Glorious India, (India's Glorious Past )

Sri Ramakrishna

oi-Staff

By Super

Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 9:14

The Vedanta Kesari, p. 301-305, August 2005

In recent times, the Department of Ocean Development has made a spectacular and momentous discovery of the existence of a 7500 BC old civilisation on the sea-bed of the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat), near Gujarat. The artifacts found there point to a human settlement of Neolithic era. This is so far the oldest habitation in India. It has got many remarkable features showing similarities to Harappan structures. Archaeologists found evidence of a citadel area and a 173 m. long granary apart from other mammoth structures stretching for as long as 9 kms. down an ancient riverbed. There were signs that the citizens constructed a check dam across the river to harness water. (Interested people may look for reference into India Today of 11 February 2002 and the Organiser, 27 January 2002.)

Again, about 22 years ago, the renowned archaeologist S.R. Rao discovered an ancient settlement at the present day Dwarakadhish temple off the Saurashtra coast. It proved the existence of city and temples in India long before the Christian era. It was a 4000-year-old temple city of Dwaraka, the capital of Sri Krishna's kingdom. The results of the investigation point to the Mahabharata age computed from astronomical and other sources. The findings clearly endorse the historicity of the Mahabharata and Sri Krishna, so far held as mythical story or character.

Now we shall look into the advances made by our hoary ancestors in science, technology, medicine, etc. The 24 June 2001 issue of The Week contains an elaborate and revealing cover story entitled 'Lost Knowledge'. For brevity's sake we shall touch upon only the salient features of excellence in various streams of knowledge.

Metallurgy: The Damascus steel was made in olden days by a process known only to Indians. This product of high-carbon steel known as wootz was first made in India. Wrought iron, wood, and carbonaceous matter were put in a crucible and heated in a current of hot air till the iron became red hot and plastic. It was then allowed to cool very slowly till it absorbed a fixed amount of carbon.

The rustless Iron Pillar near Qutab Minar at Mehrauli in Delhi is considered to be of early Gupta-age (320-495 AD). The excellent way of preservation of the pillar has amazed corrosion technologists.

The oldest among the metallurgical marvels of ancient India is the extraction of zinc. The earliest brass objects in India have been unearthed from Taxila (circa 44 BC). Zinc smelting is very complicated as it is a very volatile material. By an ingenious method of reverse distillation ancient metallurgists of India saw to it that there was enough carbon to reduce the heat.

Feats of Mathematics: A 3000-year-old ritual altar was resurrected at Panjal in Kerala. It was a bird-shaped altar of a thousand bricks. The altar was a geometrician's delight. The rules for measurement and construction of sacrificial altars are found in the Sulba Sutras composed tentatively around 800-500 BC. This reminds us of the Upanishadic lore of Nachiketa who was instructed meticulously by the king of death on the placement and counts of the bricks in the altar to perform a particular ritual of fire. This speaks volumes of India's evolution in mathematics.

Marvels of Medicine: The Susruta Samhita (350 AD) is the oldest known work clearly describing plastic surgery of the nose, ear, and lip. It has eight branches of medical knowledge as (1) surgery, (2) treatment of diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, throat and teeth, (3) therapeutics, (4) psychiatry, (5) paediatrics, (6) toxicology, (7) treatment for longevity and rejuvenation, (8) treatment for increasing virility.

The other school of therapeutic medicine in India is known as Charaka. Chinese sources trace Charaka to the 1st century Scythian king Kanishka's court. Arabs knew him as a medical author whose work was translated from Sanskrit to Persian to Arabic. A chapter in the Charaka Samhita is on epidemics and pollutions of air, water and land. There is also a meticulous code of professional ethics and social conduct for the medical profession, much like the Hippocratic Oath of the doctors.

There is an interesting story in connection with Ayurveda. Jivaka, a physician of King Bimbisara, was to appear in the final examination of his medical studies. His teacher asked him to go round the university in a periphery of two miles and bring the plants with no

medicinal value. After a long search Jivaka returned and reported in disappointment that he could not find even one such plant. The teacher was satisfied and conferred on him the degree of the physician.

Architecture: The cities of Indus valley civilisation, dating back to 2000 BC, were laid out according to well-established precepts of town planning. Clearly, surveying instruments were used to fix cardinal points. Archaeologist S.R. Rao found a hollow cylinder with four slits on each of the two edges, and commented that the instrument was used in land survey and for fixing alignment of streets and houses.

According to Stuart Piggott, these cities passed through nine phases of rebuilding, often interrupted by disasters. But from the debris no change can be detected in this regard.

The technological innovation of the Harappans is evident from the citadels raised on a mud-brick and clay platform to prevent floods. The Great Bath in Mohenjodaro was an engineering marvel according to historian Abraham Eraly. It was made watertight by lining its floor and two sides with two layers of close-fitting, carefully trimmed baked bricks set on gypsum mortar, with a 2.5 cm. thick skin of bitumen sealer between the layers.

Physics: Philosopher Kanada of 6th century BC was the first Indian to formulate ideas about the atom as the indivisible particle of matter. Katyayana, a contemporary of the Buddha, put forward ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world.