to the past to look at the future and I
know today there’s a lot of people who
say you know we got to do this for the
future we’ve got to do that for the
future but I’m gonna actually say listen
the future will take care of itself look
at the past differently look at the
present differently and the future will
take care of itself by itself so that’s
what I’m going to do but and I’m gonna
take you on a step back to the past but
to go on this journey of the past I need
to ask you some embarrassing questions
but don’t worry it’s not about that
secret kiss that you had in the school
nor is it about that math test that you
bunked by sitting at home and watching
TV
none of those embarrassing things all
have you studied history textbooks like
this right yeah how many of you remember
reading these history textbooks and
asking yourself why is this relevant for
me I’m gonna be a software engineer I’m
gonna be a management consultant I’m
gonna be an engineer or a doctor why do
I need to know which King died when why
do I need to know which battle was
fought when really why do I need to know
all this stuff right normally was it not
relevant for me it just didn’t make
sense
but this contrast that with what it
could have actually been if you were
standing over there I mean wouldn’t it
have been an assault on the senses right
there was something for you to see there
was something for you to hear maybe the
the victorious King had a banquet in the
evening so there must have been
something for you to taste and drink
they must have been fragrances
everything would have been there
and yet you’re wondering why is this
relevant for me not only that every time
in our history textbooks we were reading
about battles right and there was
violence and blood and all of that and
today if I take out the paper of switch
on the TV I get more of it so I’m
wondering really what’s the point of
history I’m learning about stuff that’s
not relevant and I’m looking at stuff
which is still happening the same
there’s still blood and gore on the
streets really why’s is important at all
which is why this statement becomes very
important it sure looks like we’ve
ignored history
and we seem to be condemned to repeat it
all the time but never fear I am there
and I am here to give you a solution
that can change the world right and
believe me the solution is far easier
than this dance that all of you guys
just did because it just takes a
different perspective of the way you
look at history if you want his feet to
be relevant for you stop looking at it
are a series of episodes that have
happened over a period of time if you
start looking at it as something where
two people with very different needs are
fighting over the same thing it becomes
very relevant for you because our needs
that we have are universal and they are
eternal you may think that hey what do I
have in common with Rajaraja Chola
whatever I have in common with the guy
who’s gonna go and settle down in Pluto
5,000 years from now your needs will be
the same and that’s what I’m gonna look
at we all as human beings from the day
we were born till the day we die as
human beings from the the earliest
Neanderthal man to the guy who’s gonna
go and settle down in moon how many ever
thousands of years later are gonna have
the same three sets of needs the need to
survive food water and a shelter over
the head the need for support I want
people to be with me I want love I need
enrichment in my own life and the need
for security I need to feel safe this is
my identity yes I am another human being
in this room but I am also different and
these needs do not change so if we look
at history from the point of needs
rather than the from the point of time
then it becomes something very very
different for us to actually change the
way we can look at the future the source
for this is something that I’m going to
take which you can see in little temples
like these and you can also see them in
bigger temples like these but what I’m
actually talking about is the writing on
the wall
you heard this proverb writing on the
wall it means we often tend to ignore
the obvious I think that quote was right
on for this TED talk it almost looks
like it was for this TEDx talk what it
basically means is more than a thousand
temples in Tamilnadu have writing on the
walls like this and this is not a part
of your history textbook so don’t go
bother and check of them they’re not in
the textbooks and I hope there will be
because every one of this writing on the
wall has zero percent to do anything
with mythology or with religion zero
percent and this is like a big idea that
I’m going to push across in this talk
zero percent have anything to do with
God’s with goddesses with scenes with
mythology
none of that every letter on the walls
of these temples and then many of them
are about social economic legal and
political decisions that were taken in
the community and were put there on
stone if we look at these inscriptions
then our way of looking at history
becomes very very relevant for us in the
present and for us in the future I’m
going to take you to this temple through
what you is not very far off from Madras
not very far off from where we’re
speaking and it is by the way in a road
called the east coast road today
thousand years back the east coast road
existed and it was called Watauga Peru
body this was the road that linked the
chola provinces in the south to the
chola provinces in the north so the east
coast road that you travel every day
it’s a whole lot older than you thought
it was but coming back to throw to you
one of the walls in the throat your
temple has a long inscription like this
and you’ve got to remember that whatever
we expect from the government today is
what the temples provided in the old
days how many of you know what the word
for temple in Tamil is Covell right ko
Alam cone is not a god ko is king so our
temples even the word of it is actually
the house of the king not the house of
the God so every one of these
inscriptions are about recordings of
whatever the government would want to
record so coming back to us
oriental vote you’re one of the things
that we do to the government is to pay
taxes and they did that in the old days
and the temples used to collect taxes on
behalf of the king at one point and one
of the committees at the temple had
which is democratically elected by the
way was the committee which tested the
firmness and the fineness of gold that
people deposited as taxes into the
coffers at some point of time thousand
one hundred years back the chola king
had an audit and when the auditors came
to the committee they found out that
what the committee actually had was very
different from what they should have had
right not very uncommon these days and
the papers as well right so that’s what
they found out and then what they did we
don’t know how long it actually took but
it should have taken not more than three
to six months in the three to six months
they seem to figure out that the temple
pond varriya more the gold collection
committee was a guilty party they took
the private property of the corrupt
officials auctioned it out took the
principal and the interest that they had
they’d secret it away took that money
gave the rest of them gave the rest of
the money back to the community to that
group and said here’s your money back
leave the community and not only that in
some similar instances and other temples
we find that those committee members
relatives would be barred from holding
offices of public interest in the local
community as well absolutely compare
this with the speed and the efficiency
with her with how we deal with corrupt
officials today our second example is
from this beautiful shiva and vishnu
temple next to each other into the mayan
theorem has a small sleepy village that
times completely forgotten between
mother and poo the quartet but the two
temples have a very interesting
inscription because it’s the same
inscription copied on both the walls of
the temple and in fact in one temple the
this inscription actually erases and
earlier and far more important and rarer
inscription on musical notations and why
was this inscription so important
around 13th century or little there
abouts there were two sexes of the same
community who were bitterly fighting
with each other I mean they were like
breaking idols flinging them into the
river there was blood on the streets
literally there was blood on the streets
there was massive turmoil in the in the
town and the pandya king who was ruling
that place just found it too hot to
handle see he called voice Allah or a
Karnataka general to come over and the
general did something very unusual he
split the town into half he built a wall
in the middle if you had property and
water sources here you were asked to
move to that side and you got the same
amount and vice versa and he did that
this was on the seventh of May in 1246
of 1249 right long time back today
though if you go to this town none of
those communities lived there the lands
have changed many many hands after that
most of the water sources are not even
there anymore and that wall is not to be
seen it’s definitely a temple asset of a
village the time is completely forgotten
so what really was the point of building
that wall and doing all this partition
not much a third example is one of the
most common inscriptions that you find
across temples in Tamil Nadu and our own
kapaleeswarar temple and and the drivel
akkanee temple also have copies of this
kind of an inscription so in those days
devotees would come to the temple and
they’d say they’ll tell the temple
authorities hey we want to give some
kind of a donation to the temple so that
our names are remembered forevermore and
usually they would give a lamp like this
stone lamp like this a temple will say
thank you very much for this lamp but
listen because of you giving us this
lamp we’re actually going to be spending
a lot more money on the oil in the weeks
it doesn’t make sense
so the devotee would then come and say
FairPoint
I want the lamp to burn for two hours a
day or 24 by seven whatever they would
mention that right let’s say two hours a
day and then they would say listen if
the lamp has to burn for two hours a day
this is the amount of ghee or clarified
butter that we need to light the lamp
and the devotee would therefore give
goats cows or buffaloes
interestingly it was either 96 goats 12
cows or 6 buffaloes why would you you
just need this much of ghee why would
you give so many animals hold on to that
and I’ll come back to that temple will
say thank you very much for the for the
goats or the cows but we don’t run a
dairy we’re on a temple doesn’t make
sense you’re putting more work on our
plate so they will then appoint someone
else who will take care of these animals
on your behalf and who will give the
temple that little quantity of of ghee
to the temple to burn your lamp the
number of hours that you wanted to burn
whatever and this many animals generate
a lot of milk and a lot of butter so the
rest of the stuff he could sell but this
he had to give
now here comes a trick this man who will
look after the devotee stuff would never
be from the same village the temple
isn’t and this just doesn’t make sense
why would you want this guy to live in
another village when transports not as
easy today I mean even today it takes me
30 minutes to cross the road sometimes
but it was even worse those days right
it doesn’t make sense the reason that
they did that was if those goat herds or
whatever they kept living in this temple
that village will prosper not the
villages around them so today in India
we find wealth concentrated in the
cities in thousand years back they
thought very differently they said every
action of ours should make me wealthy
which should also make another person
wealthy and every village will be done
with this so you’re saying ok that’s
great
absolutely and you’re saying that’s
great for the for the goat herd but what
about the rest of the people the animals
our account as well the reason that you
go I gave so many animals because cows
that had just been carved could not be
milked animals which had got older could
not be milked the same animal could not
be milked the same over a continuous
period of time so the welfare of the
animal was taken care of the welfare of
the person was taken care of the need of
the devotee was taken care of the need
of the temple was also taken care of
with that one lamp that you gave there
was a whole economy thriving in another
village and he
was more to it every ever so often the
temple will do an audit in the audit if
there are more goats than the devotee
gave that guy can sell it and make money
if there are less goats he has to
reimburse them as well and this was the
kind of system that function so now
coming back and looking at what how our
model works for this it’s very often
difficult to solve a problem by thinking
at the same level we got a kind of
abstract this to a to a higher level and
that’s where this model comes in very
very useful look at history as a series
of episodes where two people have been
asking for the same thing in the through
OTO temple it was the auditor and it was
the bond varium committee members
they were both after money in the
tremaine case it was the arbitrator and
it was those two warring sub sects and
they were both fighting over land over
property and intangible stuff of
identity in the third case it was the
temple authorities it was a devotee and
it was about identity which is in the
middle these are the basic needs that
these two people have to survive for
support of a security and every time
it’s also about how they start thinking
of honoring and meeting these needs are
they thinking about the short term which
is my knee it’s important I don’t care
about your need or are they thinking
about the long term which is your need
as important in fine in helping you find
your need my need will also be met and
that will determine the way that the
need is actually met you either teach
somebody a lesson you punish somebody
for doing something or you nourish
somebody and every time in history you
can find this in Tamil Nadu in India
across the world people and communities
who have put the others need over there
need have invariably looked at
nourishing the relationship people who
have put their need over the need of the
larger community have ended up teaching
others a lessons or punishing others and
lessons short-term success long-term
failure so that’s really the big thought
that I want you to go with that history
Israel
and if you look at it as a series of
eternal and universal needs that all of
us will always have and we all want to
honor these needs they come in conflict
with other people who have different
needs and there we have a choice we have
a choice either to put our need above
theirs and think of the short-term we
have a choice of putting their need over
ours and thinking about the long-term
and a phenomenal resource that we have
that we just don’t use are these lovely
detailed temple inscriptions all of them
translated in English many of them
available for free online I will start a
Sanskrit song in school and the last
line went like this video server Donna
yeah
the gift of knowledge is the greatest
gift that you can give to others and
this is this little gift that I and
you have the choice tonight when you go
to bed you will turn one page of history
in your life you have the choice
tomorrow to wake up and say this TED
talk was just another chronological
event in your life or you can say that
today onwards I am going to look at what
my needs are what the other people’s
needs are and how I’m gonna work with it
short term or long term thank you very
much [Applause]