Dharwad: India’s culture is being hailed as the best in the world despite several mediocre historians trying to depict the western culture as superior, said Shri Nirbhayanand Saraswati, chief of Shri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Ashram, Vijayapura.Speaking at a function to celebrate the 70th year of the visit of philosopher-saint Gurudev Shri RD Ranade to Dharwad and the centenary of the Academy of Comparative Philosophy and Religion (ACPR) organised at Srujana auditorium here on Saturday, Nirbhayanand Saraswati said India’s culture has survived several onslaughts because of its inner value-based strength. The seer expressed his disappointment over the “mediocre intellectuals and historians losing their analytical ability”. “Some intellectuals are depicting that Manusmriti is Sanatana Dharma. Actually, Upanishads represent Sanatana Dharma. These intellectuals read books written in other languages also and expand the horizon of their knowledge,” he said.Stating that Gurudev Shri RD Ranade was a great scholar and philosopher, Nirbhayanand Saraswati said one should read Gurudev’s literature to understand Upanishads easily. “Gurudev’s literature guides us towards realising the truth,” he asserted.Nirbhayanand Saraswati released three books — Smrutigandha, Amruta Rasavani and A symbiotic Friendship — penned by Sharad Joshi and Prof Sutar.Secretary of ACPR, Belagavi Maruti Zirli said Gurudev Ranade, who was the vice-chancellor of Allahabad University, had special affinity for Dharwad and he visited the city several times to deliver special lectures on the ‘Pathway to God in Kannada literature’ at Karnatak University. The ACPR organised the function at Dharwad to commemorate Gurudev’s visit to Dharwad, he said. Zirli said the ACPR is working on publishing all the books written by Shri Gurudev and they will be released in Aug. Chairman of the department of philosophy, Karnatak University, Prof BH Gujalar also spoke. Subrahmanya Bhat welcomed the gathering.