News Anaysis: ANCIENT WISDOM

 

By Kartik Lokhande

The recent uncalled for controversy over ‘claims’ of existence of aviation in ancient India, as mentioned in the Sanskrit texts, could best be described as against the spirit of Science. In fact, this controversy should be termed as ‘unscientific’. For, curiosity-based pragmatism forms the core of Science. And, Science transcends the barriers of a particular region, country, language, or religion.

Interestingly, India is not the only country that is having its share of controversies over its scientific brilliance in ancient period. China, Greece, Iran, Egypt also have had their share. The unfortunate part, for India, is that instead of taking up the tasks of authority-backed preservation of ancient texts and their scientific exploration, the existence of the thought in these ancient texts is being questioned or seen in the light of a language that has been attached to a particular religion. In the process, not only thought but also the opportunity for reclaiming the ancient wisdom is being lost.

Compared to India, the other ancient civilizations of China, Greece, Egypt, Iran gave due respect to their ancient texts and inventions. The people of these countries are proud of their ancient achievements and scientific discoveries.

The modern-day Indians, however, are skeptical about their own glorious past in science. For, most of them have not read much about what came out of archaeological excavations at Harappa and Mohen-jo-daro. For, most of them have not taken pains to know the science behind the wonders like rust-proof iron pillar near Qutub Minar in Delhi. For, most of them, have not paid heed to architectural marvels like the naturally embedded rainwater harvesting model in Mandu palace. For most of them do not pay heed to superb acoustics in ancient constructions across India in big numbers. For, most of them, are not interested in digging out history. And, sadly, most of them, are divided along the lines of caste, religion, language, and region while reading the ancient texts.

As a result, a lot of scientific meaning in ancient texts like Vedas, Upanishads, different treatise goes unnoticed. The people who know the significance of these texts work continuously to preserve those, with a hope that the future generations will benefit from them. As has been the case with India, Sanskrit is ‘the’ ancient language and treated as mother of many other Indian languages that evolved with time and blending with cultures of different invaders. Obvioulsy, the treasure trove of Indian scientific achievements in the ancient period is in Sanskrit texts. Unfortunately, through a malicious propaganda over the years, anything in Sanskrit has been treated not as an ‘Indian property’ but as something confined to the narrow considerations of Hinduism. The process was accelerated especially during the periods of Mughal and British rulers. They had come to India to rule, but even after Independence, Indian citizenry could not come out of that mindset.

The scholars who visited India and the rulers, were impressed by the richness of the thought, science, culture, trade, and innovation. India once ‘controlled’ the distant markets with its superb innovations in various fields especially in Chemistry, dyeing, shipping. India also excelled in Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Metallurgy. Pottery articles, various tools, agricultural practices, geometrical designs often included in various rites and rituals, engineering innovations dug out at Harappa and Mohen-jo-daro, economics are all evidences of how advanced and progressive India was. All this is mentioned in ancient texts, but what India lacks today is collective desire to read those carefully and shun the inferiority complex.

And, many foreign scholars right from the period of Hiuen Tsang to Max Muller to A L Basham studied the ancient Indian texts and found those to be treasures of ancient scientific and philosophical progress. Basham has mentioned many of the ancient Indian scientific marvels in his book ‘The Wonder That Was India’.

More recently, in his book ‘Science of the Sacred: Ancient Perspectives for Modern Science’, David Osborn has compiled several accomplishments. In his article on scientific verification of Vedic knowledge, Osborn has made a statement, “A vast number of statements and materials presented in the ancient Vedic literatures can be shown to agree with modern scientific findings and they also reveal a highly developed scientific content in these literatures. The great cultural wealth of this knowledge is highly relevant in the modern world.”

Against this backdrop, it is indeed sad and unfortunate that instead of welcoming ‘the claims’ of scientific discoveries in ancient Indian texts as ‘an opportunity’ for verification of scientific knowledge, only time-wasting controversies are being created and talked about. For, only after proper study can one transform knowledge into wisdom. Science in ancient texts is all about this wisdom. 

(Published in The Hitavada, Opinion Page, on January 6, 2015)