The Center for Human Sciences  is happy to announce its new Project “Avadhanakala and Consciousness Studies” for the revival and popularising the age-old Vedic art of multiple concentration called as “Avadhankala”. The project is sponsored by the IKS division of  AICTE. This literary art exhibits the power of simultaneous and multiple concentration on different things or items belonging to literature, music, astronomy, astrology, medical science and many more. It is popular from the very ancient days in Sanskrit, more exclusively in Telugu to some extent in Kannada and other languages. It requires immense memory power and tests a person’s capability of performing multiple tasks simultaneously. All the tasks are memory intensive and demand an in depth knowledge of literature and grammar. It focuses on training cognitive inner faculties inner faculties like observation, concentration, memory, judgment, reasoning, imagination etc.

The centre would focus on the two themes Indian psychology and consciousness studies and Sahitya and avadhana kala as follows:

•  Research in Avadhanakala
•  Yogic shastras and its practical implications
•  Comparative study of Indian psychology, yoga and consciousness studies in the west.

Avadhanakala as a literary art is now practiced in Sanskrit language and mostly in Kannada and Telugu language. The number of Avadhanis who practice it have vastly reduced in present times. Avadhanakala is no doubt a wonderful literary art. But the science behind the Avadhankala is not researched. It has remained confined only to the performance on the stage and in present times in Youtube videos. The centre would involve extensive literature review, participant observation method, and interviewing the Avadhanis. These different methodologies would be adopted given that the literature on the subject is scanty. 

• Research on Sahitya of Avadhankala
• Documentation of the art form and revival of its techniques
• Strengthening of the lineage via Knowledge sharing, training and networking
• Design Educational programs, workshops and courses in line with NEP
• Research- sutras, bhasyas, tippanis and tikas of IKS on Human Mind, its nature, its shortcomings and potentialities.
• Research- ancient Indian texts on evolution of consciousness and varied faculties of Human Mind
• Development of faculties of mind among learners 
• Comparative studies with the concept of Mindfulness in the west.

•  The centre would design programmes, workshops and curriculum for integrating the Avadhanakala into mainstream education.
•   It would publish research papers and popular articles in journals, blogs on Avadhankala, yogic sciences and consciousness studies.
•  The centre would work towards publishing books and translations of existing works. 
•  The centre would organise conferences and document the reports. 
•  The centre would prepare documentaries on specific aspects of Avadhanakala, yogic sciences and consciousness studies 
•  The centre would offer short certificate courses, both physical and online, on Avadhanakala.
•  The centre would bring to the forefront several forms of sahitya related to Avadhanakala. It would highlight the science behind the metric forms and flexibility of Indian languages. 
•  The centre would coordinate with other centres and IITs, central and state universities for disseminating the outcomes and knowledge sharing.
•  The centre would strive for composition of new works of Sahitya in Indian languages.

Stay tuned for more developments and research activities..!!