"I confess I have taken all knowledge to be my province," declared Becon in the year 1592. The Baconian credo has ruled the western consciousness ever since. With the introduction of Western learning in India we imbibed the Baconian belief in the universality of all knowledge. In practice, however, it meant- thanks to the colonial bondage – universality of western knowledge only. This was particularly disabling for a country like India which had three thousand years of history and culture of its own. It meant for the most part an engagement with ideas and issue that were either irrelevant or peripheral and joining in a rat race in which we were doomed to be laggards.
