HISTORY

Course Name : History

(For under graduate student)

Paper No. & Title : Paper - II

History of India (c. AD 650-AD 1550)

Topic No. & Title : Topic – 9

Science and Technology in early Medieval India

Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 1

Science and Technology in early Medieval India

1. Introduction

Numerous treatises were produced on Astronomy,

Mathematics, Logic, Medicine and Linguistics from
1000 B.C to the 300 A.D. The philosophers of the
Sankhya school, the Nyaya-Vaisesika schools and
early Jain and Buddhist scholars made substantial
contributions to the growth of Science and Learning.
The world of Science is much more than inventions
of theories and application. It involves development
of a culture in which scientific, rationalist goals are
attempted and attained.

In order to do History of Science of any given culture

one has to take a multi-disciplinary approach. But
besides that being a historian, doing History of
Science requires taking a social angle.

Factors guiding dissemination of scientific

knowledge:

In case of ancient India (which is taking together

early historical period and early medieval period we
would say that

1st Factor) Material Culture

2nd Factor) Social Goals of the Society
3rd Factor) Institutions of Dissemination of
Knowledge
4th Factor) Modes of Dissemination of Knowledge
(Language)
5th Factor) Distinct categorization of specific branches
of knowledge as placing them into the formal
acknowledged scope of knowledge system and even
‘heno’ lesser forms of knowledge
6th Factor) Specialized Knowledge
7th Factor) Higher Knowledge

Science is such a discipline which cannot be

completely conditioned within classrooms or
institutions of knowledge. Achievements of Science
were taking place everyday in the workroom of the
artisans for example. That was a very important
factor so far as designing the knowledge
dissemination is concerned because if the society
decided that these are the formal knowledge system
and these are the knowledge that have to be
disseminated to the people, those knowledge may
not include the workroom knowledge of the artisans,
such that a chunk of what is Science is being left out
of the formal dissemination system. So these are the
main social determining factor. There was also
constriction so far as gender is concerned and the
dissemination of knowledge to total populace is
concerned. There was also the class factor. Taking all
these things together, the environs in which
knowledge as a Science culture had developed in the
early Medieval Period.

2. Aryabhatta

It would be wrong to periodize the evolution of

scientific knowledge. It is better to look at the phase
of development within the Science systems
themselves. Looking at that we have to start with
Aryabhatta (476-550 AD). The disciplines of
Mathematics and Astronomy had made a great leap
forward from the post-Maurya time onwards till the
12th century AD.

He was the first person to originate the epicyclic

theory of calculations so far as Astronomy is
concerned. He also began calculating the
indeterminate equations of the first order. At that
time the foreign knowledge systems had also
penetrated into India because, in the political
situation the Sakas and the Kushans have come into
India and also the Indo-Romans much before that.
So they had introduced the Greek concepts of
Astronomy and Mathematics which was taken
together with the earlier Indian systems of
Astronomy and Mathematics.

Aryabhatta, he had propounded certain significant

concepts in Mathematics. In Arithmetic, he gave
place value – the numbers were mentioned in
alphabetical order with their place values. That was
unique which was later followed by Brahmagupta.
Aryabhatta was probably the first scientist in the
whole world who had propounded the theory that the
earth rotated on its own axis. This he termed as ‘Bhu
Bhramana Vada’. Aryabhatta propounded the theory
of ‘Bhu Bhramana Vada’, which went against the
then popular religious concepts. The people in those
days believed that the earth was stationed, at the
centre of the universe and that it was static. From
that concept Aryabhatta’s revolutionary idea could
not be accepted. Therefore Aryabhatta has been
criticized severely by later scientists like Varaha
Mihira and Brahmagupta himself.

The use of the half cord measurement system in

case of Astronomy was taken up by Varaha Mihira
(505-587 AD) and the later practitioners of
Astronomy. Brahamagupta did not accept that
method. But Brahmagupta (598-668 AD) carried the
concept of place value system. He was the first one
to utilize the concept of zero, gave it a place value
and used it to enhance the system of decimal
numbering which we already had from the Rig Vedic
days but in the form of words.
Then there were a few 9th Century AD
mathematicians who earned a lot of fame at that
time. They composed certain compendiums which
became textbooks.

3. Bhaskaracharya

Mathematics and Astronomy had become regular

disciplines taught to the students both at the
elementary and higher levels. For example there was
Sridhara from Bengal whose text was extremely
popular in Eastern India. Then Mahanandin of
Benaras from 9th century AD was also very famous
as well as Sripati from Maharashtra.

From the 11th century there was an important text

which became a very popular text in Astronomy
which is anonymous. It is Surya Siddhanta, which is
actually a very good compilation of all earlier
calculations and concepts of Astronomy. There was a
foundation chapter where all the geometrical
principles which come into the aid of Astronomical
calculations were laid down.

Besides that the most eminent scientist of early

Medieval Period was Bhaskaracharya II (1114-1185
AD). He composed a very big compendium which is
Siddhanta Shiromani. It had four different books
under it and one of the books is Lilavati, a book on
Arithmetic. Then there are the other three ‘adhyaya’
(Ganitadhaya, Goladhyaya, Bijaganitadhaya). All
these taken together were a very big research work.
Bhaskaracharya II was the first person to expound
the concept that the earth had a gravitational force.
He came up with the theory that the earth had the
‘Akrtsta Shakti’, a particular force which keeps it in
its own place thereby propounding the first premises
for developing the concept of the gravitational force
of the earth. He had already calculated the
circumference of the earth because he believed the
rotation of the earth. He also calculated the whole
year in terms of days and he gave almost an exact
calculation i.e. around 365 days. So these are certain
significant achievements which laid the foundations
of the early medieval period developments in
Mathematics and Astronomy.

4. Medical Science

In the Nyaya-Vaisesika System in the Sankhya

System there were certain philosophical principles
laid down to understand and define what matter was
(padartha, dravya). Medicine had taken great leaps
and bounds in the early historical period. There was
the Caraka Samhita and the Susruta Samhita
already composed. So in the early Medieval Period
there were not too many innovations in the field of
medicine but there is more and more additional work
in the fields of matter or ‘dravya’ which was a very
important part of pharmaceuticals. They were also
an important part of doing metallurgical work. There
were innumerable texts composed on this particular
discipline – Dravya Sangraha, Dravya Prakasha. In
these texts basically the ideas have been collated
from the actual practitioners of different crafts, arts
and artisans.

For example the technological application of Science

in technology and the outputs of technology, then
the early Medieval Period witnessed a lot of
development. There was the development in
Cosmetology, Wine distillation, Alchemy. In the
esoteric parts of Alchemy (the magical, mythical
parts) they cannot be accepted within the paradigms
of scientific or rational culture. But the reactions
between the ingredients that they were talking about
although the results they are coming up with are
basically within the limited scope of alchemy i.e.
transmutation of baser metal into gold or making an
elixir which makes man immortal but the ingredients
that are being used and the reaction between the
ingredients and the description of the output that
has been taken from the workroom of the
metallurgists or pharmacists.

So here there was a gradual development in

technology but it was slowly getting dissociated from
the actual theoretical discipline so science which
were given a sanctity as formal knowledge.
Ayurveda, Mathematic and Astronomy were being
taught as disciplines to the students in the early
Medieval Period, whereas the actual day to day
knowledge which an artisan or a metallurgist or a
blacksmith or a coppersmith or a pharmacist had did
not get transmitted into the classrooms.
5. Architecture

In the field of architecture, from the early days

building technology had gone hand in hand with
developments in mathematics especially in geometry
and trigonometry. This hand in hand development
somewhere got disassociated so that in the early
medieval times there were treatises of architecture
like Manasara and Mayamata. These texts give a lot
of calculations, dimensions of measurements but
only given in dimension form. If one reads this text
one finds that there is some gap in knowledge. There
could be many reasons for this lacuna in how this
knowledge is being packed in either Mayamata or in
Manasara.

One reason could be ‘Mantra gupti’ (professional

secrecy) which had become another social factor
which conditioned the dissemination of knowledge.
Because occupation had become hereditary therefore
there was a great tendency of the knowledge that
they had being limited within themselves or that
endogamous caste and not traveling beyond it.

The second reason is that the actual composer of the

treatise was not conversant enough either with the
mathematical foundations or that they were the
actual Sutradharas who were composing the texts
but they were not literary enough to have compiled
the total knowledge in a language format. It limited
the scope of development and the exchange of
knowledge between one branch and another branch
of science or between technology and science.
Another factor playing a great role is the
popularization of rituals practiced by the scientists
and the people who were using technology. These
things delimited or overshadowed the growth of
scientific knowledge. Early Medieval Period is a very
important period because it laid the foundations for
what was to happen in the Medieval Period. In the
Medieval Period what happened is a great exchange
of ideas and cooking of this scientific information
coming from China to India or India to China or from
Arabia to India and India to Arabia so that
throughout the whole continent of Asia there was
this bubbling of scientific knowledge and also
technological achievements. There was a great world
of science which was developing which had started in
the Early Medieval Period and would further develop
in the Medieval Period.

In the field of metallurgy, brass is the contribution of

India to the world civilization. Brass is an alloy of
copper and zinc. The use of zinc and the knowledge
of copper alloy (brass) were known to the Indians of
the early historical period. There is reference of it in
Arthashasthra to Arakuto (which is brass) and again
in the Gupta Period in the text of Amrakush there is
mention of brass as Arakuto or Riti. Apart from that
there is archaeological evidence from the Zavar
mines of Rajasthan where signs of old workings in
the mines have been found and studied. Radio-
carbon dating of a particular wood shaft was done
which gives an early historical date.
6. Conclusion

In the Early Medieval Period more and more zinc was

being used and brass was more and more evident.
Because of the availability of zinc rather than tin in
our country, more and more brass was being used
rather than bronze. That is one of the developments
that were witnessed. More important is the
theoretical descriptions in one of the Early Medieval
Rasha-shashtra text on the extraction of zinc from
calamine. This text is called Rasaratna-samucchaya
which is an Early Medieval text. It describes two
processes of extraction of zinc from calamine. That is
where the technological aspect met the theoretical
aspect.

Another very important contribution of India to the

world of metallurgy is the making of the Wootz steel.
It was a contribution by the Deccan ironsmiths
around 10th or 11th Century AD. This Wootz steel was
being used for the Damacus swords which were very
famous in the medieval times. It is known from
literary evidence of all kinds that the steel for these
swords was being exported by the Deccan ironsmiths
around this time.

If India had such a rich scientific heritage especially

in technology in the Early Medieval times then there
should be some progress in the Medieval Period too.
In fact there was a lot of progress in medieval times.
Then why did India sit back in this race for being
industrialized? It was not one of the first nations to
be industrialized. One of the biggest factors involved
here was social readiness and the factor of policy
making. The policy making conditions in India were
not only conditioned by the ruling community, it was
also conditioned by the theoreticians in the society.
These theoreticians were basically religious. Either in
Vedic Brahmanism or later in Islam there was
preponderance in religiosity. Vedic Brahmanism
became very popular and something which had
entered into the fabric of Indian society was the
caste system and also caste based occupation
system. It limited the growth of scientific knowledge.

It also limited the exchange of knowledge from one

community of researchers and another community of
researchers. Also what was happening in the
workroom of the artisans had got so dissociated from
the scientists and theoreticians that the feedbacks
stopped coming from the scientists end into the
technologists workroom such that technology at a
particular time stopped being innovative. That is why
there is no continuous exchange of knowledge or a
continuous experimentation - the theoretical
sciences were not experimenting their theories in the
workroom of the artisans and the artisan was not
enriched by the theory given by the scientist. This
lacuna perhaps is the most important factor stalling
the development of industrialization in a country with
a rich heritage of science.