Since ancient times, India has had a glorious culture of education, science, and technology, and has made significant contributions in the fields of astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, metallurgy, the ayurvedic system of medicine, and surgery.As we celebrate National Science Day today on 28th February, let us take a ride down the history to commemorate how science and technology in ancient India proved its mettle to the world.
Indian astronomy has a long history and Vedanga, which is an auxiliary discipline associated with the study of the Vedas, dating back to 1,500 BCE or earlier developed here. Varahamihira, Aryabhata, Bhaskara, and Brahmagupta were a few famous astronomers of ancient India. Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five Jantar Mantars in New Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. They give us a good idea of the early scientific tools and concepts of time.
India produced great scientists and mathematicians as well. Baudhayana in 800 BCE calculated the value of pi and discovered what is now known as the Pythagoras’ theorem. Pythagoras lived in sixth century BCE Greece; and the third century CE sophist Philostratus says that Pythagoras studied under Hindu sages or gymnosophists in India. India was the source of the number system, now called the Arabic numerals because the Arabs took it everywhere.
In the field of astronomy, India excelled as great astronomers like Varahamihira described all of these observations in Panch Siddhantika, which summarizes the five schools of astronomy prevalent at the time. Aryabhatta deviated from Vedic astronomy and gave it a scientific perspective, which later astronomers followed.In ancient India, astrology and horoscopes were studied. Aryabhatta’s theories marked a significant departure from astrology, which emphasized beliefs over scientific explorations.
But it was not just in mathematics and astronomy alone that Indians flourished. The Atharva Veda was the first to mention diseases, cures, and medicines. The diseases mentioned are fever, cough, consumption, diarrhea, dropsy, sores, leprosy, and seizures. Sushruta was a great surgeon who used 125 different surgical instruments and herbal sprays before an operation to prevent sepsis. His greatest contribution was in the fields of plastic surgery and cataract removal. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, is one of the oldest medical systems in the world, it emphasizes the use of natural remedies and holistic approaches to healing. Charaka wrote about herbal treatments that Indians are just rediscovering. In 300 BCE, Patanjali codified the Yoga sutras.
In Metallurgy science, Glazed potteries and bronze and copper artifacts discovered in the Indus Valley excavations indicate a highly developed metallurgy. The Vedic people were aware of the processes of fermenting grain and fruits, tanning leather, and dyeing as well.
By the first century AD, mass production of metals such as iron, copper, silver, and gold, as well as alloys such as brass and bronze, was underway. The iron pillar in the Qutub Minar complex demonstrates the high quality of alloying that took place. They also developed techniques for creating alloys, such as the famous “Damascus steel”.
In the presence of scientists such as Varahamihir, Aryabhatta, and Nagarjuna, ancient India was undeniably technologically advanced in the fields of mathematics, medicine, and physics. What we can be sure of is that India played a central role in all that is known today of mathematics and many sciences, and our civilization discovered these concepts several millennia before they were known in Europe. India has contributed a lot in modern world science and technology and is relevant and crucial. Be it in mathematics or astronomy or any field, Indians have been there. And as Vishwaguru India was the world’s leader.
