Acharya versus Adhyapak

Acharya versus Adhyapak


“I have a confession to make - I teach, but I am not a teacher”, I matter-of-factly asserted to my colleague from Indian Institute of Technology. Adarsh1, a professor at an esteemed IIT was visiting IISc for a short lecture. At the end of the lecture, a mutual friend introduced us and Adarsh handed me his visiting card. As I flipped the card, I saw that one side had been printed in Hindi and his designation was printed as प्राध्यापक.  In Hindi, the term अध्यापक implies teacher and this translation of Ajay’s profession riled me to that point that I was moved to object. “Don’t worry, I ran it by our Hindi Department and they assured me that this was the correct translation” said Ajay trying to calm me down. I wasn’t convinced and that is when I voiced the statement above.

That day my colleagues were perplexed as to why I had fixated a simple, almost trivial, translation rather than the complexities of fluid mechanical simulations that had been part of the lecture. After our meeting, I did some research and determined that the word is indeed accepted as a legitimate translation for the job of professor (see table below). This left me deeply dissatisfied. For better or for worse, I do take my job description seriously. As an assistant professor at IISc, my job duties include teaching, research and university related administrative duties. So, what exactly is wrong with the word अध्यापक? After all it implies a profession, which exceeds that of the teacher.

I find this translation inadequate on two significant levels. First and foremost, in our research careers we are constantly challenging the frontiers of human understanding. At these frontiers ‘hard science’ evaporates leaving a fuzzy collection of hypothesis and experimental evidence. The data and various hypotheses are often contradictory, and we sometimes find ourselves treading on the soft ground of philosophy and instinct rather than a pathway paved by hard science. As a result, we are frequently required to deconstruct what we were taught in schools/universities and create brand new paradigms of knowledge. The constant questioning of accepted wisdom is probably the most important attribute that differentiates professors from teachers. As an example, when I was at school I thought I clearly understood the distinction between the three states of matter, viz solid, liquid and gas. When I became a professor, and started my research in ‘soft matter’, which is the name given to “gooey” materials, I found myself questioning whether I truly understood the differences between solids and liquids. It turns out that the difference is not as straight forward as we learned in school or even during our undergraduate years.

The second thing that differentiates us professors from teachers is our responsibility for dissemination of knowledge and our commitment to move knowledge out of laboratories and classrooms and into society. For example, not only would a professor look into methods of water purification, but he would also look for avenues to translate this knowledge into society where it could provide actual benefits and services to people. This is how universities often become incubating grounds for hard-tech companies. Finally, some genuinely care about the world – an exercise that can turn a scientist into a crazy philosopher. For example, I find the rapid rise of artificial intelligence troubling and often worry if Skynet is already opening its eyes in the murky depths of the internet and trying to make sense of all the data.

So, who am I? I am a bouncer at the nightclub rave ‘party of truth seeking’ that is happening around us. Many truths are there- some barely clothed, and some in Victorian style gear. Some scientists are trying to court these beauties, while other geniuses effortlessly attract the truth beauties without even breaking a sweat. As a bouncer, my job is to make sure the party keeps going in full swing. But, if anyone tries to molest truth then I’ll throw them out. This is what we do when we work as editors, reviewers and even authors of research papers. Hence, I disagree with the traditional Hindi/Sanskrit translation of my job title. Instead, I propose a translation based on the word आचार्य which would be more reflective of the comprehensive nature of our jobs. See table below for the proposed translations.



English Designation
Current (Accepted) Hindi/Sanskrit translation
Proposed translation
Assistant Professor
उपप्राध्यापक2
उप उपाचार्य
Associate Professor
सह -प्राध्यापक3
उपाचार्य
Professor
प्राध्यापक2,3
आचार्य
Esteemed Professor

गुरुदेव

 Notes & References:

1. Name changed
2. Translation by http://spokensanskrit.de/

3. Translation by Google 

Disclaimer:  All posts should be treated as personal opinion of the author, unless explicitly stated otherwise. All material is copyright of Dr. Aloke Kumar, unless stated otherwise.

About the author: Dr. Aloke Kumar is currently an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Twitter handle: @aalokelab

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