Sree Narayana Guru as spiritual teacher in UGC model curriculum; Chemistry syllabus with picture of Goddess Saraswati

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The model curriculum released by the UGC has included Sree Narayana Guru in the list of spiritual teachers. Guru has been included along with Swami Vivekananda and Maharshi Aurobindo, who are spiritually and intellectually high-ranking figures.

Meanwhile, Sree Narayana Guru is not in the list of social reformers. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Jyotiba Phule and B.R. Ambedkar are in this list. This is in the model syllabus of the paper Modern Indian Political Thoughts of the third year Political Science degree course. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi are included in the category of 'National Movement'. Nehru is in the group of socialists along with Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. Deendayal Upadhyay also got a place in the lesson on ‘nationalists’, apart from Savarkar.

In the model syllabus, the front page of Chemistry has a picture of Goddess Saraswati instead of the UGC emblem. The other eight subjects have the UGC emblem at the beginning. Along with the picture of Goddess Saraswati, the prayer 'Salutations to Devi Saraswati, the giver of boons and fulfiller of wishes. O Devi, when I begin my studies, please bestow on me the capacity of right understanding always,' has also been included.

In Chemistry, the chapter titled Chemical Knowledge in Vedas includes the concept of ‘Kundalini’, the atomic theory of Kanada Maharishi, metallurgy in the Vedas, etc. One of the books included for reference in Chemistry is ‘History of Hindu Chemistry’. ‘Sutras in Vedic Mathematics’, Mathematics in Narada Purana, etc., are also included in Mathematics. In the framework of Political Science, there are biographies of Hindu Mahasabha leader V.D. Savarkar and Jana Sangh founding leader Deendayal Upadhyaya.