| Introduction
It would be quite surprising for the average westerner
when he or she is told that the scientific achievements
that the European countries have been credited
with since the past few decades were commonly
practiced in India centuries before! The countries
in the Asian continent, particularly India and
China, were well advanced in various scientific
disciplines when most of Europe was lost in the
dark ages. In fact historians are coming out with
proof to show that scientific credits were given
to most western scientists simply because the
ancient Indian texts could not be either understood
by the west, or effectively popularized by those
who handled them in India.
Analysis
It would seem surprising that India, which was
repeatedly attacked and colonized by foreigners
maintained her rich cultural traditions intact
for thousands of years. All the scientific knowledge
that India possessed were part and parcel of this
culture, and hence they too remained intact with
their respective custodians. Perhaps it is the
immense bonding between culture, religion and
scientific spirit of the Hindus that has helped
them to keep the treasures of their scientific
knowledge intact.
Ancient Indian Mathematics
The range of mathematical discoveries made by
the ancient Indians affects most of the basic
knowledge that we have in our lives. The influence
of the Indian scientific knowledge had affected
many other countries as well. The best example
would be the misnamed 'Arabic' numerals, which
is in fact is a contribution of Indian scientists.
The very basic principles of mathematics had originated
and then been perfected in India. The Arabic scholars
often referred to the now famous ‘Arabic
numerals’ as "Hindsaa", which
means "from India (Hindustan)"
In the Vedic age, India was ahead of the rest
in mathematics and astronomy. Thus, the geometry
of the Shulba Sutras (The Rules of the Cord),
geometrical appendices to the manuals of ritual
(Shrauta Sutras) include the oldest known formulation
of the theorem named after Pythagoras, developed
in the context of Vedic altar-building. The first
decimal system and the oldest names of "astronomical"
numbers such as quadrillions and quintillions.
Arabs still call the decimal system rakmu 'l-Hind,
from Hind, "India. [Pandit, 1993, p.20]
“The decimal cyphers, the honor of which,
next to letters the most important of human discoveries,
has, with the common consent of historical authorities,
been ascribed to Hindus” [Schlegel, 1977,
p. 123]
"Mathematics is the science to which Indians
have contributed the most. Our decimal system,
place notation, numbers 1 through 9, and the ubiquitous
0, are all major Indian contributions to world
science. Without them, our modern world of computer
sciences, earth-launched satellites, microchips,
and artificial intelligence would all have been
impossible" [Wolpert, 1992, p 194]
Archaeologists also found a “ruler”
made of shell lines drawn 6.7 millimeters apart
with a high degree of accuracy. Two of the lines
are distinguished by circles and are separated
by 33.5 millimeters, or 1.32 inches. This distance
is the so-called Indus inch [Teresi, p.59, 2002]
All these quotes show that the role of the ancient
Indian mathematician was very great and profound.
Ancient Indian astronomy
Perhaps the most important contribution to science
by the ancient Indian mathematicians was the concept
of time. Ancient Indian science, like the western
concepts of the Big Bang Theory and the Pulsating
Universe Theory, believed that time does not have
an origin or end. Everything happens in cycles
and at the end of each cycle, there are important
and very perceptible changes that happen to the
world. Ancient Indians had very precisely derived
the age of the universe, which is a source of
awe for the modern scientists who could not have
done so without the help of advanced machineries
and astronomical equipments.
"The Hindus with their grandiose Kalpas
and their ideas of the divine power which is beyond
all human category (male or female). Not so alien
to the imagery of modern science that it could
not have been put to acceptable use." [Kak,
2004]
"Temporal notions in Europe were overturned
by an India rooted in eternity. The Bible had
been the yardstick for measuring time, but the
infinitely vast time cycles of India suggested
that the world was much older than anything the
Bible spoke of. It seems as if the Indian mind
was better prepared for the chronological mutations
of Darwinian evolution and astrophysics."
[Sorman,2001]
Ancient Indian Zoology, Physics, Chemistry and
theories on life
The Indian belief on zoology, and in general the
origin of life, has also been accepted by the
modern sciences.
“The theory of animal life and particularly
of man was correctly understood by the ancient
thinkers. The Brihat Vishnu Purana states that
"the aquatic life precedes the monkey life"
and that "the monkey life is the precursor
of the human life." The same theory was explained
in an interesting way by the dashavatara (ten
incarnations). But evolution, as everything else,
was the manifestation of the supreme spirit (Atman)
as is testified by Chandogya Upanishad”
[Kulkarni, 1974]
Ancient Indian seers had propounded the existence
of atoms and also believed that the world was
created from a chaotic mass that later differentiated
into elements and matter that we perceive with
our senses. The fact that the most subtle part
of matter, called ether by modern scientists,
had been identified by the ancient seers speaks
of their advanced thought, mental perception and
physical sensitivity to natural happenings around
them.
Uddalaka Aruni, preserved in Chandogya Upanishad
says "matter was at first a chaotic mass,
like the juices of various trees indiscriminately
blended together in honey. In order to develop
names-and-forms, to discriminate things from one
another, or to set them in order, the universal
spirit came not in its universal form but as the
living, principle, and entered into Fire, Water
and Earth. After separating their component but
qualitatively distinct parts (dhatus), it made
numerous new combinations of them
"The cause of creative motion is believed
to be adrsta, unseen moral force which guides
the destiny of souls according to their karma
and requires them to be provided with properly
equipped bodies and an appropriate objective world
for the experience of pleasure and pain. It is
due to the operation of this metempirical force
that atoms start moving to get together in order
that they may be integrated into countless varieties
of things."
The law of gravitation discovered by Brahmagupta
anticipated Newton by declaring "all things
fall to the earth by law of nature; for it is
the nature of the earth to attract and keep things."
[Iyengar, 1997, pp. 153-154 ; Chattopadhyay, 1987,
pp.297-299]
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