Everything about Science And Technology In Ancient India totally explained
Science and technology in ancient India covered many major branches of human knowledge and activities, including
mathematics,
astronomy and
physics,
metallurgy,
medical science and
surgery,
fine arts, mechanical and production
technology,
civil engineering and
architecture,
shipbuilding and
navigation,
sports and
games.
Sciences
Astronomy
Classical Indian astronomy documented in literature spanning the
Maurya (
Vedanga Jyotisha, ca. 5th century BCE) to the
Mughal (such as the 16th century
Kerala school) periods.
The first named authors writing treatises on astronomy date from the 5th century CE, the date when the classical period of Indian astronomy can be said to begin. Besides the theories of
Aryabhata in the
Aryabhatiya and the lost
Arya-siddhānta, we find the
Pancha-Siddhāntika of
Varahamihira. From this time on, we find a predominance of
geocentric models, and possibly
heliocentric models, in Indian astronomy, in contrast to the "
Merucentric" astronomy of
Puranic,
Jaina and
Buddhist traditions whose actual
mathematics has been largely lost and only fabulous accounts remain.
The astronomy and the
astrology of
ancient India (
Jyotisha) is based upon
sidereal calculations, although a
tropical system was also used in a few cases. For example,
Uttarayana (Uttarāyana उत्तरायण) was determined according to a tropical system in the
Mahabharata, or by
Lagadha in the
Vedanga Jyotisha. But even then, sidereal astronomy was the mainstay. Now, even Uttarāyana is determined according to the sidereal system of
Hindus.
Linguistics
Linguistics (along with
phonology,
morphology, etc.) first arose among Indian grammarians who were attempting to catalog and codify Sanskrit's rules. Modern linguistics owes a great deal to these grammarians, and to this day, for example, key terms for compound analysis such as
bahuvrihi are taken from Sanskrit.
Linguistics was pursued in
ancient India for many centuries. The
Sanskrit grammar of
Pāṇini (c.
520 –
460 BCE), who is often considered the founder of linguistics, contains a particularly detailed description of Sanskrit
morphology,
phonology and
roots, evincing a high level of linguistic insight and analysis. In particular, he's most famous for formulating the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology in the text
Aṣṭādhyāyī. His sophisticated grammar of Sanskrit continues to be in use to this day. The Indian grammatical tradition is believed to have been active for many centuries before Pāṇini, and anticipates by millennia certain developments in the West, such as the phoneme and the generation of word forms by the successive application of morphological rules for example. (Outside of India, the
phoneme seems to have been discovered and forgotten several times through history.)
The
South Indian linguist
Tolkāppiyar (c.
3rd century BCE) wrote the
Tolkāppiyam, the grammar of
Tamil, which is also still in use today.
Bhartrihari (c.
450 –
510) was another important author on
Indic linguistic theory. He theorized the act of speech as being made up of three stages: conceptualization by the speaker; performance of speaking; and comprehension by the interpreter. The work of Pāṇini, and the later Indian linguist Bhartrihari, had a significant influence on many of the foundational ideas proposed by
Ferdinand de Saussure, professor of Sanskrit, who is widely considered the father of modern
structural linguistics.
Mathematics
Main authors of classical Indian mathematics (
400 CE to
1200 CE) are scholars like
Aryabhata,
Brahmagupta, and
Bhaskara II. Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the
decimal number system,
zero,
negative numbers,
arithmetic, and
algebra. In addition,
trigonometry, having originated in the
Hellenistic world was introduced to India, where it was further developed, particularly the modern definitions of
sine and
cosine. These mathematical concepts were transmitted to the
Middle East,
China, and
Europe and led to further developments that now form the foundations of many areas of mathematics. The
Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics made contributions to
calculus that might have been later transmitted to Europe.
Medicine and surgery
Ayurvedic practice was flourishing during the time of Buddha (around 520 BC), and in this period the Ayurvedic practitioners were commonly using
Mercuric-
sulphur combination based medicines. An important Ayurvedic practitioner of this period was
Nagarjuna, a
Buddhist herbologist, famous for inventing various new drugs for the treatment of ailments. Nagarjuna was accompanied by
Surananda,
Nagbodhi,
Yashodhana,
Nityanatha,
Govinda,
Anantdev,
Vagbhatta etc.
Sushruta (also spelt Susruta or Sushrutha) (c. 6th century BC) was the first surgeon in the world who lived in ancient India and is the author of the book Sushruta Samhita, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in 8 categories. He lived and taught and practiced his art on the banks of the Ganga in the area that corresponds to the present day city of Varanasi in North India.
Plastic surgery developed in India.
During the regime of
Chandragupta Maurya (375-415 AD), Ayurveda was part of mainstream Indian medical techniques, and continued to be so until the colonisation by the
British.
Chakrapani Dutta (DuttaSharma) was a Vaid
Brahman of
Bengal who wrote books on Ayurveda such as "
Chakradutta" and others.
Chakrapani Dutta was the Rajavaidya of Great King Laxman Sen . It is believed by some practitioners that Chakradutta is the essence of Ayurveda.
Ayurveda has always been preserved by the people of India as a traditional "science of life", despite increasing adoption of European medical techniques during the time of British rule. For several decades the reputation and skills of the various Ayurvedic schools declined markedly as Western medicine and Western-style hospitals were built. However, beginning in the 1970s, a gradual recognition of value of Ayurveda returned, and today Ayurvedic hospitals and practitioners are flourishing throughout all of India. As well, the production and marketing of Ayurvedic herbal medicines has dramatically increased, as well as scientific documentation of benefits. Today, Ayurvedic medicines are available throughout the world.
Philosophical Discussions
Atomism
» Further information: Indian atomism
The concept of the
atom in
ancient India derives from the
classification of the material world in five basic
elements by
Indian philosophers. This classification existed since
Vedic times (c. 1500 BCE). The elements were the
earth (
prithvi),
fire (
agni),
air (
vayu),
water (
jaal) and
ether or space (
aksha). The elements were associated with human sensory perceptions: smell, touch, vision, taste and ether/space respectively. Later, Buddhist philosophers replaced ether/space with life, joy and sorrow.
Ancient Indian philosophers believed that all elements except ether were physically
palpable and hence comprised of minuscule particles. The smallest particle, which couldn't be subdivided, was called
paramanu in Sanskrit (shortened to
parmanu), from
parama (
ultimate or
beyond) and
anu (
atom). Thus, "
paramanu" literally means "
beyond atom" and this was a concept at an abstract level which suggested the possibility of splitting atoms, which is now the source of
atomic energy. However, the term "atom" shouldn't be conflated with the concept of atom as it's understood today.
The
6th century BCE Indian philosopher
Kanada was the first person who went deep systematically in such theorization. Another Indian philosopher, Pakudha
Katyayana, a contemporary of
Buddha, also propounded the ideas of atomic constitution of the material world. All these were based on
logic and
philosophy and lacked any empirical basis for want of commensurate technology.
Light
» Further information: Theories about light
In ancient India, the philosophical schools of
Samkhya and
Vaisheshika, from around the
6th –
5th century BCE, developed theories on light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five fundamental "subtle" elements (
tanmatra) out of which emerge the gross elements. The
atomicity of these elements isn't specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be continuous.
According to the Vaisheshika school, motion is defined in terms of the movement of the physical atoms and it appears that it's taken to be non-instantaneous. Light rays are taken to be a stream of high velocity of
tejas (fire) atoms. The particles of light can exhibit different characteristics depending on the speed and the arrangements of the
tejas atoms. Around the first century, the
Vishnu Purana refers to
sunlight as "the seven rays of the sun".
Later in
499,
Aryabhata, who proposed a
heliocentric solar system of
gravitation in his
Aryabhatiya, wrote that the planets and the
Moon don't have their own light but reflect the light of the
Sun.
The Indian
Buddhists, such as
Dignāga in the
5th century and
Dharmakirti in the
7th century, developed a type of
atomism that's a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy, similar to the modern concept of
photons, though they also viewed all matter as being composed of these light/energy particles.
Technology
Chemistry and metallurgy
Ancient India’s development in
chemistry wasn't confined at an abstract level like physics, but found development in a variety of practical activities.
Metallurgy has remained central to all
civilizations, from the
Bronze Age and the
Iron Age, and later. It is believed that the basic idea of
smelting reached ancient India from
Mesopotamia and the
Near East. In ancient India, the science of smelting reached a high level of refinement and precision. In the 5th century BCE, the
Greek historian
Herodotus observed that the:
ancient Romans used
armour and
cutlery made of Indian iron. In India itself, certain objects testify to the high level of metallurgy. An iron pillar believed to be cast in the
Gupta period around the
5th century stands by the side of
Qutub Minar World heritage site in
Delhi. It is 7.32
m tall, with a diameter of 40 cm at the base tapering to 30 cm at the top, and is estimated to weigh 6
tonnes. Standing in the open for last 1500 years, it has withstood wind, heat and water without rusting, except for very minor natural erosion. This kind of rust-proof iron wasn't possible until
iron and
steel was discovered a few decades before.
An influential Indian metallurgist and
alchemist was
Nagarjuna (b. 931). He wrote the treatise
Rasaratnakara that deals with preparations of
rasa (
mercury) compounds. It gives a survey of the status of metallurgy and
alchemy in the land. Extraction of
metals such as
silver,
gold,
tin and
copper from their
ores and their purification were also mentioned in the treatise.
Ancient India's advanced chemical science also finds expression in activities like distillation of
perfumes and fragrant ointments, manufacturing of dyes and chemicals, preparation of pigments and colours, and polishing of mirrors. Paintings found on walls of
Ajanta and
Ellora World Heritage sites still look fresh after 1000 years, further testifying to the high level of science.
Civil engineering and architecture
India’s urban civilization is traceable to
Mohenjodaro and
Harappa, now in
Pakistan, where planned urban townships existed 5000 years ago. From then on, Indian
architecture and
civil engineering continued to develop, and was manifested in
temples,
palaces and
forts across the Indian peninsula and neighbouring regions. Architecture and civil engineering was known as
sthapatya-kala, literally "the art of constructing".
On the east,
Buddhism took Indian style architecture and civil engineering to places like
Sri Lanka,
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Vietnam,
Laos,
Cambodia,
Thailand,
Burma,
China,
Korea and
Japan.
Angkor Wat is a testimony to the contribution of Indian civil engineering and architecture to Cambodian
Khmer heritage.
In mainland India, there are several ancient architectural marvels, including World Heritage Sites like
Ajanta,
Ellora,
Khajuraho,
Konark,
Mahabodhi Temple,
Sanchi,
Brihadisvara Temple and
Mahabalipuram.
Production technology
Mechanical and production technology of ancient India ensured processing of natural produce and their conversion into
merchandise of
trade,
commerce and
export. A number of travelers and historians (including
Megasthanes,
Ptolemy,
Faxian,
Xuanzang,
Marco Polo,
Al Baruni and
Ibn Batuta) have indicated a variety of items, which were produced, consumed and exported around that society's "known world" by the ancient Indians. The
spinning wheel was invented in India, as was the practice of dying cloth with
indigo.
Shipbuilding and navigation
» Further information: Lothal and Indus Valley Civilization: Trade
The science of
shipbuilding and
navigation were well-known to ancient Indians. Sanskrit and
Pali texts are replete with maritime references. Indians, particularly from
coastal regions, traded with several nations across the
Bay of Bengal like
Cambodia,
Java,
Sumatra,
Borneo, even
China and
South America, and across the
Arabian Sea like
Arabia,
Egypt and Persia. A panel found in
Mohenjodaro depicts a sailing craft, and thousands of years later
Ajanta murals also depict a sea-faring ship.
Around 500 CE,
sextants and mariner’s
compass were not unknown to ancient Indian shipbuilders and navigators. J.L. Reid, a member of the Institute of Naval Architects and Shipbuilders,
England, around the beginning of the
20th century wrote in the
Bombay Gazetteer (Volume XIII, Part II, Appendix A) that
"The early Hindu astrologers are said to have used the magnet, in fixing the North and East, in laying foundations, and other religious ceremonies. The Hindu compass was an iron fish that floated in a vessel of oil, pointing north. The fact of this older Hindu compass seems placed beyond doubt by the Sanskrit word
MATSYA-YANTRA ("fish-machine"), which
Molesworth calls "mariner's compass".
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