Our ancient scriptures and modern science

CULTURAL KALEIDOSCOPE
B.M.N. Murthy shares some of the great contributions made by our ancient scriptures
in the development of modern science. It is sad, though, that Indians are hardly
aware of these contributions and always give credit to Western scientists
Our ancient scriptures
and modern science
WHEN we think of the growth and development
of modern science for the past several years,
our thoughts always turn towards the
contributions of the Western scientists. Seldom do we pause
and recollect the great contributions made by our scriptures
in the development of science and its practical applications
ever since the Vedic Age. The rich contribution that ancient
India has made in the field of science and the deep insight
our ancients had towards the development of science are
evident from the illustrative examples given below, which
are just representative.
Aircraft Engineering: The use of aircraft as a flying machine
finds reference in many places in the Rig-Veda, as is evident
from the Sooktha (statement) “Antarikshe Charati” which
means ‘that which flies in air’ Indeed, there are several
similar Sookthas in the Rig-Veda which point
towards the existence of aircraft even then.
Who has not heard of the reference to the
‘Puspaka Vimana’ in the Valmiki Ramayana?
Tracing the development further, we come
across an exhaustive treatise on Aerodynamics
called “Brihad Vaimanika Shastra” written by
Sage Bharadwaja thousands of years ago which
covers all aspects of aeronautics and aircrafts,
including their manufacture and flying
instructions. In the last hundred years, it is
well-known that the first aircraft in the world
was launched by the Wright Brothers in
America on December 17, 1903. But what is
not known so well is the fact that eight years
before, in the year 1895 itself, V.S. Talpade,
an Indian Sanskrit scholar and a scientist from
Pune, had launched an unmanned aircraft at
Juhu Beach, Mumbai in 1895, guided by his
Bangalore based Guru Anekal Subbaraya
Shastri. Talpade had based his design and launch as per
the guidelines in the ‘Brihad Vaimanika Shastra’. The aircraft
was named as “Marutha Shakti” (Power of the Wind) and
the aircraft flew to a height of about 1500 feet before it
crashed. The project was financed by the then Maharaja of
Baroda and the event was widely covered in the Marathi
newspaper Kesari, founded by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Law of Gravitation: Much before Newton discovered the
Law of Gravitation, India had produced an exhaustive treatise
on Astronomical Sciences, called “Surya Siddhanta”. The
very first Shloka therein establishes the Law of Gravitation.
Even Acharya Shankara in his commentaries on the
Upanishads, particularly on the Prasnopanishad, has clearly
established the Law of Gravitation by using the word
‘Akarshana Shakti’.
Velocity of Light: In the Rig-Veda there is a
Sooktha (statement) called ‘Soura Sooktha’
which speaks about the brightness of the
Sun and how fast it illuminates the entire
world.
Explaining the implications of this Sooktha,
the great Vedic commentator, Sayanacharya,
of the Vijaya Nagara Empire (14th Century
A.D) has established the velocity of light in
the following shloka:
“Yojananam Sahasre Dve, Dve Shate Dve
Cha Yojane
Ekena Nimishardhena Kramamana Namostu
Te”
(Oh Surya! Salutations to you whose light
crosses 2,202 Yojanas in half Nimesha)
Yojana was the unit of length in those days,
one Yojana approximating to about 8 miles;
and Nimesha was the Unit of time, one
Nimesha was equivalent to 16/75th of a
B.M.N. Murthy shares some of the great contributions made by our ancient scriptures
in the development of modern science. It is sad, though, that Indians are hardly
aware of these contributions and always give credit to Western scientists.
Much before
Newton
discovered the
Law of Gravitation,
India had
produced an
exhaustive treatise
on Astronomical
Sciences, called
“Surya
Siddhanta”. The
very first Shloka
therein establishes
the Law of
Gravitation.second. Calculated on the basis of this data, the velocity of
light works out to 1, 87, 650 miles per second which is
very close to the modern accepted velocity of light 1,86,282
miles per second.
Plastic Surgery: The world’s very first plastic surgeon was
an Indian Ayurvedic surgeon by name Sushruta who lived in
600 B.C. He has written an exhaustive medical treatise
known as “Shushruta Samhita” which covers extensive
details on almost all the medical operations on the body,
including grafting of the skin and the medical equipment
required for the operations. In fact, surgery started with
him in India and he performed almost all the surgical feats
like Caesarean operation, cataract, brain surgery, plastic
surgery etc. He specialised in the building up of torn or
wounded noses.
In those days, during wars, flashing of swords was common.
Soldiers who got their noses cut during the battle would go
to Sushruta for treatment. He would take strips of flesh
from their thigh and mend the nose by grafting it. He would
even fashion a new lip.
In the War of 1792, Tipu Sultan’s soldiers captured a Maratha
cart driver in the British army, called Cowasji
and cut off his nose. A year later, a native
surgeon from Poona who had practiced Plastic
Surgery as per the guidelines of Shushruta
reconstructed his nose in the presence of two
British doctors, Thomas Cruso and James
Hindlay of the Bombay Presidency. An
illustrated account of this rare operation was
reported in the Gentleman’s Magazine of
London in its issue dated October 1794.
Movement of the Earth and Sun: It was only
in 1543 A.D. that the Western world
discovered that the Earth moves around the
sun with the advent of the Polish astronomer
Copernicus on the scene. Till such time they
thought that the Earth was stationary and the
sun moved around it. Whereas, our own
astronomer Aryabhata had already established
the correct position in his helio-centric system
as early as the 5th century A.D. In fact, the
Aithariya Upanishad clearly states “The sun
neither rises nor does it set”. Aryabhata
forestalled Copernicus by ten centuries.
Robotics: Even as early as the 12th century,
there are references in our ancient books about
the use of robots as entertaining gadgets. Raja Bhoja (of
Kalidasa fame) has written a book in 1150 A.D by the name
‘Samarangana Sutradhara’ in which he describes several
machines installed for the entertainment of the King and
operated by remote control. In the dance treatise ‘Nritta
Ratnavali’ written by Jaya Senapathi in 1253 A.D.during
the Kakatiya rule from Warangal, we get the description of
a dance hall in which mechanical lady figures that chant,
sing and dance were installed and were activated by remote
control.
Metallurgy: India was the first country in the world to
manufacture high-carbon steel called ‘Damascus steel’.
This steel was originally called ‘wootz’ in English. Indian
steel was used for making swords in Persia and Arabia.
The excellent state of preservation of iron pillar near Qutub
Minar in Delhi in spite of vagaries of weather for over 15
centuries is a challenge to corrosion engineers all over the
world.
Civil Engineering: The 49 feet tall and 20,000 kg stone
pillar which stands erect even today in the Belur Temple in
Karnataka built in the 12th century stands testimony to ancient
Indian engineering skill. This would have been
impossible unless the then engineers had a
deep knowledge of the wind forces, their
direction etc. The pillar is standing on a
platform without any stays, hooks, pegs or
any other binding material.
The Decimal System in Mathematics: The
decimal system of Mathematics invented by
our ancient sages was perhaps the greatest
scientific achievement. Ancient Rome was a
great civilisation but its people were
uncomfortable with numbers above 1,000.
They wrote their numbers in alphabets: I
standing for 1, V standing for 5, X for 10, L
for 50, C for 100, D for 500 and M for 1,000.
There was no alphabet expressing a number
higher than 1,000. If one would have asked
an ancient Roman to write the number one
million, he would have gone crazy for he
would then have to write the letter M, which
stands for millennium (or one thousand), one
thousand times. On the other hand, under
our system just write number one followed
by six zeroes. Zero is definitely ancient India’s
greatest contribution to Mathematics.
The world’s very
first plastic
surgeon was an
Indian Ayurvedic
surgeon by name
Sushruta who
lived in 600 B.C.
He has written an
exhaustive medical
treatise known as
“Shushruta
Samhita” which
covers extensive
details on almost
all the medical
operations on the
body, including
grafting of the skin
and the medical
equipment
required for the
operations.
Culture Column
Culture Column.p65 49 2/22/2012, 3:11 PM
50 ONE INDIA ONE PEOPLE March 2012
second. Calculated