UNIT 4

SCIENCE MANAGEMENT
AND INDIAN KNOWLEDGE
SYSTEM
Astronomy In India:
1. Indian astronomy has a long history stretching from
pre historic to modern times.

2. 12000 years ago – 1st astronomical object found in

the Andam and Nicobar.(Palaeolithic era).

3.Waxing: Increasing of moon.

4. wanning: decreasing of moon.

Pattern of rock art: Found in Kashmir:
double sun ( Supernova) or concentric
circles (meteor).(7000 yrs ago.)

Ring stones- Mohen-jo-daro(2600-1900

BCE), Kept track of the sunrise at
different times of year.
Rig Veda-Year 360 days with 12 equal
parts, yajur veda-Lunar year 354 days.
Solar year -365 days.

Divided into 6 ritus of two months each.

Gave 27 nakshatra.
Calendrical Astronomy: It grew more in
late vedic period because of rituals and
festivals.

Representative text = Jyotish vedang or

Lagadha.
Chemistry in India:
Indus valley civilization was the first one
to develop it, they had means of mass
production- Pottery, houses of baked
bricks, script of their own.

Others were glass making, jewellery

making, pottery, dying of clothes,
tanning of leather- major chemical of arts.
Major chemical products:
Glass –glass factory at Kopia, basti, U.P.

Glass furnaces found at Mysore.

Paper- main centre in medieval India,
Mysore Ahemdabad.
Soap-Used plants like amla, shikakai,
Ritha.
Dyeing- Atharva veda mentions this.
Ink : Ink Pot excavation at Taxila.

Alchohlic liquor- Somarasa-mentioned in

Vedas and Kautilaya Arthshastra.
Mathematics in India:1.) Town planning of
Harrappa shows people having knowledge of
measurement and geometry.

2.)Maths supposed to originated from

sulvasutras.

Apastamba-Practical geometry: acute ,

obtuse and right angle.
3 main contributions: Decimal, notation,
Zero.
Arya Bhatta discovered- Algebra,
formulated area of triangle.

Surya Siddhanta, Brihatsamhita- Famous

works Gave foundation for future.
Ancient India’s contribution to Physics.
From Vedic times; Indians classified world in 5
elements: earth, fire, air water, ether.

2. Indian Philosphers believed except Akash

can be touched hence matter particles
available in them.
Last particle of matter that can’t be devided is
Parmanu.
Imagination of splitting of atom is
amazing.
In vashesika showed 9 types of
substances:
(1-5)- five elements.
6-Time: Kala
7- Space or direction.
8- mind (manas)
9- spirit (atman)
Substances have 24 qualities (gunas):
Fluidity, viscosity, gravity, elasticity.
Characteristics of sound , heat, light were
also discussed.

Lack of mathematical apparatus, no

evolution of scientific theories.
Agriculture in India:
1. History of agriculture in India dates
back to Indus valley civilization.
2. Practice before Harrapans.
3.Most extensive agricultural land in India
before whole world.
4.India’s monsoon nature’s abundant
irrigating system.
Blessed with large number of perineal
rivers.
Has been agricultural economy &
civilization.

In medieval India pattern of agricultural

practices same as today.
3.)Important Changes: Foreigners- new crops,
trees, horticulture.
4.)Principle crops- wheat ,rice, barley, pulse,
cotton, sugarcane.
th TH
Introduction in 16 & 17
Centuries- tobacco, chillies, potato, apple,
cashew, pineapple.
Imposed horticulture of great success.
In field of irrigation- Well, tanks, canals,
Rahat, charas, dhankali.

System of land measurement and land

classification was also there.
Medicine In In ancient India:
Atharva veda- Fever, Cough, Diorrhea, sores,
leprosy, dropsy.

Takshila, Varansi: centre of medicine and

learning.

Important Texts Charaksanhita by charak and

sushrut Sanhita by sushrut.
Surgery- Sushrut-121 surgerical instruments,
methods of operation, bone setting, cataract.

Sarangdhara Samhita- Use of Opium for

medicines.

Rashchikitsa system- mineral medicines.

Unani Tibb important system in medivial

periods.
Technology in relation to humanity in early
stages:
1. Humanity early stages: Technology means
any made modification of natural environment.
From a stone tool to woven piece of clothing.
Harrapan technologies of ancient India:
Mainstay of India or Harrappa was agriculture.
Ceramic technology also developed were pots,
fine fired bricks.
Other Technologies:

1.Pots: carry water, stoves, seeds and grain,

cook food.

2.Wheel turned pots, various shapes & sizes,

painted.

3. Floral, animals or geometrical designs in

pots.
Bricks: Proportion was 1:2:4:: w:h:l strong
walls with less bricks used.
Apart from the baked/mud bricks, stone was
also used.

Design od sanitation system, used water of

bathroom to drain.

Bead making: The bead making was gone to

high level.
Polishing of beads, glazing, colouring, carpet
making, inlaid woodwork.
Bangles.

Favourite semi-precious stones were camelian,

agate and jasper.

Weavers used wheel spun thread- cotton and

silk.
Textile technology In India: Vedas tell about
types of garments & fabrics- wool, silk,
weaving, buddhist literature- weaving skills.

Ajanta paintings of clothes worn 2000 years

ago.

India majorly used to export cotton and silk

and other textiles, this time the trade with
roman empire reached its peak.
India used to export cotton to China and
silk to Indonesia. It was the major source
of India’s wealth.

The main speciality in the field of textiles

were: Muslin, calico, chintz.

Textile important technology- Weaving

Technology and Dyeing Technology.
Dyeing Technology: The dyes were extracted
from the natural sources example are:

Blue from Indigo.

Red: madder
Yellow: Turmeric

Mango and pomegranate were also used for

the dyeing.
Writing Technology:.1.) The original
manuscripts were written on the birch bark
and palm leaves.
2.)Soot from oil lamp.

3.)Palm leaves: sharp tool, paste of charcoal

powder mixed with oil. It preserve
manuscripts from fungi and insects.
 th
Paper making: 11 century CE.
Earliest extent Indian paper, fibres of
manuscript plants.
th-
Later half 15 century- Kashmir paper of
attractive quality lime a centre of paper and
soda to whiten paper.
Mysore was the centre of paper production
alongwith Patna, Ahemdabad and
Aurangabad.
19 th century paper mills took over the hand
made papers.
Pyrotechnics in India:
th
1. Firework appears in 13 th or 14
th
century in India, Gunpowder- 16 centu.
ry.
Indian craftsmen explosive compositions.
th th
2. Sanskrit treaties- 16 and 17 century
descriptions of preparations.
 th
3.) 16 century, India used rockets of
gunpowder in wars, saltpetre, sulpur, charcoal.

4.)Not very accurate- damage to troops &

panic also created.

5.) British- England for studies and it also

boosted rocket technology.
Dominance of India up –to pre colonial times:
The ancient India has given many discoveries:
The discovery of Zero: It was the most important
inventions of all times. Mathematician Aryabhata
was first person to create a symbol for zero and it
was through his efforts that mathematical
operations like addition and subtraction started
using the digit, zero. The concept of zero and its
integration into the place value system also
enabled one to write numbers, no matter how
large by using only 10 symbols.
The decimal numbers: The India has
given the indigenous method of
expressing all the numbers by the mean
of of decimals.
It facilitated the calculations, this system
uses the the arithmetic in practical
inventions much faster and easier.
Numeral Notation: Indian’s in as early as
500 BCE, had devised a system was
adopted by the Arabs who called it as the
hind numeral. Centuries later this
notation system was adopted by the
western world , who call it as Arabic
numerals, as it reached to them through
the Arab traders.
Fibonacci numbers: The Fabbonacci
numbers are the series of numbers that
that appear in Indian mathematics. The
series consist of the numbers after
adding the before numbers together.
Metallurgy in ancient India: The copper-
bronze metallurgy in the Harrappan
civilization was widespread and had a high
variety and quality. The early use of iron may
have developed due to the smelting of the the
copper.

The iron ore and iron items are found in the

the Indus valley civilisation site some dating to
before2600 BCE.
One of the most important sources of history in the in the
Indian subcontinent are the royal records of grant
engraved on copper plate grant(tamra patra). Because of
the reason that copper does not rust or decay, they can
survive indefinitely. The earliest known copper plate known
as the souhgoura copper plate is the Maurya record that
mentions famine relief efforts. These are considered to be
one
Biology in Ancient India: Vedic period:
Hindus believed that Bramha created the
world.
Vedic medicine was very primitive and
archaic. Not much of the cleanliness
proved the ground for breeding of the
diseases such as malaria and cholera.
Ayurveda:
Reserpine used emetics, purgatives, enemas,
and diets to treat ills.
Sterilized surgical instruments with steam
and fumigation.

Ayurveda prescribed many medicines, the

cure for many diseases. By the help of the
natural plants and trees.
Brahminical period: Medicine was a balance
between medical and surgical knowledge. In
th
the 6 century B.C. two universities were
established. Atreya is a physian taught at the
western school of Takshila. He was the grand
teacher of Sushrut. Scapels and knives can
not be used for dissecting. Bodies were
placed in water for two weeks and the
putrefied bodies were dissected by pulling it
apart.
Charak and Sushrut the famous Brahmin
surgeon. May have lived recently as 500
AD. may have been composite of many
men. They catalogued Indian scientific
information – trying to bring order from
the chaos to the vedic literature. Later
then we would call it as scholasticism.
Water management in India:
Ancient time: Various archeological evidences
bear witness to this fact that rain water
conservation and harvesting was an important
part of infrastructure details and ruling. The
ruins of the indus- valley civilisation in Lothal,
nd
in Gujrat and the grand Anicut built in the 2
century by the early chola dynasty are sime
great examples.
From the storage engineering to drainage
pipelines, step wells, tanks, irrigation set
ups, canals and many more such ingenious
constructions that works towards
collecting, holding and storing of the
rainwater and diverting the mountain
glaciers and rivers run offs.
Baolis and khadins of Rajasthan, Ahar
pynesof Bihar, Zing in Laddakh, Zabo of
Nagaland, Kuhls in Himachal Pradesh and
Panam keni in waynad, are just some
examples of the regionallydiverse and
rich history of water conservation in India
in ancient times.
Geography in Ancient India: The Harrappan
civilisation developed alongside the river
valley. The indus river valley is located in a
small area of land in what is now Pakistan and
India. The river provided the fertile soil for
growing of the crops of rice and wheat,,
various fruits and vegetables, and cotton. In
addition the indus valley contained many
natural resources that became an important
part of Indian civilisation.
These resources included timber for
building, along with gold,silver and other
precious stones. Flood supported farming
led to the large agricultural surpluses,
which in turn supported the development
of the cities Harrapa and Mohen-jo-Daro.
Each likely to grew to contain between
30,000 and 60,000 individuals and were
the centre of trade.
One of the major challenges for the Harrapan
civilisation was the monsoons. Each year,
from October to February winter monsoons
blow westward from the northeast carrying
dry air. From mid June through October
summer monsoon blow eastwards from the
southwest carrying moisture from the ocean
in great rain clouds and often causes flooding.
Monsoon patters were unpredictable. Too less
rain caused food shortages, while too much
rain caused the floods.
Harrapan Technologies:- The Harrappan
Is one of the oldest civilisation in ancient
India also known as the indus valley
civilisation. It has some major
technologies present like:
Cities were very well ,planned, baked
brick houses, detailed drainage system,
water supply system, and large non
residential buildings.
In Harrappan civilisation , people used to
have new techniques in handicrafts,
Karelian products, seal carving and
metallurgy such as copper, bronze, lead and
tin. The archaeological remains tells us
about the various technologies present in
the ancient times.
The cities of the Harrapn civilisation were
planned very beautifully with baked
bricks and buildings in rows on both the
sides of the road. Some houses wete also
built in the streets. Their buildings also
had two rooms houses. The bathrooms
were provided with the proper drainage
system.
Transportation Technology: There were also
many transportation technologies were
present at that time. There were bullock,
boats, flat bottomed craft, probably powered
by sails, which required separate sorting
management. Archaeologist have discovered
a huge, dry canal as the docking facility in the
coastal city of lothal.
 weight, measurement: The people of indus valley
civilisation had a great accuracy in measuring
length, mass and time. They were among first to
develop a system of equal weights and
measurement. A comparison of the available
items indicate large scale variation in the indus
region. Harrapan engineers followed the decimal
division of measurements for all the practical
purposes including measurement of the mass
using hexahedron weighs.
They also had weighing stone Batkhara
to weigh in the ratio of 5:2:1 with 0.05,
0.1, 0.2,0.5,1,2,5,10,20,50,100 and 500
units. each. They were having the
modern day technology that we get to
know after seeing the archaeological
remains of indus valley civilisation.