New Delhi: “I would not like anybody who says that feminism began with Simone de Beauvoir … Draupadi is the first feminist.”This statement was made by Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, during her address as the keynote speaker at a three-day international conference that began on August 10 at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).In addition to identifying Draupadi as the “first feminist,” she described JNU as a “beggar” and accused JNU historians of turning the order of facts and interpretations ‘upside down’.The conference was organised by BHU’s Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Chair, focusing on the theme “Indian Knowledge Tradition and the Thought of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya: Global Perspective and Contemporary Relevance”.Hindu saint Mithileshnandini Sharan was invited as the chief guest on the inaugural day of this ‘international conference’ on Indian knowledge traditions.‘Feminism did not begin with Simone de Beauvoir, Draupadi is the first feminist’In her speech, while addressing the role of women in Indian tradition, the JNU vice-chancellor remarked that Indian feminism should not be interpreted through the lens of Western feminist thought. She asserted: “I would not like anybody who says that feminism began with Simone de Beauvoir. I would say Indian feminism has nothing to do with patriarchy.”She went on to call Draupadi from the Mahabharata as the “first feminist”. She said: “Draupadi is the first feminist. And please look at all the questions she asked her husband. Nobody will ask them even today.”Citing the worship of goddesses in Indian tradition, she gave examples of deities like Chamundeshwari and Madurai Meenakshi. She noted that in these traditions, a goddess “gives boons, she curses, she does everything. And she gets nobody’s permission”.‘JNU is a beggar, bring a temple of Lord Venkateswara here’In her address, the vice-chancellor cited Madan Mohan Malaviya as a model for modern Indian education, saying: “Because he said that where Saraswati stays – to fund research you need money – Mahalakshmi has to come, then only you will become Durga … He should become the model for modern Indian education. Wherever you want to start a university, see like him whether you have sources of income for it.”She added: “After the Vishwanath Temple [initiative], I suggested to JNU that since we are beggars, we should bring a temple of Lord Venkateswara here – I hail from Andhra. A lot of money would come our way.”Pandit recommended investing in the establishment of universities, research centres, publishing houses and academic institutions, and further remarked: “Unfortunately, while the Left developed a long-term academic ecosystem through universities, journals, publishing houses, research networks and theoretical schools, the Indian Right has generally not invested to the same extent in institution-building.”“Much of the Right’s intellectual output remains reactive, topical and event-driven, rather than cumulative and theory-built. Enduring ideas require sustained scholarship, peer review, archives, translation, research centres and doctoral training.”‘JNU historians turned the very definition of history upside down’Criticising the historians of her own university, the JNU vice-chancellor stated that while facts are crucial in history, their interpretations can vary. She said: “Facts are sacred, interpretations can vary. But our JNU historians turned it upside down. They said interpretation is sacred, facts can vary.”Speaking further about JNU, she said: “The university cannot function or flourish when one ideology monopolises legitimate knowledge like we did in JNU.”Characterising the Indian knowledge tradition as a holistic one, she set it apart from the ‘Left’ versus ‘Right’ binary. She also criticised ‘wokeism’ and the intellectual monopoly of the Left.‘Indian civilisation is one of the oldest civilisations in the world’Pandit also made many claims regarding the antiquity of Indian civilisation. She emphasised that Indians ought to take pride in their civilisational heritage and should not remain under the impression that the Mughals or the British civilised India. “The Mughals did not come and civilise us. We are older than all civilisations in the world,” she remarked.Referring to carbon dating and the discovery of ancient sites, she claimed that Indian civilisation is about 10,000 years old. She added that India did not acquire the concept of democracy or political institutions from the West.Citing the example of the Uttara Meru inscription of the Cholas, she claimed it is older than Magna Carta.‘We defeated China’The vice chancellor also said that if the Indian knowledge system becomes confined to one language, region, tradition or community, that would weaken its original civilisational spirit.She said: “If IKS becomes confined to one language, one region, one tradition or one community, it defeats its own civilisational foundations. A genuinely Bharatiya IKS must emerge organically from the contributions of every region of India. It becomes archival, should include Tamil Sangam literature, Shaiva-Vaishnava traditions, traditions like the Alwars and Nayanars, Buddhist philosophical traditions, Jain epistemology, tribal ecological knowledge, oral tradition, folk sciences, maritime traditions.”She then asked: “Do most of you know that Indian kings were great shipbuilders? The Marathas were great. You had Kanhoji Angre [in the] western Indian Ocean.”Talking about Rajendra Chola, she said: “Do you know we conquered Southeast Asia, defeated China? None of you are [sic] aware of this, but please be proud of your civilisation.”Pandit further said that the Indian knowledge system should not be limited to mere branding or promotion. She said that India’s contribution to Indian philosophy, mathematics and other fields should be made a part of global academic discourse.She said that in future Indian thinkers should be taught along with Plato, Confucius and Kant in universities like Oxford, Tokyo, Harvard, Heidelberg and Cape Town.Panini ought to be studied alongside Chomsky, Kautilya alongside Machiavelli, the Charvakas alongside Hippocrates, Aryabhata alongside Newton, Abhinavagupta alongside Aristotle and Buddhist logic alongside analytical philosophy, she said.This three-day conference took place from August 10 to August 12. According to BHU, the objective of the conference was to integrate the Indian knowledge tradition and the philosophies of Upadhyaya into the academic discourse within the global and contemporary context.This article has been republished from The Wire Hindi and translated by Naushin Rehman.