Book review: Ancient Hindu Science by Alok Kumar
This book is a long awaited one.
There has been a gaping absence of a comprehensive record or documenting of a literature that put all the knowledge that has been carried by the general masses in their consciousness through the decades but nowhere could be referenced as a physical document. This book satisfies that need to see the many achievements and accomplishments of the erudite ancients whose learning we still read, learn and make use of in our modern world. Although the author says that the book is an introduction to the vast knowledge systems of the Hindu learning in various fields like science (physics, chemistry, biology), astronomy, geography, geometry, mathematics, medicine etc, it very much touches the major aspects achieved in these fields and the influence it had all over the world. Bharata wasn’t the epicenter of learning just like that. It is heartening to affirm that it is indeed the ancient Hindu knowledge that enriched and helped advance not just the scientific thought but also in the spiritual and philosophical realms however long winded route the knowledge took like from India to Persia, Arabia, Greece and then to the European and Western world in general. Several translations of Indian texts made way across the world who in turn were made the richer for it. The work of al-Khwarizmi in Baghdad was made possible due to the discoveries and inventions of the ancient Hindus. His books were read by established scholars in Europe like Copernicus, Adelard of Bath, Leonardo Fibonacci, Pope Sylvester II, Roger Bacon et al who helped spread it further on. Voltaire, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Jung, Max Muller, Robert Oppenheimer, Erwin Shrodinger, Arthur Shopenhauer, Henry David Thoreau and many other intellectuals were influenced by the Hindu knowledge and in fact this was the harbinger of the ‘Oriental’ studies that evidently brought about the ‘aha’ moment to the western world allowing it to revel in it and slake its thirst from the wisdom available so easily. It can be said that the world knew the true strength and stature of our culture to which we have awakened rather late but awake we are now.
An amusing and a bit surprising point that I realized while reading this book is the constant question mark we have been putting towards the education we take and dispense, especially like geometry and mathematics. Haven’t we oft heard as to what use are we going to put the learning of quadratic equations or trigonometry in real life? And for all practical purposes that is indeed the case. We do not need to use mathematics more than the knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Those in specialized jobs or maths ‘nerds’ may be using the complicated and advanced calculations to some use but that is not the norm.
Guess what? The ancients had the usage of these advanced knowledge systems in daily life. For example Hindus observed the several festivals and fasts that we still see being followed in our society. These sacred days are calculated with the help of the Hindu almanac called the ‘Panchang’ that is luni-solar in its format ie the the Hindu months of the year are lunar and the years solar. The knowledge of the ecliptic circle of the moon was something that every Hindu family could calculate to find the days of Amavasya, Purnima, Ekadashi, Chaturthi or the various days of fasting, festivals or the auspicious times for worshipping etc. This is how closely science was woven into the daily fabric of life.
How could the fantastic ancient temples we see today have been built without the use of trigonometry?
It is such bits of information that the book wisens us to, things that are common knowledge but lost to us of the deeper meanings they hold. As another example, the concept of zero began as a philosophical idea of ‘sunyata’ ie nothingness- a void that indicates the ‘nirguna-rupa’ form of God. This eventually evolved into a mathematical reality in the form of zero. Thereby establishing a link between an abstract subject with an exact one! Reminds me of a college student being asked by his Mathematics professor to write a paper on the link between Philosophy and Mathematics. He was at sea to say in short. This book would have helped the student in multiple ways I am sure.
The book is well researched with several citations and references duly annotated. The language is lucid and without heavy vocabulary that makes it very amenable and immensely readable especially for the younger readers but is a good resource point for even the older readers for whom it may serve as a reminder of why we believe in certain things and for what reasons?
Recommend it to all to get to know the strands of Indian history that still influence the modern world in its workings as we see it.
