'Sastra Pratibha Contest'

Home , Aryabhata II, Khandakhadyaka, Rasaratna Samuchaya

Sastrajyoti Reference book for

‘Sastra Pratibha Contest’ A Science Talent Search Examination Conducted among students of Indian Schools in Qatar

For Class 6, 7 & 8.

Organised by: Science India Forum, Qatar – A wing of SAMANVAYAM [email protected]

CONTENTS

1. Education in Ancient and Medieval India ...... 1 2. Astronomy in India ...... 3 3. Indian Contributions to Medical Science...... 3 4. Plastic Surgery in Ancient India ...... 23 5. Chemistry and Chemical Technology in India...... 26 6. Life Sciences in India...... 31 7. Agriculture in India ...... 38 8. Metallurgy in India...... 41 9. Space Science in India ...... 42 10. Information Technology in India...... 45 11. The Scientistsof India...... 48 A.P.J. Abdulkalam H.J. Bhabha P.C. Mahalanobis AS. Paintal J.B.S. Haldane P.C. Ray Aryabhata-l J.C. Bose Patanjaii Bhaskara II J.V. Narlikar S. Chandrasekhar Birbal Sahni Jahangir S. Ramanujan Brahma Gupta K.K. Pandey S.K. Mitra C.K.N. Patel KS. Krishnan SN. Bose CR. Rao Kanada S.S. Bhatnagar CV. Raman M.K. Vainu Bappu Salim Ali Caraka M.N. Saha Sambhu Natha De D.R. Kaprekar MS. Swaminathan Susruta E.C.G. Sudarshan Nagarjuna Sawai Jai Singh II G.N. Ramachandran Narendra Karmarkar Varahamihira Har Gobind Khorana P. Maheswari VikramSarabhai Special Topics 1. Vedic Mathematics ...... 66 1.1. Profile on Swamiji 1.2. Mathematical Applicalion 2. Environmental Pollution ...... 69 3. Some salient contributions of India ...... 71 4. Atomic Energy in lndia ...... 73 Education in Ancient and medieval India

Aim of education in ancient India vanguard of knowledge. At a time when the art of writing and writing materials were still in their infancy, The Gurukula System the vedic masters developed the concept The system owed its inspiration to the of guru, the ideal relationship between the private-teacher-system and was based on guru and the pupil, and system of training the direct personal relationship between in conformity with this relationship and the the teacher and his pupils. The impera- new life the pupils had to live in the modest tive necessity of the pupil’s character and household of the guru. ideals being formed by the teacher’s con- The early realization of the all embrac- stant presence, his practical life-style and ing character of education is a remarkable precepts required them to take residence feature of ancient India. It came to be re- with the teacher. Unlike the old hermitage garded as a source of illumination and an concept, the Gurukula Schools were estab- agency or improvement and for giving the lished in villages and cities like Banaras in correct lead in life. The “Mahabharata” a more or less secluded place away from declares that there is nothing like educa- the main settlements. tion, which gives one such unfailing insight A modern variation of the ancient pri- and an agent for ensuring good character vate-teacher-system is the tol for Sanskrit and behaviour. learning. The tols had a flourishing career Another primary aim of education should in medieval times and due largely to liberal be the development of the individual in the land-grants from the landlords and local service of the society, a point which has rulers. In this type of schools some of which not failed to be emphasized in some of the function even today the enrolment is usu- Upanishads. Thus Chandogya Upanisad ally limited to 20 or 25 students, classes are emphasizes the social role of the educated held in thatched mud huts and subjects when it says : “Infinity is bliss, and only one of instruction include grammar, literature who obtains bliss performs social duties.” (Poetry), philosophy, (Samkhya, Nyaya etc.), and astronomy (Jyotisa). The tols of The social responsibilities of the edu- Nadia in Bengal which became famous in cated and the enlightened have been more the medieval times for original studies of- clearly stated along with other qualities fered courses in logic, smrti, jyotisa, gram- generated by education. The primary duty mar, kavya and tantra. of a person who has completed his education and educational process is to propagate education to others so that continuity of Ancient Indian Education education remains uninterrupted (praja- Universities tantum ma vyacchetsih). The process of Nalanda University acquisition of knowledge is an open-ended endeavor, and the ideal guru must always It had a residential accommodation for be engaged in it in order to remain at the

1 7,500 students, 1,500 teachers and also All the Universities used to impart for 12,000 assistants and workers. All were education in many subjects and branches. provided with free accommodation and free However every University specialized in facilities like food, clothes, education etc. certain fields such as: They maintained students v/s teachers 1. Nalanda – Darsans ratio as 5:1. 2. Thakshasila – Ayurveda 3. Nadiyad – Tarka 4. Amaravati – Gandharvayurveda Ancient Indian Universities (Rasayana Sastra) Silpa Kala 1. Nalanda 2. Takshasila 5. Ujjayini – Jyothisha 3. Vikrama Sila 4. Jagadala 6. Madhura – Itihas 5. Uddandapura 6. Valabhi 7. Kashi – Vedanata 7. Mithila 8. Ujjayini Out of the above Universities Nalanda 9. Nadiyad 10. Amaravati and Takshasila were world famous. Stu- 11. Kanchi 12. Mad- dents from Korea, Mongolia, Japan, China, hura Tibet and so on used to study at Nalanda. Specialization Takshasila used to attract students for Ayurveda from China to Rome.

  

2 Astronomy in India

Ancient and Medieval Periods guna, Chaitra, Vaisaka, Jaishta, Ashada, Astronomy is the most ancient branch Sravana, Bhadrapada and Ashwina, based of science. In India its existence dates back on those twenty seven stars were familiar to the period of Rigveda. The main source to Indus Valley civilization. But their views of astronomical information is Vedanga on origin and structure of universe is still Jyothisha (200BC). In ancient days, as- unrevealed despite all studies. tronomers used to study the positions of Ancient people did know that day and sun, moon etc. by supporting a framework night and change of seasons are caused of steller constellations in an orbital circle. by sun. Further they were aware of the In India this came to be known as 'stellar differences in the duration of day and system'. Arabs and Chinese people also night. It had been stated that the moon- followed this system. The most ancient light is the reflection of the light of the reference available on this subject is in sun. During vedic period, one lunar day or 'Thahtireeya Collections'. thithi was the period from one moonrise References are available in Shathapatha to next moonrise or alternatively, from one Brahmana on Krithika (Karthika) Constella- moonset to the next. Six days constituted tion. It describes the star as rising in the one week and 29 or 30 days constituted a eastern horizon. Similarly references on month and 12 month together formed an planet Jupiter can be found in Vamadeva's year. Duration of a lunar year was 30 x Rigvedasooktha. Some people attribute 6 + 29 x 6 = 354 days. Average duration of the finding of jupiter planet to Rishi Vama- 1 lunar month was 29 /2 days. As a result deva. of so many reforms in calender preparation to the fourth year coming after 3 years of Evidences are available on the preva- 360 days, one additional day was alloted lence of a calendar based on moon in In- totalling the number of days to 361. Fol- dia also, during the reign of Indus Valley lowing the system thus evolved, the total civilization, akin to the one in Egypt and duration of four years was calculated as Babilonia. During the vedic and post-vedic 1441 days and the number of days in an period, gradually, the thinking of the sun 1 year was worked out as 365 /4 days. This being important in the control of seasons, lunar-solar correlation was effected also gained acceptance. Following this a luni - by adding a few days to some months solar calendar came into existence incorpo- intermittently. The duration of the year rating intermittently months having more was calculated based on the rotation of days with lunar months of 29 or 30 days, seasons. A clearer picture of further growth for correlating the solar control aspects of Astronomy can be found in the astro- with the seasons of agricultural activities nomical hypotheses of Jains, followed by and festivities. Panchasidhantika of Varahamihira. Aryab- Twenty seven stars like Krithika, Rohini, hatiya, the celebrated work of Aryabhata etc. and 12 months viz. Karthika, Agrahay- and his work on midnight calculation sys- ani, Margashirsha, Pousha, Magha, Phal- tem are milestones in the path of evolution

3 of Astronomy in India. and the author Mahasidhanta who lived in 10th Century AD are not one and the In the history of Indian Astronomy, same person. In order to distinguish the more important is the middle ages. The first personalities, they came to be called as phase of this age of unprecedented growth Aryabhata I and Aryabhata II respectively. begins at about 500 AD from Aryabhata and The first Indian satellite launched on April conclude with Bhaskara at about1200 A.D. 19, 1975 was named after Aryabhata, in Second phase of this age is the period from order to indicate our reverence and respect 1200 AD to 1800 AD. Influence of modern towards Aryabhata 1. Astronomy in Europe began to be felt in India during this phase. Aryabhata was born on 21 March, 476 AD (a Mesha - Sankranti day) as indicated Aryabahata I to Bhaskara II in a stanza (sloka) of Aryabhatiya. The ref- (From AD 550 to 1200) erence in Aryabhatiya of he being a resident The main treatment in Vedhanga-Jyo- of “Kusumapuram” is the strongest evidence thisha is the preparation of calendar. It with regard to his place of dwelling. Bhas- doesn't have any sceintific enquiry on the kara I who is the first commentator of Ary- characteristics of motion of celestial bodies, abahata (AD 629) says that Kusumapuram as against those findings in some theoreti- is the Pataliputra of ancient Magadha. A cal books which came out later. Studies of number of commentators including Bhas- this sort are available in works like Ary- kara I refer Aryabhata as “Ashmaka”. abhatiya, Panchasidhanthika, Suryasidhan- From this we can presume that birthplace tha which came out in fifth century AD or of Aryabhata is Ashmakadesa. There is a later. So far as Mathematics is concerned, strong argument that Ashmakadesa is an the most ancient work is the Silbasutras area in South India, particulary in Kerala. which form part of Vedangas. The fact that Aryabhata’s commentators The mathematical achievements of that in the succeeding years were all Keralites age was mainly of geometry. With the corroborate the above argument. Perhaps, growth of scientific astronomy, mathemat- he might have moved from Ashmakadesa ics, became complemented with it. From the to Kusumapuram later. reign of Aryabhata I, mathematics became part and parcel of astronomy. Arithmetic, No information is available on the algebra etc. also did grow along with astron- personal life of Aryabhata. The works of omy and they found a place in astronomy Bhaskara indicate that Aryabhata was a books. Major astronomers were also major teacher by profession, and Panduranga- mathematicians during those days. swami, Ladadevan and Nisanku were Outstanding work during the period is prominent among his students. In ancient the Panchasidhanthika of Varahamihira days, Magadha was a well known centre of which is an abstract of five astronomical knowledge. The headquarters of world fa- hypotheses viz., Suryam, Paithamaham, mous “Nalanda” University was Pataliputra Vasishtam, Pouseelam and Romakam. (the present day Patna District). Nalanda Aryabhata I, Varahamihira, Brahma- has special facilities for astronomical stud- gupta, Aryabhata II, Sreepathi, Bhaskara ies. Aryabhata had been often referred as II (Bhaskaracharya) were the eminent ‘Kulapan’ (i.e., Kulapathi or head of the who contributed much for astronomy University). He might have been the Ku- and mathematics between 5th and 12th lapathi of Nalanda University which was century AD. at its zenith of reputation during 5th and Aryabhata I 6th century AD. Celebrated book Aryabhatiya is the work It is “Aryabhatiya” which provided repu- of Aryabhata. The author of Aryabhatiya

4 tation and position to its author Aryabhata Value of π I, as an astronomer. It was recognised as Aryabhata was able to correctly find an authoritative text book on the subject the value of π upto fourth decimal π = till 16th century AD. His emergence was at a 3. 1416. Even today we use this value. time of decline of astronomy in India. The Aryabhata had stated that this was the “Panchasidhantas” prevailed then were not approximate value of π. Mathematicians amenable to fool-proof analyses, so that before Aryabhata calculated its value forecasts of positions of planets, eclipses as π = 10. etc. often proved incorrect. Aryabhata revived Indian astronomy at its running Sine Table of Aryabhata stage of loss of credibility among people, Aryabhata might be the first astronomer and placed it in a most scientific frame to prepare the table of sine differences. He work, proving himself eligible to be called as had explained both the methods for prepar- father of Indian Astronomy. ing that table. Aryabhatiya has 121 stanzas dealing Formula for determining sine of with Mathematics and Astronomy. They 0 π angles through 90 ( /2) are comprised in four chapters. The following formulae are given in Aryab- In the first chapter known as Geethika- hatiya. Sin (π/ + q = Sin π/ - Ver Sin θ padam, important astronomical constants 2 2 Sin (π + θ) = Sin π/ - Ver Sin π/ - Sin θ including sine table are given. Mathematics 2 2 Sin (3 π/ + θ) = Sin π/ - Ver Sin is dealt with in the second chapter called 2 2 π/ - Sin π/ + Ver Sin θ Ganithapadam. Geometrical shapes and 2 2 (Here formulae are written in modern its characteristics, mensuration formulae, method). problems on shadow of gnomon, series, 4. Aryabhata has in his work solved algebraic equations, simple simultaneous, the following types of indeterminate equa- quadratic equations, indeterminates are tions. all included in this chapter. Moreover, (i) N= a x + b = cy + d = ez + f ...... principles for finding square root, cube (ii) (ax + C) /b = an integer root etc. of a figure, inversion principles, Division of time π method of preparing sine table, value of 1 Kalpa = 14 Manus or 1008 yugas are also dealt with. Third chapter is known 1 Manu = 72 yugas as Kalakriyapadam. This include various 1 yuga = 43,20,000 years measures of time, determinations of real po- Further, one yuga has been divided into sitions of sun, moon, planets etc., descrip- four shorter yugas of equal duration. Ary- tion of year, month and day under various abhata was scientifically revising the pre- methods, definition of origin of cyclic motion vailing illogical time division. As per both of time, explanation on the motion of sun, the methods, origin of the present Kaliyuga moon and planets with the help of lecentic is on the same date i.e., Feb.18, 3102 BC, circles and epicycles, method for determin- Friday. He does not believe in the intermit- ing longitudes of planets etc. Contents of tent creation-destruction of the universe. fourth chapter called Golapada are aspects Universe is a continuum, he believed. of spherical astronomy. Motion of planets, Principle of Rotation of Earth sun and moon in celestial circles, celestial motion while viewing from north/south poles, and from equator, hypotheses on The general belief during that period was that earth which remain stable in its planets, visibility of planets and other sub- position was the centre of the universe, and jects are dealt with in the fourth chapter. celestial bodies including sun were revolv-

5 ing round the earth. Against this belief, Aryabhatiya to certain extent. This work Aryabhata put forth the doctrine that earth is not available today. But an abstract of was rotating in its axis and stars are sta- it is available with the title “Khandakhady- tionary in its positions. He calculated the akam” authored by Brahmagupta. time taken for one rotation of the earth in its axis as 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.091 Varahamihira seconds. The wonderful correctness of his Varahamihira from Avanti (Ujjain) was calculation is remarkable. well versed both in astronomy and astrology. He was the son of Adityadasan who Aryabhatiya was a first class text book had in-depth knowledge in these subjects. for astronomical studies for centuries. It From the references in his work Panchasi- was able to lay the foundation for a novel dhanthika it can be presumed that he was method of astronomical studies. Those who born in 505 AD and from the book Khya- followed this new system came to be called dyakakarnatika of Aryaraja, presumption by themselves as “disciples of Aryabhata”. can be made of his death in 587 AD. Vara- The most intelligent among them was hamihira was a (an younger) contemporary Bhaskara I and he not only prepared of Aryabhata. It is presumedthat he was a commentary for Aryabhatiya but also born and brought up in agadha, studied authored two works on astronomy viz. the works of Aryabhata and then moved Mahabhaskariyam and Laghubhaskariyam, to Ujjain. Panchasidhanthika (astronomy), which further explained the principles of Bruhat-jataka (astrology) and Aryabhata. Bruhatsamhita are his important books. Among the many other commentators of Aryabhatiya, names of Someswaram, The treatise in Varahamihira’s Pancha- Suryadevan (born in 1191 AD, Choladesa) sidhanthika is the five old astronomical Parameswaram (1380 -1450 AD, Kerala), system viz., Paithamaham, Vasishtam, Yallayam (1480 AD, Andhra), Neelakan- Romakam, Pouleesam and Souram. Origi- tan (1500 AD, Kerala), Reghunatharaja nal proponents of Romaka and Pouleesam (1597 AD, Andhra), Virupakshan , Son might be foreigners. The names itself Madhavan (Andhra), Ghadigopan (Kerala), indicate so. In them and in other works, Bhoothivishnu (period of writing of all-19th Greek technical terms are abundant. century), Kodandaraman (Andhra), Krish- Varahamihira can best be described as an nan (Kerala), Krishnadasan (1756 A.D, expert compiler rather than an independent Kerala) et al. deserves special mention. astronomer. Apart from the commentaries of these eminent persons, so many other books Brahmagupta He was born to Jishnugupta in 598 AD. based on Aryabhatiya came out. Mahab- Engaged in writing his famous book on haskariya, Laghubhaskariya Haridatha’s astronomy viz. Brahmaspuda-sidhantha (Kerala), Grahacharanibandhanariya (683 between 30-70 years of age. His place of AD), Deva’s Karanaratnam (689 AD), Damo- birth might be the Bhillale town in between daran’s Bhatathulya (1417 AD) Puthamana Multan and Ahirvahan. It is an urban loca- Somayaji’s (Kerala), Karanapathathi (1732 tion at the northern boundary of present AD) and Sankaravarma’s Sathnatnamala day Gujarat. Brahmasphudasidhantha is (AD 1823) are a few among those books. a voluminous work having 24 chapters, Aryabhata has another book to his cred- motion of planets, time, distance, eclipses, it-Aryabhatasidhantha. This work was very rise and set of planets and effects of plan- popular throughout India till 7th century. etary combinations are the main subjects The astronomical constants and hypotheti- dealt with in it. In chapter 12 and 18 Math- cal methods are different from those in the ematics and in chapter 22 astronomical

6 instruments are treated. Though the sup- Leelavathy, arithmetic and geometry are position of zero was prevailing earlier, its dealt with. Beejaganitha is for algebra. The application and principles were formulated subject matter of third and fourth chapters for the first time by Brahmagupta. Solving (Gruhaganithadhyayam and Goladhyayam) of second degree indeterminate equations is astronomy. is yet another outstanding contribution of Brahmagupta. It is said that Bhaskara II wrote ‘Lilavati’ to commemorate the name of his unmar- Brahmagupta was a strong opponent ried daughter and to console her in being of Aryabhata’s theories. His criticism was remained so. At the same time, some especially towards division of Yugas into people say that Lilavati was the name of four equal parts, theory of rotation of earth, his beloved wife. Perhaps, a more logical arguments on the happening of eclipse due conclusion should be that, Lilavati was a to formation of shadows of earth and moon, curious name which attracted his imagina- rejection of Rahu-Kethu principle, etc. But, tion in the background of his extraordinary towards the last phase of his life, he wrote poetic power. the book, Khandakhadyaka based on the principle of midnight system of Aryabhata. In Bhaskaracharya’s celebrated work Ancillary to it, in Utharakhandakhadya, Lilavati, eight mathematical applications mathematical portions have been excluded (parikarmashtaka - addition, subtraction, and astronomical problems alone treated. multiplication, division, squaring, cub- Both the works of Brahmagupta have ing, square root determination, cube root been translated into Arabic. determination) have been described. So also, applications with zero (soonya pari- Bhaskara I karma). Other topics dealt with in it are Bhaskara I was the contemporary of the following: Brahmagupta. Some people calculate his life time as between 550 and 628 AD and 1. Method of inversion some other sections slightly move it for- 2. Unitary method wards. He has written three books viz. 3. Method of elimination i.e., the meth- Maha-bhaskariyam, Laghubhaskariyam od of finding a, b when a + b, a -b and Aryabhatiya Bhashyan. Mahabhaskari- are provided. yam is the commentary of some chapters 4. Root eliminaion i.e., method of finding a of Arya-bhatiyam. At the sametime, it has and b when a - b, a2 -b2 are provided. some own approaches and self findings. 5. Square method. How to find out a and Laghubhaskariyam is an abridged version b when a2 + b2 - 1, a2 - b2 - 1 are of Mahabhaskariyam. The elaborate com- complete squares. mentary on Aryabhatiyam amply proves 6. Root multiplicant - problems involving the indepth knowledge of Bhaskara in square roots i.e., problems leading to astronomy. quadratic equations. Bhaskara II (Bhaskaracharya) 7. Rule of three. He was Born in 1114 at Bijapur (Kar- 8. Bhandaprathibhandaka-manufactur- nataka) in western ghats. His renowned ing and marketing. work Sidhanthasiromani is presumed to 9. Mixed series. be written in 1150 AD. In the spheres 10. Infinite series of astronomy and mathematics, no work 11. Permutations and combinations. better than this has been brought out. It 12. Indeterminate analysis. contains four segments. First is Lilavati and the next is Beejaganitha (algebra). In Of the above, the last three come under

7 the purview of algebra. edge of its author and the resplendent style The chapter on geometry begins with of presentation got the reputation of being the statement of hypotenuse square theo- a most authoritative work on astronomy in rem. This has been applied in solving the every nook and corner of India. This work problems with right-angled triangles, and based on the previous works of the subject those wih distance and height. Principles under treatment and incorporating own for finding the altitude, area etc. of tri- contributions, draws the whole picture of angles and various types of quadrilaterals, Indian astronomy. The books followed on principle for calculating the hypotenuse of the subject are all perhaps commentaries quadrilaterals, relation between chord and only on this work. arc of circles, sound formulae for finding the circumferential area, volume of spheres etc. Karanakuthuhala is a simple text which have been treated in succession. help solving astronomical hypothesis. Even today, this book is used in various parts of In algebra, positive, negative constants, India in preparing calendar. zero, original mathematical calculations, symbols, surds, indeterminate simple equations, indeterminate square equations, Second Phase of Middle Ages single power/multi-power equations of un- (AD 1200 to 1800) known constants etc. are the topics. The period starting from Aryabhata I Grahaganithakhanda begins with the to Bhaskara II was the golden age of the description on importance of astronomy. In Indian astronomy. After Bhaskarachaya, its second chapter, a number of astronomi- there was no substantial improvement in cal problems have been introduced. Its astronomical studies in the country. At discussion follows in the succeeding chap- the sametime a good number of books on ters. In the third chapter, viz. Bhuvanako- astronomy came out during this period. sha, the non-supported position of earth But all of them were commentaries, but not in the space, and the position of nonliving original works. and living things in the planetular level is detailed. In the next, circumference of The regression experienced here for cen- earth as a sphere, its surface area, volume turies in the area of science and technology etc. are calculated. In these calculations, might be attributed to the prevailing envi- value of ∏ is reckoned as 3.1416. In the ronment not conducive for dissemination following chapters, motion of sun, moon of knowledge in the wake of onslaught of and planets, celestial models showing foreigners and internal riots. In the south- their orbits, methods for determining rela- ernmost parts like Kerala and other places tive duration of day and night in different which were free from the consequences latitudes in different seasons, times of sun of political instability experienced in the set and sunrise, latitude of a particular north, astronomical studies continued place, eclipses, instruments for observing unaffected. In a Malayalam palmyra script celestial bodies, movements of equipoises preserved in the Oriental Institue in Baroda, etc. are the topics. Bhaskara has written a information regarding the heirarchy of a commentary entitled ‘Vasana’ for chapters series of scholars and disciples engaged in on Grahaganita and Goladhyaya together. astronomical studies for a very long period This commentary is also a part of the book of six centuries from 1237 AD to 1846, is under reference. available. From the studies of Shri. K.V. Sarma on astronomers from Kerala, details Sidhanthasiromani had been accepted of more than 100 scientists and more than most respectfully from Kerala to Kashmir. 700 books has been compiled under the title This work marked by the in-depth knowl- “A Bibliography of Kerala and Kerala based

8 Astronomy and Astrology”. defunct now. The other four are still in existence. Raja Jaysingh who founded Contributions of Kerala the city of Jaipur was not only a warrior A group of astronomers who assembled and administrator, but one interested in in Thirunavaya, near Shornur in 684 AD Mathematics and Astronomy also. Mirza had redefined the celestial constants formu- Ulug Begg’s astronomical table viz. Sarah- lated by Aryabhata. Haridathan in his work geej, Mirza Uclid’s ‘Elements’, Flam Steed’s Grahacharaniban-dhanam has applied this ‘Historia do coelests’, Ptolomy’s ‘Synstax’ revised scheme. The scheme is known as were all familiar to him. parahita system. This enjoys more correctness than Aryabhata system. Jaysingh had considerable knowledge in astronomy and he scrupulously studied The parahita system had been revised the books of Coppernicus, Galieleo, Kepler further by Parameswaran (1360 -1460 AD) and the metallic instruments of Ulug Begg in his well known work “Drigganitham”. It and others at Samarkhand. He installed his has been recorded in “Drikkaranam” that he observation instruments with bricks and attempted this revision in 1431 AD, since stones to make it immovable. His intention he found that after the elapse of centuries, might be the shakeproof viewing of the sky the parahita system theories and actual through the instruments. His observa- observations did disagree in so many terms. tories are known as Jantar Mandirs. ‘Jan- Drikkaranam is an astronomical manual tar’ is a modified form of the word ‘Yantra’ prepared by Jaishtadevan in Malayalam which means instrument. in 1608 AD. In tune with the changing times, through consecutive observations, So many instruments like Laghu-samrat the parahita system has been subjected yantra, Dhruvadarshak yantra, yantraraj. to so many revisions. (eg. by Neelakantan Narivalaya yantra, Samratyantra, Jay- Somayaji, 1444 -1545) aprakasha yantra Rasivalaya yantra, Ra- mayantra, chakra yantra and Misra yantra Jayasingh’s observatories are installed in the Jantar Mandirs. Other documents regarding observatories in the ancient times are not available The biggest among the observatories is today. in Delhi. All the instruments installed here are stone-made. Samrat yantra is a device During earlier ages, astronomical phe- to determine time, kranti or apakrama nomena were observed by naked eyes. (declination). This is a type of sundial. Al- Gradually simple instruments were de- titude and azimuth of celestial bodies are vised. Later ‘Open Air’ observatories came determined by Rama yantra. Jayaprakash into existence for observing the rise and set yantra is a device to find out directly the of sun, moon and planets. Gnomon and declination, azimuth, altitude etc. by ob- waterclock were the devices for time de- serving sun and the shadow falling on the termination in these observatories. Baber moon. Misra yantra which is a combined had recorded that during Vikramaditya’s system of instruments, consists of devices period, there was a sky observatory in used to determine the declination of sun at Hindustan. The observatories established fixed times during morning and evening, by Raja Jaysingh in 18th century are still to observe the mid day at four important in existence. centres situated in eastern and western Raja Jaysingh Savay (1686 - 1743 AD) hemispheres, to find out the altitude of a established sky observatories at Delhi, celestial body when it enters the meridian Ujjain, Jaipur, Mathura and Varanasi and a device to find out the orbit through (Banares). Of these, that in Mathura is which the sun is going.

9 Jaysingh had published a set of astro- is yet another notable discovery of Brown. nomical tables prepared by him based on Gradually this observatory became defunct the information collected from these ob- in its functioning. servatories for more than six years, under title “Zij Mohammed Shahi’. The work was The largest telescope (20" Grub named to indicate his respect towards the Reflector) of that time was in the Mughal emperor ruling then. Jaysingh was Maharaja Thakhtha Singhji observatory able to correct a good number of errors in establised in 1890s in Pune. This observa- the tables prevailed in the western world tory functioning under the control of K.D. then. Nayagamvala enjoyed the partial financial assistance of Maharaja of Bhavanagar. Modern European Astronomy in Functiong of this observatory was discon- India tinued in 1912 and 20" reflector telescope In 1609 AD, Europe had an outstanding was shifted to Kodaikanal observatory. invention of optical telescope. Through its The three total solar eclipses visible in extensive use, Galieleo had revolutionised India at that time was highly important with the astronomical studies. In India, the regard to Indian astronomy. First among modern astronomical studies were initiated those was in 1868. French astronomer Jan- by the French Jesuit Priest Father Richard seen while observing the eclipse using spec- in 1689 when he used the telescope for troscope from Gundur near Madras identi- the first time in the country. From his fied during totality of the phenomenon, a observations from Pondicherry, he was new spectral line in the solar spectrum, able to discover a comet and further to near the yellow lines, beside the blue lines. understand, the binary nature of the comet It was for the first time that a spectroscope “alpha centauri”. was used for observing eclipse. From the high intensity of the spectral lines, it was India’s first sky observatory was estab- presumed that this might be visible at any lished by British East India Company in time. During the next observation, next 1792 at Madras. Even before this, by the day, it became visible again as expected. efforts of William Petry, sky observation Another observation team led by J.F. Ten- began here as early as in 1787. nent also viewed the D3 line. Sir Norman First Govt. astronomer in Madras was Lockeyer opined that this line was emitted J. Goldingham; Taylor, Jacob and Pogson by an element so far unknown. This finding were his successors. ultimately led to the conclusion of presence The Maharaja of Travancore established of Helium in the sun. Identification of he- an observatory in Thiruvananthapuram in lium in the laboratory was done 27 years 1837. Instruments installed here included later by Ramsey. not only the sky observation devices but Solar eclipse of 1871 was visible in Ootty also the instruments for study of mag- and Pudukkotai. This time Janssen saw netism, meteorological observation etc. some peculiar lines in the spectrum of solar Observations of Mr. Brown (who was the corona. That was the moment when F-co- Director here from 1851 to 1865) on mag- rona was identified for the first time. netic fields are world famous. His discovery of magnetic turbulence not as being a Next solar eclipse was in 1898. Total unicentered phenomena and as a universal eclipse was visible in Ratnagiri of old Vind- phenomenon has characteristic importance hya pradesh and adjoining areas. Elaborate in geomagnetic studies. The occurrence of arrangements for comprehensive study of turbulence in the sun at fixed intervals of sun’s chromosphere and corona had been 27 days and the changes brought by it in done under the guidance of Nayagamwala, the magnetic power position of the earth Evershed and Lockeyer.

10 Indian Astronomy in 20th Century after the invention of telescope. Pre-independence period: In the 20th Saha was one among those who ini- century, Indian scientists were able to have tially pointed the importance of observing notable achievements in the field of as- ultraviolet radiations. He also stressed the tronomy. Halley’s comet appeared in 1910 necessity of having observations in the outer as expected. This triggered a lot of interest atmosphere for proper understanding of in astronomy. Establishment of modern steller phenomena. observatories at Kodaikanal and Nainital and extension of science education in the Allahabad University M.N.Saha moving from Calcutta to Al- country boosted this interest and provided lahabad in 1925 began his reaserch work conducive atmosphere for the studies. in Astrophysics there and tried to build up Kodaikanal Observatory and support a strong theoretical group. This started functioning in 1900. Com- Eminent sceintists like P.L. Bhatnagar, A. plete spectroscopia system required for C. Banerji, H. K. Kothari, R.D.Majumdar, study of solar phenomena was available etc. commenced their reaserch work here. here. Numerous pictures of various pro- Post Independence Period cesses taking place in the solar atmosphere In India, the formation of a committee have been collected here. Such elaborate headed by Meghnad Saha as Chairman collection can be claimed only by two other for submitting recommendations for the centres in the world, Mt. Wilson observa- advancement of study and research in tory and Meudon observatory in Paris. astrophysics in the country should be John Evershed who joined the centre in considered as a great noteworthy event 1905 and later elevated to the position of its of the century as regards the promotion of Director conducted very careful studies on astronomincal science studies in India. sun spots which led to two very inportant The recommandations of this committee discoveries. paved the way for a big leap in astronomical 1. Radical motion of sunspots. This is studies. Majority of the recommendations called Evershed Effect. of the committee, like establishment of an 2. Characteristics of spectra of sunspots. observatory with large apperture telescope, In the spectra, various Framer Hoffer necessity of a large apperture schmidt tele- lines were seen transpositioned towards scope and solar telescope, establishment the red end. Evershed was able to establish of a naval observatory, and introduction of this as due to Doppler Effect. courses on astronomy and astrophysics at In addition to this, Evershed had pub- post-graduate level in universities will be lished a number of highly important obser- implemented within few years. vation results. T. Royd and A. L. Narayanan First radio telescope in the country was deserve special reference among those who established at Kodaikanal in 1952. organised notable research activities here during the earlier days of this observa- Vainubappu, Kodaikanal and tory. Kavalur Observatories Nissamia Observatory When the Saha Committee recommen- Started functioning in 1908. Even before dations were about to be implemented, so this, Nawab Safargung had started sky ob- many people felt it necessary to receive servation here in 1901 using a 15'’ Grubb the lost great past. In the light of a sugges- reflector received from England. What tion of establishing the new observatory Arthur Eddington had said about Saha’s at Ujjain, an inspection committee headed ionisation formulae was that it was one of by the Director A. K. Das of Kodaikanal the 10 greatest inventions in astronomy, observatory was engaged. After two years of observations and studies, it was revealed

11 that, the atmosphere in Ujjain did not have the stability and clarity required for modern astronomical telescopes. The committe felt it desirable to imporve the facilities available at Kodaikanal for solar observation. Accordingly, the telescope and other instruments brought from England were installed there. Vainubappu who succeded Das as Di- rector of the Kodaikanal observatory, gave valuable contributions to the growth of Vynubappu Observatory modern Indian astronomy. of a large centre comparable to the best Bapu, who post-graduated in Phys- observatory in the world was the aim. The ics in 1948, got his doctorate in “Stellar centre was decided to be in South India, as Spectroscopy” from Harward University it was felt that Southern sky had not been in America in 1952. While continuing his subjected to scientific studies well. After work as a research student, he identified investigative inspections of the sites from a comet. This is known as “Comet Bappu, Kanyakumari to Thirupathi, for three years, Bohk and New Kirk”. After his studies, he it was decided to locate the centre among joined the Helley observatory at Pasadena. thick sandalwood forests in the Javadi In that way he got the opportunity to use the Hills of Tamil Nadu. Name of a small village then largest telescope “Palomer Zoo”. His work Kavulur adjoining it was given to the proj- together with the work of Olin Wilson, helped to ect. Construction was completed in 1967. formulate a new method to unveil the secrets Initially, a 15" (38 cm) aperture telescope of steller surface. Their new finding is known was erected. Later, in 1972, system for a as “Wilson-Bapu Effect”. 40" (102 cm) telescope was completed. When returned to India in 1953, Bapu Notable observations were also made with was entrusted with the establishment of it. Most important among the findings were an observatory in UP. Within a few years, the identification of atmosphere around a new observatory with all modern facili-   the satellite Ganymade of Jupiter. Such ties was set- up in the Manora peaks of an atmosphere was identified only to the Nainital. After entrusting the responsibil- largest satellite Titan of Saturn, till then. ity of this observatory with young sciec- Yet another important achievement is the tists there, he at the age of 32, took the identification of circles around Uranus, and responsibility of Kodaikanal observatory. another circle network in addition to the Following this, he began his efforts in known circles of Saturn. Now, Asia’s largest implementing the most important sugges- telescope having 93" (236 cm) apperture has tion of the Saha Committee. Establishment been made functional with in the centre.

‘‘We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.’’ Albert Einstein (Scientist)

12 Indian Contributions to Medical Science

The history of Medical Sciences in India finally to history. takes us back to remote antiquity. Medical Sciences is as old as the Vedas. It was based Ayurveda-Philosophy and Principles on the practical experience and careful The basis of diagnosis and treatment methods of investigation pursued by the in Ayurveda is the principle of Tridosha- Sages in the old days. Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Tridosha control all Among the four Vedas, Atharva Veda the functions of the body. Health is said has the maximum verses on medical knowl- to be the equilibrium of three Doshas and edge. The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, ill health, the disturbance of their equilib- contains lot of verses on medical sciences rium. whereas Yajur Veda has very little about Vata this science. This is responsible for movement and Although the Vedic medical system was all important physiological process. Vata contemporary of the Mesopotamian and is concerned with the production of the Chinese religious and ritual based medical nerve impulse and its conduction through systems, it was not crude as those systems. nerves. It maintains equilibrium between Since the period of Atharva Veda itself there Tridoshas and also between the enzymes were professional medical practitioners who and metabolities. followed a pure stream of medical system PITTA (shudha vaidyam). Praises about Atharvas, This is responsible for heat production a separate group of medical practitioners can and metabolism. Pumping of heart, main- be found in certain hymns. Usually medical tenance of skin temperature etc. is also its practitioners were classified into different functions. categories such as surgeons, physicians, magicians, toxicologists and so on. Perhaps Kapha the details of medical systems explained in Kapha is responsible for cooling pro- Vedas could be the remnants of pre-vedic cess, and lubrication between body parts. The traditional, age-old belief about Ay- Growth, nutrition and sperm production urveda is that Prajapathi has passed on the also comes under its influence. knowledge to Ashwini brothers. Rig Veda According to the site and action each of has mentions about the brothers’ ability the Tridoshas exist in five different forms. to treat and their caring approach towards Vata patients. How old men have regained their Pranan (regulates respiration) Udanan youth, how infertility was cured, how blind (sounds and speech), Samanan (separate and lepers were cured, are all explained in enzymes), Vyanan (carries body fluids), Rig Veda. Ashwini brothers passed on their Apanan (execretes like urine) knowledge to God Indra and from Indra humans acquired the ability to treat. That Pitta is the belief. Thus the origin of medical Pachaka (facilitates digestion and heat science came from epics to semi-epics and

13 production), Ranjaka (Give red color to blood), Sadaka (Increases power to brain), Alochaka (gives vision), Bhrajaka (increases beauty) Kapha Kledaka (gives fluid nature to blood), Avalambaka (separates energy and power), Bodaka (taste), Tharpaka (functioning of senses), Sleshmaka (lubricates the joints) Mostly, one of the Tridoshas will be prominent in every individual. So there will be an inherent in equilibrium in every individual. If this is aggravated by wrong charaka examining his patron, king kaniska foods, wrong deeds or environmental factors, disease occurs. Even though Ayurveda him the greatest ayurveda acharya. Athreya accepts the chance of spreading of diseases, passed on his knowledge and ability to his it does not believe that germs are causing six disciples – Aginivesha, Bhela, Jaduka- diseases. It believes that like many other man, Parasharan, Harithan and Charapani. factors, which cause diseases, the germs Among them Agniveshan was the most tal- also disturbs the equilibrium of Tridoshas ented. He wrote the first exclusive medical and lead on to disease state. Ayurvedic text known as Agin-veshathantram, which medicine has 8 branches of study. gradually merged with Caraka Samhita . 1. Kaya Chikitsa (General medicine) BHELA SAMHITA: This is one of the 2. Shalya Chikitsa (Surgery) oldest texts on Ayurveda. But we have 3. Salakya Tantram (Diseases of eye, ear, got only an incomplete manuscript of this nose, throat) text. The references of this in other texts 4. Bhoota Vidya (Psychiatry) clearly demonstrate its antiquity and its 5. Kaumara Bhrithyam (Paediatrics) importance. 6. Rasayanam (Rejuvenation) 7. Agadasastram (Toxicology) CHARAKA SAMHITA 8. Vajikarana Sastram (Aphrodisiacs) Caraka Samhita is the oldest text received in its entire form. Even though it is AYURVEDA- The Pioneers and the a comprehensive work on general medicine Texts it also mentions about surgery and other ATHREYA: In the hey days of Indian six branches of medicine. Caraka Samhita speculative thought Athreya taught his is available today as revised by Dridabala in elaborations of the theory of drug and 7-8 century AD. Caraka Samhita is based disease and ushered in the age of scientific on Agnivesa Samhita. Every chapter in th medicine. He lived in the 7 century BC and Caraka Samhita opens with the words “thus taught medicine at Taksasila. Taksasila spake the worshipful Athreya”. Agnivesa became a famous seat of learning by the is regarded as the golden link between the th 7 century BC and its glorious period was preachings of Athreya and the expositions from 700 BC to 500 AD. Some of the great of later medical authors. scholars of Taksasila are Jivaka, Brahma- datta, Kautilya, Patanjali and Panini. SUSRUTA, SUSRUTA SAMHITA The King of Kashi, Devadas, first taught Athreya was a great teacher of medicine surgery. He claimed himself to be an in- and can be called the “father of medicine’’. carnation of Lord Dhanvantri. His main His clarity of definitions of diseases and disciples were Aupadhenava, Aurabharan ability to link diseases and medicines made Pushkalavada, Gopurarakshidha, Bhoja

14 and Susruta. Among them Susruta was the JEEVAKAN most favourite. In the days of war between Jeevakan studied under Athreya for various ethnic communities, which left seven years in Takshasila University and many wounded and incapacitated, surgery joined as the palace physician of King developed into an independent branch of Bimbasara. He is known as the father of medical system called Shalya Thantram. neurosurgery. Later he became the personal Susruta Samhita is held in high esteem physican of Lord Bhuddha and embraced Buddhism. Jeevakan built many viharas and dedicated them to the Bhudha and his disciples. These viharas were later con- verted to hospitals and are said to be the first hospitals in the country. VAGHBHATA Vaghbhata lived in the second century BC. He wrote Ashtanga samgraham and Ashtanga Hridayam, later became one of the Trimurthis of Ayurveda . Charaka and Sushrutha are the two others. Ashtanga Hridaya written by Vaghbhata contains the most concise scientific information on Ayurveda. Vagbhata’s two books deal with both medicine and surgery. Ashtanga Hri- dayam is the most popular text in Kerala. Indu has written a commentary - Sasilekha - to Astanga Hridayam, which has been widely acknowledged in Kerala. Indu is believed to be a member of Astavaidya family in Kerala. Recently a manuscript of a commentary written by Indu on As- tanga Hrdayam has been found from an Astavaidya family. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS USED BY SUSRUTA Arunadattan, Chandranandan and He- as a great authority on surgery. It describes madri have also written commentaries for about 650 medicines, 101 surgical instru- Astangahridaya. This is the book, which ments, more than 300 surgical operations produced maximum commentaries in Ma- and 42 surgical techniques. Acharya Na- layalam. garjuna revised Susruta Samhita in 3rd century AD. While the text Astanga Hridayam was written in a poetic language Astanga KASYAPA SAMHITA samgraham is written in a mixed way. The Kashyapan-II, a contemporary of Lord basic concepts were beautifully presented Buddha was an eminent pediatrician. in Astanga Samgraham. Parvathakan and Bhadran were two other famous pediatricians. NAGARJUNA Kasyapa Samhita, which deals with dis- Nagarjuna belonged to Vidharba. He is eases of children and childcare, is a concise said to have resided in the great University form of an earlier work Vridha Kasyapam of Amaravathi, which flourished on the banks of River Krishna. Distillation, subli-

15 mation, calcination, colouring, production practised in the eight fields of Ayurveda, of alloys, separation of copper from its ore they were called Astavaidyas. To maintain and application of metallic oxides in treat- continuity in their family profession, they ment methods were also contributions of married within the astavaidya families. But Nagarjuna. Both Nagarjuna and Vagbhata some got married from outside the group were followers of Bhuddhism. and engaged in other professions and thus the member of Astavaidhya families got PATHANJALI reduced gradually. Earlier there were 18 Pathanjali was a great philosopher, astavaidya families in Kerala. Now the grammarian, and scientist. He is the origi- number in reduced to eight. Vayaskara nator of Yoga Sastram. Yoga is a system, Moos, Chirattaman Moos, Elayadathu Thy- which combines concentration of mind, catt Moss, Pazhanellipurathu Thaikatt respiratory control, control of thoughts and Moos, Vellode Moos, Pulamanthole Moos, physical exercises. It has eight branches Aalathoor Nampi and Vaidya Matom are the Yamam, Niyamam, Asanam, Pranayanam, existing Astavaidya families. Prathiyaharam, Dhyanam, Dharana and Samadhi. It is believed that Vagabhata, author of Astanga samgraha and Astanga Hrdaya, MADAVACHARYA taught Astangayurveda to Astavaidyas. He was born in Kishkinda now called Since Astavaidyas had to perform autopsy, Golkonda and was Prime Minister of Raja surgery etc they were not allowed to par- Vira Bukka of Vijaya Nagar in the 12th ticipate in yagas. But since it has been century. His book Madhava Nidana deals found that medical assistance is required mainly with diagnosis of diseases and is to priests in longer yagas. Vaidya matom considered an authority on this subject. Nampoothiris were asked to stay away from BHAVA MISHRA autopsy and surgery and were permitted He lived in 16th century AD. He to yagas. had compiled and published a book TEXTS LOST Bhavaprakasham, which deals with topics We have lost many valuable texts ranging from origin of universe, human in Ayurveda. They include the samhi- anatomy, fetal science, physiology, and tas of Agnivesa, Sharapani, Hareethan, diseases and so on. Viswamithran, Kapilan, Gouthaman, Au- In his book Bhava Prakasam he sum- padhenava Aurabhran, Gopurakshidan, maries the practice of all the best previous Vaitharanan and Bhoja. writers on medicine. He was the first to SURGERY IN AYURVEDA mention some of the drugs found in coun- Surgery had advanced a great deal in an- tries outside India. He described about cient India. Many complicated procedures Syphilis and its treatment, which reached were used at that time. Plastic operations India with the arrival of Portuguese. are characteristic of Indian medicine, which did not come to use in the rest of the ASTAVAIDYAS world until the late medieval period. They Some Brahmins who migrated from Angavar- performed couching for cataract, amputa- ta learned Astangayurveda and practised tion of limbs, removal of fistulas and piles, medical profession. They specialized curetting of uterus, removing tumors from in the eight fields of kayachikitsa-Bala- vagina, plastic repair of ear lobes and nose chikitsa, Grihachikitsa, Urdhvangachikitsa, which were used to be cut as punishment Salyachikitsa, Vishachikitsa, Rasayana- for various crimes and even intracranial chikitsa and Vajeekarana chikitsa. Since surgeries. they and their generations specialized and

16 Surgical instruments were made of good edges. Then he places two thin pipes in quality steel. There are mentions about an- the nose where the nostrils should go, to aesthesia also. A drug named Sammohini facilitate breathing and to prevent the sewn was used as anaesthetic and after opera- skin from collapsing. There after he strews tion another drug Sanjeevini was given to powder of sapan wood, licorice-root and restore conciousness. Ancient Indians barberry on it and covers with cotton. As had a fairly good knowledge of anatomy of soon as the skin has grown together with human body. Dissection was practised at the nose, he cuts through the connection that time. Susruta has given very elaborate with the cheek.” Modern surgeons have instruction for preparing the human body never found better substitutes for Susruta’s for dissection. techniques. A broad array of surgical instruments The British learned the modern plastic was used. According to Susruta, the sur- surgery we use today while they worked geon should be equipped with 20 sharp and for the East India Company. Although 101 blunt instruments of various descrip- the pedicle flap was developed over 2,000 tions. The instruments were largely of steel. years ago, it is the same procedure that the Cutting instruments, Susruta maintains, British learned. Susruta practiced a type should be of “bright handsome polished of cataract surgery known as couching, in metal, and sharp enough to divide a hair which the cataractous lens was removed lengthwise. “Alcohol seems to have been from the pupil to lie in the vitreous cavity used as a narcotic during operations, and in the back of the eye. This displacement hot oils and tar stopped bleeding. of the lens enabled the patient to see well. In two types of operations especially, Vision, however, was still blurred because the Indians were outstanding. Stone in the of the unavailability of corrective lenses. bladder (vesical calculus) was common in A typical operation performed by Sus- ancient India, and the surgeons frequently ruta for removing cataracts is described removed the stones by lateral lithotomy. below. “It was a bright morning. The sur- They also introduced plastic surgery. geon sat on a bench, which was as high as Susruta invented improved form of facial his knees. The patient sat opposite on the surgery. He devised what came to be known ground so that the doctor was at a comfort- as the pedicle flap method of plastic sur- able height for doing the operation on the gery as a solution for the punishment for patient’s eye. After having taken bath and adultery - the chopping of the nose. In the food, that patient had been tied so that procedure, tissue from one part of the body he could not move during the operation. was sewed onto another to repair defects. The doctor warmed the patient’s eye with Skin transplanted to the nose area was the breath of his mouth. He rubbed the kept alive by remaining attached to healthy closed eye of the patient with his thumb tissue. As the Susruta Samhita explained: and then asked the patient to look at his “When a man’s nose has been chopped or knees. The patient’s head was held firmly. destroyed, the physician takes the leaf of The doctor held the lancet between his a plant which is the size of the destroyed forefinger, middle finger and thumb and parts. He places it on the patient’s cheek introduced it into the patient’s eye towards and cuts out of this cheek a piece of skin the pupil, half a finger’s breadth from the of the same size (but in such a manner black of the eye and a quarter of a finger’s that the skin at one end remains attached breadth from the outer corner of the eye. to the cheek). Then he freshens with his He moved the lancet gracefully back and scalpel the edges of the stump of the nose forth and upward. There was a small sound and wraps the piece of skin from the cheek and a drop of water came out. The doctor carefully all around it, and sews it at the spoke a few words to comfort the patient

17 and moistened the eye with milk. He scratched the pupil with the tip or the lancet, without hurting, and then drove the ‘slime’ towards the nose. The patient got rid of the ‘slime’ by drawing it into his nose. It was a matter of joy for the patient that he could see objects through his operated eye and the doctor drew the lancet out slowly. He then laid cotton soaked in fat on the wound and the patient lay still with the operated eye ban- daged. It was the patient’s left SUSRUTA OPERATING A PATIENT eye and the doctor used his right hand for the operation. “The first infirmities. They are well taken care of, and a written description of the cataract and its doctor attends them; food and medicine be- treatment in the West appears in 29 AD ing supplied according to their wants. Thus in On Medicine, the work of the Latin en- they are made quite comfortable, and when cyclopedist Cornelius Celsus. Physicians they are well, they may go away.” used his book for 1,700 years. As recently “The earliest hospital in Europe,” says as the middle of this century, couching historian Vincent A. Smith “is said to have was still practiced in Egypt, India, and been opened in the tenth century.” Tibet. ANIMAL MEDICINE MATERIA MEDICA Ayurveda not only dealt with diseases of The materia medica of Ayurveda is very human being but also that of animal king- extensive. Herbal, Animal and Mineral dom and plants. Alleviating the sufferings of substances were used as medicine. Vari- all living being was the goal of Ayurveda. ous methods and instruments were used to GAVAYURVEDA prepare drugs and to isolate active principle Gouthama’s Gavayurveda is a book, from organic materials. Weighing balances which deals only with the medical aspects and measuring jars were used to take ex- of cows. act quantity of materials for preparation of medicines. ASWAYURVEDA Apart from oral there were other methods Shalihotran is the father of ancient of administration of drugs like external ap- Indian veterinary science. An expert in plications, vasti-injection through rectum treating horses, he had written Shalihotra or urethra., Dhumapana-inhalation, Nasya samhita, which contains about 1200 verses karma-snuffing andDhupana- fumigation of and most of it deals with horses. wounds and ulcers. Aswavaidyakam of Jaya Dutta Suri and Aswasastram of Nakula were based on this ANCIENT HOSPITALS text. The former is a voluminous text with Bharat was the first nation to establish 68 chapters and deals with the classifica- hospitals, and for centuries they were the tion of horses and their characters, salient only people in the world who maintained features, diseases and treatment. In Naku- them. The Chinese traveler, Fa-hien, la’s text many information regarding vari- speaking of a hospital he visited in Pat- ous aspects of horses are compiled together. aliputra says: “Hither come all poor and It contains on the anatomical structure of helpless patients suffering from all kinds of

18 horses, which reveals the sound knowledge The Siddha system of medicine is the that was available at that time. system of medicine popular in South India especially in Tamil Nadu. According to HASTYAYURVEDA epics, Maharshi Agasthya crossed moun- Elephants were used for carrying loads tains of Vindhyas to reach Tamil Nadu and and in war. Hastyayurveda of Palakapya settled in South India. This could be per- is a text on treatment of elephants. It is as haps an indication of peaceful north Indian big as Charaka Samhita. migration and settlement in South India. VRIKSHAYURVEDA Agasthyan practised Siddha and refined It gives us information about plants. We it in the North Indian style thus a unique get information on this branch of Ayurveda Siddha system was evolved. This system scattered in many textbooks. A chapter is practised widely even today in countries in Sarangadhara’s medical text ‘Upavana like Srilanka, Singapore, Myanmar, Tibet Vinodam’ deals with this branch. Susrutha and in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Samhita, Upasakaram of Sankara Misra, Maharashtra within the country. Brahat Samhita and Manu Samhita also The science of chemistry was well devel- contains knowledge regarding botanical oped in the Siddha system. They used many sciences. metallic compounds including mercury In these books there are references of and arsenic effectively in practice. In Sid- creating new species of plants with required dha system, there are 25 types of salts, 64 characters. It is really surprising that our types of rare rocks, 9 metals, 120 metallic ancestors had thought two thousand years salts and 1009 types of herbs applied for ago, of the techniques practised by bota- preparing medicines. Mercury was used in nists today. the treatment of venereal diseases and arsenic in the treatment of leprosy. Siddhanar SIDDHA MEDICINE Krithikal written by Siddhars in Tamil is a treasure house of knowledge of medicine, chemistry and related subjects. There are more than 500 medical works containing over 3000 valuable formulae, composed of five lakh stanzas. These books written thousands of years before Christ reveals the depth of knowledge Indians had in chemistry. MODERN MEDICINE It was the Portuguese who first introduced the modern medicine to India, when Albuquerque founded the Royal Hospital in Goa in 1510. Although the Portuguese brought modern medicine first, it was the French and later the British who established and consolidated it in India widely and firmly. But all the efforts of the colonial rulers in establishing modern medical institutions were guided by the need to protect the health of Europeans. surgical instruments described in susruta samhita All the early hospitals were military

19 hospitals. The first hospital established One of the oldest and deadliest diseases by East India Company was at Madras in of recorded history - the small pox had 1664. One in Bombay in 1670 and another no cure in any system of medicine. But in Calcuttain 1707 followed this. inoculation, a preventive measure against The earliest reference we find of the small pox, was extensively practised long establishment of any hospital meant for before the British arrival. This variolation treating the sick native civilians was that of - inoculation with small pox matter, had General Native Hospital founded in 1792 at made most of natives resistant to the dis- Calcutta. This was the result of the realiza- ease. Thus small children and Europeans tion of the rulers that if their surroundings became the easy target for the disease. A remained diseased, and uncared for, it was later estimate by the Superintendent Gen- difficult to fully protect themselves even at eral of Vaccine in 1804 noted that fatalities their secluded and spacious hill station among the inoculated counted one in 200 and civil lines. among the Indian population and one in By the middle of 19th century the num- 60 to 70 among the Europeans. There is ber of hospitals increased considerably. an explanation for this divergence. Most of So also the number of patients attending the Europeans objected to the inoculation hospitals increased. In spite of all these, the on theological grounds mortality among the natives was very much In 1796 Edward Jenner discovered a higher than the Europeans. The official vaccine for small pox. Jennerian vaccina- explanation for the high rate of mortality tion was introduced in India in 1802 and among the natives was that Europeans had the Britishers tried to spread the vaccina- a better constitutional build up. But the tion by all means. The native inoculations, actual reason was, while the best medical in the eyes of Britishers, suddenly got treatment was provided to Europeans, the metamorphosed into ‘disease spreaders’ condition of hospitals meant for natives and ‘murders’. The government banned were deplorable. inoculation and gave all support to vac- British rule was not only political slav- cination. ery for India but it initiated the process (Now smallpox has been eliminated from of subjugation and captivation of India’s the world. The last Indian smallpox victim traditional scientific systems by the fast was found in 1975 May 17th and an im- developing modern scientific systems of ported case from Bangladesh was detected the west. With the colonial power at the in 1975 May 25th. On April, 1977 India was apex, the western sciences, without fac- declared free of small pox. On 1980, May ing any recognizable resistance, gradually 8 WHO declared small pox as eradicated dethroned and out-distanced the indig- from the world.) enous scientific systems. For the creation and maintenance of the CHOLERA empire, the British had to conquer diseases Though Cholera was known in Asia and also. Preservation of European health in Europe much before the British arrival in new and hostile lands was colonial medi- India, its appearance in extremely virulent cine’s first responsibility. Though the name and fatal form was properly recorded only in given to efforts in this direction was tropical the first quarter of ninteenth century. The medicine, there was hardly anything tropi- first full and accurate account of Cholera cal about it. Most of the so-called tropical epidemic dates back to the outbreak of the diseases cholera, plague, small pox, etc. disease in 1817. The outbreak of Cholera were found in Europe as well. in 1861 was the worst ever epidemic and resulted in the highest fatalities the European SMALLPOX army had experienced, when one tenth of the

20 British troop perished in north India. Kherawar in Rajasthan, a place free of mos- As a result of the sanitary measures quito. Finally after Dr. Manson intervened, taken, the army camps slowly became free leave was granted to Ross, but he was asked of Cholera. But epidemics continued to to study Kala azar also. “Columbus having rage among the general population. sighted America was ordered off to discover the North Pole” was Ross’s remark on this Even though Cholera was very frequent instruction. in India, no research was carried out on this desease. In 1883 a German Commis- The government failed to take steps to sion led by Robert Koch discovered Cholera control Malaria based on the new discov- bacilli in Egypt and visited Calcutta in the ery. It was a time when, more than 13 lakh same year to confirm his discovery. people were dying per year from malaria. The number of diseased should have been The government did not bother to take much more. preventive steps even after the causative In sheer frustration Ross retired from organism became known. In 1892 the Rus- IMS in 1899 and went back to England sian born French trained bacteriologist W. where he served as professor of Tropical M. Haffkine developed anticholera vaccine. medicine in Liver pool University. The Indian authorities offered him facilities for a trial. Trials proved that vaccine was PLAGUE effective. But government did not take up Plague called as Mahamari was known inoculation measures on an extensive basis to Indians from very early times. There are because of cost considerations. references in Bhagawat Purana (BC 1500- MALARIA 800), that those houses should be aban- doned soon, once dead rats are spotted. Important discoveries regarding malaria The first record of plague as an epidemic were done in India. In 1897 Sir Ronald Ross was during the invasion of Muhammed in discovered the life cycle of malarial parasite AD 1031-1032. During subsequent inva- in mosquito. This discovery had thrown sion also there used be plague epidemics open the methods to control malaria. in India. Sir Ronald Ross was born in India at Before 1896 plague affected India rather Almore in Kumaon hills situated about the mildly. In 1895 - 1896 plague reached In- centre of the Great Himalayas, northeast of dia from Hong Kong and spread very fast. Nepal on 18th May 1857. His father was The British authorities instead of taking a distinguished officer in the Indian Army. measures to tackle the disease here were Ross joined Indian Medical Services in 1893. more interested in preventing the disease He carried out his experiments on transmis- from spreading to Europe. sion of Malaria by mosquitos, virtually alone Under international pressure the govern- and without a word of sympathy or a pat ment summoned W.M. Haffkine who had by his superiors. On August 20, 1897 after already acquired fame with the discovery of years of ceaseless toil, Ross claimed with cholera prophylatic to produce antiplague proof that the culprit was the anopheles vaccine. Within a period of 3 months, in mosquito and demonstrated the parasite on 1897 January, Haffkine came out with an the outer wall of its stomach. Few months effective anti-plague inoculation. As usual later he solved the last riddle of transmis- government did not show much interest in sion by describing the way how the parasite the discovery. Hoffkine emotionally drained reaches the salivary gland of mosquito and out and spent his old age in loneliness and how it passes into the blood of victims. in company of Judaism. (In 1994 plague re- His request for special leave to pursue emerged in India after a gap of 28 years.) his research was rejected and soon he was transferred from Perumbur in Madras to MEDICAL EDUCATION

21 It was in 1822 that the East India Com- PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY pany established the first Medical School Consumption of European medicines in Calcutta. Similar schools were started kept increasing enormously as number of in Bombay in 1826 and in Madras in 1827. hospitals increased. But of all the British To begin with, instruction was imparted medical activities, pharmacy (the science of through the medium of Sanskrit or Urdu. A compounding and dispensing drugs) and controversy arose regarding medium of in- drug manufacturing were the slowest to struction. A committee was appointed and grow, mature and expand in the country. it was decided that the instruction should Hospitals and dispensary suppliers of allo- be in English. By the end of 9th century pathic drugs almost entirely depended upon we had four medical colleges. the imports from Britain. Even the drugs Even though more and more natives common to the British Pharmacopoeia and came forward for modern medical educa- Indian Pharmacopoeia were denied the op- tion, they had to face very severe discrimi- portunities of indigenous production. In nation regarding employment and salary. the Medical Schools and Colleges of India, Native doctors were called ‘Medical coolies’ pharmacology was never taken seriously. ‘Black doctors’ etc. At least till 1832 native But at the same time this branch of medi- doctors, when at fault, were subjected to cine was making rapid progress in Europe flogging by the officers of the regiments like and America. ordinary native sepoys. In pay and other In India drug manufacturing could take allowances the natives were far behind a start only towards the end of 19th cen- Europeans. tury at the initiative of Acharya Prafulla This did not mean that Indians were Chandra Ray, the eminent chemist who less qualified or less efficient. They were wrote ‘History of Hindu Chemistry’. He found equal to the best in Europe. To site started his company in 1892 at Calcutta one example, after examining the chemis- with a modest capital of Rs. 700 only. In try students of Calcutta Medical College, the beginning of the 20th century several J.Princep wrote to the director of Indian others firms cropped up following the lead medical service, “The extent and accuracy taken by Acharya P. C. Ray. of the information on the single subject selected to test the aptitudes of the pupils has far surpassed my expectations and I do not think that in Europe any class of chemical pupils would be found capable of passing a better examination”.

  

‘‘Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.’’ Thoreau (American Thinker)

22 Plastic Surgery In Ancient India

From 1769 AD to 1799 AD, four Mysore for the Vaidya and asked him to reconstruct Wars were fought between Hyder Ali and the nose of Kawasajee and others. his son Tipu Sultan and the British. As a The operation was performed near Pune result of these wars the British learnt two in the presence of two English doctors. very important Indian techniques-rocketry Thomas Cruso and James Findlay. An il- and plastic surgery. Both these Indian lustrated account of this operation, carried techniques were further improved first out by an unnamed Vaidya, appeared in the in England and then in other European Madras Gazette. Subsequently, the article countries. How the British learnt the art was reproduced in the Gentleman’s Maga- of Indian plastic surgery is a fascinating zine of London in October 1794. This article story. fired the imagination of the young English surgeon J.C. Carpue, who after gathering ''INDIAN NOSE'' more information on the “Indian nose” per- A Maratha cart-driver, Kawasajee, who formed two similar operations in 1814 with had served the British, and four tilanges successful results. After Carpue published (Indian soldiers of British army) had fallen his account, Graefe, a German surgeon, into the hands of the Sultan of Srirangapat- performed similar plastic operations of the tanam. Their noses and right arms were nose using skin from the arms. After this cut off as a punishment for serving the plastic surgery became popular throughout enemy. They were sent back to the English Europe. All replacement operations which command. use a flap of skin in the immediate victinity After some days, of the loss are known as when dealing with an Indian plastic surgery. Indian merchant, the English command- PLASTIC SURGERY ing officer noticed Plastic surgery has that he had a pecu- little to do with plastics, liar nose and scar the synthetic substances on his forehead. On so common today. The inquiry, he learnt term ‘plastic’, derived that the merchant’s from the Greek plas- nose had been cut tikos, means to mould off as a punishment or shape. The task of for adultery and plastic surgery is to re- that he had a sub- store the appearance stitute nose made and function of parts by a Maratha Vaidya of the body destroyed of the Kumhar (pot- or damaged by disease ter) caste. The com- or injury. Contrary to manding officer sent nasal plastic surgery performed by kawasajee popular belief, plastic or

23 reconstructive surgery is not merely cos- hana, Chikitsashana and Kalpasthana. metic surgery but an important discipline Besides, the compendium contains an ap- that aims of correcting all sorts of physical pendix, called Uttaratantra, consisting of deformities. Though a very old technique, 66 chapters. plastic surgery has made great strides only after the first World War. OTOPLASTY In ancient Europe, there was no tradition The plastic operations of otoplasty (plas- of plastic operations. The plastic operation tic surgery of the ear) and rhinoplasty (plas- on nose done by Branca in 1442 was very tic surgery of the nose) are described in the similar to the one described in the Sush- 16th chapter of the first book (Sutrastha- ruta-Samhita, an Ayurvedic compendium nam) of the compendium. First, methods composed in the early centuries of the are described for piercing the ear-lobes of Christian era. In India, from ancient times an infant which still is a widespread prac- to the early nineteenth century, we find a tice in India. Often these ear-lobes, due to living tradition of plastic operations of the the use of heavy ornaments, get consider- nose, ear and lip. The Kangra (correctly ably expanded and ultimately sunder. Su- pronounced as ‘Kangada’) district in Him- shruta has described 15 methods of joining achal Pradesh was famous for its plastic these cut-up ear-lobes. For these plastic surgeons. Some scholars are of the opin- operations, called Karnabandha, a piece ion that the world ‘Kangada’ is made from of skin was taken from the cheek, turned ‘Kana + gadha’ (ear repair). The British back, and suitably stiched on the lobules. archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham Further treatment of the operation, periodic (1814-93) has written about the tradition of dressing of the wound and the use of vari- Kangra plastic operations. We have infor- ous ointments is elaborately described. mation that in the reign of Akbar a Vaidya MINOPLASTY named Bidha used to do plastic operations In describing the method of minoplasty in Kangra. (Karnabandha), Sushruta says that the PLASTIC SURGERY IN THE SAMHI- portion of the nose to be covered should be first measured with a leaf. Then a piece TAS of skin of the required size should be dis- The Carakasamhita and the Sushrutas- sected from the living skin of the cheek, and amhita are among the oldest known treatise turned back to cover the nose, keeping a on Ayurveda. Chronologically, Carakasam- small pedicle attached to the cheek. The hita is believed to be an earlier work, and part of the nose to which the skin is to be deals with medicine properly containing a attached should be made raw by cutting of few passages on surgery. The Sushrutas- the nasal stump with a knife. The physician amhita, a work of the early centuries of the then should place the skin on the nose and Christian era, mainly deals with surgical stitch the two parts swiftly, keeping the skin knowledge. The exact Sushurtasamhita is, properly elevated by inserting two tubes of according to its commentator Dalhanacha- “eranda” (the castor-oil plant) in the posi- rya (twelth century AD), a recension by Na- tion of the nostrils, so that the new nose garjuna. The original Sushrutasamhita was gets proper shape. The skin thus properly based on a series of discourses of Kashiraj adjusted, should then be sprinkled with Divodas (or Dhanvantari) to his disciples, a powder composed of liquorice, red san- Sushruta and others. dal-wood and barberry plant. Finallly, it There has been a tradition to divide the should be covered with cotton, and clean Ayurveda works into 120 chapters. the sesame oil should be constantly applied to Susrutasamhita also contains 120 chap- it. After some days the wound heals up and ters, groupued into five sthanas (books): the grafting is successful. Sushruta also Sutrastana, Nidanasthana, Sharirast-

24 mentions the reconstruction of the broken nose. The development of plastic surgery lip and harelip (Oshtha-sandhana). is closely connected with the operative techniques used in the field known as rhi- PLASTIC SURGERY MARCHES AHEAD noplasty. Thus, plastic surgery is a very old sci- After getting fresh impetus from India, ence. It is, however, difficult to say when plastic surgery has made great progress in the first plastic operations on man were the past two hundred years. In 1933 the perfomed. Primitive man knew how to do first international congress of plastic sur- grafting in plants. This might have given gery was held in Paris. Basically, the task him the idea of transferring tissues in man of plastic surgery is to restore the parts of and animals. The necessity arose when the body destroyed or damaged by disease he lost such parts of his body as the nose, or injury. But in recent years, “cosmetic which has been a common form of injury surgery” as beauty treatment has become in all periods of history. In olden days, re- very fashionable. Anyway, we should always moval of the nose was also one of the most remember that the sources of modern plas- common form of punishment. Manu, the tic surgery are in the Sustrutasamhita and famous lawgiver, mentions the ears and it was from India the Europeans learnt the the nose among the ten parts of the body technique of rhinoplasty. on which punishments are to be executed (Manusmruti:8125). Thus it became a social (Courtesy: Ganakar Muley, Dream 2047, necessity to find a substitute for the lost Vigyan Prasar, New Delhi)   

‘‘India is the cradle of the human race, the birth place of human speech, the mother of history, the grand mother legend and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.’’ Mark Twain

25 Chemistry and Chemical Technology in India

Introduction in several technologies involving melting, Chemistry has been hailed as a practical smelting, casting, calcination, sublimation, art from time immemorial and promoted steaming, fixation and fermentation. There in all parts of the world. Chemistry is es- were experts in the preparation of a variety sentially an experimental science and has of metallic salts, compounds and alloys, helped mankind to prepare and manufac- pharmaceutical preparations, perfumery ture their required articles making use of as well as cosmetics. the natural resources like minerals, forest and agricultural products. Chemistry has Technology Drain also helped mankind to prepare remedies It is appropriate to mention that it is to cure diseases and improve the health of the Muslims, who took much of the In- both animals and human: Chemistry has dian chemistry, medicine, astronomy and thus developed from both industry and mathematics and other branches of science medicine. and technology to near east and then to Today chemistry and chemical technol- Europe. It is well established that the secret ogy contribute about 10% to the national of manufacturing of Damascus-Steel was income (GNP) of different countries of the taken by the Arabs from Persians and the world including India. Most of the chemical Persians from India. industries established in our country even Chemical Excellence in Indus Valley after independence are based on the costly Archaeological excavations at Mohen- imported technology of multinationals of jodaro in Sindh (now in Pakistan) and the industrially advanced countries. This Harappa in Punjab (also now in Pakistan) trend continues even today. have shown that the people of the Indus Excellence of Steel Valley Civilization (2500-1800 BC) were India was considered to be the industrial skilled in employing a wide variety of chemi- workshop of the world till the end of the cal processes. Bricks, water-pots, vessels, 18th century. Everyone is familiar with the jars, earthenwares, faience, terracotta, chemical excellence of cast iron produced in jewellery, metal-vessels and implements, ancient and medieval India. The tempering seals, painted pots, chrome glazed pottery of steel was brought to perfection in India and glass vessels and many other items when it was unknown to Europe. Alexan- have been found. The Indus Valley people der received a precious gift of 30 pounds of used mortar consisting of lime, gypsum and not gold but of steel from the Indian king. sand plaster as construction materials for India was the leader of several chemical building houses and mansions. In metal and pharmaceutical industries including working also the Indus people were experts dyeing, tanning, soap making, glass and in casting and forging. Copper and bronze ceramics, cement and metallurgy. Indi- (an alloy of copper and tin) were utilized ans were far ahead of European experts for making tools and weapons, domestic utensils, statuets, bangles, finger-rings,

26 ture consumer articles for every day life such as paper, textiles, soap and deter- gents, plastics, medicines, mettallurgy and several other industries. Today over million tons of caustic soda is manufactured in India every year from sea salt by an electrochemical process. Our ancestors in India however, prepared this essential com- modity from wood ashes and line stones and sea shells. The details of the method of preparation of Alkali are described in Susrutha Samhita. Rasa Vidya Several methods of preparation of variety of chemicals and drugs are given in old works on Indian Alchemy, known as 'Rasa Vidya', after a large number of trails and the layout of the laboratory ear-rings, amulets, wires and rods. Gold errors. These experiments were conducted and silver were used for jewellery and or- in a Chemical laboratory is described in one namental vessels. Later excavations have of the most well known works on ancient unearthed specimens of iron implements. Indian chemistry 'Rasaratna Samuchaya'. Recent excavations in several other parts of Laboratory India have revealed similar objects hidden Yantras under the ground. There were more than 32 pieces of ap- It is evident that the technology of ex- paratus used for chemical and pharma- tracting Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Tin and ceutical investigations and they are called Yantras. Descriptions of only two Yantras viz. Kosthi Yantra and Tiryak Patana Yantra are given for illustration. Kosthi Yantra Furnace having the width of 17 angulas and length and height of one hasta (18")

PAVED BATHROOM AND BRICKWALL MOHENJO-DARO (C. 3300bc)

Iron was known and that there were professional experts who were smiths, potters, carpenters and chariot builders. However, we do not find the details of metallurgical operations in the ancient literature. Preparation of Alkali Causatic Alkalis play an important role in our daily modern life. They are essential for a variety of industries which manufac- kosthi yanthra

27 and uniform on all sides is known as Kosthi gave stimulus for experimentation and also Yantra. It is used for extracting the metal for exaggerated claims. For instance, one content from ores and minerals. chemist claims that he has produced gold from copper in one of these experiments. Tiryak Patana Yantra The chemicals are placed in a vessel Corrosion provided with a long tube inserted in an The Indians observed that base metals like iron easily undergo corrosion while the noble metals do not. In their as- sessment among the six metals gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead, the resistance to waste (corrosion) is in the order in which they have been named. This conforms to the present day electrochemical series. The noble metals were therefore extensively used for jewelry and coins. Alum Ancient Indian chemists were very familiar with the preparation, properties and

tiryak patana yantra use of the Alum [K2SO4A12(SO4)3. 24 H2O]. It was used an astringent for the treatment of inclined position. Mouth of the vessels and eyesore. Alum was extensively used in the the joints are luted with clay and cloth. textile industry for fixing the colour of the Strong fire is put at the bottom of the vessel. madder root as a mordant. This appartus is used for distillation. Alum was also known as 'Saurastra Lava- A modified type of appartatus Dekhi na'. It occurs extensively in Gujarat. This was Yantra was also in use. mined not only to meet the local demands but also to export to other countries. Rasa Sastras Several preparations were made from Scientific Debates materials of mineral, plant and animal ori- It was customary in ancient India to hold gin which were extensively used in medicine periodic conferences to discuss scientific and industry. One of the most important and technical works. Caraka makes its chemical activity carried out in such a well obligatory for the medical experts to meet equipped laboratory was known as the kill- periodically and hold discussions. He also ing of metals. Sulphur was used to 'kill' all prescribes the procedure for debates in the metals and sulphur was known as the greater detail in Caraka Samhita. enemy of metals (copper) . Sulphur is com- Caraka says: "One should have friendly pared to a lion and a metal to an elephant. discussions with persons of learning pos- "Just like a lion kills an elephant so the sessing scientific knowledge, proper argu- sulphur kills all the metals". ment, who do not get irritated, who are The main goal of all experiments de- endowed with correct knowledge, who are scribed in Rasa Sastras is two fold: one competent in convincing others, who are ca- is to transform base metals to noble met- pable of facing difficult situations and who als i.e., Loha Vedha and the other is to can address in a sweet tone. One should strengthen the body and maintain in a fresh confidently discuss with such persons and and healthy state just like a youth. This is put questions to them. When he asks any- Deha Vedha or Kaya Kalpa. These ventures thing, it should be elaborately described

28 with confidence. One should not get worried facture of different perfume products such under the apprehension of getting defeated. as scented waters, oils, sticks, powders One should not rejoice by defeating his op- and essences scattered over several works. ponents. One should not boast of having de- Some of oils such as Sukumara Taila, Am- feated such opponents. One should not hold ritha Taila etc. are made of varied aromatic extreme views under delusion. One should materials. It is possible to presume that not try to describe a thing which the other scented oil was developed side by side with party does not know. One should try to bring the preparation of medicinal oils. The aro- round the other party with politeness and not matic ingredients were derived from leaves, by deception. One should be very careful to flowers, fruits, barks, woods, roots, exuda- behave politely with his opponents." tion of plants and organic products. Biotechnology Dyes and Colouring Agents In addition to these conventional chemi- As already mentioned, India was in the cal operations, many biochemical works forefront of the textile industry also till the were also in vogue from time immemorial. end of the 18th century. This was one of the The use of milk, curds, butter, butter milk, most competitive industry of the country ghee and cheese for everyday living finds and probably the most successful textile extensive mention even in vedic literature. industry of the world. Its beautiful and Intoxicating liquors were prepared by coloured textile products of cotton, silk, a fermentation process and consumed wool and jute attracted the whole world extensively during religious ceremonies from time immemorial. The Indus valley and at other social gatherings on people were acquainted with red colour several occasions. of the madder root (mangista). There were Many such alcoholic 'exhilarating and in- more than 100 colouring agents of both toxicating' beverages were extensively used mineral and vegetable origin and possibly to cure a variety of illnesses and diseases. a few of animal origin for dyeing the fabrics The beneficial and harmful effects of alco- and other articles of every day use. Indigo holic drinks were fully recognized by early was the other most famous dye extracted Indian medical experts like Charaka and from the plant 'Indigofera tinctoria' for dye- Susruta. Their works viz., Charakasam- ing various shades of blue. It may not be hita and Susrutasamhita give a charming out of place to mention that indigo planta- description of the three stages of human tion was prevalent in India on 1.6 million and animal behavior after the intake of acres of land till the beginning of 20th alocoholic drinks. Various kinds of liquors century. Germany began to manufacture are described in the above mentioned works this coveted dye with cheap industrial raw and also in Kautilya's Arthashastra. materials on a commercial scale from 1897 onwards and gained the world monopoly. Cosmetics and Perfumes This practically killed the Indian indigo India is a tropical country. It is need- industry by 1914. less to emphasize the importance of both Several vegetable dyes were derived from cleanliness and use of perfumes in every roots, trunks, woods, seeds and resin. Lac day life cutting across all the strata of is obtained by the secretion of an insect society even from early stages of civiliza- which is a parasite on some specific plants tion. Indian chemists had made significant and trees. Lac contains 10% of the red dye. contributions to the field of cosmetics and The word lac is a technical term in the dye- perfumery, right from the Vedic times down ing technology which is a conglomerate of a to the eighteenth century. dye and a mineral salt like Alum or Iron Sul- It is possible to find observations on phate that makes the dye to stick firmly to the technical details of process of manu- the fibers, which otherwise would not. The

29 mineral salt is called a mordant and Alum is Sanjivani. known as 'Raga-bandhini'. The word 'lake' has been traced to the word 'lac'. Concept of Atom There was another school in India which Theoretical Basis for the visualized that this gross universe is made Experimental Works up of tiny individual particles called atoms. While the results of the experimental Kanada was the leader of this school called works carried out by Indian Alchemists Paramanuwada. These atoms combine were appreciated, admired and applied to and give rise to different substances. Such meet the demands of the community, it is combined atoms were known as molecules worth while to speculate on the theoretical 'Anu' which can contain two atoms or three basis behind all these practical achieve- atoms. Of course the nature of the force ments. The intellectuals of ancient India that would combine these atoms was still have speculated and strenuously tried hard on speculation. It was remarkable indeed to to understand the nature of the physical find that Indians had already pictured that world and its origin. The early philosophers atoms are invisible because of the small invoked a theory to account for the variet- size. They could also estimate the size of ies of materials found in nature and also atoms in term of the known units familiar the man made articles. They visualized to them. According to the Shevetaswataro- five different elements which constitute panishat - "Tip of the human hair is divided the physical world. These are earth, water, into hundred parts and each part in its turn wind, fire, and sky/ether. These five ele- is divided into 100 parts." ments were supposed to be endowed with This works out to be roughly 10-8cm. individual characteristics (Gunas) or quali- It is amazing to find that this agrees well ties. With diverse combinations of these with the present day estimate for the size elements different materials are formed. of the atoms in terms of the Angstrom unit They tried to explain the different properties -8 and qualities on the basis of these different (10 cm = 1Å). combinations. They also speculated that Similar concepts about the elements and these elements must have evolved from a the atoms were also made in the ancient primordial matter, just as a piece of stone western world. These concepts remained can be cut out into different shapes and latent till the beginning of the 19th century. forms. They also considered the possibility It was an English school teacher Dalton, of converting a base metal like iron or lead who made use of these concepts and pos- into gold a precious metal. This is the basis tulated the atomic theory of matter. This for all the attempts made to achieve this could explain satisfactorily all the laws of goal. They also tried to find out an agent chemical combinations known at that time. which could by its touch would convert base The atomic theory of matter and the theory metal into gold 'touch stone'. of evolution of life heralded the modern Another line of approach was to keep the concept of the universe. It is unfortunate human body in good health and youthful that these theories did not originate in India condition. Experiments were conducted to in spite of such great achievements of the prepare this agent which could bring about earlier times. the youth and good health by its administration for older people. Such treatments were termed Dehavedha, Kayakalpa and   

30 Life Sciences in India

India has a rich tradition of Science and granaries to store the grains. It is almost Technology wereas development of Life certain that spinning and weaving were Sciences has been realized only recently. known to Harappans. Probably Harappans The western media and researchers dealing were the first in the world to utilize cotton with the history and evolution of biological for manufacturing clothes and garments. sciences failed to recognize the contribu- The proofs for the presence of these tion of India in this field. The information plants during Harappan period remain as on the early development of life sciences in excavated plant-remains or as motifs on India remains scattered in various literary pottery. works. Agriculture had become the main oc- cupation of the people by the Vedic period. Botanical Documents of Vedic Period The religions and social customs of that The history of documented Science and time were associated with agriculture. The Technology in India begins with Harappan Vedic Indians were aware of different kinds phase (2900 - 2800 BC). During this phase of grains, irrigation, harvest etc. They had intensive agriculture was practised in the sound knowledge of medicinal plants and Indian subcontinent. Wheat and Barley effective treatment modalities were preva- were grown as spring (rabi) crops and cot- lent. ton and sesamum as autumnal (kharif) The Vedic literature demarcated the crops. Agriculture equipment like hoes and body parts of plants into roots, shoot, wooden ploughs must be in use at Mohen- leaves, branches, flower and fruit. Fur- jodaro and Harappa ther, plants were grouped into flowering The urban civilization at that time was and non-flowering. Taittiriyasamhita and based on mass production of food grains Atharvaveda considered that the ecology of and agricultural surplus. They also prac- a particular area is determined by the plant tised mixed crop pattern. There were huge The following are the plants known to Harappans: A. Cereals : Wheat, Barley, Millets and Rice(?) B. Leguminous Plants : Peas and gram C. Oil yielding plants : Mustard and sesamum D. Fruits : Ber, Coconut, Date, Banana, Watermelon, Lemon and Pomegranate E. Timber plants : Rose wood (Dalbergia lattifoia), Acacia sp., Albizzia sp. Tectona grandis, Adina cordifolia and Soymida ferbrifuge F. Fibre-yielding plants : Cotton and bast G. Dye-yielding plants : Madder H. Miscellaneous : Reed, Bamboo, Neem, Pipal and Palm

31 community present. eeya (Apocynaceae), Kurchapushpaganeeya There are a series of flourishing literature (Compositae), etc. based on the character of in Sanskrit to deal with Medicinal plants. flowers and other morphological peculiari- The first authentic work on medicine is ties of plants. the Charaka Samhita written by Charaka in the first century AD. Charaka describes Energy Storage in Plants medicinal plants in detail in his book. He Now we know that plants synthesize reiterates that a physician should be aware their own food by the process of Photosyn- of the medicinal plants, both botanically thesis and the food (Chemical energy) is and pharmaceutically. He also proposes the stored in the body. This principle of energy term Bheshaja vidya to denote the branch storage in trees was mentioned in RigVeda of science, which describes the plant, based (II, 10-13). on their medicinal properties. The Bharatheeya Darsanas explain that plants possess biological properties such as Vrkshayurveda growth, movement, sleep, diseases, etc. In Arthasastra, Agnipurana and Bra- hasamhita there are separate chapters Phototropism and Plant Breeding dealing with Botany. Kautilya's Arthasastra The phenomenon of phototropism in narrates the role of agricultural officer.Vrk- plants is explained in Charaka Samhitha. shayurveda written between BC 100 and The process of movement of plant parts AD 100 by Parasara deals exclusively with plants. Vrkshayuveda was considered as one of the 64 arts in ancient India. There are also instances in Vedic literature describing the anatomy of plants. Vrkshayurveda narrates various transporting vessels (xylem and phloem in modern science) in plants for transporting water and nutrients. Krishitantra and Gulma Vrkshayurveda are the other books of this period dealing with plants. In post-vedic period Botany developed into a separate branch of science. The plants were believed to germinate from the fertilized seed and were classified into monocotyledonous and dictyledonous types. The role of air, water and climate (temperature) for seed germination was better realized. Parasara explained that the growing plants absorb nourishment initially from the cotyledons and then from the soil. The criteria adopted by Parasara in Vrkshayurveda for classifying plants were more elaborate and scientific compared to those of Manu, Charaka and Susrutha. He classified plants into different kulas such as Sameeganeeya (Leguminosea), Pupleekaganeeya (Rutaceae), Swasthi- kaganeeya (Crusiferae, Thripushpa- chronological and stylistic development of rock ganeeya (Cucurbitaceae), Mallikagan- paintings in india

32 towards sunlight and drooping of leaves in rice, wheat, barley and cotton figured some plants during night were described among the cultivated crops. Plough, sickle in ancient literature of medieval period. and draught animals were employed in In Samarangana Soothradhara one could agriculture operations. find the first written records about the ag- ing process in plants. Plant diseases and Rotation of Crops their treatment methods were mentioned The farmers of Vedic period practised ro- in Brahatsamhita and Agni Purana. tation of crops. The famous British botanist The Samhitas in Vedic period also men- (also, the father of Indian Botany) William tion various agricultural practices and Roxberg opines that this practice came into methods of plant breeding. It was also men- the West only very late. tioned that the seed encloses structures of In Sarangaradara's Padhati (an encyclo- mature plants in a miniature form. Now pedic Sanskrit treatise of the 13th century), we realize the role of genes in shaping the a chapter called 'Upavana-Vinoda', includes characters of organisms. several aspects of plants, Dhanvantri's Ra- janighantu and Bhavamisra's Bhavapraka- Grafting sa contain much information on medicinal The grafting technique in plant breeding plants. and its procedure for improving the quality During Mughal period rice, wheat, of plants were explained for the first time barley, millets, pulses, oil seeds, sugar in detail in Varahamihira's Brahat Samhita cane and cotton form the major cultivation. (AD 505). Millets were cultivated mainly for feed- Taxonomy ing cattle. Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) was Plant taxonomy was relatively well de- cultivated during 17th century for making veloped in medieval period. The plants were blue dyes. Plants such as Henna (Lawsonia named and classified based on morpho- inermis) and Al (Morinda tinctoria) were also logical peculiarities, special characters and cultivated for manufacturing dyes. ecology. Later, Carl Von Linnaeus, the father Sweet smelling shrubs, creepers and of modern taxonomy also adopted a similar trees were extensively cultivated in gardens methodology for classifying plant kingdom. as well as in houses. The cultivation and The ecological requirements of plants use of flowers became a part of life style. were better realized during this period. The flowers were also utilized for making The soil was classified into various types perfumes and cosmetics. based on its quality. Caraka Samhita cat- The land that does not yield a good crop egorized different kinds of plants suitable was made more productive by growing for cultivation in different areas by Debip- Egyptian beans in it. rasad Chattopadhyaya in his book History Directions were also given for sowing, to of Science and Technology in Ancient India save the seeds from diseases, mixed crop- (1991) describes that Uddalaka Aruni of the ping and grafting to increase the yield, etc. Gautama clan was the first nature-scientist The capacity of agriculture to accept new in global history as against the popular crops could be gauged through the rapid belief that science began in Ancient Greece and extensive cultivation of tobacco, maize with the teaching of the reputed sage called and a variety of fruits (cherry, pine apple Thales. He was the first person to formulate etc.) during Mughal period. Tuzuk-i-Jahan- and apply the essentials of the method of giri contains descriptions of 57 plants. experimental verification. The Europeans who came to India as traders, adventurers, missionaries and Agriculture later as colonizers have contributed to the The rice cultivation became more com- study of biological sciences in India. At mon during later Vedic period. Apart from the same time original contribution from

33 India reduced considerably in 16th to 19th ciety in Calcutta in January 1784. An Agri- centuries because of colonization, political cultural Society of India was established in unstability, lack of recognition for scientific 1820. Through the effort of Asiatic Society, pursuits, caste system and tradition-bound Indian Museum of Calcutta was founded in nature of people. 1866. It was meant for depositing plant and animal collection and documents related to Documentations on plants scientific investigations. The Dutch medical doctor Garcia da Orta studied the medicinal plants of Goa The Indian Association of Cultivation and published a book called Cologuios dos of Science in Calcutta founded in 1876 by simples e drogas he caucase medicinalis Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar provided laborato- da India in 1563. A traditional medical ry facilities and became one of the foremost practitioner, Itty Achuthan from Kerala, scientific research centres in the country. collected numerous plants and provided Bombay Natural History Society (1883), descriptions. These were compiled, edited Agricultural Society of India (1890) Indian with drawings and published by Heinrich Botanical Society (1920) Botanical Survey Van Reed Drackenstine, the then Gover- of India (1930) and National Academy of nor of Malabar East India Company in his Sciences (1938) were the other institutions book Horthus Malabaricus in 1686 - 1703 engaged in botanical investigations. period in 12 volumes. This is the first text By the beginning of 20th century, a series book dealing with the plants of Kerala more of universities and colleges were established systematically. Linnaeus followed this for in the country. However, science education classifying Indian plants in his work Species remained as a dream for majority of Indi- plantarum. Dutch scientists such as George ans. The first Indian contribution on plant Everhand Rumphins, Paul Hermann and sciences came from Jagadeesh Chandra John Hermann also published their works Bose. He fabricated an instrument called on the plants of Kerala. crescograph to record very minute growth The plants collection of Hermann were rate in plants. He studied the responses of supplied to Linnaeus by the Dannish King. stimuli on plant and some nonliving objects Linnaeus included the details (which con- and published a book titled Comparative tained many new generia) in his work Flora Electrophysiology in 1938. zealanicum. In post independence era, however, the John Gerald Koening, student of Lin- plant sciences became more diversified. naeus, first used Linnaeon classification New technologies were adopted and em- to Indian plants. First Botanical Garden ployed domestically. As a result of the Green in India was started at Calcutta by Rober Revolution (thanks to Dr. M.S. Swamina- Kead. Later the famous British botanist than) the era of "ship to mouth" or "begging William Roxberg became the Director of the bowl" was over and India is now self-suf- garden and he prepared a catalog of 3,500 ficient in food grain production. species of plants in the garden. Roxberg was Zoological Sciences in Ancient India known as Indian Linnaeus. Roxberg made The examination of bones from excava- the famous contribution entitled Plantae tion, haematite drawings of animals on Coromandelinae in 1795 and subsequently rocks, depiction of animals on seal, toys was known as the father of Indian Botany. and paintings over pottery reveal the great Later in 1814 William Cary published interest of Harappans on the animals sur- Roxberg's findings in the book Horthus rounding them. Close observation of nature bengalensis. and peaceful co-existence with fellow organ- The public interest in India in scientific isms enabled them to draw these pictures research, adopting new technologies actu- so precisely. Indepth knowledge of the or- ally began with the foundation of Asiatic So- ganism surrounding them and sustainable

34 utilisation of natural resources were part of almost essential in connection with vedic their existence. rituals which eventually led to the better They successfully domesticated humped understanding of anatomy. Sarira-padmini and humpless cattle, buffalo, ass, sheep, by Bhaskarabhatta is a work on anatomy. goat, camel, pig, dog, cat, domestic fowl, The digestion of food inside the stomach black patridge and probably horse in the and the circulation of nutrients in various later days of their civilization. The wildlife parts of the body through blood vessels are depicted on the art material of India's civi- explained in Charaka samhita. It is men- lization includes rhinoceros, Indian bison, tioned in Mahabharatha that the food we various species of deer, jackal, wolf, tiger consume is responsible for maintenance and probably lion (The haematite drawings of body temperature (Agnir nasyathyabho- show that rhinos were once distributed janath). According to Yogavasista the oxi- throughout the country.) In total 41 spe- dation of food yields body heat and oxygen cies of mammals, 31 species of molluscs, is capable of moving through the arteries 12 of reptiles, 2 of birds and one coral have without any hindrance. These explain the been identified. Their interest in fishing is understanding of human physiology during attested by the finding of fish hooks and Vedic period. depiction of fishing nets over the pottery. In Vedic period animals were categorised Veterinary Sciences based on their morphology and behavioural Reports also indicate that veterinary sci- patterns. Mc Donald and Keith recognised ence is a very ancient science in India. A nearly 260 species of animals from Vedic classical work on the treatment of elephant literature. is Gajayurveda by Palakapya, an ancient In Puranas python was known as Ajagar sage Aswa sastra (Aswayurveda) deals with (one who swallows goat). The Indian koel methodologies for treating horses. Salihotra which deposits egg in the nest of crow was is supposed to be the first propagator of this known in ancient classics as Anyavapa. science. In Agnipurana there is a chapter The spiders were known as Oonanabha as on the treatment of cattle. Susrutha de- they produce silk fibers from the abdomen. scribed fishes based on their morphology These are some of the examples depicting and locomotion. Kautilya in Arthasastra the close observation of animals by the described various methods of fish culture Vedic Indians. In Rig Veda the croaking of and capture. Since the concept of ahimsa frogs was believed to forecast rain. Simi- became deep rooted in Jaina-Budha pe- larly, reporting the toxic effect of snake bite riod. Abhayaranyas (national parks) were and winter sleep of snakes could be located established for the first time to project wild in Rig Veda. animals. The medical books of Charaka and In post Vedic literature nature and liv- Susrutha document almost all the animals ing organisms were narrated beautifully. known till that time. Zoology, human biol- Though animals were classified into various ogy, taxonomy, physiology and nutrition categories in Atharva veda and Taittiriyas- are some of the aspects dealt with in these amhita, a more or less scientific approach books. was followed in Chadogyo-panishath in which animals are classified intoJeevana or The description of human anatomy given Jarayuja (those born live), Udbhija (those in Susrutha samhita is so precise to enable formed by budding) and Andaja (those one to do the surgery. The number and formed by hatching from eggs). arrangement of arteries and veins in hu- In Manusmrithi organisms were catego- man body are mentioned in both Charaka rised into Sthavara (mobile) and Jangama samhita and Susrutha samhita. (immobile) and the latter was grouped in Ja- The dissection of animal bodies was rayuja, andaja and daswetha (those formed

35 from the heat and moisture of earth). The with Zoology in 1712 verses describing the great Indian philosopher Prasasthapada characteristics of birds and animals. classified animals generally into Ayonija Mughal emperors were expert hunters; (asexual) and Yonija (sexual). they had horses, dogs and kites to help Development of embryos also aroused them in hunting. Akbar hunted nearly interest among Vedic Indians. Probably 9,000 cheetahs and ironically, no cheetahs Garbhopanishath is the first book in the remain in India today. Many mughal em- world dealing with human development. perors kept private zoos. Susrutha and Charaka believed that fertil- Animal husbandry was well developed ized eggs carry the primitive form of all the during Mughal period. The breeding was organisms. They also suggested transmis- undertaken for elephant, camels, ox, hors- sion of hereditory characters. The hypoth- es, buffaloes, cow, goat and poultry. Jahan- eses forwarded by Charaka and Susrutha gir in his book Tuzuki Jahangiri explained 1,600 to 1,800 years ago without even the experiments in breeding animals. He was support of proper experiments could be com- also interested in storing the information pared to the Darwin's theory of evolution. about the animals he found in the form The ideas framed by observing nature of paintings. Dodo, the extinct Mouritian and living organism were documented in bird also appeared in the paintings of his the Middle Ages. In his book Manasikollasa period. King Somasekhara described sport fish- Zoological investigations became more ing in a separate chapter. Famous Indian scientific by 18th century, i.e., after the Ichthyologist Hora opined that this book is invasion of Europeans. However, Zoology unique even now. was not as much developed as Botany dur- Mrgapakshisastra by Hamsadeva, (13th ing this period. Asiatic Society and Bombay century AD) was the only book in this period Natural History Society pioneered zoological dealing exclusively with Zoology. It deals

36 investigations. General Wellesly started a vessel investigators under the leadership of College at Fort William by 19th century for Lt. Colonel Alcock brought to light several studying animals. marine organisms, particularly corals and The first comprehensive volume deal- crustaceans. He published the research ing with the fauna of India was published finding in his book "Materials for a Carcino- by W.T. Branford and his colleagues in logical Fauna of India" in 6 volumes. Even between 1888 and 1891. Investigators now this remains as a reference book to such as W. Theobald (molluscs, amphib- study the crabs of Indian Ocean. ians and snakes), S.Benson (molluscs), In the modern era biological sciences I Hunter (molluscs), G.Neveel (estuarine underwent drastic transformation and molluscs), H. Godwin Austin (birds), G.E. now it is not just Botany and Zoology alone Dobson (mammals), McClelland (fishes), but collusion of various subjects such as A.L. Adams (mammals), Jerdon (birds physics, chemistry and technology. In and mammals), A.O. Hume (birds), Ham- the post independent period many indi- ilton-Buchanan (mainly fishes), Rond viduals and institutions in India started (bears), R.C. Roten (rodents), Moore etc. investigating biological sciences in detail. butterflies), Anderson (rats) and Walsh Green revolution, white revolution and (spiders and ants) contributed to the blue revolution yielded good results. Yet understanding of faunal elements in In- there are handicaps as even the biological dia. diversity of the country in some ecosystems The first authentic book on the fish remain unrecorded. Further, the quality fauna of India was by Sir Francis Day pub- of original research in many fields remain lished during 1875-78. Investigations on the sub-standard. marine ecosystem with the help of research

Table 1 Zoology books published during 19th century from India Sl Name of Book Author Year No. 1. Catalog of mammals of Maharashtra Waltor Eliot 1839 2. Catalog of Birds E. Blyth 1852 3. Mammals E. Blyth 1863 4. Birds of India T. C. Jerdan 1862-63 5. Stray Feathers A. O. Hume 1873-88 6. The Fishes of India Francis Day 1875-78 7. Game Bird of India, Burma and Ceylon Marshall 1879-81 8. Indian Lepidoptera Hevinston and Moore 1879-88 9. Butterflies of India, Burma and Ceylon Marshall and De Nicenilla 1882-90 10. Natural History of the Mammalia of Sterndale 1884 India and Ceylon 11. Avifauna of British India Murray 1888-90   

37 Agriculture in India

Agriculture is the process of producing document touching the various aspects food, feed, fiber, fuel and other goods by the of farming. We are to perceive Kasyapa’s systematic raising of plants and animals. Krishisookthi as a basic work forming the It can also be defined as The science, art, foundation of this. It is accepted by all, and business of cultivating soil, produc- that the period of Brihatsamhita is fifth ing crops, and raising livestock; farming. century B.C. But no one could so far as- Agriculture was started by man during the certain when the book Krishi sookthi was neolithic age which is just ten thousand written. If the author of Krishi sookthi is years old. It was agriculture which made the Kasyapa Muni mentioned in Vedas and man to reside permanently at one place. It Purnas, it would be a pre-Vedic period that was with the beginning of agriculture that would suit the work. domestic life, art and culture, science and so on originated and developed.

Harappan-Mohanjodaro Civilization-the Cradle of World Agriculture. Mohanjodaro-Harappa is considered as the world's oldest civilization. Evidences from there tells clearly that there was cultivation of wheat, barley, sesamum, datepalm etc. in India thousand of years ago and hence Mohanjodaro is considered as the craddle of world's agriculture. In- dia is the birthplace of cotton cultivation and cotton textiles. The sudden decline of Harappan-Mohanjodaro townships which were the first man made township of the world was due to the destruction of forests also. Varieties of timber trees were grown which were used to make furniture, sailing boats, coffins etc. Burned bricks were made to construct multi storied buildings. Kasyapa’s ‘Krishisookthi’ ‘Krishisookthi’ written by Kasyapa is a very ancient book giving detailed information on ancient farming in India. There are several references of the ancient work in Varahamihiras Brihatsamhita. Vrkshay- urveda is an important chapter of Brihat- samhita. Vrkshayurveda is an authentic iron objects used in agriculture (330 BC)

38 The maize ears recovered from Mexican zone planning for scientific management of caves have been officially recognised as regional resources to meet the food, fiber, belonging to 4400 B.C. Then it must be fodder and fuel wood is done by scientists. thousands of years earlier that a group of There are such fifteen major zones. people from India had migrated there with the original wild species of those maize Green revolution varieties and American cotton varieties. It The Green Revolution was the worldwide must have been after their settlement in transformation of agriculture that led to sig- their new place of migration that the maize nificant increases in agricultural production and cotton got subjected to evolutionary between the 1940s and 1960s. This trans- changes. When this fact is also taken into formation occurred as the result of pro- account, the dating of India's original ag- grams of agricultural research,transferring ricultural culture will be found to go back the new technologies like new varieties, to a very distant part. We can only imagine new cultivation practices etc. The Green that these evidences are such that would Revolution in Indian agriculture helped indicate the reality of our "Chathurvarnya" food production to increase very much. The concepts. “green revolution” has been followed by the “white revolution”, “yellow revolution” and Agriculture in the modern India then the “blue revolution”, leading to an Agriculture in India is one of the most increase in the output of milk, oilseeds and prominent sectors in its economy. Agricul- fish and fish products, respectively. ture and allied sectors like forestry, livestock and fishing accounted for 18.6% of Blue revolution the GDP in 2005 and employed 60% of the Today, India is moving ahead with a country’s population[1]. It accounts for 8.56 Blue Revolution, the rapid increase of fish % of India’s exports. About 43 % of India’s production in small ponds and water bod- geographical area is used for agricultural ies, a boon to small farmers, the nation’s activity. Agriculture is still the back bone nutrition and its gross domestic product. of Indian economy and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic develop- Yellow revolution ment of India. India recorded a spectacular increase both in area under oilseeds as well as its India has made lot of progress in agri- production, The production doubled from culture since independence. It has gone 11 million tonnes in 1986-87 to 22 million through a green revolution, a white revolu- tonnes in 1994-95, thereby justifying the tion, a yellow revolution and a blue revolu- term “yellow revolution”’. tion. Today, India is the largest producer of milk, fruits, cashewnuts, coconuts and tea in the world. our country is the second largest producer of wheat, vegetables, sugar and fish and the third largest producer of tobacco and rice.

The Agro-climatic zones of India As India possess a wide variety of geographical features and extreme climates, same crop varieties can’t be raised in same pattern in all regions. Moreover, natural factors like flood, drought etc also poses threat to Agriculture hence, agro-climatic

39 White revolution way of cultivating crops just to get maxi- Milk production in the country was mum profit for the farmer has resulted in stagnant during the 1950s and 1960s, the destruction of the soil quality and and annual production growth was very nature itself. Hence, world over, there is a low in many years.During the late 1960s, move towards sustainable agriculture. It is the Government of India initiated major defined as agriculture that meets the needs programmes for the dairy sector to achieve of the current generation while conserving self-sufficiency in milk production. Produc- resources for the use of future generations. ing milk in rural areas through producer Under this focus is given to make agricul- cooperatives and moving processed milk ture nature friendly. Here importance is to cities was the main approach. This gave given to make Agriculture organic. a boost to dairy development and the milk Organic Agriculture production in India increased very high. It A concept and practice of agricultural is called White revolution. production that focuses on production As a result of all these, India has without the use of synthetic pesticides and achieved great progress in Agriculture. At fertilizers. This is an agricultural system the same time, the unscientific and greedy with minimum damage to nature.

  

‘‘How long is a Day? 23 Hours 56 Minutes 4 Seconds 0.1 fractions’’ Aryabhata ‘‘23 Hours 56 Minutes 4 Seconds 0.091 fractions’’ modern value

40 Metallurgy in India

The Damascus steel – the world’s first Even after 15 centuries of exposure, high carbon steel – was a product of India the excellent state of the iron pillar has known as woortz. Woortz is the English amazed scientists all over the world. High for ukku in Kannada and Telugu, mean- phosphorus, low sulphur, low manganese ing steel. Indian steel was used for making and high slag contents contribute individu- swords and armour in Persia and Arabia in ally and collectively to the good corrosion ancient times. The pre Islamic Arab word for resistance. sword is ‘muhannad’ meaning from Hind. In the early 1800s, Europeans tried to Zinc reproduce woortz on an industrial scale. Zinc is better known as a constituent Michael Faraday tried to duplicate the steel of brass. Zinc is very complicated as it by alloying iron with a variety of metals but is a very volatile material under normal failed. Some scientists were successful in pressure it boils at 907OC. To extract Zinc forging woortz but they still were not able from its oxide, the oxide must be heated to to reproduce its characteristics. about 1200OC in dark container for distill- ing. In an ordinary furnace the Zinc gets The iron pillar vaporized, so there has to be a reducing The rustless wonder called the iron pillar atmosphere. By an indigenous method of near the Qutabminar at Mehranli in Delhi reverse distillation ancient metallurgists did not attract the attention of scientists th saw to it that there was enough carbon to till the second quarter of the 19 century. reduce the heat. Scholars consider the pillar to be of early Gupta period (320-495 AD) on ground of Zinc metallurgy traveled from India to paleography, content and language of the China and from there to Europe. As late inscription on the piller and the style of ex- as 1735, professional chemists in Europe ecution. The pillar was perhaps a standard believed that Zinc could not be reduced to for supporting an image of Garuda, the bird metal except in presence of copper. The al- carrier of Lord Vishnu. chemical texts of the mediaeval period show In 1965, the pillar (23 feet and 8 inches that the tradition was alive in India. high, weighing 6 tones) was dug out for In 1738, William Champion established chemical treatment and preservation and the Bristol process to produce metallic Zinc reinstalled by embedding the under ground in commercial quantities and got a patent part in a masonry pedestal. Chemical analy- for it. Interestingly, the medialval alchemi- ses have indicated that the pillar was as- cal text, Rasaratnasamedaya describes the tonishingly pure or low in carbon compared same process. down to adding 1.5 per cent with modern commercial iron. common salt to the ore.

  

41 Space Science in India

The world entered the Vaimanika prakaranam, the space era in 1957 whenRussia various factors to be observed launched the Satellite, Sput- in the construction of aero- nik-I into the orbit.The idea of planes are described. A large conquering space has been a number of commentaries like long cherished desire of man. Vimanachandrika, Vyomayana thanthram, Yanthra kalpam, In 1890, Count von Zepplin, Yana bindu and Kheta yana a German built a great air ship pradeepika attest to the inter- with a petrol motor attached est shown by the ancient people to it. Upto that time balloons for space travel. As early as in were used for travelling in the 1895, an Indian teacher named air but since they depended Sivakumar Bapuji Thalapathe on air currents for their move- constructed an aeroplane ments, they were uncertain based on the details described and risky to use. The German in a book Rig vedadi Bhashya air ship depended on its big Bhoomika written by Maharshy gas bags for keeping it afloat Dayananda Saraswathy. It is in the air and overcoming the said that he made a trial flight weight of the engines, but was in the Chaupathy beach of provided with a motor and a Bombay. propeller that it could be flown in any direction. The air ship The era of space research remained in the atmosphere for in India began in 1961 when 20 minutes. On landing, it was the Government of India en- completely wrecked. trusted the subject of space research and the peaceful The pioneers in aeroplane uses of outer space to the De- construction were two Ameri- partment of Atomic Energy, can brothers Wilbur and headed by Bhabha. In 1962, Orville Wright. In 1903, they the Department set up the In- made a machine which flew a dian National Commmittee on few metres and two years later, Space Research (INCOSPAR) they made a flight of 24 miles under the Chairmanship of at a speed of 38 miles an hour. Vikram Sarabhai to organise During World War II, the use of a national space programme. aeroplanes increased rapidly. On November 21st 1963, a two The first treatise on air stage rocket called Nike-Apache travel is however due to Bha- was launched from Thumba radwaja, who lived during the Equatorial Rocket Launching vedic period. In the work called vikram sarabhai Station near Trivandrum.

42 In 1969, INCOSPAR was reconstituted as cameras and Radiometers. These satel- an advisory body under the Indian National lites were preliminary to the Indian Remote Science Academy and a new entity called Sensing Satellites (IRS) for surveying and the Indian Space Research Organisation management of national resources. (ISRO) came into being. In 1972 the Gov- IRS - IA launched from the Soviet Union ernment of India set up the Space Com- on March 17, 1988 weighed 950 kg and mission and Department of Space under which ISRO was brought. ISRO has the carried cameras for gathering data on ag- overall responsibility of formulating and riculture, forestry, hydrology etc. IRS - IA implementing programmes concerning has imaged the country many times giving space technology. The main objective of information on India’s natural resources. the Indian space programme is to provide IRS - IB launched from the USSR in August operational space services for the nation 1991 is similar to IRS -IA. Further a series in the fields of communication and remote of remote sensing Satellites were developed sensing. These services include telecom- and operationalised. The INSAT-I multipur- munications, TV networking, natural pose satellites have served the needs of the resources survey and management, envi- country in telecommunications, nation wide ronment monitoring, meteorological data TV coverage, radio networking, metereology collection and disaster warning. The space and disaster warning. INSAT-1A was fol- programme also emphasise self-reliance in lowed by INSAT -1B, IC and ID. The INSAT satellite and launch vehicle technologies. II series is indigenous. The first in the series INSAT II-A (1906 kg) was launched on The first satellite designed and fab- July 10th 1992. INSAT II-B-was launched ricated in India was Aryabhata (360 kg) into orbit on July 23 rd 1993. Parked in launched by the then Soviet Union on April the geostationary orbit INSAT II-B together 19, 1975. Bhaskara I and II satellites (each with INSAT II-A and INSAT 1-D augmented 440 kg) which were also launched by the significantly the INSAT space segment Soviet Union in June 1979 and November capacity for telecommunication, direct TV 1981 respectively helped ISRO to conduct broadcasting and nation wide TV distribu- experiments in earth observation using TV

43 tion etc. Recently INSAT-III Satellites are was successfully launched used a solid also operationalised. Specially designed propellant. The first stage of PSLV carried Satellites for education, telemedicine, a soild propellant, the second stage carried mapping, search and rescue, global posi- a liquid propellant, the third stage used a tioning and informations also have been solid propellant and the fourth stage used launched. India’s capabilities in designing, a liquid propellant. In the GSLV, the two fabricating and launching satellite launch upper stages of the PSLV are replaced by vehicles have been demonstrated in the a single cryogenic engine and the six solid three successful launches of SLV (Satellite propellant strap-on motors by four liquid Launch Vehicles) in 1980, 1981 and 1983 propellant strap-ons derived from the PSLV to launch 40 kg Rohini satellites into low II stage. A giant launch vehicle (GSLV-MK earth orbits. III) is under development which can launch 2000 kg class Satellites to geostationary The ASLV (Augmented Satellite Launch orbit Reusable launch vehicles, manned Vehicle) is designed for launching Stretched flights, inter planatory mission like Chan- Rohini Satellite series each 100-150 kg into drayaan are also planned as future space circular low earth orbit. The third launch of programme ASLV was successfully conducted on May 20, 1992. PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Ve- An integrated missile development hicle) is designed to launch 1000 kg remote programme as resulted in development of sensing satellites into polar sun synchro- missiles for various purposes. Agni, Akash, nous orbit. The GSLV (Geo Synchronous Prithvi etc. are some of them. India has now Satellite Launch Vehicle) is able to launch developed an advanced missile "Brahmos" 2500 kg communication satellites into geo- in collaboration with Russia. stationary transfer orbits. The ASLV that

  

44 Information Technology In India

Information Technology has been de- means computers. The fact is that IT is a fined as the technology which provides union of many fields in which computers all information about any phenomenon or is only a part. event taking place anywhere in the universe at anytime to any person, anywhere in the Internet in India world. Information can be considered as the The Internet in India started of in the root cause of the development of the society. late 80’s,when the ERNET(Educational and Knowledge and ideas are at the heart of Research Network)initiative with, funding development process and are increasingly support from Department of Electronics(Do overshadowing the natural resource base. E),Government of India and The United Na- “Acquiring and adapting global knowledge tions Development Programme(UNDP) was and creating knowledge locally, investing launched. The project involved 5 premiere in human capital to increase the ability to institutions, The National Centre for Soft- absorb and use knowledge and investing in ware Technology (NCST) Bombay, Indian technologies to facilitate both the acquisi- Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, the tion and the absorption of knowledge...” 5 IITs and the DoE. While the ERNET has represent the best possible strategy for spread its wings and is today a nation wide the overall development of any region or provider of bandwidth to the education and people “because knowledge generation and research community, it is not allowed to information processin g are at the roots of provide service to the public, on account of a new productivity”. the terms of its charter. The second major “Although information and knowledge networking initiative was the National Infor- have been critical for the economic accu- matics Centre(NIC) which set-up a national mulation and political power throughout network connecting most district headquar- history, it is only under the current techno- ters. Today NIC interconnects 1400 points logical, social and cultural parameters that in different parts of the country through they become directly productive forces”. their network, predominantly based on Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT). The impact of IT (Information Technol- For the average citizen The Internet ar- ogy) is so great that it is characterized as rived on 15th August 1995, when VSNL the second industrial revolution. It is the (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) launched chief determinant of the progress of nations its gateway services. The opening up of the communities and individuals. IT is the telecom sector in 1999 saw several new fastest growing industry in the world and entrances that came up with extremely is expanding steadily to become the larg- competitive alternative increasing the user est global industry in the world. IT is rated base. as the “magical technology that combines Efforts by governmental agencies to en- the skilful hand with the reasoning mind”. sured that the common man benefitted from Information Technology is treated as a I.T. Initiatives such as the establishment strategic industry and is a generic technol- of the computerized reservation systems ogy. The general misconception is that IT by the Indian Railways, TWINS (Twin -City

45 Information System) by the Government of small chips with large computing capabili- Andhra Pradesh, FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable ties. As the technology grew the chips got Instant Efficient Network for Disbursement smaller as well as cheaper which in turn of Services) by the Department of Informa- allowed the computing power to reach tion Technology, Government of Kerala, the masses. India being a powerhouse of were some of the earliest initiatives in this enterprising intellectual was waiting for directon. Today there are many service the right opportunity to jump at the digital providers and internet is available in every bandwagon. It was just a matter of time, nook and corner of the country. as we lacked the infrastructure. But when it was considered literally impossible for Indians in IT a developing country one where to get a Who were the founders of the Silicon foothold in this industry, we pulled one of Valley? the greatest technological surprises by be- Who were involved in the development coming one of the largest software exporters of popular intellectual software? in the world. Who created the worlds most popular emailing program? India’s Super Computer : The answers to these queries are Indi- Param - 10000 ans. “The restrictions imposed by the United We Indians have played a pivotal role States of America on the transfer of know- in shaping the digital revolution from the how in frontier areas of Technology, and inception of the transistor till the coming of its consistent refusal to make available age of the Internet. Our contributions to the to India a range of hardware for its devel- field of Information technology and Com- opment, have proved to be a blessing in puter sciences are so varied and numerous disguise, because Indian scientists and that it would take countless publications to engineers have now managed to develop, note down each and every one of them. indigenously, most of the components and From the crude counting machines like hardware required for its rapidly advancing the abacus to the phenomenal computing space and nuclear power programmes. monsters like PARAM, we Indians have It was again the refusal of the U.S. ad- time and time again showed the world our ministration to clear the shipment to India prowess in this field. of a Cray X-MP super computer, for use by A large proportion of the design team the Institute of Sciences (IISc.), Bangalore, for the development of world-class software in the 1980’s, along with severe restric- packages like windows 9x,Office, Xp had tions on the sale of computers exceeding Indians. Statistics have shown that a major 2000 Mega Theoretical Operations per chunk of the qualified software engineers Second (MTOPS), that led India to build and architects in the world are Indians. one of the most powerful super computers Some of the technical design teams, which in the world. In fact, the unveiling of the made revolutionary breakthroughs in chip “PARAM-10000” super-computer, capable design, were lead by prominent Indian of performing one trillion mathematical cal- scientists. culations per second, stands out as a shin- Some say we are the most computer ing example of how ‘restrictions and denials’ literate people in the world, with a large could be turned into impressive scientific educated middle and upper class, which gains.’PARAM’ is a Sanskrit word meaning is equivalent in populations to some entire ‘supreme’. It is also a handy acronym for European countries! parallel machine. For the Pune-based Cen- The digital revolution started 40 years tre for Development of Advanced Computing ago when the transistor was invented which (C-DAC), which built this super-computing allowed the possibility of manufacturing machine, it was a dream come true.

46 Karmarkar’s Algorithm When a postman wants to deliver letters he makes mental calculations of the shortest routes so that all letters can be delivered with least time and less effort. But it may not be humanly possible to handle more complex situations like landing and taking off of airplanes in a busy airport after loading and unloading new concept in mathematics. cargoes, delivering variety of goods in diverse places like factories, offices, houses etc. In Karmarkar was born in 1958 in Gwalior, such situations one has to seek the help of M.P. and took Ph.D. from the University of mathematics. California.Karmarkar had intuitive ability Computers are employed to perform to look into the problem in entirely dif- such complex calculations quickly using ferent manner. At present he is using his a set of steps called “Algorithms”. Efforts knowledge of mathematics to design new have been on to find algorithms to make supercomputers, which will surpass the computer to do the job fast. It was a dream speed of existing computers. till a young Indian Narendra Karmarker The overall development in the society of AT&T Bell Laboratories discovered an is taking place today on the global level algorithm in 1984.This is now known all through the synergy of information, knowl- over the world as Karmarkar’s Algorithm. edge and wisdom of the 6 billion population He was hardly 26 when this discovery was of the Global Village.” Vasudheyva Kutum- made. Initially many mathematicians did bakom”-One family of the mother earth not believe Karmaker.His Algorithm could which has been the essence of the age old make computer to perform calculations 50 Indian Philosophy is about to materialise. to 100 times faster. Karmarkar’s Algorithm This happy, prosperous, healthy, creative, has not only revolutionized the field of com- intellectual family will be the unique out- puter engineering, but also introduced a come of the Information Age.

  

47 The Scientists of India

A. P. J. ABDUL KALAM He established Cardiovascular Institute, Arul Pakir Jainu-labdeen Abdul Kalam Hyderabad which develops cost effective represents a model to medical devices using indigenous defence millions of Indians. Born technology. At present Dr. Kalam is the in 1931 in Rameswaram, President, Government of India. Tamil Nadu, Kalam has After the successful experiment of Agni a unique career as sci- in 1989, Abdul Kalam wrote in his diary, entist, technologist and Do not look at Agni has received the highest As an entity directed upward Civilian award Bharat To deter the ominous Ratna. His book Vision Or exhibit your might; India 2020 is a remark- It is fire able one, which will mo- In the heart of an Indian tivate every Indian to take up journey Do not even give it. forward with optimism. His autobiography The form of a missile Wings of Fire brings out the best in him as As it clings to the a scientist and a human. In his own words Burning pride of their nation “it is the story of national aspiration and of And thus is bright cooperative endeavor and the saga of India’s And he wishes “let the latent fire in the search for scientific self-sufficiency and tech- heart of every Indian acquire wings, and nological competence”. He says: “We are all the glory of their great country light up the born with divine fire in us. Our efforts should sky”. be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness”. A. S. PAINTAL After graduation from Madras Institute We feel tired and breathless when climb- of Technology, Abdul Kalam started his ing a mountain or multistoried building by career as Senior Scientific Assistant in stairs. This is a warn- the Ministry of Defence in 1958. His team ing that we need rest. designed and fabricated a hovercraft as a If one ignores it, he ground equipment machine called Nandi. will die of congestion In 1962, he joined Indian Space Programme of lungs called pul- and came to Trivandrum to develop the monary congestion. establishment which later grew as VSSC. How does our body Abdul Kalam gave leadership in making get such warning? It India's own rocket-launching vehicles, is the nerve terminals which ranges from SLV to ASLV, PSLV and in lungs called Juxta GSLV. The story of Kalam is the story of Pulmonary Capillary Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trisul and Nag mis- Receptors or J-Re- siles that are now familiar names in India. ceptors. Similarly, gastrointestinal stretch Kalam leads ascetic vigour of personal life receptors that warn us when stomach is working 18 hours a day.

48 full and stop eating or drinking. These of Mathematics are valuable. He gave value important receptors in human body were of (ratio of circumference to diameter of a discovered by Dr. Avtar Singh Paintal, now circle) as 3.1416 describing for the first time Director of Vallabhai Patel Chest Institute, that it was only an approximation. Aryabha- Delhi. In 1981, he became the first Indian ta also gave for the first time what later on medical scientist to become FRS. Paintal called table of sines (sine is a trignometric was born at Mogok, Burma, where his fa- ratio ).His method to find integer solution to ther was a Doctor. After graduating from indeterminate equations of the type ax - by Lucknow Medical College, Paintal did Ph.D. = c is now recognized world over. He also in 1950 at Edinburgh. In 1954, he joined devised a method to express numbers using Patel Chest Institute as Assistant Director. letters (now known in computer science as His work on receptors in human body helps alpha-numeric system). Aryabhata‘s as- to identify persons who will be affected by tronomical data are used to prepare Indian sickness due to high altitude. Calendar called Panchanga. A number of books are now available on ARYABHATA - I Aryabhatiya written by experts. Even after Aryabhata was born in 476 AD in Ko- 1500 years of it publication, relevance of dungallur, Kerala and completed stud- the book is not yet lost. Experts say that ies in Nalanda of Ku- even 1% of the work has, not yet been un- sumapura (Patna). At derstood by the present day generation. the age of 23, Aryab- It was in appreciation of his scholarly hata wrote his treatise contributions to the field of Mathematics “Aryabhatiya" which and Astronomy that India’s first satellite deals with mathemat- was named as Aryabhata. ics and astronomy. It is said that Aryabhata is only a title given to the BHASKARA II scientist who wrote his Bhaskara was born in 1114 AD at Bi- book in Arya metre. As jda Bida (Bijapur, Karnataka). He learnt a recognition to the work, the then Gupta mathematics from his saintly father. He was ruler Buddhagupta made him the Kulapathi inspired by the works of Brahmagupta and (Head) of Nalanda. devoted the entire period of his life to math- Aryabhata was the first to deduce that ematics. At the age of 30, Bhaskara wrote the earth is round and that it rotates on its his famous book “Siddantha Siromani". To own axis creating day and night. He de- solace his daughter Lilavati from her per- clared that heavenly bodies like moon and sonal tragedy, Bhaskara tried to arouse in mercury shine due to reflection of sunlight. her an interest in mathematics and made He also gave the correct explanation for her immortal by titling one of the parts of lunar and solar eclipses. Aryabhata used Siddhantha Siromani as “Lilavati”. There geocentric concept of the universe because has been a popular saying that who so ever observations are made from the earth. He is well-versed with “ Lilavati” can tell the also knew that movements of the sun and exact number of leaves on a tree. stars from east to west are due to rotation One part of Lilavati deals with arithme- of the earth from west to east. To explain tic while the other three parts called Bi- “erratic” movements of some of the planets jaganitha, Goladhyaya and Grahaganitha as observed from the earth, Aryabhata deal with algebra, spheres and planetary made use of the concept of “epicycles” motions respectively. which was superior to the concept put for- Siddantha Siromani was a text book ward by Ptolomy. for students to help them to understand Contributions of Aryabhata to the field the works of Brahmagupta, Mahavira and

49 Sridhara. The book contains problems pre- stan. After his studies from Punjab Univer- sented in such a way as to stimulate the sity, he went to Britain in 1911. In 1919, he interest of students in mathematics. It was got D.Sc. from London University. In 1936, so popular and authoritative that four to Sahni became an FRS. Palaeobotany is a five centuries later it was translated twice mix of botany and geology. He was the first into Persian. botanist to study flora at Indian Gondwana. Bhaskara method called “Chakrawal" He explored Rajmahal Hills in Bihar which or cyclic method to solve algebraic equa- is a treasury of fossils and ancient plants. tions is a remarkable contribution. It was He discovered new genus of plants like only after six centuries that European Rajamahalia Paradora. He also discovered mathematicians like Galois, Euler and new group of fossil gymnosperms (conifers) Lagrange rediscovered this method and called pentoxyleae which made him world named as “inverse cyclic”. famous. Some of his palaeobotanical stud- Determination of arc and volume of ies have even given support to the con- sphere using integral calculus was men- tinental drift theory. Using palaeobotany tioned for the first time by Bhaskara along he showed that age of salt range is 40-60 with important formulae and theorems in million years and not 100 million years as trignometry and permutation and combi- believed. Sahni had interest in archaeology nation. Bhaskara was also the founder of too. He discovered coin moulds in Rohtak Calculus several centuries before Newton in 1936. and Leibniz. He had even given an example of what is now called differential coefficient. BRAHMA GUPTA He also described what is now called "Rolles Even though the concept of zero was Theorem" . It is a tragedy that no one in known earlier, it was Brahmagupta who India took notice of the excellent work did first framed rules of operations with zero by Bhaskara on Calculs. For example he is systematically. He also gave solutions to in- renowned for his concept of tatkalik agathi determinate equation of the type ax2+ 1 =y2 or instantaneous speed which enabled his (which is usually known as Diophantane astronomers to determine the motion of equation after a 17th century mathemati- planets accurately. At the age of 69, Bhas- cian of the west) and is considered to be the kara wrote “ Karanakuthuhala”, a book father of a branch of higher mathematics on astronomical calculations and is still called “Numerical Analysis”. Bhaskara, referred in making calendars. the great mathematician , conferred on him Bhaskara I (lived in 600 AD ) was an the title of “Ganakachakra Chudamani". astronomer who used solutions of indeter- Brahmagupta was born at Bhillamala of minate equations for solving astronomical Gujarat in 585 AD. He became the court problems. His books Aryabhatiyabhashya astronomer to King Vyaghramukha belong- and Mahabhaskariya are famous. ing to Chapa Dynasty. His famous work Aryabhata I who lived around 950 AD is “ Brahmasphuta Siddantha” which is wrote a book called Mahasidhanta which the correct version of earlier astronomical deals with three branches of mathematics, work “Brahma siddhantha”. The work of called Pati, Kuttaka and Bija. Brahmagupta was translated to Arabic as “Sind Hind”. For several centuries this BIRBAL SAHNI book was the standard reference in India and Arab. Birbal Sahni is a famous palaeobotanist. “Brahmasphuta siddhantha” contains Palaeobotany is the study of plants of past the details of operations with zero, rules to ages, which was introduced by him in solve ax + b =0 and x2+ax2 + bx + C=O and India for the first time. Sahni was born on a study of geometric series. Brahmagupta Nov.1891 at Bhera (Punjab), now in Paki-

50 is the first mathematician to treat arith- like Cramer-Rao Inequality, The Fischer- matics and algebra as separate branches. Rao Theorem and Rao-Blackwellisation are Brahmagupta also prepared a handbook now part of standard statistics text books. of astronomical calculations. He criticized Rao’s design of experiments explains the Aryabhata who said that earth was not technique that assists industry to increase stationary. production. His contribution to Biometry is well known in the field of Biology. In 1965, in collaboration with Ronald A Fischer, Rao C. K. N. PATEL mapped chromosomes in mice using the Laser is an artificial source of light, technique of statistics. In 1967, he became which is powerful and highly coherent. FRS. His book Linear Statistical Inference It has wide appli- and its Applications has been translated cations in different into several languages. At present he edits fields like physics, Sankhya, the highly reputed Indian Statis- chemistry and in- tical Journal. dustry. The invention of Ruby Laser by Maiman in 1960 C. V. RAMAN had only limited ap- Raman was born on November 7, 1888 plications. But it was at Tiruchirappally, only by discovery of Tamil Nadu. He took Carbon Dioxide laser his MA from Presi- in 1962, that laser dency College, Ma- found applications dras. He took up an in wide variation of fields like industry and administrative job in medicine. Such laser can cut steel and can the Finance Ministry be used for bloodless surgery. in Calcutta. Simul- Carbon Dioxide laser was discovered by taneously he started C. K. N.Patel, now the Director of one of research in Physics the divisions of the prestigious AT &T Bell in the laboratory of laboratories in USA. Born on July 2,1938 at Indian Association Baramati near Pune, Patel went to Stanford for Cultivation of Sci- University and took Ph.D. in electrical engi- ence, Calcutta. neering at the age of 23. The same year he Raman was initially interested in acous- joined AT &T and took up the challenge of tics, the science of sound. He studied making a laser. CO2 laser light is invisible Physics of bowed string instruments like and lies in the infra red region. Its wave- violin and percussion instruments like µ length is 10.6 m. CO2 laser can be used for Mridangam. He visited London in 1921 LIDAR and to detect air pollution. and on his return, the blueness of the sea intrigued him. By the time he reached C. R. RAO Calcutta, Raman discovered that the blue Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao is a colour of the sea is due to the scattering renowned statistician. Born on 20th Sep- of light by water molecules. This was the tember 1920 at Hadagali in Karnataka, starting point of his research in optics, the Rao had his schooling at Andhra University science of light. In 1927, Crompton got and Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery that Rao became famous when he put forward X-rays change wavelength when scattered in 1945 The Theory of Estimation, which by electrons. Raman, along with his student helps one to find an unknown quantity from K. S. Krishnan devised an experiment to a pile of data. His formulae and theorems check similar results for light scattering

51 with molecules. On March 16, 1928 Raman the concept of diges- announced the discovery of new radiation tion, metabolism to an audience of Bangalore. He found that and immunity. Ac- when light is scattered by a transparent cording to him, body medium, radiations with frequencies higher functions since it and lower than those of original light were contains three do- obtained. The change in frequency of light is shas called vatham, related to energy change taking place in the pitham and kapham. molecules. Thus the new discovery called Illness is produced Raman effect has later on became a tool to when balance among study energy states of molecules. Raman these is disturbed in got Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for his the body. Medicinal work on scattering of light. Application of drugs are given to Raman effect is found in diverse fields like restore the equilibrium of the doshas. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, Caraka also knew about the circulation of lasers etc. and it is said that maximum time blood, with heart as the controlling centre, a scientist’s name appearing in literature is which is connected to entire body through that of Raman. With the advent of lasers, 13 main channels and countless other big studies on Raman effect have further in- and small channels. tensified. A student of Atreya called Agnivesha In 1924, Raman was elected fellow of wrote a book during 8th century BC on the Royal Society. In 1930, Raman became Ayurveda. But it was Caraka who revised Professor of Physics at Tata Institute, Ban- this to be known later as Caraka Samhita galore (Indian Institute of Science) and which remained as the standard text on the in 1943, he founded his own institute, subject and has been translated to many Raman Research Institute in Bangalore. foreign languages like Arabic and Latin. Here he continued his research till his last breath on November 20, 1970. He advised D. R. KAPREKAR young students “The essence of science is independent thinking and hard work, A genius does not need formal school- not equipment”. Raman effect is used by ing. An example is thousands of scientists all over the world Ramanujan. Another not only in the study of the structure of example is Datta- molecules and crystals but also to develop raya Ramachandra new type of lasers called spin flip Raman Kaprekar , who was laser and Raman shifted lasers. Life and born on June 17, work of Raman is an ideal example for those 1905 at Bombay in who want to enter the wonderful world of a poor family. He science. Raman’s family has provided other inherited astrology scientists also to Nation like Professor. S. from his father and Chandrasekhar and Pancharatnam. this made Kapraker to enter into the fascinating world of numbers. He made many CARAKA significant discoveries of which Kapraker Caraka was a physician who lived be- constant is best known out side India. In tween 1st century BC and 1st century AD 1927, he won the Wrayler Mathematical and is famous for his book on Ayurveda, Prize for original work in Mathematics. In Caraka Samhita. It describes topics like 1929 he took B.Sc from Ferguson College, physiology, etiology, embryology, etc. Pune and became a school teacher. Caraka was the first scientist to present Kaprekar is also known for his contribu-

52 tions to recreational mathematics. ics in Indian universities and he trained a number of students who became famous later on in this branch of research. His E. C. G. SUDARSHAN grasp of molecular biophysics was great. E. C. G. Sudarshan is one of the lead- His group at Indian Institute of Science, ing theoretical physicists working in the Banglore studied a number of giant mol- University of Texas in Austin, USA. Born on ecules like protein, nucleic acid and poly- September 16, 1931, in Kottayam, Kerala, saccharides. Sudarshan graduated from Madras Chris- tian College. He joined TIFR and came under the influence of world class physicists HAR GOBIND KHORANA like Dirac and Pauli who visited TIFR. Hargobind Khorana is one of those who Sudarshan went to Rochester University, laid foundations to USA to work under Professor Marshak on what is now called problems of particle physics. One of the genetic engineering. famous works he had done during that Khorana was born on time was on weak interactions. Somehow January 9, 1922 at he missed the Nobel Prize. Raipur, now in Paki- Sudarshan is popularly known for his stan. After graduat- hypothesis of Tachyons, particles which ing from University travel faster than light. No one has yet dis- of Punjab in Lahore, covered a tachyon. Narliker has shown that he went to University absorption of tachyon by a black hole will of Liverpool, Britain reduce the size of the latter. Thus monitor- in 1945 to take Ph.D. ing the reduction in the size of black hole in Biochemistry. On is a method to discover Tachyon. returning to India, he could not get a job He has also propounded Quantum zero since Biochemistry was still alien to India. paradox. Sudarshan is one of the physicists When his application for teaching post at who discovered parallels between eastern University of Delhi was turned down, Kho- mysticism and modern science. rana decided to go back. While in British Colombia, Khorana G. N. RAMACHANDRAN produced a chemical called Coenzyme A In 1952, at the age of 30, G. N. Ramach- in 1957 which is essential for biochemical andran became Head of the Department of reactions in human body. He was invited by Physics of the University of Madras. He had the University of Wisconsin in USA to join his training under two giants of Physics as its faculty member. He became Alfred C.V. Raman and L. Bragg of Cambridge. G. Solan Professor of Biology and Biochem- N. Ramachandran is a pioneer in applying istry in 1970 at MIT, USA. X- ray diffraction technique to study the Khorana produced a part of gene of yeast structure of complex protein molecules. He cell in his laboratory which helped him break- started work on collagen, which is a coming the genetic code. At the age of 46, Khorana monly occurring protein in human body shared 1968 Nobel Prize for medicine with and is formed in connective tissues of skin, Nirenberg and Holley for their contributions bones as well as linings of many organs. in the field of genetic engineering. Leather, for instance is entirely collagen. Breakthrough came in August 1976. He discovered that collagen has triple heli- Khorana and his group built up 207 gene cal structure and with this discovery he of a bacteria E.coli (a bacterium living in the became world famous. intestine of human) and included chemicals G. N. Ramachandran introduced a new which will signal stop and start to the gene. subject of study called Molecular Biophys- The man made gene was inserted into E.coli

53 and it started working like its natural gene. than and India became the sixth country to This achievement is considered as a major join the nuclear club. Further development triumph of modern biology and stage was showed successful nuclear test including set for man to play God. Khorana at pres- hydrogen fusion at Pokhran on May 11th, ent is studying how a gene functions in a 12th and 13th of 1998. cell and how gene alterations can be made. Bhabha also encouraged research in This will help us in understanding genetic electronics, space science, radio astronomy defects and methods to correct them. It and microbiology. The radio telescope at may also help us to wipe out cancer from Ooty is one of his creations. In 1967, while the human race. on a trip to abroad for a conference, Bhabha died in 1967 in a plane crash. Bhabha was H.J. BHABHA only 57 at that time. In 1967 Atomic Energy Cosmic rays are showers of elementary Establishment at Trombay was renamed as particles from outer Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. space. In 1937, Homi Bhabha was born on 30 October 1909 in Jehangir Bhabha and a wealthy Parsi family. He was sent abroad the German physicist to do engineering. But Bhabha’s interest W. Heitler studied shifted to Physics. He also worked with cosmic rays to solve eminent physicists like Fermi and Pauli. some of their myster- Bhabha was a bachelor and he used to ies. Amongst cosmic say that he was married to creativity. He was rays, Bhabha discov- a first class painter and some of his paintings ered a new particle are preserved in British Art Gallery. called meson. Study of decay time of this JAHANGIR particle provided a Jahangir, son of Akbar was born on 30 proof for Einstein’s special theory of rela- August 1569. His mother was the daughter tivity. In 1940, Bhabha returned to India and of Raja Bhar Mal of Amber. Jahangir was joined Indian Institute of Science, Ban- a famous naturalist or ornithologist. His galore. In 1945, with the financial help observations are recorded in Tuski Jah- from Tata, he established Tata Institute of angiri (Memoirs of Jahangir). His memoirs Fundamental Research. He had close as- are a veritable gazetteer of natural history sociation with Nehru, who wanted India to of India of his day, according to Salim Ali. be self sufficient in science and technology. Even until the 19th century, zoologists were He gave Bhabha a free hand to do whatever unaware of Jahangir’s work. They did not he wanted. know the gestation period of elephants. Ja- In 1948, Bhabha became the founder hangir wrote that it was 18 to 19 months. chairman of Atomic Energy Commission. Jahangir also had interest in science. He Three reactors Apsara, Cirus and Zerlina used to record lunar and solar eclipses, were built under the guidance of Bhabha. noted and gathered information regard- Country’s first atomic power plant began ing the growth and decay of comet tails. at Tharapur in 1963 and two years later He tried to cultivate high altitude tree like a plutonium plant was installed. Bhabha sandal and pine in plains. showed his countrymen and the world that Indians were second to none in gaining sci- His catalogue was a faithful description entific know how. The climax came when on of natural history of the day. With the disin- May 18, 1974, a nuclear device for peaceful tegration of Mughal Empire, those treasures purpose was exploded at Pokhran in Rajas- also disappeared.

54 J. B. S. HALDANE J. C. BOSE John Burdon Sanderson Haldane was Jagadish Chan- born on November 5, 1892 at Oxford. His dra Bose was born father John Scott Haldane was a physi- on Nov.30, 1858 at ologist who maintained a laboratory of Mymensingh, now his own at home. JBS Haldane used to do in Bangaladesh. He experiments on himself and this English is known more for born Indian biologist preserved this qual- his discovery that ity till his death. Young Haldane followed “plants and metals his father during hazardous scientific have life” than his trips. He learnt several languages and had valuable contribu- interest in several subjects. He won Rus- tion to the field of sel Prize in Mathematics at the age of 16. radio waves, micro Haldane had basic training in humanities waves and wireless telegraphy. but he took up a scientific career. Under J. C. Bose took B.Sc. degree and Natu- the guidance of his father he did research ral Science tripose from Cambridge, UK in physiology at Oxford. In 1922, he joined and returned to India in 1885 to become Cambridge to study biochemistry. In 1925, a lecturer at Presidency College, Calcutta. he switched over to Genetics,which fetched Bose was an experimental scientist and him the prestigious FRS in 1932. In 1933, invented a number of instruments, which he became the Professor of Genetics in the are still in use by a number of scientists all University College, London. over the world. Haldane made original contributions in It was in 1894 that Bose was inspired by diverse subjects like physiology, medi- the work of Henrich Hertz on radio waves. cine, evolution, genetics, mathematics, In 1895, he invented wireless telegraphy biochemistry and cosmology. According to and demonstrated in public, both in India him an ounce of algebra is worth a ton of and UK. It was after this that Marconi verbal argument. He was the first to use patented it. It is an irony of fate that Nobel mathematics in genetics. He proved the Prize for inventing wireless telegraphy went correctness of Darwin’s theory of evolution to Marconi in 1909, even though Bose is applying mathematics to mutation. rightly called the inventor of telegraphy. His discovery in biochemistry became IEEE has recently recognised Bose's contri- the law of enzyme chemistry. Experiment- bution in wireless telegraphy. He also stud- ing on himself he studied how CO2 and ice ied microwaves and their applications in cold temperature affect breath. This led to communication and in understanding the the discovery of tetanus. structure of materials. One of his devices JBS Haldane was a social worker too. called the waveguide forms an essential He wrote popular science articles and gave component of sophisticated electronic and public lectures. He left UK in 1957 and nuclear equipments at present. came to live in India, his country of choice Bose invented a device called coherer to for settlement and used to wear dhothi and detect radio wave. He found that coherer kurtha instead of western dress. It was the becomes less sensitive after some use. But manifold diversity in the flora and fauna, the sensitivity was regained if the device re- which prompted him to settle here. He ceived some rest. This indicated that metals was first appointed as Professor at Indian have feelings and memory. We now call it Statistical Institute, Calcutta and later he material fatigue. This made Bose to switch became the Director of the Genetics and over to the study of plant life. He invented Biometry Laboratory in Bhubaneswar. He an instrument called crescograph, which died of cancer at the age of 71. can magnify movements to that extent that

55 plant growth can be measured. He discov- sirable and undesirable characteristics of ered that plants have emotions and feelings. the genes of the parents to the offspring. Bose showed that plants have small cells, Pandey used nuclear radiation to break which behave like nerve cells. genetic material and separated desirable Before he died on 23rd November, 1937, genes from undesirable. This was hailed Bose founded Bose Institute at Calcutta. in New Zealand as the most important discovery by a New Zealander since Lord J. V. NARLlKAR Rutherford split the atom. Jayant V. Narliar is one of the as- Pandey found that the S-gene that trophysicists who do not believe that the governs a plant to self pollinate or cross Universe was born pollinate is a composition of gene or a su- with a bigbang. Nar- per gene. The super gene he discovered is likar along with his important for evolution of flowering plants teacher Fred Hoyle and controls the ability of a plant to cross developed a theory, with another species. Pandey used the ir- called Steady State radiation technique to change the mecha- Theory of the Uni- nism of S-gene to alter breeding mechanism verse according to of plants. By this method he was able to which Universe has convert cross pollinating plants to self pol- neither a beginning linating ones. nor an end. Narlikar was born K. S. KRISHNAN to a family of mathematicians on July 19, Born on December 4, 1898 in Tam- 1938 at Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Narlikar ilnadu, K.S.Krishnan went to Cambridge to do research under had basic education Hoyle of King’s College. After coming to In- in Madras. In 1920, dia in 1972, Narlikar became a Professor at he joined the Indian TIFR. At present he is the Director of Inter Association for Cul- University Centre for Astronomy and Astro- tivation of Science to physics at Pune which helps Universities in do research in Phys- popularising Astrophysics and Astronomy ics under C. V. Ra- among students. He is a popular science man. Their joined fiction writer. effort resulted into what is called Raman K. K. PANDEY effect. In 1948 he be- Kamala Kant Pandey is a leading plant came the first Director of National Physical geneticist in the world who heads the Ge- Laboratory, New Delhi. Krishnan studied netic Unit, Department of Scientific and the structure of solids. He became an FRS Industrial Research, New Zealand. in 1940. Krishnan died in 1961. Pandey was born on 11 December, 1926 at Naranagi. After taking Ph.D. in plant KANADA genetics in 1954 from John Innes Institute Kanada was one of those philosophers in London, he went to New Zealand and who probed into the secret of universe and settled down there. In1975, Pandey dis- the structure of matter. Kanada, during 600 covered a revolutionary technique in plant BC, propagated “ Vaiseshika Sutra” which breeding. We know that gene controls some includes atom theory of matter. He gave characteristics of plants (like height and the name Paramanu (atom) to an indivis- colour). Conventional breeding techniques ible entity of matter. According to Kanada by crossing two plants, transfers both de- paramanu does not exist in free state (just

56 like atoms)nor can it be sensed by human ery of Ionisation formula, which explained organ. the nature of light, There are varieties of different parama- emitted by sun and nus as there are different classes of sub- stars. Saha was born stances (same as elements). An inherent in Dacca on October urge makes one paramanu to combine with 6, 1893. His father another to produce new substances (the was a grocer who modem concept of molecules). barely managed to Idea of chemical change was also put keep his family from forward by Kanada. He claimed that heat starvation. After win- brings out change. He asserted that ev- ning a scholarship, erything is made of paramanus and they Saha joined Presi- combine in various ways. dency College, Calcutta, where he was not only taught by eminent teachers like M. K. VAINU BAPPU J.C. Bose and P.C. Ray but also had brilliant classmates like S. N. Bose and P.C. Vainu Bappu’s name will always be Mahalanobis who became famous in due remembered in the history of modern In- course. Saha stood second in M.Sc. (first dian astronomy. He is the first Indian as- place went to S.N. Bose). Due to his astronomer whose name is linked to a comet sociation with nationalists like Subhash Bappu-Bok-New Kirk. Born on 10 August, Chandra Bose, he was not allowed to take 1927 at Madras, Vainu Bappu had colour- up government job. ful college days. He did higher education in M.N.Saha earned his living by taking tu- Astronomy at Harvard in 1949, where he tion. In 1917 Saha and S.N. Bose became along with B. J. Bok and G. New Kirk dis- lecturers at the newly started University covered a comet and studied its details. College of Science in Calcutta. He taught At Mount Palomar Observatory, USA, latest topics like thermodynamics, atomic Bappu with Colin C. Wilson discovered a theory and relativity. His book The Treatise relationship between luminosity of a type on Heat is still regarded as a bible in the subject. of stars and the spectral property of light At the age of 25, Saha discovered the emitted by them. This effect now known as secret of light emitted by stars. Saha's ion- Bappu- Wilson effect is currently used by ization formula has enabled astronomers to astronomers for the study of stars. know the temperature, pressure and other With brilliant career in astronomy aspects of interior sun and stars. This Bappu returned to India without accepting formula was a breakthrough in astrophys- jobs in USA. To his surprise he did not get ics and astronomers called it twelfth major a job for one year. Without losing heart, he discovery in astrophysics. tried to pull on and finally got a job at UP In 1927, Saha became an FRS. He joined State Observatory and later became the Allahabad University and began research Director of Kodaikanal Observatory. He in spectroscopy, the study of light emitted succeeded to establish the Indian Institute by atoms and molecules. Saha founded an of Astrophysics at Banglore. His ambition institute for nuclear physics in 1948 which of setting up a powerful 2.34m telescope is now known as Saha Institute of Nuclear was materialised only in 1986, four years Physics. Saha was also a social worker and after his death. The Kavalur observatory is was fearless and frank in his criticism of some government policies. He had full faith dedicated to the memory of Vainu Bappu. in industrialization and was against the M. N. SAHA back to village movement. He studied the Meghnad Saha is famous for his discov-

57 origin and control of floods and suggested Nagarjuna also wrote a supplement to a number of river valley projects, which Susrutha Samhitha called Uttharatantra included Damodar valley, Bhakranangal which deals with preparation of medicinal and Hirakud. In 1952, he was elected as drugs. His books Arogyamanjari, Yogasara an M.P. that also was with a wide margin. and Yogasatak are also famous. M.N. Saha died on February 16,1956. NARENDRA KARMARKAR M. S. SWAMINATHAN When a postman wants to deliver let- Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan ters, he makes mental calculations of the was destined to start shortest routes so that all letters can be green revolution in delivered with least India during 60’s. time and less effort. Swaminathan was But it may not be born on August 7, humanly possible to 1925. He took Ph.D. handle more complex from School of Ag- situations like land- riculture in Cam- ing and taking off of bridge in 1952. He airplanes in a busy developed HYV of airport after loading wheat and rice and and unloading car- succeeded in crossing potato and jute spe- goes, delivering vari- cies. He worked under Nobel Laureate N. ety of goods in diverse places like factories, E. Borlang and developed new variety called offices, houses etc. In such situations one Mexican Dwarf wheat variety, which solved has to seek the help of mathematics. the wheat scarcity. In 1973, he became Computers are employed to perform FRS. He was the Director of International such complex calculations quickly using Rice Research Institute, Philippines. a set of steps called “Algorithms”. Efforts At present he is Chairman of M.S. have been on to find algorithm to make Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chen- computer to do the job fast. It was a dream nai. He is the first agriculture scientist to till a young Indian Narendra Karmarkar win Albert Einstein World Science Award of AT & T Bell laboratories discovered an in 1986. algorithm in 1984. This is now known all over the world as Karmarkar’s algorithm. NAGARJUNA He was hardly 26 when this discovery was Nagarjuna was born at Fort Daihak near made. Initially many mathematicians did Somnath in Gujarat in 931 AD. He was a not believe Karmarkar. His algorithm can chemist in its most modern sense. His book make computer to perform calculations “ Rasaratnakara” is written in the form of 50-100 times faster. Karmarkar’s algorithm dialogue between himself and gods. has not only revolutionised the field of Rasaratnakara deals with preparations computer engineering but also introduced of rasa (Mercury) compounds, principles of a new concept in mathematics. chemical metallurgy, extraction of metals Karmakar was born in 1958 in Gwalior, like silver, gold, tin, copper etc. from their M.P. and took Ph.D. from the University of ores and their purification. The process of California. Karmarkar had intuitive ability distillation, liquefaction, sublimation and to look into the problem in entirely different roasting are also mentioned along with manner. At present he is using his knowl- proper instruments to be employed. Nagar- edge of mathematics to design new super juna describes technique to produce gold- computers which will surpass the speed of like substances which shine. existing computers.

58 plant growth can be measured. He discov- sirable and undesirable characteristics of ered that plants have emotions and feelings. the genes of the parents to the offspring. Bose showed that plants have small cells, Pandey used nuclear radiation to break which behave like nerve cells. genetic material and separated desirable Before he died on 23rd November, 1937, genes from undesirable. This was hailed Bose founded Bose Institute at Calcutta. in New Zealand as the most important discovery by a New Zealander since Lord J. V. NARLlKAR Rutherford split the atom. Jayant V. Narlikar is one of the as- Pandey found that the S-gene that trophysicists who do not believe that the governs a plant to self pollinate or cross Universe was born pollinate is a composition of gene or a su- with a bigbang. Nar- per gene. The super gene he discovered is likar along with his important for evolution of flowering plants teacher Fred Hoyle and controls the ability of a plant to cross developed a theory, with another species. Pandey used the ir- called Steady State radiation technique to change the mecha- Theory of the Uni- nism of S-gene to alter breeding mechanism verse according to of plants. By this method he was able to which Universe has convert cross pollinating plants to self pol- neither a beginning linating ones. nor an end. Narlikar was born K. S. KRISHNAN to a family of mathematicians on July 19, Born on December 4, 1898 in Tam- 1938 at Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Narlikar ilnadu, K.S.Krishnan went to Cambridge to do research under had basic education Hoyle of King’s College. After coming to In- in Madras. In 1920, dia in 1972, Narlikar became a Professor at he joined the Indian TIFR. At present he is the Director of Inter Association for Cul- University Centre for Astronomy and Astro- tivation of Science to physics at Pune which helps Universities in do research in Phys- popularising Astrophysics and Astronomy ics under C. V. Ra- among students. He is a popular science man. Their joined fiction writer. effort resulted into what is called Raman K. K. PANDEY effect. In 1948 he be- Kamala Kant Pandey is a leading plant came the first Director of National Physical geneticist in the world who heads the Ge- Laboratory, New Delhi. Krishnan studied netic Unit, Department of Scientific and the structure of solids. He became an FRS Industrial Research, New Zealand. in 1940. Krishnan died in 1961. Pandey was born on 11 December, 1926 at Naranagi. After taking Ph.D. in plant KANADA genetics in 1954 from John Innes Institute Kanada was one of those philosophers in London, he went to New Zealand and who probed into the secret of universe and settled down there. In1975, Pandey dis- the structure of matter. Kanada, during 600 covered a revolutionary technique in plant BC, propagated “ Vaiseshika Sutra” which breeding. We know that gene controls some includes atom theory of matter. He gave characteristics of plants (like height and the name Paramanu (atom) to an indivis- colour). Conventional breeding techniques ible entity of matter. According to Kanada by crossing two plants, transfers both de- paramanu does not exist in free state (just

59 PATANJALI och making discoveries of Chandrasekhar. Although Upanishads and Atharva Veda Hence by 1935, even though he came close mention yoga, it was Patanjali, during 2nd to speculate the formation of black holes, he century BC, who described its fundamen- left the subject and went to USA in 1937. tals and techniques in a self contained Director of Yekes Observatories invited him book called “Yoga Sutra”. Yoga contains to join there. eight stages called Yama (universal moral Chandrasekhar’s various discoveries on commandments), Niyama (self purification), stars are now text book materials. His ap- Asana ( postures), Pranayama (breath- proach to the problems was such that no control), Pratyahara( withdrawal of mind room would be left for further studies. In from the external), Dharana (concentra- 1946, he used to drive 160 km from Wis- tion), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi. corgim to University of Chicago to teach a Yoga can also be employed to cure dis- class of two students, Tsung Dao Lee and ease through what is now known as Yoga Chen Ning Yang. In 1957, whole of his class therapy. got Nobel Prize in Physics. Yet the teacher Recently scientists have recognized the had to wait till 1983, to receive the coveted powers of Yoga in improving the quality of prize for his studies on stars. The name of human life. Researches are being carried Chandrasekhar is immortalised by the term out all over the world to understand and Chandrasekhar Limit which is important in tap the potentialities of Yoga. astrophysics. If the mass of a star is more than 1.44 times that of the Sun, it will, S. CHANDRASEKHAR instead of changing to white dwarf towards The name of Chandrasekhar is immor- the end of its life, explode to form Super- talised by the term Chandrasekhar limit nova. The restriction of mass to 1.44 Solar which is important in astrophysics. If the mass for white dwarf to be stable is called mass of a star is more than 1.44 times that Chandrasekhar Limit. Chandrasekhar of the sun, it will, passed away on August 21, 1995. instead of changing to white dwarf S. RAMANUJAN towards the end of Sreenivasa Ramanujan was born at its life, explode to Kumbha-konam, Tamil Nadu in December form supernova. The 1887. From early childhood, he proved restriction of mass himself as a mathematical prodigy. At the to 1.44 solar mass age of 13, he got Loney’s Trignometry from for white dwarf to be a college library. Not stable is called Chan- only did he master drasekhar limit. the book, but also S. Chandrasekhar discovered many was born on October mathematical theo- 19, 1910 and was a nephew of C. V. Raman. rems and formulae, Before he was 18, Chandrasekhar started which were not given publishing research papers. By the time he in the book. Later on completed studies in Presidency College, he found that great Madras, many of his research papers ap- mathematicians had peared in international physics journals. discovered them At the age of 27, his reputation as famous much earlier. astrophysicist had been established. Con- A turn in his life came when one of his temporary astronomers and astrophysicists friends showed him Synopsis of Elementary including Eddington did not accept the ep- Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics

60 written by Carr. This book triggered the tions is considered to be equal in impor- genius of the fifteen year old Ramanujan. tance to that of great mathematicians like Ideas flodded in his mind and he could not Euler and Jacobi. write all of them. Before he went abroad, he The famous Ramanujan Number 1729 is filled three notebooks, which later became an example of the smallest number which Ramanujan’s Frayed Notebooks. Even to- can be written as a sum of cubes in two day mathematicians are doing research on different ways: results given in them. 13 + 123 = 1 + 1728 = 1729 Ramanujan could not complete F. A. 103 + 93 = 1000 + 729 = 1729 examination (equivalent to present Pre- Tuberculosis made Ramanujan to re- degree) in college since he neglected other turn to India. He died on April 26, 1920 at subjects like History, English and Physiol- Chetpet in Madras. ogy. The disappointed father saw the boy scribbling numbers and not doing much S. K. MITRA else. He thought the boy had gone mad. He Sisir Kumar Mitra is well known for his forced Ramanujan to marry 8 year old Jana- study of ionosphere. Born on October 24, ki. Ramanujan, now married was badly in 1890 in Calcutta, Mitra had a chance to need of a job. He needed about 2000 sheets of watch J C Bose and P C Ray engaged in paper every month. Ramanujan used scraps laboratory and this influenced him to take of sheets found in the street. Sometimes, he up radio science as his career. Thanks to used red pen to write over what was written his untiring efforts, the subject of elec- in blue ink on pieces of paper he picked up. tronics and radio communication gained He went to many offices saying that he importance in India. Mitra discovered that knew mathematics and could do clerical UV radiation from the sun produced E-layer job. He showed the Frayed notebooks as of the ionosphere. His book on Upper atmo- proof. But, no one understood him. Fran- sphere is a treatise on the subject, which cis Spring, Director of Madras Port Trust received worldwide appreciation. In 1958 was impressed and gave him a clerical job Mitra became an FRS. He died on August on a monthly salary of Rs. 25. Gradually 13, 1963 at the age of 73. his fame spread. On May 1, 1913, Ma- dras University granted him fellowship S. N. BOSE of Rs.75 per month though he had no The name of Sathyendra Nath Bose qualifying degree. Ramanujan had sent a has become a part of Physics, when he dis- letter to the famous mathematician Hardy covered a new type of statistics obeyed by of Cambridge, in which he included 120 certain particles like theorems and formulae. Hardy found that particles, photons most of them were discovered earlier. He (quanta of light)etc. along with his colleague J. E. Littlewood while changing their understood that they discovered a genius. energy states. The They invited Ramanujan to Cambridge in elementary parti- March 1914. cles obeying what is In 1918 February 28, Ramanujan be- called Bose-Einstein came an FRS and became the first Indian particles are called to be a fellow of Trinity College. Hardy Bosons. Einstein in Ramanujan Littlewood Circle Method in l925 even predicted number theory, Ragar Ramanujan identity a new type of phe- in partition of integers and similar others in nomenon, which is later on known as Bose- number theory and algebra of inequalities Einstein condensation. About 70 years later are famous. His work on continued frac- scientists produced Bose-Einstein conden-

61 sation in the laboratory by cooling nitrogen ary 1974 he died leaving a half-finished gas to nano Kelvin temperature. It is said problem relating to theory of numbers on to be the coherent form of matter. his table. S. N. Bose was born on January 1,1894. Teachers used to give him 110 out of 100 S. S. BHATNAGAR in mathematics. In 1916 he along with Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was a sci- Saha became Lecturers in Physics at the entist who established a number of na- University College in Calcutta. Both studied tional laboratories German language so that they could read with the blessings of papers written by famous scientists. They Pandit Nehru. These translated Einstein’s paper from German laboratories are now to English. When Saha went abroad Bose considered as the moved to Dacca University. There, one of temples of modern his friends presented Bose with a copy India. Bhatnagar was of Max Planck’s famous book on Thermo- born on February 21, dynamics and Heat. This book contained 1894 at Shahpur now the original work of Max Planck including in Pakistan. He took quantisation of light. While solving a prob- D.Sc. from London lem handled by Plank, Bose found certain University in 1921 in approximation suggested by Plank. At the the field of chemical age of thirty, Bose found an alternative and engineering where he did excellent work elegant way of working at the same prob- on emulsions and their characteristics. lem to arrive at what is known as Planck’s Emulsions are mixtures of inseparable liq- formula for black body radiation. His paper uids which may sometimes create problems was rejected by Indian and foreign research under practical situations. Returning from journals. In desperation Bose sent his pa- London, Bhatnagar joined Punjab Univer- per to Albert Einstein in 1924. The daring sity in Lahore (now in Pakistan) where he concept put forward by Bose impressed Ein- solved major problem for a British Company stein who himself translated the paper into while drilling for oil near Rawalpindi. The German with a comment “An important mud that was drilled out became hard and forward step”. The paper was published rocky and drilling came to a standstill. Mud by German journal Zeitschrift fur Physik. problem which is a type of colloid was stud- Einstein extended the work of Bose to other ied by Bhatnagar who advised the company fields and thus gave birth to what is termed to add an Indian gum to the mud drilled as Bose-Einstein Statistics. However, Bose out. The gum made the mud less viscous did not get much recognition. He even had which did not allow it to harden. This quick to get a letter from Einstein to make his and simple solution saved company from job secure. Only in 1958 that he became heavy loss. The reward of the company was an FRS. donated by Bhatnagar to Punjab Univer- Bose realised the importance of popu- sity. larisation of science amongst the masses. Bhatnagar’s contributions to magneto He urged scientists to write in mother chemistry are also valuable. The famous tongue. Bhatnagar Mathur Interference Balance To mark the golden jubilee of the dis- used for such studies is being manufac- covery of Bose Statistics, an International tured by a British firm for worldwide sale. Seminar was held in Calcutta, in which During World War II, Government of Bose said that he had no desire to live any India made Bhatnagar, the Director of longer as his work was being recognised what later became CSIR. The purpose of world wide. A month later on 4th Febru- the council was to utilise scientific results of laboratories in industries to produce

62 better results. In his laboratory, Bhatnagar Salim Ali to publish detailed findings on produced anti gas cloths, unburstable con- weaverbirds which brought him recogni- tainers and plastics from waste. He became tion in the field of ornithology. His study FRS in 1943. on racket-tailed drongo and discovery of After independence, Bhatnagar laid Finn’s Baya at Kumad hills brought him foundation for science and technology, fame. In 1941, he wrote The Book of Indian with the encouragement of Nehru. He was Birds, which helped even laymen to spot responsible for installing oil refineries, birds exactly. metal purification plants, survey system for In 1948, he published ten volumes of atomic mineral exploration and petroleum the book “Handbook of Birds of India and department. Pakistan”, which is the authentic book in this field till present. Salim Ali visited the Before his death on June 1,1955, Bhat- Thekkadi Bird Sanctuary in Kerala a num- nagar established 12 National Laboratories ber of times and identified many migrating to give modern facilities to fresh graduates birds there. He also wrote a book, “Birds for doing research without going abroad. In of Kerala. Salim Ali died in 1987. his name, CSIR awards every year Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology to scientists below 45 years for SAMBHU NATH DE their outstanding contributions in science Sambhu Nath De was a medical doctor and technology. who also did research - a rare combination - to discover the basic cause of Cholera. De SALIM ALI was born in 1915 in Garibati near Cal- Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was a fa- cutta. After taking mous ornithologist who loved birds till his Ph.D. from the Uni- last breath. He was born on Nov.12, 1896. versity of London, He did not complete he joined Nilratan university education Sircar Medical Col- because of his dislike lege, where he did for mathematics es- research to under- pecially algebra and stand the cause of logarithm. He went Cholera. Since 1883, people believed in the to Burma to help his discovery of Robert Koch that Cholera was brother in mining. due to bacteria and it enter the human body There also he was through food. a failure. Return- ing home, he did a course in Zoology and He discovered a technique to create became a guide at the museum of Bombay some symptoms in rabbits as observed in Natural History Society. He went to Ger- Cholera infected humans. He found that many for advanced training but when came Cholera is caused not by bacteria but by back he was jobless because the post occu- a poisonous substance “enterotoxin” that pied by him was abolished. By this time he bacteria secreted in the conditions available was a married man and was in dare need for in the digestive tract of human body. This a job. Luckily his wife had a small income discovery was published in the prestigious and could support him. They moved to a British Journal “Nature” in 1959. Today, small house at Kihim across the harbour it is hailed as a corner stone of research of where there was a colony of weaverbirds on Cholera all over the world. a tree near his house. Only very little was SUSRUTA known about this kind of bird at that time. Susruta’s lifetime is during 6th century Three to four months observation made BC and was a descendent of Visvamitra. He

63 learnt surgery from Dhanvanthari at Va- In 1724, first Jantar Mantar was built in ranasi. He became an authority in surgery Delhi and in 1734 he published his observa- and other branches tion in Persian title Zij Muhammad Shahi. of medicine. Later on he made other Jantar Mantars. Susruta was the He designed instruments by himself which first to carryout Plas- included Samrat yantra and Rama yantra tic Surgery. An in- and he made his observatory available to ternational seminar anybody who was interested in studying on Susruta’s tech- astronomy, thereby making science popu- nique of Plastic Sur- lar. gery was organized Two fundamental contributions of Jai in California during Singh are the measurement of the preces- mid seventies. Sus- sion of equinoxes and the measurement of ruta was the first obliquity of eclips. physician to advocate what is now known as “Caesarian”operation. He was expert in removing urinary stones, locating and VARAHAMIHIRA treating fractures and doing eye operations Varahamihira was born in 499AD at for cataract. He put forth the concept of Kapitha near Ujjain. His father Adityadasa asepsis several years before Joseph Lister. taught him astrology. Mihira (who later on His suggestion to give wine to patients became Varahamihira) was inspired by Ary- before operation makes him the father of abhata when they met at Kusumapuram. anesthesia. This meeting made Mihira to decide on Susruta’s work "Susruta Samhita" is taking up astrology and mathematics as relevant even today. In this book, he lists his subjects of studies. 101 types of surgical instruments. His sam- Vikramaditya made Varahamihira one damsa yantras are first forms of modern of the nine Gems in his court. He travelled surgeon’s spring forceps, dissection and as far as Greece. He died in 587 AD. Vara- dressing forceps. His crocodile forceps and hamihira was not a blind believer. He was a hawksbill forceps are adopted even today. true scholar like Aryabhata. He was the first Susruta Samhita was translated into Ar- to claim that some “force” might be keeping abic in 8th century AD as Kitab-i- Susrud. the bodies to fall and to stick on the surface of earth ( similar to force of gravity). Varaha- SAWAI JAI SINGH II mihira made a number of observations in Jai Singh II was born at 1686 in Amber the field of ecology, hydrology and geology. Fort, Jaipur. At the age of 13, he became His discovery that certain types of plants and the king of Amber. Emperor Aurangzeb termites serve as indicators of underground honoured him with the title, ‘Sawai’ mean- water is now receiving attention in the scien- ing that he was a quarter more than a man. tific world. His mastery of Sanskrit grammar Jai Singh patronised four Jantar Mantar and poetic abilities enabled him to express (observatories) in New Delhi, Jaipur, Va- ideas in a unique style. ranasi and Ujjain. Jantar Mantar means Varahamihira’s famous works are Pan- instruments and formulae. chasiddhantika, Brihatsamhita and Brihat- In 1727, Jai Singh planned capital jataka which put him on a high pedestal in Jaipur which shows his skill in town plan- astrology as Kautilya in political philosophy, ning and architecture. He collected books, Manu in law and Panini in grammar. treatises, tables etc. on astronomy that He had many progressive ideas. He gave included Ptolomi's Almagest. Jai Singh got scientific explanation for the eclipse and telescopes later in life. methodology for identifying underground

64 water sources by observing the species of a number of projects he planned, included trees, shrubs and grass. India’s first satellite (Aryabhatta, launched in 1975) and the Satellite Instructional VIKRAM SARABHAI Television Experiment (SITE). However, he Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919 could not see his dreams, fulfilled since he in a wealthy family. After his studies on cos- died prematurely at the age of 52. Sarabhai mic rays in U K, Sarabhai returned to India established a number of institutions de- and founded Physical Research Laboratory voted to modernisation of textile industries, in Ahammedabad, an institute devoted to development of management skills and the study of cosmic rays and outer space. another to popularise science. In 1955, he set up a branch of the labora- The International Astronomical Union tory at Gulmar (Kashmir), Trivandrum and named after him a crater on the moon in Kodaikanal. P R L provides the technology the Sea of Serenity. and scientists needed for country’s space programme. Sarabhai established I. S. R O. Amongst   

''We have made significant achievements in the last fifty years in food production, health sector, higher education, media and mass communication, industrial infrastructure, information technology, science and technology and defence. Our nation is endowed with natural resources, vibrant people and traditional value system. In spite of these resources, a number of our people are below the poverty line, undernourished and lack primary education… Along with speedy development aimed at elimination of poverty and unemployment, national security has to be recognised by every Indian as a national priority. Indeed, making India strong and self –reliant –economically, socially-is our foremost duty to our motherland and to us and to our future generations.'' A.P.J. Abdul Kalam



“A scientist does not belong to a particular nation. He belongs to the whole world. The doors of science should be kept open to all those who work for the welfare of humanity.” Homi Jehangir Bhabha

65 Special Topic-1

Vedic Mathematics

1.1 Profile on Swamiji: world record of academic brilliance. His subjects included Sanskrit, Philosophy, His Holiness Jagadguru English, Mathematics, History and Sci- Sankaracarya Sri Bharati Krsna ence. As a student, Venkatraman was Tirthaji Maharaja marked for his splendid brilliance, superb HIS HOLINESS JAGADGURU SANKA- retentive memory and ever-insatiable curi- RACARYA SRI BHARATI KRSNA TIRTHAJI osity. Study of the latest researchers and MAHARAJA is a magnificent and divine discoveries in modern science continued personality who gracefully adorned the fa- to be Sri Jagadguruji’s hobby till his very mous Govardhan Math, Puri. His research last days. achievements in the field of Vedic Math- ematics and his devotion to the service of Study of science of science His deepest attraction was the study humanity are boundless. and practice of the science of science -the Education holy ancient Indian spiritual science or His Holiness, better known among his Adhyatma-Vidya. In 1908, therefore, he disciples by the beloved name ‘Jagadguruji’ proceeded to the Sringeri Math in Mysore or ‘Gurudeva’, was born of highly learned to lay himself at the feet of the renowned and pious parents in March, 1884. His late Jagadguru Shankaracharya Maharaj father, Sri. P.Narasimha Shastri, was in Sri Satcidananda Sivbhinava Nrisimha service as a Tahsildar at Tinnivelly (Ma- Bharati Swami. dras Presidency). Jagadguruji, named as He devoted several years for the ad- Venkatraman in his early days, was an vanced studies on Vedanta Philosophy exceptionally brilliant student. He was a and practice of the Brahma-sadhana. After student of National College, Trichanapalli; several years of the most advanced studies, Church Missionary Society College, Tin- deepest meditation, and highest spiritual nivelli and Hindu College, Tinnivelli. He attainment, Prof. Venkatraman Saraswati was extraordinarily proficient in Sanskrit was initiated into the holy order of Samnya- and on account of this he was awarded the sa at Banarras (Varanasi) by his Holiness title of ‘Saraswati’ by the Madras Saskrit Jagadguru Sankaracharya Sri Trivikraman Association in July, 1899 when he was still Tirthaji Maharaj of Sharadapeeth on the in his 16th year. 4th July 1919 and on this occasion he After winning the highest place in the was given the new name, Swami Bharati B.A Examination, Sri Venktaraman Saras- Krsna Tirtha. wati appeared at the M.A. Examination of Within two years of his stay in the holy the American College of Sciences, Roch- order, he proved his unique suitability for ester, New York, form Bombay Centre in being installed on the pontifical throne of 1903; and in 1904 at the age of twenty he Sharada Peetha Sankaracharya and accord- passed M.A Examination in seven subjects ingly in 1921, he was so installed with all simultaneously securing the highest hon- the formal ceremonies. His winning per- ours in all, which is perhaps the all-time sonality, his charming innocence, his eager

66 thirst for knowledge, his religious zeal, his numbers are considered to be references earnest belief in the “sastras”, his universal to find out whether given number is less kindness, his retentive memory, all these or more than the base. attracted towards him every living soul that If the given number is 104, the near- came in contact with him. est power of 10 is 100 and is the base. Hence the difference between the base and 1.2 Mathematical Application number is 4, which is positive it is called Vedic Mathematics was written by Sri “NIKHILAM”. The value of Nikhilam may be Bharati Krsna Tirthaji. It forms a class positive or negative considering 100 as the by itself. It is based on 16 Sutras and 13 reference base, the Nikhilam of 87 is -13 auxiliary sutras. It has wider applications and that of 113 is +13 respectively. than Trachtenberg Speed Mathematics. Ex: It does not just deal with numbers, but - Nikhilam of 998 is -002. also with advanced mathematical theories (998-1000 is -2 and 103 has 3 zeros; including calculus, solving differenciation so-2 is written as -002) and integration problems. It unfolds a new method of approach. It relates to the truth - Nikhilam of 104 is +04. of numbers and magnitude applicable to all - ,, 107 is +07 sciences and arts. Bharat, our Motherland, is gifted with the teachers and revelations Number Base Nikhilam of scientific truth by our ancient sages and i. 12 10 +2 rishis, from pre-historic period, Vedas. ii. 112 102 +12 iii. 91 102 -09 Fundamentals of Vedic 3 Mathematics: iv. 975 10 -025 v. 10008 104 +0008 Base System Perhaps you may be aware that the (Note: No of ‘0’s in base and no. of digits decimal system of numbers is an Indian in Nikhilam should be equal) contribution. In this system the values of Nikhilam Sutra –Multiplication digits are assigned in powers of 10. Nikhilam sutra can be used for several For example, the number 231 has 3 mathematical operations. To multiply 2 digits. The values assigned to the digits numbers close to power of 10 easy meth- are shown as od:

102 101 100 i) 03 103 2 3 1 04 104 “Nikhilam” 103+ 03 Nikhilam sutra stipulates subtraction of 4 04 a number from the nearest power of 10 ie 10, 100, 1000 etc. i) 100-base Consider the following results: ii) (Difference or Nikhilam) iii) Add I number and 2nd nikhilam Number Base Nikhilam ie. 103 + 4 = 107 is I part of product. 9 10 1 iv) Multiply 03 x 04 = 12 is II part 97 100 03 answer is 10,712. 882 1000 118 9786 10,000 0214 ii) 106 x The powers of 10 from which the differ- 102 ence is calculated are called Bases. These 100 12

67 i) base is 100 106 09 ii) Nikhilams are +06 and +02 vi 1005 x iii) part is 106 + 02 =108 1012 iv) II part is 06x 02 = 12 1005 005 x Product is 10812. +12 012 iii 105 x +05 1017 060 104 +04 (103 has 3 Zeros so II part should be 3 digits) 105+04 05x04 109 20 viii 10008 x 100025 iv 104 x 10033, 0200 102 How easy!!!! 104+ 04x 02 02 References 106 08 1. Vedaganitham Correspondence Course (2003), Ramanuja Sarani, Mathematics (Note: 102 has 2 Zeros; So II part - the Research & Study Centre, Swadeshi Sci- product of nikhilams should be 2 digit ence Movement, Cochin. number) 2. Vedic Mathematics (1992, Revised ed.), v 103 x Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krsna 103 Tirthaji Maharaja, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi. 103+ 03 x 03 09 3. Ganitha Vijnana Kosam (2000), Palliyara Sreedharan, Current Books, Thrissur.

  

“Scientists are often accused of living in the 'Ivory Tower' and not troubling their mind with realities and apart from my association with political movements in my juvenile years, I had lived in ivory tower up to 1930. But science and technology are as to the country in my own humble way.” Meghnad Saha

68 Special Topic-2

Environmental Pollution

Pollutants may be defined as the sub- the pollutants of this category. These pol- stances present in the environment in lutants accumulate and may get biologi- harmful concentrations. They are often cally magnified as they pass through the the residues of the materials we make, use food chains. or throw away. For example, smoke from C. According to the form in which they per- industries and automobiles, sewage (waste sist after release into the environment. The matter) from houses and hotels, radioactive pollutants may be primary or secondary. substances from nuclear plants, and dis- 1. Primary Pollutants: These persist in carded household articles are the common the form in which they are added to the pollutants. However, all pollutants are not environment. Plastic wares are primary waste materials. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants. are used to enrich the soil for increased 2. Secondary Pollutants: These are crop yields, but pollute the water if present formed from the primary pollutants. For in excess. example, two primary pollutants, namely, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon, from Classification motor vehicles, react in the presence of The pollutants are classified from differ- sunlight to form two secondary pollutants, ent points of view. viz., Peroxy Acyl Nitrate (PAN) and ozone. A. According to their existence in nature, These are more toxic than the primary pol- they may be quantitative or qualitative. lutants. This phenomenon of increased 1. Quantitative Pollutants: These are toxicity by reaction among the pollutants the substances, which normally occur in is called synergism. nature but are also added in large quanti- Types of Pollution: Pollution is of five ties by man. For instance: carbon dioxide. main types: Atmospheric or Air Pollution, It is always present in the air, and is also Water Pollution, Soil and Landscape Pol- released by industries and automobiles. lution, Radioactive Pollution and Noise 2. Qualitative Pollutants: These are the Pollution. substances that do not occur in nature but are added by man. The insecticides, for Definitions example, are qualitative pollutants. Atmospheric or Air Pollution: Air pollution B. According to their natural disposal, refers to the release into the atmosphere of the pollutants may be biodegradable or materials that are harmful to man, other nondegradable. animals, plants and buildings or other 1. Biodegradable Pollutants: These objects. are quickly degraded by natural means. Water Pollution: Water pollution is Sewage and heat are pollutants of this defined as the addition of some foreign category. substance (organic, inorganic, biological 2. Nondegradable Pollutants: These are or radiological) to water, or change in its not degraded or are degraded very slowly physical property (heat) that constitutes a in nature. D.D.T., arsenic and plastics are health hazard or otherwise makes it less fit

69 or unfit for use. and soil with radioactive materials. Soil and Landscape Pollution: Altera- Noise Pollution: Noise pollution is the tion in soil causing reduced productivity is result of modern industrialized urban life called soil pollution. Here, soil productivity and congestion. includes both the quantity and the quality of the produce. Reference: Radioactive pollution: Radioactive Pollu- Environment Education (1991), Bandhu tion is the physical pollution of air, water Desh, Indian Environment Society, New Delhi.   

“Progress in every country depends mainly on the education of its people. Without education, we are a nation of children. The difference between one man and another, apart from birth and social position, consists in the extent of knowledge, general and practical, acquired by him. We may safely assume that man in all countries within certain limits start with the same degree of intelligence. A civilized nation is distinguished from an uncivilised one by extent of its acquired intelligence and skill.” “The Indian mind needs to be familiarized with the principles of modern progress, a universal impulse for enquiry and enterprise awakened, and earnest thinking and effort promoted. A new type of Indian citizenship purposeful, progressive and self respecting should be created, and self-reliant nationhood developed”. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.



“If there was been any success in my life that was built on the unshakable foundation of failure…..” J.C. Bose

70 Special Topic-3

Some Salient Contributions of India

 India invented the number system. Zero cept of what is now known as Pythago- was invented by Aryabhata. rian theorem. In 1999 British scholars  India never invaded any country in her officially published that Budhayan’s last 10,000 years of history. works dates to the 6th Century, which  The world’s first university was estab- is long before the European mathemati- lished in Takshasila, in 700 BC. More cians. than 10,500 students from all over the  Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came world had come there to study more than from India. Quadratic equation was by 60 subjects there. Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The  The University of Nalanda, built in the largest numbers the Greeks and Romans 4th century BC was one of the greatest used were 106 whereas Indians used achievements of ancient India in the field numbers as big as 1053 with specific of education. names as early as 5000 BC during the  Sanskrit is the mother of all European Vedic period. Even today, the largest languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable number used is tera = 1012 . language for computer software (A report  According to the Gemological Institute in Forbes Magazine July 1987). of America, till 1896, India was the only  Ayurveda is the earliest school of medi- source for diamonds to the world. cine known to human race. Caraka, the  USA based Institute of Electronics and father of medicine consolidated Ayurve- Electrical Engineers(IEEE) has proved da 2,500 years ago. Today Ayurveda among the world scientific community is fast regaining its rightful place in our that the pioneer of wireless communica- civilization. tion was Prof. Jagadish Chandra Bose  Although modern images of India often and not Marconi. show poverty and lack of development,  Chess was invented in India. India was the richest country on the  Susruta is the father of surgery. 2,600 earth until the British invasion in the years ago he along with other health early 17th century. scientists of his time conducted com-  The art of navigation was emerged in plicated surgeries like cesareans, cata- the river Sind 6,000 years ago. The very ract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary world Navigation is derived from the San- stones and even plastic surgery & brain skrit word Navgathi. The word Navy is surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well also derived from Sanskrit Nou. known in ancient India. Over 125 surgi-  Bhaskaracharya calculated the time cal equipment were used. taken by earth to orbit the sun hundreds  When many cultures were only nomadic of years before the astronomer Smart. forest dwellers, Indians established Time taken by the earth to orbit the Harappan culture in Indus valley. sun, according to Bhaskaracharya is  The place value system (decimal system) 365.258756484 days. was developed in India in 100 BC.  The value of π was first calculated by  Who is the co-founder of Sun Micro- Budhayana and he explained the con- systems? Vinod Khosla (Ref: CBS 60

71 Minutes 03/02/03)  Who are the Chief Executives of Citibank,  Who is the creator of the Pentium chip Mckensey Stanchart? Victor Menezes, (needs no introduction as 90% of today’s Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar. computers run on it) Vinod Dahm.  38% of doctors in USA are Indians.  Who is the third richest man on the  12% scientist in USA are Indians world? Azim Premji (According to the  36% of NASA scientists are Indians. latest report in Fortune Magazine, it is  34% of Microsoft employees are Indi- Azim Premji, who is CEO of Wipro In- ans. dustries.)  28% of IBM employees are Indians.  Who is the founder and creator of Hot-  17% of INTEL scientists are Indians. mail (the world’s No.1 web based email  13% of XEROX employees are Indians. program)? Sabeer Bhatia.  Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs( References: AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of pro- 1. Awakening Indians to India (2003), gram languages such as C, C++, Unix to All India Chinmaya Yuva Kendra, name a few)? Arun Netravalli. Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,  Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard? Rajiv Mumbai. Gupta. 2. Bharatiya Boudhik Sampada, a quar-  Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing terly Science Research Journal for the Director) of Windows 2000, responsible exploration of Indian Intellectual Capi- for ironing out all initial problems? San- tal, Nagapur-440 010. jay Tejwrika.   

"I have always been associated with many prominent figures eminent in other ways, but Dr. S.S. Bhatnagar was a special combination of many things, added to which was a tremendous energy with an enthusiasm to achieve things. The result was he left a record of achievement which was truly remarkable. I can truly say that but for Dr. Bhatnagar you could not have seen today the chain of national laboratories." Jawaharlal Nehru

72 Special Topic-4

Atomic Energy in India

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the prime ar- where some work on atomic minerals was chitect of the Indian nuclear programme already under way. During the period initiated effort in March 1944 to start nu- 1948-54 the Atomic Energy Commission clear research programmes in India so that functioned with in the Ministry of Natural “When nuclear energy has been successfully Resources and Scientific Research. On applied for power production in, say a couple August 3, 1954, the Department of Atomic of decades from now, India will not have to Energy (DAE) was created with Dr. Bhabha look abroad for its experts but will find them as the Secretary to the Government of India ready at hand”. for the Department. The Department was After Bhabha’s observation, the feasibil- under the direct charge of the Prime Minis- ity of achieving a self sustaining nuclear ter. With the creation of the Atomic Energy chain reaction was established by Fermi Establishment, Trombay (AEET), all the in Chicago and this fact was a kept secret scientists working on programmes of direct known only to a very limited number of in- relevance to applications of nuclear power dividuals in USA, UK and China. Even the were transferred from TIFR and became discovery of nuclear fission was hardly five part of AEET. AEET was formally inaugu- years old at that time. Very few believed at rated by Jawaharlal Nehru on January 20, that time that nuclear fission would provide 1957. In 1967, the then Prime Minister In- economically viable electrical power before dira Gandhi renamed it as Bhabha Atomic the end of the century. Bhabha realised Research Centre (BARC). that nuclear energy is of utmost importance India conducted the first nuclear explo- for the industrial development of India. sion test on May 11,1974 in the Pokhran Nuclear research was started with the desert of Rajasthan. It was a Plutonium establishment of the Tata Institute of Fun- fission bomb. The second test also was damental Research (TIFR) in 1945 with in Pokhran which included fission and Bhabha as its first Director. Work directly fusion types. On May 11, 1998, three ex- related to the exploitation of nuclear energy plosions were tested which consisted of a for the benefit of India was started with the thermonuclear device, a fission and a sub passing of the Atomic Energy Act in April kiloton device. Two more nuclear devices 1948 and the setting of the Atomic Energy experimented two days later were sub kilo Commission a few months later in August types. 1948. On January 3, 1954 the Atomic India has built reactors for the produc- Energy Commission decided to set up the tion of power. They are at Tharapur, Kota, atomic energy establishment at Trombay Kalpakam, Narora and Kakrapur.   