THE INDIGENOUS ‘PRAJNA MODEL’
OF INDIAN MANUFACTURING, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT
Dr Narendra Joshi
Sri Aurobindo in one of his
early cultural writings has written an essay named ‘The Stress of the hidden
spirit.’ Here he explains to us the obsession of the modern rational man with
mechanistic world view which is trying in vain to understand the world in the
form of a giant machine. Uniformity, massification and aggrandization are the
corollaries of this view and individual’s progressive dehumanization is its
effect. Something similar he has written in the opening part of the Ideal of
human Unity and in many of his other writings. In modern industry human beings,
raw material and data enter the highly intelligent and automated system : they
come out with value deduction for humans and value addition for the rest!! Thus
has been the feverish pursuit of making machines and systems more intelligent
while doubting the presence of the same in human beings inside an industry, an
oganization or in the society today. However, here in this essay cited above, he then
puts it very succinctly that in Indian culture with such diverse and at times
even diametrically opposite darshanas
and philosophies throughout the history of at least ten thousand years
or more, the idea of the world as a machine or even a sort of linear mechanical
system has been conspicuously absent. The Upanishads speak of a cosmic inverted
tree, a web of spider, sparks of fire, honeycomb, a tree and two birds, spokes
of wheel and many models but not a linear logical mechanistic model ever. In the
words of Sri Aurobindo,
‘The world is a great game of hide and seek in which the real
hides behind the apparent, spirit behind matter. The
apparent masquerades as real, the real is seen dimly as if it were an
unsubstantial shadow. The grandeur of the visible
universe and its laws enslaves men's imaginations. “This
is a mighty machine,” we cry, “but it moves of its own force and needs neither
guide nor maker; for its motion is eternal.” Blinded by
a half-truth1 we fail to see that, instead of a machine
without a maker, there is really only an existence and no machine. The Hindus have many images by which they seek to convey their
knowledge of the relation between God and the world, but the idea of the
machine does not figure largely among them. It is a
spider and his web, a fire with many sparks, a pool of salt water in which
every particle is penetrated by the salt. The world is a
waking dream, an embodied vision, a mass of knowledge arranged in corporeal
appearances expressing so many ideas which are each only a part of one
unchanging truth. Everything becomes, nothing is
made. Everything is put out from latency, nothing is
brought into existence. Only that which was, can be,
not that which was not. And that which is, cannot
perish; it can only lose itself. All is eternal in the
eternal Spirit.’ (THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE,
EARLY CULTURAL WRITINGS — 1890-1910, Karmayogin: A Weekly Review, Saturday
26th February 1910 — No.34: p362)
This is extremely significant. As this organic and
integral worldview which is in fact a spiritual world view of India was then reflected
in every expression and creation of her : whether in philosophy, religion,
literature, arts and also in sociology, polity, management and economy and even
in her models of trade, commerce, industries and manufacturing. The organic
interrelated model means the individuals and aggregates are potentially Divine,
and united at their spiritual roots or the centre. It means all points in this
cosmic mandala are interwoven, interrelated and nothing can be seen as an isolated
part. It also means that each part is a reflection of the whole: each is in all
and all is in each. Nothing can be created which is not already there. The tree
is manifested from seed not created out of nothing. So much insightful and
significant. He further explains:
“Therefore in all things the Hindu thinker sees the stress of
the hidden Spirit. We see it as prajñā, the
universal Intelligence, conscious in things unconscious, active in things
inert. The energy of prajñā is what the
Europeans call Nature. The tree does not and cannot
shape itself, the stress of the hidden Intelligence 
shapes it. He is in the seed of man and in that little particle of matter
carries habit, character, types of emotion into the unborn child. Therefore heredity is true; but if prajñā were not
concealed in the seed, heredity would be false, inexplicable, impossible. We see the same stress in the mind, heart, body of man. Because the hidden Spirit urges himself on the body, stamps
himself on it, expresses himself in it, the body expresses the individuality of
the man, the developing and conscious idea or varying type which is
myself. Therefore no two faces, no two expressions, no
two thumb-impressions3 even are entirely alike; every part of the
body in some way or other expresses the man. The stress
of the Spirit shows itself in the mind and heart; therefore men, families,
nations have individuality, run into particular habits of thought and feeling,
therefore also they are both alike and dissimilar. Therefore
men act and react, not only physically but spiritually, intellectually, morally
on each other, because there is one self in all creatures expressing itself in
various ideas and forms variously suitable to the
idea. The stress of the hidden Spirit expresses itself
again in events and the majestic course of the world. This
is the Zeitgeist, this is the purpose that runs through the process of the
centuries, the changes of the suns, this is that which makes evolution possible
and provides it with a way, means and a goal. “This is
He who from years sempiternal hath ordered perfectly all things.” ( Ibid p 364)
This also stresses the importance of decentralization and
diversity. Each is essentially one but manifested in different way, in a unique
way. That is the Prajna explains Sri Aurobindo.. The stress of the hidden
spirit. That is why no two trees, no two branches of same tree, not even
identical twins are exactly same, each is unique like unique thumb
impressions. There is similarity among
the class and the type like all mango trees will be similar in spread and
shapes of leaves and fruits and yet each is unique in itself. So are human
beings. So must be the systems and
methods designed for fulfilling his Chatur purushartha : Dharma, Artha, Kama
and Moksha. That is how even the models for management, business, manufacturing
and economics, were manifested and then were documented in India. We must
remember that they were in their best
expressions based on this organic and integral world view.
That
is why Sri Aurobindo emphasized that the value of the Indian conception of life
will depend on how well we can connect these diverse individual paths to the
unifying central perfection, here all can be allowed to travel on path as per
their swabhava and swadharma and should not be put under the same table of
laws. (The Foundations of Indian Culture)
We will see some representative examples of this in following
paragraphs.
Kanagsabapathi in his ‘Indian models of economy, business, and
management’ explains: “The history
of India's trade and commerce goes back to the Phoenician times when spices, ivory,
silks, fine
cottons and precious stones were carried
out.” "In ancient times both the internal and external trade were at their peak. The trade in textiles was very common.
Sllks were imported from China, and from Central Asia came pearls and very fine
wool. India mainly exported cotton cloth. The articles of export and import
consisted of seashells, areca nut,.
sandalwood, gold, silver, pearls,
precious stones and coral.” "Even some 53 centuries ago,
the people were linked in a vast trade network, much
of Harappa’s trade undoubtedly travelled along the
Ravi river, eventually
reaching the Indus. And some surely went by
that main stream
river to Mohenjodaro,
Harappa's sister city some 400 miles to the south. Traders from the
north waited to present turquoise and lapis lazuli to a Harappan merchant
weighing beads." (Agarwala through Kanagsabapathi ) India was a pioneer in developing new tools
and technologies since the
ancient days, when no country
had any
idea of them. Not only Agricultural efficiency was world class but even
in Industrial production was at very high level. "…..ancient India
not only had business forms that easily met
the notion of
a contracting entity, but also
had business forms that went
considerably further with
many features that are common
to more recent organizational
forms such as corporations." (Khanna through
Kanaksabapathi)
India was among the top three economic powers in the world from
early centuries of her history till 18th century. This is now
elaborated with lot of evidences in Maddison report and quoted by several
authors. A specialized
industrial and technical education
was offered in both centralized and
decentralized education system. The
artisans and the guilds
educated the next generation in necessary skills in many arts and crafts. That the Harappan
bricks were made with such precision and strength that “..The bricks contained no
straw or other binding material and · so
turned out to be usable 5,000 years later when a British
contractor dug them up to construct a railway line between Multan and Lahore. And
while they were made in 15 different sizes, the Harappan bricks were amazingly consistent: their length, width and thickness were invariably in the ratio of 4:2:1."
"The testimony
of Megasthenes, corroborated by
the Arthashastra, shows that
in Mauryan times,
prices were regulated
by market officials. The latter
text suggests that, as a further effort at maintaining a just
price, government officers should buy
on.the open market when any staple commodity was cheap and plentiful, and
release stocks from government
stores when it was in short supply, thus bringing down the
price and making a
profit.” (Kangsabapathi)
Indian management, industry, business, and trade were world famous
for the values, workmanship, unique designs, creative joy embedded in every
product, and above all for the honesty of people involved in the chain of
business. Merchants and manufacturers would never cheat in weight, quantity or
quality. We must understand this as an outcome of their approach to work. When
work is a kartavya, swadharma, an art and is also a yoga, pride in
workmanship, when it is more for Swantsukhay- self satisfaction, then a
spontaneous display of such ethical values is natural. Profit is only a by
product of such deep reverence for the work. To act itself is a fruit and how a
fruit can be expected to have another fruit! (Sant Jnaneshwar )
They did the work as worship, for creating value in self and in
their product. There was a god for skills namely Vishwakarma who is revered by
many of the Indian craftsman, Nataraja is worshipped by artists. Even traders
and businessman are doing worship of Lakshmi, of their books and other sages. When
such is the base of the business, cheating is unlikely to be the trait. Marco
Polo bestowed generous praise on the
merchants: 'you must know
that these Abraiaman (Indians) are the
best merchants in the world, and
the most
truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on earth,' Even if a foreigner leaves his
goods with Indian merchants they will sell that and give him the profit with
zero commission.
Many trade routes were having temples, caves with magnificent
architecture, chityagruhas, on their route where they will stay for a while.
There are several incidents when traders went with religious missionary to
foreign land, both fulfilling need of each other. Having spiritul discussion or
listening to spiritual talk, songs, stories in evening after a long day of
business was part of the routine. There was all over India a network of the
local wise men, kirtankaras, pravachankaras, folk artists, performing
artists, priests, Buddhist, Jain or
Shaiva, Vaishnava bhikshus and welcoming them, listening to them, supporting
them was a common practice. Many of the traders have supported dharmashala
construction, donated generaously for public amenities, donated for temple and
cave buildings. Arth was created with zeal and then spent with dispassion and
trusteeship of the money was told by many saints and sages in various local
languages. The spiritual element thus was not just in the Vedas and the
Upanishads but it was percolated to all levels of the rural and urban societies
in all ages through the work of these cultural messengers.
Moti Chandra’s
‘Grand Route’ gave details of trade
routes across India , Central and West Asia and China. He (1977) quotes Arthasastra of Kautilya about another route
between Ganga Plains to Deccan, i.e. ‘Dakshinapatha’, Persians, Romans and
Greek were well knitted through trade links. Many cities had advanced technology. Suttanipata an ancient
text in Buddhism tells about the cities from Sravasti in Kosala to
Dakshinapatha Pratisthana, Mahishmati, Ujjayanini, Gonarda, Vidisa,
Vanasavhaya, Kausambi and Saketa where business and trade were prominent. Silk
route was not only for China, but also with Japan, Persia, and many other
countries. (December 28, 2016 http://www.iiiem.in/blog/amazingly-efficient-trade-logistics-in-ancient-india/) ‘Over 90% of the
trade was via sea routes from a large number of ports like Lothal in the
present day Gujarat, to Surat, Sopara , Vizag ontrading to the Mediterranean
Sea and to many Southeast Asian countries for saling gold, spices, cotton, and
many more goods that are valuable. They were taken to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Africa,
Arabian Peninsula and many other regions of the world via sea routes across the
Indian Ocean. during the rule of Pallavas, Cholas and the Chalukyas The trade
reached its pinnacle.’ (http://www.iiiem.in/blog/amazingly-efficient-trade-logistics-in-ancient-india/)
The Art of making iron was well practised in India from very early
times, and the iron and steel produced were shaped into various useful
articles. Sushruta, (3rd or 4th century B.C.) in his book has wrote of hundreds
of intricate very tough to make surgical instruments of metal. The vivid
descriptions of swords, spears, and other steel weapons was testimony of our
prowess and so is in Porous and Sikander’s battle description. The famous Damascus swords were actually
Chola era steel products and entirely a unique Indian steel. The well-known
Iron Pillar (300 A.D.) in Delhi, a 20 ft high unique pillar is not a casting
and is in fact welding together discs of forged iron and is yet free from
corrosion with carbon and other elements controlled to perfection.
`The antiquity of the Indian process is no less astonishing than
its ingenuity. We can hardly doubt that the tools with which the Egyptians
covered their obelisks and temples of porphyry and syenite with hieroglyphics
were made of Indian steel. There is no evidence to show that any of the nations
of antiquity besides the Hindus were acquainted with the art of making steel.
The references which occur in Greek and Latin writers on this subject, served
only to add to their ignorance of it ; they were acquainted with the qualities
and were familiar with the use of steel, but they appear to have been
altogether ignorant of the mode by which it was prepared from iron. The claims
of India to a discovery which has exercised more influence upon the arts
conducing to civilisation and the manufacturing industry than any other within
the whole range of human invention is altogether unquestioned'. —T.A. Heath
(1839). `The Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron. They have also. workshops
wherein are forged the most famous sabres in the world. It is impossible to
surpass the edge you get from Indian steel.'—Arab Edrisi.`Without doubt,
therefore, the process of making iron and steel has been used in India for
thousands of years It may, therefore, easily have been the case that the
ancient Egyptians were familiar with Indian iron and steel and either imported
the material or obtained the services of Indian workers in metals to produce
the necessary material for the tools employed on the great stone
monuments.'—Sir Robert Hadfield. ( A brief history of the Indian iron and
steel industry, K. N. P. Rao, http://eprints.nmlindia.org/5558/1/1-7.PDF)
The hereditary families were pursuing
certain branches of trade, formed into a corporation with a Jetthaka (Elderman)
as its head. The whole villages were inhabited by one and the same class of
artisans, the Mahavaddhakigamo, for instance, consisted of 1000 families of
dealers in wood, and the Kammaragamo, the same number of smiths’ huts. Samudda-Vanija
Jataka mentions that near Varanasai was a place of thousand families of carpenters
headed by two master women, each as the head of five hundred of them. “…cultivators,
traders, herdsmen, money-lenders and artisans” to lay down rules for their
respective classes, and we are further told that the king shall give the legal
decision after “having learned the (state of) affairs from those who (in each
class) have authority (to speak).”: such is given in dharmasutra. In other
words, these groups srenis or guilds enjoyed local autonomy with minimum interference
by the central authorities.
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, says that the “Superintendent
of Accounts” had to maintain and regularly update prescribed registers, which
will have the history of customs, professions and transactions of the
corporations. The village guilds were protected by the regulations that no outside
guilds of any kind shall find entry into the village. Many more examples can be
cited from Kautilya’s works, from Jataka, from Yajnavalkya and manu and other
recent works on the subject. (Kautilya’s
Arthashastra, R. Shamashastri, https://csboa.com/eBooks/Arthashastra_of_Chanakya_-_English.pdf)
In conclusion:
It is often said that India lacked prowess in manufacturing or
management and the trade was mostly of agrarian or raw material like cotton,
jute, spices, foodgrains, etc. There was not much done in manufacturing or in
intricate production. Then the argument is if that is assumed for a while the
case then why mass production was not done or why India never had large scale
industrial set ups. The critics forward this as a proof to show that India
never had a proper management or manufacturing industry itself. That is
blatantly misleading. From building of
ports, to manufacturing huge ships, to making finished products in copper,
clay, metal, wood, textile, stones /ceramics….the prowess of India in
Manufacturing, management, and trading was remarkable. There are enough
evidences in Smirti, Shastra, especially Arthshastra and even in Jataka katha
about how an aggregate say a family /extended family or kula /Shreni /
geographical area was specialized in a particular skill and thereby in a
particular business like pottery, ceramic ware, steel making, weapons,
utensils, metal crafts and so on and each of these was decentralized,
where human element and efforts were
emphasized. Where the Prajna: the stress of that hidden spirit, can be kindled
in every artist , craftsman, trader and manufacturer. When work is also an art,
a yoga, a sadhana. That can happen only when massification is not done, when
uniformity is avoided and individuality is allowed, when producer and consumer
are either one or are organically linked. Then only not just quality but beauty
will be born in the product, Then the Divine element which reflects in
creativity, originality, piousness, ethical standards will be manifested. These
are at the heart of the organic indigenous ‘Prajna model’ of India. The
decentralization also ensures that there are no populations migrating from
rural to few crowded cities. As means of employment are made available at their
place of staying itself, they are close to their family, children , to their
community, and yes, close to Nature. This takes care of many of the
psychological needs and social needs. The highly centralised model has broken
families, brought dirt and vulgarity to few perceived centres of productions
and cities, poor amenities, neglect and exploitation for more output, with
hollow lost human individuals. Human
intervention and soul expression, pride in doing something aesthetic and not
just useful were involved in each product and therefore there was minimum
automation, not because laws of physics were unknown to us. Else Newton’s and
Tesla’s laws of physical universe were already discovered by our rishis and what quantum mechanics is
discovering now, was already proclaimed by our ancient rishis. So why they did
not use these laws for making huge mechanical systems, on par with these modern
uniform, massified expressions? The reason is, what should be the use of any
scientific idea, discovery or shastra in general was not left to any egoist
untamed intellect in society who with some selfish motive can create havok with
such discoveries. It was decided by the rishis, seers, the creative minority of
the society. Thus the model of industry and manufacturing set up and the mode
of trade and business management was all based on the basic purpose of human
life as envisioned by these seers, and that was then obeyed by our great forefathers.
Individual’s growth, his or her creativity and accelerated evolution were more
valued in any action of life than immediate gains. Hence eagerness to scaling
up of any enterprise and massifying temptations with a demonic utilitarian
mechanistic model as is prevalent in this age was largely discouraged and
absent in India. What Schumacher said in Small is Beautiful or Toffler said as
third wave of post industrial age of knowledge based world was in its true
sense practised in India. Prajna economy and not just knowledge economy is
Indian model. That is needed to be again
expressed in Indian management,
business, trade and economy. It is akhandmandalakar evolution spiral of
individual to family to shreni to gram and to Rashtra and to then the Vishwa. Here the real turn to subjectivity
comes and the ideal of human unity can be envisaged when your vishaha ( small
productive aggregate ) will be so
designed as to lead you seamlessly to your conscious evolution to Vishwa (the world.)
References :
Sri Aurobindo, THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE, EARLY CULTURAL WRITINGS —
1890-1910, Karmayogin: A Weekly Review, Saturday 26th February 1910 —
No.34
Sri Aurobindo, The Foundations of Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo
Ashram, Pondicherry
Indian Model of Economy, Business and management by P.
Kangasabapathi, PHI publications
Kautilya’s
Arthashastra, R. Shamashastri, https://csboa.com/eBooks/Arthashastra_of_Chanakya_-_English.pdf
Moti Chandra, Trade and Trade routes in ancient India, Abhinav
Publications
Agarwala P.N., A Comprehensive history of business in India,
from 3000 BC to 2000 AD, TMH publications
Dharmapal, Science and technology in 18th century,
Other India Press
Amazingly
efficient Trade logistics in Ancient
India , http://www.iiiem.in/blog/amazingly-efficient-trade-logistics-in-ancient-india
http://www.iiiem.in/blog/amazingly-efficient-trade-logistics-in-ancient-india/
A brief history of
the Indian iron and steel industry, K. N. P. Rao, http://eprints.nmlindia.org/5558/1/1-7.PDF
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