SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ANCIENT INDIA

 Science and technology have played a critical role in the evolution of human society. Humans have had a desire to observe and understand nature since prehistoric times in order to control and manipulate nature for their own benefit and welfare. 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.

1. Science and Technology - Features
2. Development of Science
3. Technology in Ancient India
4. Significant
5. Indian Mathematicians & their Contributions
6. Medicine
7. Others
8. Conclusion

01:-Science and Technology - Features

• Ganita is the general name for mathematics, which includes Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Astronomy, and Astrology.
• Arithmetic is known by several names, including Pattin Ganita (board calculations) and Anka Ganita (calculations with numerals).
• Geometry is known as Rekha Ganita (line works), and Algebra, Bija Ganita (seed analysis), Astronomy, and Astrology are all included in the term Jyotisa.
• India has a long history of science and technology. Science advancements may be able to reduce our reliance on nature. Religion and science coexisted in ancient India.                           

  02:-Development of Science in different branches

  Astronomy

  • Astronomy has made great strides. Planetary motion became emphasised and closely monitored.
  • The Jyotishvedanga texts established systematic categories in astronomy, but Aryabhatta(499 AD) dealt with the more fundamental issue.
  • His Aryabhattiya is a short text of 121 verses. It includes sections on astronomical definitions, methods for determining the true position of the planets, the movement of the sun and moon, and the calculation of eclipses.
  • The earth was a sphere that rotated on its axis, and when the earth's shadow fell on the moon, it caused Lunar eclipse, and when the moon's shadow fell on the earth, it caused Solar eclipse. The orthodox theory, on the other hand, explained it as a process in which the demon swallowed the planet.
  • 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 emphasised beliefs over scientific explorations.

  Mathematics

  • Harappa's town planning demonstrates that the people were well-versed in measurement and geometry. By the third century AD, mathematics had evolved into a distinct field of study. The Sulvasutras are thought to be the source of Indian mathematics.
  • Apastamba introduced practical geometry involving acute, obtuse, and right angles in the second century BC. This knowledge aided in the construction of fire altars on which the kings sacrificed.
  • The notation system, the decimal system, and the use of zero were the three most important contributions to mathematics.
  • The Arabs brought the notations and numerals to the West. These numerals took the place of Roman numerals. In the second century BC, Zero was discovered in India.
  • Brahmagupta's Brahmasputa Siddhanta was the first book to mention 'zero' as a number; thus, Brahmagupta is known as the man who discovered zero. He explained how to use zero with other numbers.
  • Aryabhatta discovered algebra as well as the area of a triangle, which led to the development of trignometry.
  • The Surya Siddhanta is a well-known work. Another seminal work in the field of astronomy is Varahamihira's Brihatsamhita from the sixth century AD.
  • His discovery that the moon rotated around the earth and the earth rotated around the sun was widely accepted, and subsequent discoveries were based on this assertion.
  • Mathematics and astronomy, when combined, sparked an interest in time and cosmology.
  • These astronomical and mathematical discoveries became the foundations for further research and progress.

  Medicine

  • The Atharva Veda was the first to mention diseases, cures, and medicines. The diseases mentioned are fever, cough, consumption, diarrhoea, dropsy, sores, leprosy, and seizures.
  • Diseases are thought to be caused by demons and spirits entering one's body. The remedies suggested were full of magical charms and spells.
  • The period of rational sciences began around 600 BC. Takshila and Taranasi emerged as medical and educational hubs. Charaksamhita by Charak and Sushrutsamhita by Sushruta are two important texts in this field.
  • The fact that their work reached as far as China and Central Asia through translations in various languages demonstrates the significance of their efforts.
  • Charaksamhita mentions medicinal plants and herbs.
  • Around the fourth century AD, surgery became recognized as a distinct field.
  • This discipline was pioneered by Sushruta. He regarded surgery as "the highest division of the healing arts and the least susceptible to error." He makes reference to 121 surgical instruments.
  • Along with this, he discusses operation methods such as bone setting, cataract removal, and so on. Ancient Indian surgeons were well-versed in plastic surgery (repair of noses, ears and lips).
  • Sushruta mentions 760 different plants. All plant parts, including roots, barks, flowers, and leaves, were used.
  • Diet was emphasised (e.g. salt free diet for nephrites). Both the Charaksamhita and the Sushrutsamhita were precursors to the later development of Indian medicine.
  • However, surgery suffered in the early mediaeval period because the act of disecting with a razor was taken over by a barber.

  Metallurgy

  • Glazed potteries and bronze and copper artefacts 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.
  • 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.
  • Alkali and acids were created and used to make medicines. This technology was also used in other crafts such as dyeing and colouring.
  • Dyeing textiles was popular. The quality of colour is reflected in the Ajanta frescoes. These paintings have survived to the present day.

  Geography

  • People were compelled to study geography as a result of the constant interaction between man and nature.
  • Though the people were aware of their own physical geography, as well as that of China and Western countries, they were unaware of their position on the globe and the distances between countries.
  • Indians also helped with shipbuilding. The Indians were unfamiliar with voyages and navigation during the ancient period.
  • However, the remains of a dockyard at Lothal in Gujarat show that trade by sea flourished in those days.
  • With the development of the concept of tirtha and tirtha yatra in the early medieval period, a vast amount of geographical information was accumulated.
  • They were eventually compiled as Puranas. Separate sthala puranas were also compiled in many cases.

  Engineering and Architecture

  • India has been a pioneer in the field of architecture since the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus urban system serves as an inspiration for modern cities.
  • Buildings, pillars, cave construction, and chaitya construction were examples of advanced architecture in India during the Mahajanapada and Maurya periods.
  • Temples were advanced in ancient India. The Kailashnath temple, built on a hillside, is a marvel of engineering.
  Technology

  03:-Technology in Ancient India

  • Early humans developed technologies such as stone-working, agriculture, animal husbandry, pottery, metallurgy, textile manufacture, bead-making, wood-carving, cart-making, sailing, and so on with little science to back them up.
  • If we define technology as a human way of modifying the material world around us, we can find that the first stone tools in the Indian subcontinent date back more than two million years (That was long before the advent of modern man in India, which is thought to have occurred some 70,000 years ago.)
  • Jumping ahead in time, the Neolithic revolution of around 9,000 years ago saw the development of agriculture in parts of the Indus and Ganges valleys, resulting in the need for pots, water management, metal tools, transportation, and so on.
  • The Indus or Harappan civilization (2600-1900 BCE for its urban or Mature phase), which flourished in the northwest of the subcontinent, saw the rapid growth of an efficient agriculture that adapted to very diverse climates and conditions, ranging from the water-rich Indus valley to semi-arid areas of today's Rajasthan.
  • The Harappans grew wheat, barley, and millets and practiced plough-based agriculture as well as intercropping in some areas.
  • Their wheel-turned pots came in a variety of shapes and sizes, and some were also glazed and painted.
  • Metal smiths extracted copper from ore found in the Aravalli hills, Ambaji (Gujarat), or Oman and alloyed it with tin to create bronze.
  • Mixing various impurities into it, such as nickel or arsenic, hardened it to the point where bronze tools could be used to dress stones.
  • The true saw was invented by the Harappans, with teeth and the adjoining part of the blade set alternately from side to side, a type of saw unknown until Roman times. They left us a few bronze figurines cast using the lost-wax process.
  • The Harappans also invented advanced grid-based town planning and sanitation, which collected used water from individual bathrooms into municipal drains that were inspected and cleaned on a regular basis. They realised that bricks with the dimensions 1: 2: 4 (width equals two heights; length equals two widths).
  • Harappan craftsmen used a variety of minerals for ornamental, cosmetic, and medicinal purposes; they excelled at bead-making, and their long carnelian (a semiprecious stone) beads, in particular, were highly prized in Mesopotamian royal families.
  • The Harappans produced a large number of gold, bronze, conchshell, glazed faience, and humble terracotta bangles, which contributed to India's love of bangles.
  • Weavers used wheel-spun thread, and evidence of silk, in addition to cotton, has recently been discovered at two sites. Stone and ivory carving, carpetmaking, and inlaid woodwork were among the other crafts.
  Significant

  04:-Significant Science and Technology Discovery in Ancient India

  Idea of Zero

  • Aryabhata, a mathematician, was the first to create a symbol for zero, and it was through his efforts that mathematical operations such as addition and subtraction began to use the digit zero.
  • The concept of zero and its incorporation into the place-value system also allowed for the writing of numbers of any size using only ten symbols.

  Decimal System

  • India invented the decimal system, which uses ten symbols to represent all numbers. In this system, each symbol was assigned a positional value as well as an absolute value.
  • This system made the use of arithmetic in practical inventions much faster and easier due to the simplicity of the decimal notation, which facilitated calculation.

  Numerical Notations

  • India developed a system of different symbols for each number from one to nine as early as 500 BCE.
  • The Arabs, who called it the hind numerals, adopted this notation system. Centuries later, the western world adopted this notation system, dubbed Arabic numerals because it arrived via Arab traders.

  Binary Numbers

  • The basic language in which computer programs are written is binary numbers. Binary is essentially a set of two numbers, 1 and 0, the combinations of which are known as bits and bytes.
  • Pingala, a Vedic scholar, first described the binary number system in his book Chandahsastra, the earliest known Sanskrit treatise on prosody ( the study of poetic metres and verse).

  Chakravala Method of Algorithms

  • The chakravala method is a cyclic algorithm for solving indeterminate quadratic equations such as Pell's equation. Brahmagupta, a well-known mathematician of the 7th century CE, developed this method for obtaining integer solutions.
  • Jayadeva, another mathematician, later generalised this method for a broader range of equations, which was refined further by Bhskara II in his Bijaganita treatise.

  Ruler Measurements

  • Excavations at Harappan sites have yielded ivory and shell rulers or linear measures.
  • The calibrations, which are marked out in minute subdivisions with amazing accuracy, correspond closely with the hasta increments of 1 3/8 inches, which were traditionally used in South Indian ancient architecture.
  • The dimensions of ancient bricks discovered at excavation sites correspond to the units on these rulers.

  Plastic Surgery

  • Sushruta Samhita, written by Sushruta in the sixth century BC, is regarded as one of the most comprehensive textbooks on ancient surgery.
  • The text discusses various illnesses, plants, preparations, and cures, as well as complex plastic surgery techniques.
  • The most well-known contribution of the Sushruta Samhita to plastic surgery is nose reconstruction, also known as rhinoplasty.

  Ayurveda

  • Long before Hippocrates, Charaka wrote the Charakasamhita, a foundational text on the ancient science of Ayurveda.
  • Charaka, known as the Father of Indian Medicine, was the first physician to introduce the concepts of digestion, metabolism, and immunity in his book.
  • For two millennia, Charaka's ancient manual on preventive medicine remained a standard work on the subject, and it was translated into many foreign languages, including Arabic and Latin.
  Indian Mathematicians & their Contributions

  05:-Indian Mathematicians and their Contributions

  Aryabhatta (5th Century)

  • Aryabhatta was a major mathematician and astronomer during the classical period of Indian mathematics and astronomy.
  • He is the primary author of several mathematical and astronomical treatises. His primary works concern the Aryabhatiya and the Arya-siddhanta.
  • Aryabhatiya was especially popular in South India, where many great mathematicians wrote commentaries over the millennium.
  • The great work is written primarily in verse couplets and deals with mathematics and astronomy.
  • Arya-siddhanta circulated primarily in northwestern India and had a significant impact on the development of Islamic astronomy throughout Iran.
  • It is one of the very first astronomical works to assign the start of each day to the end of midnight.

  Varahamihira (6th Century)

  • One of Varahamihira's most notable works was the Brihat Samhita, an encyclopaedic study of architecture, temples, planetary motions, eclipses, timekeeping, astrology, seasons, cloud formation, rainfall, agriculture, arithmetic, gemology, scents, and many other topics.
  • While Varahamihira summarised previous works on astronomy, the Shilpa Sastra, and temple architecture in some lines, he argues that his explanation of numerous architectural principles and models is among the earliest books that have remained.
  • The discovery of trigonometric equations was one of Varahamihira's mathematical accomplishments.
  • He improved the precision of Aryabhata's sine tables.
  • He defined the algebraic properties of zero, negative numbers, and positive and negative numbers.

  Baudhayana (800-740 BC)

  • Baudhayana discovered Pythagoras at least 1000 years before his birth.
  • According to a shloka from the Sulbasutra, he had the concept for the Pythagoras theorem in his thoughts before the Pythagoras was really formed.
  • He wasn't a scribe like Ahmes, who just copied papers, nor a mathematician in the contemporary sense.
  • He would have had a very high level of education, but he was most likely just interested in using mathematics to support his religious ideas, not for its own purpose.

  Brahmagupta (598 to 668 CE)

  • The Brahmasphutasiddhanta is Brahmagupta's principal work, written in or about 628.
  • This mathematical astronomy book covers a significant amount of mathematical content, such as a thorough understanding of the function of zero.
  • When he was thirty years old, he composed the Brahmasphutasiddhanta (the improved treatise of Brahma), which is claimed to be a revised version of the approved siddhanta of the Brahmaraksha school.
  • Brahmagupta offered the solution to the general linear equation in chapter eighteen of Brahmasphutasiddhanta.

  Bhaskaracharya ( 12th century AD )

  • Bhaskaracharya, the leader of a cosmic observatory at Ujjain, ancient India's principal mathematical centre, was a member of the Hindu Deshastha Brahmin family of philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers.
  • Siddhanta-Siromani, his main work, is divided into four portions, which are frequently regarded as four different works and are titled Lilavati, Bijagaita, Grahagaita, and Goladhyaya.
  • In that sequence, these four parts address arithmetic, algebra, planetary mathematics, and spheres.

  
  

  Medicine

  06:-Medicine

  Sushruta

  • Surgery was a well-established medical speciality in India by the time of Sushruta, albeit in a less-advanced form.
  • He made significant contributions to the creation of numerous surgical methods (such as the use of an ant's head to sew sutures) and, most importantly, cosmetic surgery.
  • His book instructs others on how a surgeon should proceed.

  Charaka

  • He is well known for creating the Charaka Samhita, which is considered one of the basic works of Ayurveda and traditional Indian medicine.
  • Despite studying all parts of medicine, including the logic and philosophy that underpin the Indian medical system, Charaka saw Ayurveda as a complete system of medicine that addressed both preventative and curative components of health care.
  Others

  07:-Others

  Jivaka

  • Bimbisara and Ajatsatru's contemporaries.
  • Under the supervision of Atreya, he learned Ayurvedic medicine.
  • Lord Buddha's and the Sangha's personal Physician.

  Nagarjuna

  • He is believed to be an alchemist who worked extensively with mercury and promoted the use of chemical treatments rather than herbal and vegetable mixtures.
  • He explained the circulatory system in detail and referred to blood as rakta dhatu
  • Several specifically formulated compounds with medicinal properties are known as bhasmas.

  
  

  Conclusion

  08:-Conclusion

  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. The Indus Valley's contemporary civilizations were not as scientific as the Indus. With this, almost all of ancient India was technically and economically self-sufficient, and as a Vishwaguru, India was the world's leader.