BETWEEN ŚRUTI AND SCREEN: VEDIC PERFORMING ARTS, DIGITAL HUMANITIES, AND THE ETHICS OF GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE MEDIATION

Abstract

Vedic philosophy is not merely a textual inheritance, it is a living performance tradition, inseparable from sound, breath, ritual gesture, and the relational space between teacher and student. The emergence of Digital Humanities as a dominant paradigm for the preservation and dissemination of classical knowledge systems raises questions that are particularly acute for this tradition. This paper examines the intersection of Vedic performing arts including oral recitation, ritual enactment, and commentarial pedagogy with the computational and archival tools of Digital Humanities. It argues that digital platforms and artificial intelligence, while enabling unprecedented access to rare Vedic resources, simultaneously risk severing philosophical content from its performative ground. The paper further investigates the role of English as a mediating language within global knowledge circuits, proposing that translation must be understood as an ethical and interpretive act rather than a mechanical transfer. Drawing on posthuman theory, postcolonial epistemology, and media studies, this paper calls for a human-centered framework of digital mediation that holds together accessibility and philosophical depth, archival innovation and cultural accountability.