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From:
alt.fan.jai-maharaj@googlegroups.com
Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
Surgeons in ancient India could conduct cataract, plastic
surgery, says VP Naidu
dnaindia.com
Monday, May 21, 2018
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-surgeons-in-ancient-india-could-conduct-cataract-plastic-surgery-says-vp-naidu-2617373
Forwarded post:
Science and technology in ancient India
[ From: ramakrishna tadikonda <
tramakr...@yahoo.com>
[ Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
Science and technology in ancient India
Science and technology in ancient India covered all the
major branches of human knowledge and activities, including
mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, medical science
and surgery, fine arts, mechanical and production
technology, civil engineering and architecture,
shipbuilding and navigation, sports and games.
Grant Duff, a British historian has remarked: "Many of the
advances in the sciences that we consider today to have
been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries
ago".
Introduction
Ancient India was a land of sages, saints and seers as well
as a land of scholars and scientists. Ancient India's
contribution to science and technology include:
Mathematics -- Vedic literature is replete with concepts of
zero, the techniques of algebra and algorithm, square root
and cube root.
Astronomy -- Rg Ved (2000 BCE) refers to astronomy.
Physics -- Concepts of atom and theory of relativity were
explicitly stated by an Indian Philosopher around 600 BCE.
Chemistry -- Principles of chemistry did not remain
abstract but also found expression in distillation of
perfumes, aromatic liquids, manufacturing of dyes and
pigments, and extraction of sugar.
Medical science & surgery -- Around 800 BCE, first
compendium on medicine and surgery was complied in ancient
India.
Fine Arts -- Vedas were recited and recitation has to be
correct, which gave rise to a finer study of sound and
phonetics. The natural corollary were emergence of music
and other forms of performing arts.
Mechanical & production technology -- Greek historians have
testified to smelting of certain metals in India in the 4th
century BCE.
Civil engineering & architecture -- The discovery of urban
settlements of Mohenjodaro and Harappa indicate existence
of civil engineering & architecture, which blossomed to a
highly precise science of civil engineering and
architecture and found expression in innumerable monuments
of ancient India.
Shipbuilding & navigation -- Sanskrit and Pali texts have
several references to maritime activity by ancient Indians.
Sports & games -- Ancient India is the birth place of
chess, ludo, snakes and ladders and playing cards.
Mathematics
Mathematics represents a very high level of abstraction
attained by human brain. In ancient India, roots to
mathematics can be traced to Vedic literature, which are
around 4000 years old. Between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE, a
number of mathematical treatises were authored in India.
Will Durant, American historian (1885-1981) has once said
that "India was the mother of our philosophy... of much of
our mathematics."
It is now generally accepted that India is the birth place
of several mathematical concepts, including zero, algebra
and algorithm, square root and cube root. Zero is a numeral
as well as a concept. It owes its origin to the Indian
philosophy which had a concept of "sunya", literal
translation of which is "void", and zero emerged as a
derivative symbol to represent this philosophical concept.
Geometrical theories and pattern were not unknown to
ancient Indians and find display in motifs on temple walls,
which are in many cases replete with mix of floral and
geometric patterns. The method of graduated calculation was
documented in a book named "Five Principles" (Panch-
Siddhantika) which dates to 5th Century CE.
A. L. Basham, an Australian Indologist, writes in his book,
The Wonder That was India that "... the world owes most to
India in the realm of mathematics, which was developed in
the Gupta period to a stage more advanced than that reached
by any other nation of antiquity. The success of Indian
mathematics was mainly due to the fact that Indians had a
clear conception of the abstract number as distinct from
the numerical quantity of objects or spatial extension."
Algebric theories, as also other mathematical concepts,
which were in circulation in ancient India, were collected
and further developed by Aryabhatta, an Indian
mathematician, who lived in the 5th century, in the city of
Patna, then called Pataliputra. He has referred to Algebra
(as Bijaganitam) in his treatise on mathematics named
"Aryabhattiya" Another mathematician of the 12th century,
Bhaskaracharya also authored several treatises on the
subject -- one of them, named "Siddantha Shiromani" has a
chapter on algebra. In 1816, James Taylor translated
Bhaskaracharya's Leelavati into English. Another
translation of the same work by English astronomer Henry
Thomas Colebruke appeared next year in 1817.
The credit for fine-tuning and internationalizing these
mathematical concepts - which had originated in India --
goes to the Arabs and Persians. Al-Khawarizmi, a Persian
mathematician, developed a technique of calculation that
became known as "algorism." This was the seed from which
modern arithmetic algorithms have developed. Al-Khwarizmi's
work was translated into Latin under the title Algoritmi de
numero Indorum, meaning "The System of Indian Numerals." A
mathematician in Arabic is called Hindsa which means "from
India."
Bhaskar, followed by Madhav and other mathematicians of the
Kerala school made major inroads into the invention of
Calculus that were not to be repeated anywhere until the
17th century by Newton and Leibnitz.
Astronomy
Ancient India's contributions in the field of astronomy are
well known and well documented and earliest references to
astronomy are found in the Rig Ved, which are dated 2000
BCE. During next 2500 years, by 500 CE, ancient Indian
astronomy has emerged as an important part of Indian
studies and its affect is also seen in several treatises of
that period. In some instances, astronomical principles
were borrowed to explain matters, pertaining to astrology,
like casting of a horoscope. Apart from this linkage of
astronomy with astrology in ancient India, science of
astronomy continued to develop independently, and
culminated into original findings, like:
The calculation of occurrences of eclipses
Determination of Earth's circumference
Theorizing about the theory of gravitation
Determining that sun was a star and determination of number
of plants under our solar system
Physics
The root to the concept of atom in ancient India is derived
from the classification of material world in five basic
elements by ancient Indian philosophers. These five
"elements" and such a classification existed since the
Vedic times, around 3000 BCE before. These five elements
were the earth (prithvi), fire (agni), air (maya), water
(jaal) and ether or space (aksha). These elements were also
associated with human sensory perceptions: earth with
smell, air with feeling, fire with vision, water with taste
and ether/space with sound. Later on, Buddhist philosophers
replaced ether/space with life, joy and sorrow.
-From ancient times, Indian philosophers believed that
except ether or space, all other elements were physically
palpable and hence comprised of small and minuscule
particles of matter. They believed that the smallest
particle which could not be subdivided further was parmanu,
a Sanskrit word. Paramanu is made of two Sanskrit words,
param meaning ultimate or beyond and anu meaning atom.
Thus, the term "paramanu" literally means "beyond atom" and
this was a concept at an abstract level which indicated the
possibility of splitting atom, which is now the source of
atomic energy.
Kanada, a 6th century, Indian philosopher was the first
person who went deep systematically in such theorization.
Another Indian, philosopher, Pakudha Katyayana, who was a
contemporary of Buddha, also propounded the ideas about the
atomic constitution of the material world. All these were
based on logic and philosophy and lacked any empirical
basis for want of commensurate technology. Similarly, the
concept of theory of relativity was available in an
embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of
"sapekshavad", the literal translation of this Sanskrit
word is "theory of relativity".
These theories have attracted attention of the Indologists,
and A. L. Basham, a veteran Australian Indologist has
concluded that "they were brilliant imaginative
explanations of the physical structure of the world, and in
a large measure, agreed with the discoveries of modern
physics." When the Greeks came into contacts with Indian in
4th century BCE, these ideas were further discussed and
developed by them.
Chemistry
Ancient India's development in chemistry was not confined
at an abstract level like physics, but found development in
a variety of practical activities.
In any early civilization, metallurgy has remained an
activity central to all civilizations from the Bronze Age
and the Iron Age, to all other civilizations that followed.
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 has observed that "Indian and the
Persian army used arrows tipped with iron." Ancient Romans
were using armour and cutlery made of Indian iron.
In India itself, certain objects testify to the higher
level of metallurgy achieved by the ancient Indians. By the
side of Qutub Minar, a World heritage site, in Delhi,
stands an Iron Pillar. The pillar is believed to be cast in
the Gupta period around circa 500 CE. The pillar is 7.32
meters tall, tapering from a diameter of 40 cms at the base
to 30 cms at the top and is estimated to weigh 6 tonnes. It
has been standing in the open for last 1500 years,
withstanding the wind, heat and weather, but still has not
rusted, except very minor natural erosion. This kind of
rust proof iron was not possible till iron and steel was
discovered few decades before.
The advance nature of ancient India's chemical science also
finds expression in other fields, like distillation of
perfumes and fragment ointments, manufacturing of dyes and
chemicals, polishing of mirrors, preparation of pigments
and colours. Paintings found on walls of Ajanta and Ellora
(both World heritage sites) which look fresh even after
1000 years, also testify to the high level of chemical
science achieved in ancient India.
Medicine & surgery
Ayurved as a science of medicine owes its origins in
ancient India. Ayurved consists of two Sanskrit words --
'ayur' meaning age or life, and 'ved' which means
knowledge. Thus, the literal meaning of Ayurved is the
science of life or longevity. Ayurved constitutes ideas
about ailments and diseases, their symptoms, diagnosis and
cure, and relies heavily on herbal medicines, including
extracts of several plants of medicinal values. This
reliance on herbs differentiates Ayurved from systems like
Allopathy and Homeopathy. Ayurved has also always
disassociated itself with witch doctors and voodoo.
Ancient scholars of India like Atreya[1]
http://www.indiaheritage.com/science/ayur.htm
and Agnivesa have dealt with principles of Ayurved as long
back as 800 BCE. Their works and other developments were
consolidated by Charaka who compiled a compendium of
Ayurvedic principles and practices in his treatise 'Charak-
Samahita, " which remained like a standard textbook almost
for 2000 years and was translated into many languages,
including Arabic and Latin. 'Charaka-Samahita' deals with a
variety of matters covering physiology, etiology and
embryology, concepts of digestion, metabolism, and
immunity.
Preliminary concepts of genetics also find a mention, for
example, Charaka has theorized: blindness from the birth is
not due to any defect in the mother or the father, but owes
its origin in the ovum and the sperm.
In ancient India, several advances were also made in the
field of medical surgery. Specifically these advances
included areas like plastic surgery, extraction of
cataracts, and even dental surgery. Roots to the ancient
Indian surgery go back to at least circa 800 BCE.
Shushruta, a medical theoretician and practitioner, lived
2000 years before, in the ancient Indian city of Kasi, now
called Varanasi. He wrote a medical compendium called
'Shushruta-Samahita. This ancient medical compendium
describes at least seven branches of surgery: Excision,
Scarification, Puncturing, Exploration, Extraction,
Evacuation, and Suturing. The compendium also deals with
matters like rhinoplasty (plastic surgery) and
ophthalmology (ejection of cataracts). The compendium also
focuses on the study the human anatomy by using a dead
body.
Yoga is a system of exercise for physical and mental
nourishment. The origins of yoga are shrouded in antiquity
and mystery. Since Vedic times, thousand of years before,
the principles and practice of yoga have crystallized. But,
it was only around 200 BCE that all the fundamentals of
yoga were collected by Patanjali in his treatise, named
"Yogasutra", that is, "Yoga-Aphorisms." (For more
information, see Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.) In short,
Patanjali surmised that through the practice of yoga, the
energy latent within the human body may be made live and
released, which has a salubrious affect on the body and the
mind. Now, in modern times, clinical practices have
established that several ailments, including hypertension,
clinical depression, amnesia, acidity, can be controlled
and managed by yogic practices. The application of yoga in
physiotherapy is also gaining recognition.
Fine arts
Max Muller, a German Indologist has once declared that " If
I am asked which nation had been advanced in the ancient
world in respect of education and culture then I would say
it was -- India." Ancient India's fine art and performing
arts attest to this fact. This find expression in music,
musical instruments, dancing, paintings and several other
art forms.
Music had a divine character in India and in recognition of
that the Indian Goddess of learning, Saraswati is always
shown holding a musical instrument, namely, the veena.
Likewise, Krishna is associated with 'banshi', that is, the
flute - a musical instrument, which traveled throughout the
world from India. Indian devotional songs and reciting
influenced religious recitations in several eastern
countries, where the style was adopted by Buddhists monks.
The India developed several types of musical instruments
and forms of dancing, with delicate body movements and
grace.
Paintings have remained the oldest art form as found in
several cave paintings across the globe. In India also, in
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