ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #1

tHIS SERIES WILL TAKE YOU THROUGH A REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIAN CIVILISATION. LETS START.

Albert Einstein once remarked: We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”. He was very true in saying this as India is the birth place of all scientific discoveries, thoughts and theories. Indians worked in almost every field of science, let it be atomic physics or astronomy, cosmology or hydrodynamics, nuclear physics or mathematics. From Kanada in 6th century B.C. to Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in 20th century, from Aryabhatta in 5th century A.D. to Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha India has a long list of eminent scientific philosophers and thinkers.
The six schools of Indian philosophy were great source of scientific disciplines. Among them Samkhya and Vaisesika schools were more active in the field of physics.Kanada, the great philosopher put forward a beautiful account of atomic structure. He formulated the concept of ‘anu’ and ‘parmanu’ .He stated that these anu and parmanu are scattered everywhere and are invisible to our eyes.
Anu consists of parmanu and parmanu was the tiniest the indestructible one.
In Vaisesika School Prasastapada propounded sound as momentary .Anandavardhana and Abhinavgupta studied sound as energy. Samkhya School discovered causality.
Vardhman Mahavira, chiefly known for his truth and non violence was an outstanding thinker. His principle of Anekantavada which says that “Truth is relative to our standpoints” revolutionized the basic attitude of philosophers of that time. “Anekanta” is the logic behind the frame of reference problems. Einstein’s theory of relativity has many similarities with Anekantavada and Sapekshavada philosophies of Jainism.
The field of mechanics was not left untouched. In ancient times Shipbuilding was a flourishing industry. Tempering of steel was known early in India and Indian iron and steel were valued abroad.
Astronomy, oldest of sciences and an important branch of physics, was a regular subject of university curriculum. Indians prepared very accurate calendar based on lunar months. Knowledge of astronomy in its practical aspects was of great help to those people who went on to sea voyages.
Indians were excellent mathematicians. India lead the world in the field of mathematics and mathematics is the backbone of physics. India gave zero and nine signs for counting. In fact Indians were first to make use of decimal place value system, concepts of squares and cubes and their roots ,quadratic equation and many other mathematical formulas. Books like Baudhayana (in 8th century B.C.), Apastamba and Katyayini (5th century B.C.) and Lilavati (12th century A.D.) are landmarks in the history of mathematics. Aryabhatta is sometimes referred as the inventor of algebra.
Aryabhatta was father of Indian astronomy and mathematics. He worked a lot in the field of space and cosmology. Heliocentric theory was first projected by him, much before Galileo and Copernicus. Aryabhatta concluded that sun is the chief source of moonlight. He was also successful in eclipse forecasting. His books were translated in Latin in 13th century and were studied and admired across the Europe with great deal of respect.
In 628 A.D., Brahmagupta emerged as a prominent physicist. He made notable advancements in the field of astronomy and stated laws applicable to zero. Some other chief scientists of that time are Varahmihira, Bhaskara-1 and Bhaskara-2.

Indian scientists and astronomers were well known around the world. In eighth century, during the rein of Khalif Al Mansur, a number of Indian scholars traveled to Baghdad and with them they took some books which were works on astronomy, cosmology and other branches of science and mathematics. Thus India contributed a lot to the field of astronomy, cosmology and formed a platform for further scientific discoveries like special theory of relativity and Newton’s laws of gravity.
However, Muslim invasion brought all the scientific activities to a halt. They devastated the centers of learning like Takshashila & Nalanda. Along with temples of worship, they destroyed temples of learning also. It is said that Muslim raiders burnt the manuscripts at Nalanda for six months for warmth in winters.
However, as they say there is always a silver lining in dark clouds, few exceptional Hindu emperors took initiative to rekindle the scientific spirit of Indians. Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur, in 18th century, was an unmatched scientist and an astronomer of his period. He built big observatories at Jaipur, Delhi, Ujjain, Banaras and Mathura, better known as “Jantar-Mantar”. Learning through Portuguese missionaries about progress of astrophysics in Portugal, he sent his own men with them to the court of king Emanuel of Portugal. Emanuel sent his envoy, Xavier de Silva with “De la Hiris” tables to Jai Singh. On comparing these with his own tables, Jai Singh came to the conclusion that Portuguese tables were less accurate and had several errors. He attributed these to the ‘inferior diameters’ of the instruments used and rectified them. Thus, Jai Singh’s contribution to designing of physical instruments was unparallel.
In the British Era, many physicists worked in the area of modern physics. Sir C.V. Raman was a noted physicist and was awarded Noble Prize for Raman Effect. Dr.Homi Jehangir Bhabha underwent considerable research in the field of atomic and nuclear physics and the cosmic rays. Another Noble Laureate Chandrasekhar put forward the idea of Chandrasekhar limit which helped in understanding many intricacies of universe. Other prominent scientists like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who contributed to space sciences and Ramanujam, who along with a genius mathematician was a noted physicist.
Since the dawn of humanity Indus Valley Civilizations has lead the world in almost each and every field of science. Hindu race has thus put in unparallel efforts to discover the intricacies of nature. From zero to numerals, from shipbuilding to cosmic rays and from Anekanta to atoms, there does not remain any branch of science, in which Hindus have not worked. They have given the world a platform to walk upon and march towards the ultimate goal of humanity, the truth.