Ancient Indian Scientists (शास्त्रज्ञाः महर्षयः)

Ancient Indian Scientists (Samskrit: शास्त्रज्ञाः महर्षयः) enumerates the scientists of ancient India and elaborates on their contribution in various fields of scientific knowledge encompassing medicine, mathematics, astronomy, technology, architecture, chemistry, metallurgy, etc.

परिचयः ॥ Introduction

Bharata is known for its long standing civilisational history with significant contributions to the fields of science, philosophy, literature, astronomy, architecture, etc.

Did you know ? • Zero was discovered in Bharata. • Maharshi Kanad gave the concept of Paramanus to the world. • Ayurveda, a branch of medicine, was given by Bharata. • The age of earth according to Bharatiya Vaidik Scriptures is about 3-4 billion years which is equal to the real age of earth.

The Indian landscape is replete with examples of Indian architecture and monuments. It also reflects development of techniques in the field of chemistry. The iron statue near Qutab minar which is still rust fee is one of the finest examples of the same. And the most important point to be noted here is that the ancient architects were kown to have developed these techniques without any laboratory. It is thus, imperative to learn about the scientists of ancient India and their contribution scattered across the fields of mathematics, medicine, astronomy etc. in order to gain inspiration and guidance from their findings.

भारतीयाः गणितज्ञाः ॥ Indian Mathematicians

Ancient Indian mathematicians had an edge in the field of mathematics. Some such luminaries and their contributions in the field of mathematics are as follows:

आर्यभटः ॥ Aryabhata

The decimal place value system with zero adopted internationally traces its origin to Ancient Bharata. The decimal place value mode recognised in the Vedic Samhitas came to be clearly enunciated in mathematical-astronomical texts beginning with Aryabhata onwards.

Aryabhata (born in 476 CE) was a great mathematician and astronomer of the 5th century. It is said that he wrote the text 'Aryabhatiya' at an early age of 23 years (in 499 CE). The Aryabhatiya is a book of mathematics and astronomy where Aryabhata mentions the use of decimals among many other things. It is interesting to note the importance of the decimal system and zero in the calculations of planetary distances.

बोधायनः ॥ Bodhayana

Bodhayana was a famous Indian mathematician around the 7th-8th century BCE. The ancient most shulbasutra text is known by his name viz. Baudhayana Shulbasutras. The shulbasutras are the oldest texts of geometry.

Bodhayana is especially known for providing a very close approximation (3.0883) of the value of Pi (π) and a clear enunciation of the so-called Pythagorean theorem as Bhuja-Koti-Karna-Nyaya in his Baudhayana shulbasutras much before Pythagoras.

Bhaskarcharya

He is a famous mathematician of 12th century. He is also known as bhaskar 2. He was born in bijapur, Karnataka in 1114 A.D. Sidhant Shiromani is a famous book by him. He used chakrvata vidhi or compounded form for the first time; the western countries came to know about his contribution in 19th century. James Taylor translated the first part of his novel, lilavati into English.

He learnt maths and astronomy by his father who was a teacher at observatories in Ujjain. He died in 1185. A satellite Bhaskar II was launched on 20 November 1981 on his name by Indian space research organization.

Acharya Pingal

A chief name for maths in ancient India was Acharya Pingal. He lived between 2-3 century b.c.; his famous book is chand shastra, also known as pingal sutra. He contributed in binary number system. He is the propounder of binary digits. Acharya pingal used 'laghu' and guru' words which later became the basis for the discovery of zero. It is believed that pingal used the word shunya which meant 0.

Brahmgupt

He was a famous mathematician and astrologer in 7th century, his birth place is now in Rajasthan. He was also known as Milacharya. He was the first one to use zero as a number ge used many mathematical methods. One of them is the multiplication method and use of place value in the same what as it is used now. He has also written a famous book bhrahmsfut sidhantika. Brahmgupta is credited to spread Indian mathematical knowledge to the world. His first book went to the centre of education established by khalifa of Baghdad this the astrology and maths of India went to Arab and then Europe.

ANCIENT PHYSICIANS OF INDIA

• Describe the contribution of Indian physicians in the field of medicine

• Explain the contribution of Indian astronomers in the field of astronomy and

• Describe the contribution of Indian scientists in the other fields of science

Ayurveda is the gift from India to the world. Do you know that ayurveda is known as the oldest medicine system of the world. If we understand the literal meaning of ayurveda, it is the science of life. Our ayurveda is around 5000 years old. Earlier leaning was based on speaking but some of the famous physicians which are now valuable to us. Let us know about some of the great physicians of ayurveda.

Acharya Charak

He is known as the founder of ayurveda. He was the physician of King Kanishka. He studied diseases, their causes and treatment in detail. He collected all his views in book charak sanhita which is one of the ancient and authentic book of ayurveda. Around 2000 medicines have been written by him and tells us about diseases of many organs and their treatment. Acharya Charak believed to remove the cause of diseases. He said prevention is better than cure. He believed that a physician needs to have knowledge and understanding of diseases to treat the patient.

Charak is the first physician who talked on digestion, immunity power and excretion. He also believed that there are three areas of human body - cough, air and bile. If there is imbalance in it then human falls ill. The foundation of today's ayurvedic medical system was laid by Acharya Charak.

Acharya Sushrat

He is also a famous Indian physician. His contribution is in the field of surgery. He studied a dead human body to see the body structure or anatomy of human body. His famous contribution is shustra sanhita. He is known was the father of surgery because it is believed that the first surgery of the world was done by him.

Sushrita sanhita is the pool of knowledge. It tells us about 1100 diseases. This book gives us knowledge about 760 plants and herbs usage. Most of these herbs are used by us in our kitchen. This book tells us about 191 tools used in surgery by sushrut. You will be surprised to know that the procedure told by shushrut is similar to modern medicine policy.

Maharshi Chawan

Maharishi Chawan is a famous vedic time Indian saint, it is believed that that they made medicines for being healthy and increasing immunity power. He is said to have made chawanprash.

Maharisi Patanjali

He is one of the reputed names of Indian medicine system. He is known as the father of yog knowledge. He has written yog suytra which s the base of yoga. There are 106 yog sutras in yog; maharishi patanjali learnt about yoga in basic Vedas. He made mental and physical health important for yoga there are six parts of it. Hath yog is important for physical health and raj yog for mental health. yog increases immunity power and eradicates diseases from bodies and emphasizes on good health.

He systematized the yos sutra which was in bits and pieces, he also wrote a book related to medicines called patanjali tantra. He has also written a book mahabhasya based on Panini's Asthyogi. Whatever yog we see today, it started because of Maharishi Patanjali.

ASTRONOMY

There is a deep relation between maths and astronomy. This relation was propounded in the area of astronomy. Most of them have worked in the field of astronomy. Let us learn something about the famous astronomer and their contribution.

Aryabhatt

You have read about Aryabhatt before. Astronomer is the person who studies planets and galaxies. Aryabhatt was also an astronomer, earlier, it was believed that our earth is fixed at one place. Aryabhatt was the first person to tell that earth is round and constantly moves on its axis. He also contributed in eradicating superstitions. He said that solar and lunar eclipse does not happen because of devils named rahu (Saturn) and ketu (Neptune). He said that it happens due to scientific reason.

India's first man made satellite was named Aryabhatt at his name. he studied in famous observatories at Nalanda. The main objective of studying astronomy was to make correct calendar on panchang, identify the correct season for crops etc. this will help people in learning about farming.

Aryabhatt contributed in this area.

Bhaskarcharya

You have already read about his contribution in the area of maths. He was influenced by the astronomical calculation of Brahmgupt. He also did many astrological calculations. Bhaskarcharya calculated accurate time of a year, that is, the time taken by earth to complete a revolution of sun. His book sidhant Shiromani had many points related to astronomy. The first part of this book deals with the distance of planets, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, phases of moon etc. the other part of the book is related to astronomy. He has written about space, movement of planets, phases and its calculation etc in this book.

Varah Mihir

He is also a famous astronomer from India. He lived around 5- 6 century. He was born in Avanti kingdom (now Madhya Pradesh). He studied in ujjain and started working here the two famous books written by h, are panch sidhantika and vrahat sanhita, these are five pats of panch sidhantika:

1. surya sidhant

2. vashisha sidhant

3. pasalis sidhant

4. romama sidhant and

5. pitamah sidhant

The other book Vrahat sanhita is an encyclopedia. He has written about many subjects kike the speed of planets, eclipse, rain etc in this book.

contributions in other field of science

There was much progress in the field of chemistry, physics and agriculture in earlier times. Let us learn about some of the great scientists who worked in this regard.

Kanad

He is a famous scientist from 6th century. He is an important scientist of vauihekish sabha, a branch of Indian ancient philosophy. It is said that he was given name Kanad because he used to talk about kan or particles in his childhood. His sutra is known as Kanad sutra in vaishekh sutra, he was the first person to talk about molecule or anu. He believed that the smallest unit of physical world is nucleus of molecule which we cannot see from our naked wyes. Molecules cannot be divided or destroyed.

He believed that the work is made up of these molecules. Therefore, they can be divided. But the smallest unit is nucleus which cannot be divided. This principle of maharishi kanad matches with the present principle of molecule or nucleus.

Nagarjun

He was a famous metal scientist of 10-11 century. He was born in Dahak, Gujrat. He worked in the field of melting metals and making new metals. He also tried to transform metals into gold. Although he was not successful but he was able to make metal having golden luster. He also wrote a book called Rasratnakar. He wrote about the purification of metals like gold, silver, tin, copper in his book.

Varah Mihir

Varah mihir's contribution is also found in astronomy. He has also worked in the fields of earth science, geology and environment. He was the first person to tell that termites and underground plants are the presence of life, he has also written about earthquakes and its cases. He has also tried to join the effects of planets, of earthquake, movement beneath the ocean, underground water and behavior of animals.