Centre for Studies of Tradition and Systems(CSTS) is an organisation for sustained community engagement with the aim of helping people in resolving the philosophical conflicts by creating a space for dialogue.
The CSTS should be seen as an institution which is attempting to reclaim the knowledge tradition keeping in mind its contemporariness. It should not be taken as a revivalist effort but a creative intervention for resolving the conflict between modernity and tradition to influence the lifeworld of these people. The institution is interested in developing a perspective on the traditional knowledge and its engagement with contemporary times.
It is developing an archive of interviews, books, folklore, art forms etc. It has collected important texts of this tradition. The Centre has also organized several discussions on the literary texts written in Maithili. In future it is planning to reprint some of the important texts with contemporary introductions.
For instance, texts like Dhurta Samagama (The Meeting of the Knaves, published in the year 1320) needs to be read in the light of the contemporary chaos marked by the decline of social and political value. It has recorded interviews of Naiyyaik Shri Kishore Nath Jha, sociologist Late Professor Hetukar Jha and many others. It engaged with the villagers of Sarisab Pahi to organise a major conference on Nyaya tradition.
The CSTS believes in creating a platform for dialogue on social science, science, technology, philosophy, economy, lifeworld, and almost everything that concerns human beings. The idea is to look into the multiple dimensions of knowledge traditions, archiving the manuscripts, publishing the scholarly works, conducting seminars/workshops and action research on contemporary issues, rural uplifting, mother tongue promotion with special focus on Maithili language and literature, women’s empowerment, heritage conservation, promotion of local art and craft, Indo-Nepal relationship, promoting the discourse between modern and traditional, organising philosophical debates as soft power knowledge, reading culture, agricultural experiments, water conservation etc.
The CSTS aims to address the issue of uneven, unequal spectrum of developmental goals and it’s deep rooted crisis has propelled us to look for alternative modes of understanding. CSTS as an organization is an ardent believer in dynamism and pace of the tradition and traditional. We strive for becoming the voice of the marginalized.
The CSTS has a wider cultural significance as it strives to revive and bring the cultural life of Mithila to the people across the globe. It aims at bringing writers, scholars, Agricultarists, painters, artisans, on one platform to showcase the rich cultural products that Mithila has to offer the world.
+91-
csts.ind@gmail.com