Knowledge and Science
Many of the ancient european philosophers ,scientists ,authors ,historeans have given very impressive statements about the India and Science in India :
French astronomer Jean-Claude Bailly corroborated the antiquity and accuracy of the Vedic astronomical measurements as "more ancient than those of the Greeks or Egyptians." And that, "the movements of the stars calculated 4,500 years ago, does not differ by a minute from the tables of today."
Carl Sagan stated, "Vedic Cosmology is the only one in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology."
Nobel laureate Count Maurice Maeterlinck has said: "a Cosmogony which no European conception has ever surpassed."The theorem bearing the name of the Greek mathematician Pythagorus is found in theShatapatha Brahmana as well as the Sulba Sutra, the Indian mathematical treatise, written centuries before Pythagorus was born.Voltaire, the famous French writer and philosopher) stated that "Pythagoras went to the Ganges to learn geometry.
Lin Yutang, Chinese scholar and author, wrote that: "India was China's teacher in trigonometry, quadratic equations, grammar, phonetics... " and so forth.
Francois Voltaire stated: "... everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges."
The Decimal system, based on powers of ten, where the remainder is carried over to the next column, first mentioned in the Taittiriya Samhita of the Black Yajurveda.
The Binary number system, essential for computers, was used in Vedic verse meters.The Decimal system, based on powers of ten, where the remainder is carried over to the next column, first mentioned in the Taittiriya Samhita of the Black Yajurveda.
Vedic Verse Metre
For more information go to Vedic Mathematics.
Let me introduce you with the Scholars of ancient India .You will be really surprized to see the grip of these intellects over science without any advanced technology .You can see the reach of Science and tech in India in the ancient times .
Baudhayan -
He was the first mathematician (600 BC)whose mathematical approaches could be find in the written form .His book "Sulva Sutra" comprises various mathematical concepts among which the presence of that principle is notable which has quite later been discovered by Pythagoras and well known as Pythagorean theorem .The concept of pi came in existance in his creation ,though its real value was drawn out by Aryabhatt .
Aryabhatta
The famous mathematician and astronomer , born in Taregana near Patna(mentioned as Kusumpur) in Bihar in 476-550 .but there is also contradiction about his birth place .Some people say that he was born in Ashmaka a place situaed between M.P. and Maharashtra .But he passed his life in Kusumpur during the famous "golden age of India" i.e Gupta Dynasty. The famous books writen by him are Aryabhattiya , Dashgitika and Tantra. His works are proved to be the milestone in the elevation of further science world .He has also been mentioned as the head of Nalanda university .You will be surprized to know that at that time his calculations were strong enough to predict the circumference of earth 39968.0582 kilometers ,which is just 0.2 percent less than the real value 40075.0967 kilometers .
Some of his remarkable works are -
Calculation of Pi |
The introduction of Zero to the number system though there are some contradiction in science world about it .But his works reflect the presence of zero and other numerals of place value system .
He gave the world the universal constant for the spheres Pi .
In geometry we can get his contributions in finding important mathematical formulas for estimating the area of triangle , the volume of sphere ..
In astronomy he gave a description of solar and lunar eclipse .He calculated the sidereal year as 365 days ,6 hours ,12 minutes and 30 seconds .He gave a scientific description of eclipses and described the structure of solar system .
In Arybhattiya ,he has written various verses in sanskrit describing various principles of mathematics .It consists of alzebra ,arithmatics ,trignometry even advanced mathematics rules like quadratic equations , continued fractions , sums of power series and have also been included.
Brahmgupt -
Brahmagupta was a mathematician and astronomer from Bhinmal Rajasthan (598-670).He wrote two books Brahmasputshiddhant and Khandkhadyak .He is mainly known for various computations on zero and modern number system .His contribution to mathematics is definitely admirable.He was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain. In mathematics ,he worked on Alzebra (linear equations,quadratic equations ),Arithmatic (Series and computations on zero) ,diophantine analysis(Pythagorean triples and Pell's equation) ,geometry (his own formula for cyclic quadrilaterals and triangles) and Trigonometry (sine table,interpolation formula).
In geometry he gave a rule that is named as Brahmagupta Theorem which states that if a cyclic quadrilateral is orthodiagonal ,then the perpendicular to a side from the point of intersection of the diagonal always bisects the opposite side .
Kanad -
He was a sixth century sage and philosopher who founded the philosophical school of vaisheshika was the author of Vaisheshika Sutra .He was born in Prabhas kshetra in Gujrat near Dwarika .His real name was Aulukya .His was named Kanad for he had interest in minute particles that are called Kana in Sanskrit.His biggest achievement was the concept of atom or Anu .It was quite later described in modern science that matter is made up of small particles that are called atom but in India people knew this quite earlier .He said that matter is made up of Anu and it can not be subdivided .
Bhaskar I -
Indian mathematician and Astronomer born in Bori in Parbhani district of Maharashtra (600-680) .He wrote two books on Astronomy named Mahabhaskariya and Laghubhaskariya .His contributions comprise writing numbers in Hindu decimal system where he intoduced first the circle symbol for zero and his commentry upon Aryabhatt's work where he gave a rational approximation of the Sine fuunction .
Mahaveeracharya -
A mathematician from Mysore in ninth century (850).His work is Ganit Sara Sangrah. He discovered the current method of solving LCM .So LCM was known to Indians long before Jhon Napier Worked on it .He has also described Set theories,alzebric equations,series ,logarithms and exponents .
Bhaskar II or Bhaskaracharya -
He was a great mathematician and astronomer born in Bijapur ,now in Karnataka (1114-1185).He has been called as the greatest mathematician of medieval India. He work on Sidhhant Shiromani and Karan Kautuhal .The first one consists four parts named Lilavati,Beejganita,Grahaganita and Goladhyaya dealing with Arithematic ,Alzebra,Mathematics of planets and Spheres respectively.
Leelawati covers calculation, progression, mensuration,permutations etc.Newton worked on calculus 500 years later to Bhaskar II.Beejaganita describes Zero,Infinite ,positive ,negative numbers ,inverse cyclic method for solving equations and indeterminate quadratic equations , including Pell's equation ,Surds.In Grahaganita he discussesd the motion of planet where he stated instantaneous speeds of the planets .A very important discovery we can see in his work ,is the glimpse of Rolle's theorem and mean value theorem .He also showed engineering skills .
A very b'ful statement from book Lilavati, where he says: "In this quantity also which has zero as its divisor there is no change even when many quantities have entered into it or come out of it , just as at the time of destruction and creation when throngs of creatures enter into and come out of Him, there is no change in the infinite and unchanging [Vishnu]".It thrills me ! Again a learned endorsed the feature of infinite God .
Parmeshwara -
Vatasseri Parameshvara Nambudiri (1380–1460) was a mathematician and astronomer of the Kerela school of astronomy and mathematics .He wrote commentaries on the work of Bhaskar II wherefrom he expanded and discovered Mean Value Theorem that has been used for inverse interpolation of the sine. He was first to give the radius of circle with an inscribed quadrilateral which was discovered by Lhuilier 350 years later .
Varahmihir -
Varahmihir (505-587) was a contemporary mathematician and astrologer of Aryabhatta born in Avanti region and lived in Ujjain .His famous books are Panch Siddhantika and Vrihat Samhita .Panch Siddhantika consisted the principles of astronomy .And Vrihat Samhita covers many subjects of human interests.Climate ,animals ,insects ,encironment ,earthquakes even social topics marriages etc are also a part of discussion in his text .Like he have stated that termites and plants could be the indicators of the presence of underground water.He was also an astrologer .His mathematical contribution includes discovery of trignometric formulas ,defining the alzebric properties of zero and negative numbers .He discovered a version what is known as Pascal's triangle and used it to calculate binomial coefficients .In Physics he described reflection and refraction .
An Indian (Brahmin earlier) Buddhist philosopher in tenth century from Vidarbha Maharastra.Nagarjuna had a good knowledge of chemistry .He used specially treated minerals and chemicals for theraputics use ,that were called Bhasmas .He have described many physical systems of body like circulatory system and blood tissue mentioned in his work as Rakta Dhatu .In his work "Rasratnakar" he has described metallurgical process for extracting Metals like Gold ,Silver etc. He also tried to transform base elements into gold but he was unsucessful .But he imitated gold with gold shine like alloy .
Acharya Hemchandra -
(1089-1172) was a Jain Scholar ,Mathematician and Philosopher .He was born in Dhandhuka Gujrat . He gave a recursion relation which was later known by the name Fibonacci series .
Poineers in Medicine -
Charak -
He is reffered as the Father of medicine .He was a maharshi (sage) belonged from Kashmir (800 BC) .His book Charak Samhita talks about several diseases , treatment and remedies for them .He was the first person to bring the concpt of immunity ,digstion and metabolism .He was well acquainted with the genetics .He was the first to follow 'Prevention is better than cure' doctrine. His book consists 12,000 shloka and talks about 2,000 medicines .
Susruta -
A pioneer in surgery from Kerala (600 BC) who has got his name from Devanagari word Shushrut which means very famous .Bower manuscript from 4th to 5th century talks about him to be one of the ten sages who lived in the himalyas .From texts it comes clear that he has worked in Kashi and learned surgery from Lord Dhanvantari The God of medicine .He wrote Sushruta Samhita ,where he has mentioned over 1100 diseases.It is noticeable that he has mentioned 26 kinds of fever ,8 types of jaundice and 20 types of uninary complaints ,six typesof dislocations and 12 types of fractures .He has described over 760 plants with medicinal properties.Besides the process of surgery ,he have described the symptoms and treatment of the severe diseases like Angina pectoris(hritshool) ,diabetes,hypertension ,leprosy ,obesity and stones .There is also description of plastic surgery and Anasthesia .
Patanjali -
Patanjali was born in gonda district of Uttar Pradesh in 200 BC .His two works Mahabhashya and Yoga sutra are known to us .Mahabhashya is a commentry by Patanjali on the work "astadhyayi" of Panini .Yoga Sutra talks about the Yoga tradition which is much older .Its refrences can be found in the Gita narrated by Lord Krishna himself where he have given a detail on practicing the Astang yog sadhana in the chapter named Rajvidyarajguhyayog .Yoga has its root in Vedas .Here the focus is on the mind "Chitta" where the wandering and unstable mind is focussed on a single thought to uplift the and purify the motions of mind .It leads to a state of divine realization of self conciousness .It connects your energy state to the energy of the universe ,which makes you feel to have a new circulation of energy in your body .And practically it happens which causes to uproot severe illness from your body that cant be erased by taking medicines even .Rajyoga is mental yoga while Hathyoga is physical yoga .Hathyoga aims at removing body illness and restoring healthy body .Yoga is performed with the auspicious divine word 'Aum or Om' which is considered as the cosmic sound flowing through the ether .
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