best in their field or rare enough to demand their services. In such a scenario, extreme specialisation is warranted from the younger generation. One can only hope to be the best with extraordinary amounts of experience, making this avenue nearly absent for the younger population. Specialisation in courses was subsequently developed to cater to this extreme specialisation in job opportunities. Now, we have hyper-specialised professionals looking for opportunities in large language models with little to no knowledge of allied sciences or interdisciplinary social studies. The shift towards hyper-specialisation in Indian universities has been created to respond to the demands of the globalised economy, which has placed a higher prestige on technical and professional skills that can be readily applied in the workforce. It is a trend not limited to Indian institutions but also Western institutions that are now getting linked to each other due to a well-connected and well-intertwined world focused on the cultural exchange of knowledge.

In its midst, the benfits of polymathy are often lost in the race for nuanced and specific education focused on excellence, instead of curiosity. There is a loss in sensitivity to a plethora of subjects and its successfully interconnection. Growth of new ideas may further be enhanced by interdisciplinary critical thinking, which fuels the pursuit of new thought in today's oversaturated world. In fact, we have polymaths that are fluent in multiple streams well into the 21st century that prove this. Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi, a polymath of the 20th century, boasts excellence in history, mathematics, and genetics, amongst others (Gokhale & Kosambi, 1968). If one digs deep enough, the evidence of polymathy exists well into the 20th century, even including stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore in the list.

Avenues for future research

Policy is driven by research, and any good policy outcome- especially concerning education- must come from well founded theories and strong empirical evidence. The role of educational research must emphasise on the overall benefits of polymathy, including students’ cognitive benefits and overall benefits to the system. There is great potential for current literature looks at the effect of polymathy on creativity, dialogue and integration of universal concepts (Araki (2018), Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2006), Dail (2013), M. Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2022). Araki (2018) has also provided some helpful avenues for research into polymathy including its measurements, biological assessment, and effect on the modern business environment.  The evidence for the psychological benefits of polymathy must drive the call for education reform.

References

Araki, M. E. (2018). Polymathy: a new outlook. Journal of Genius and Eminence, 3(Fall 2018), 66–82. https://doi.org/10.18536/jge.2018.04.3.1.06

Banisudha, B. (2022). JOURNEY OF INDIAN MUSIC EDUCATION FROM GURUKUL TO MODERN ERA. In International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/106573609/9-libre.pdf?1697222369=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DJOURNEY_OF_INDIAN_MUSIC_EDUCATION_FROM_G.pdf&Expires=1727870157&Signature=QI5gcO8yiWRSq0-d9dsNimLJPNzysEeddJpNnVBb5xbApo8QjGuCj2SBxZbMKEwcRtXTKr-o9x0yLQLBfqU97W-RS9vnmxzEjnHCBmJnZmrQiXmbg3IG1fhgVv2J72weFgV~3~tIc6x6tGRerTHaM6WoJaBYcjsRLJSUv9IA2J5SRN9m4XmZuVspmVxL3UBl08gKT2Zbd8Uy8TqveNquW86RxLdGZDI-fJzAqVyouaZ9cEgCCjuI7CBeaqrIATokI7G-1l4Rs2d9ktK6-DliVoYmO3nonlfB76cWUZw3efbO6tZyEATA5M36jkNkKQQysRjMEy5LO~GnYX6LR86oJQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Dail, W. (2013). On Cultural Polymathy: How visual thinking, culture, and community create a platform for progress. STEAM, 1(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.5642/steam.201301.07

Gokhale, V. V., & Kosambi, D. D. (1968). DAMODAR DHARMANAND KOSAMBI (31-7-1907—29-6-1966). Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 47, 118–130. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694209

Polymath. (2024). In Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved October 2, 2024, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/polymath 

Raghavan, V. (1978). A survey of Sanskrit. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SURVEY, 21(6), 89–106. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23330100

Root-Bernstein, M., & Root-Bernstein, R. (2022). Polymathy among Nobel laureates as a Creative Strategy— the qualitative and phenomenological evidence. Creativity Research Journal, 35(1), 116–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2051294

Root-Bernstein, R., & Root-Bernstein, M. (2006). Artistic scientists and scientific Artists: The link between polymathy and creativity. In American Psychological Association eBooks (pp. 127–151). https://doi.org/10.1037/10692-008

Sehgal, N. G. (2023). Refocusing Indian education system in the perspective of ancient Indian education system. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 19(2), 861–864. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2023.19.2.1673

Selvamani, P. (2019). Gurukul System- an ancient educational system of India. In International Journal of Applied Social Science (Vols. 6–6, pp. 1620–1622). http://scientificresearchjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Social-Science-6_A-1620-1622-Full-Paper.pdf