SCIENTISTS OF ANCIENT INDIA

In ancient India not only great accomplishments were achieved in the field of art and
architecture, literature, philosophy etc., many natural and pure sciences also flourished
and registered remarkable growth and development. In the realm of astronomy,
mathematics, biological and medical science ancient Indians made various
breakthroughs. Among the intellectual and scholastic luminaries Baudhayana,
Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya, Varahamihira and Nagarjuna deserve special
mention.

1) Baudhayana (c.500 CE): His Baudhayana sutras is a work on a wide range of

subjects including philosophical discussions on dharma (righteous conduct), rituals etc.
as well as scientific discussions on mathematics etc. He adhered to the Yajurveda school.
He is credited with the writing of the earliest Sulba sutras (appendices to the Vedas
performing the role of manuals enunciating rules for the construction of Vedic altars,
preparation of the site where Vedic sacrifices were to be carried out etc.) known as the
Baudhayana Sulbasutra. It specifically deals with the dimensions of Vedic brick fire
altars.

The rules of construction are noteworthy from the viewpoint of mathematics. They throw
light on various significant mathematical formulae, including the value of pi to a
considerable degree of precision and giving a version of the Pythagoras Theorem. The
sequences associated with primitive Pythagorean triples were named Baudhayana
sequences.

Baudhayana’s dharmasutra, like that of Apastamba, also constitutes a portion of the

larger Kalpasutra (a compendium of the Jaina tradition that contains the biographies of
Jain tirthankaras, particularly Parshvanatha and Mahavira). It is composed in the form of
prashnas which literally means questions or books. These prashnas comprise the
Shrautasutra and other ritual texts, the Shulvasutras, which elucidate Vedic geometry
and the Grihyasutras which throw light on domestic rituals. Therein we find an
explication of rectangles and squares which is deemed as the earliest recorded statement
of the Pythagoras Theorem. The sulbasutras also suggest how to square a circle i.e. how
to construct, using only a ruler and compass, a square the area of which is equal to that of
a given circle. It is interesting to note that Indians learnt and knew of the Pythagorean
Theorem before the Greeks.

2) Aryabhata I (c.476-550 CE): He was the first among eminent astronomer-

mathematicians of ancient India. He composed the Aryabhatiya/ Aryabhatiyam (in 499
CE at the age of 23) and the Arya-siddhanta (a lost literary piece on astronomical
computations). He received his education in Pataliputra (Kusumapura). It is stated that he
was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura and because the Nalanda
University was in Pataliputra and was equipped with an astronomical observatory at that
time it is conjectured that he might have been the head of the University of Nalanda too.
He is also known to have established an observatory at the Sun temple, Taregana/Taregna
(near Patna in present-day Bihar). He authored several works on astronomy and
mathematics, some of which could not be recovered and are considered lost. His major
composition Aryabhatiya – a book on mathematics and astronomy – was extensively
consulted and quoted in the subsequent mathematical literature across India and has
survived to present times. The sections on mathematics encompass algebra, arithmetic,
plane and spherical trigonometry. They also explain complex mathematical formulae on
continued and quadratic equations, sums-of-power series etc. and provide a useful table
of sines. We get glimpses of the Arya-siddhanta in the writings of his contemporary
Varahamihira and later mathematicians and commentators like Brahmagupta and
Bhaskara I. This text, it seems, was based on the older Surya Siddhanta and used the
midnight-day reckoning, in contrast to the sunrise in the Aryabhatiya. It also described
numerous astronomical instruments:

1) the gnomon (shanku-yantra),

2) a shadow instrument (chhaya-yantra),

3) both semicircular and circular angle-measuring devices (dhanur-yantra/chakra-

yantra),

4) a cylindrical stick called the yastiyantra,

5) an umbrella-shaped device (chhatra-yantra),

6) bow-shaped as well as cylindrical water-clocks.

A third text to his credit that has survived in its Arabic translation is Al-nanf. It states that
it is adopted from the Sanskrit work by him but the Sanskrit name of the original
composition is not known. It is referred to by the Persian scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni
in his chronicles.

Aryabhata had huge influence on Indian astronomical tradition and our neighbouring
cultures which translated his writings. The Arabic translation during the Islamic Golden
Age (c. 820 CE) was particularly significant.

Some of his explanations are cited by Al-Khwarizmi and in 10th century CE AlBiruni
mentioned that Aryabhata’s followers believed that the Earth rotated on its axis. His
definitions of sine (jya), cosine (kojya), versine (utkrama-jya) and inverse sine (otkram
jya) influenced the birth of trigonometry. As a matter of fact, the modern terms “sine”
and “cosine” are adaptations of the words jya and kojya introduced by Aryabhata. As just
stated, they were translated as jiba and kojiba in Arabic and then misunderstood by
Gerard of Cremona while translating an Arabic monograph on geometry to Latin. He
assumed that jiba was the Arabic word jaib which means “fold in a garment”.

Aryabhata’s astronomical calculation methods had the same weight. Along with the
trigonometric tables they came to be widely used in Islamic adaptations to figure out
several Arabic astronomical tables (zijes). In particular, the astronomical tables
formulated by Al-Zarqali (11th century) – the instrument-maker and most important
astronomer/astrologer in western part of the Islamic world – on the basis of Aryabhata’s
legacy were translated into Latin as the Tables of Toledo (12th century) and remained the
most accurate ephemeris used for centuries in Europe. The calendrical calculations
introduced by Aryabhata and his followers have been in continuous use in India for the
practical purposes of preparing the Panchangam (Hindu calendar). In Islamic cultures
they formed the basis of Jalali calendar devised in 1073 CE by a group of astronomers
such as Omar Khayyam. The modified versions of Jalali are the national calendars used
in Afghanistan and Iran today. Dates of the Jalali calendar are based on actual solar
transit, just like in Aryabhatiya and earlier Siddhanta calendars.This kind of calendar
needs an ephemeris for calculating dates. Although the dates were difficult to decipher,
seasonal errors were much lesser in Jalali calendar than in the Gregorian calendar.

India’s first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata were named to honour this
great Indian scientist. Further, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational
Sciences (ARIES) as a centre for research and training in astrophysics, astronomy and
atmospheric sciences was set up near Nainital (Uttarakhand) in his name. The inter-
school Aryabhata Maths Competition is also named after him, so is Bacillus aryabhattai,
a bacterial species discovered in 2009 by the ISRO scientists.

3) Brahmagupta: His contribution holds a unique position in the history of Indian

mathematics. His pioneering interpretations on Geometry and Number Theory make
today’s mathematicians marvel at their originality. His theorems that resulted in the
calculation of circum-radius of a triangle and lengths of the diagonals of a cyclic
quadrilateral, construction of a rational cyclic quadrilateral and integer solutions to a
single second degree equation were ground breaking. After the Greeks ascended to
supremacy in mathematics (especially geometry) during the time from 7th century BCE
to 2nd century CE there was a sudden dip in mathematical and scientific enquiries and
investigations during the next millennium till the age of Renaissance in Europe. But,
mathematics and astronomy continued to flourish in Asia, specifically in India and the
Arab world. A continued exchange of information was visible between the two cultures
and later between Europe and the Arabs who had gained a lot from Indian scientific
temper. An unparalleled contribution of Indian intellect was the decimal representation of
positive integers along with zero that eventually travelled to the Western world despite
the fact that there was some initial resistance and reluctance to accept it.

Brahmagupta is said to have spent his early days as court-astronomer to emperor

Vyaghramukha. He is best remembered for his seminal composition: the
Bahmasphutasiddhanta (theory of “the opening of the universe”) or simply the
Siddhanta. He is credited with another work by the name Khandakhadyaka which he
wrote later. The Siddhanta comprises of 1008 shlokas (verses) constituting 25 chapters
that contain theorizations and inferences on algebra, arithmetic, geometry and number
theory. He was the first to introduce zero as a digit. The Siddhanta was translated into
Arabic and titled Sind hind. The Khandakhadyaka contains 194 verses arranged in 9
chapters that throw light on astronomical calculations. He was definitely a prominent
mathematician of his times who also had the audacity of critiquing his predecessors for
their faults and omissions and rectifying them as much as he could. He authored a sequel
to the Khandakhadyaka with some rectifications to some concepts elucidated in the
Khandakhadyaka.

He was the head of Ujjain observatory. He passed away in 668 CE.

4. Varahamihira (505–587 CE): He was among the band of Indian scientists such as
Aryabhata, Dhanvantari, Sushruta, Charaka and Bhaskaracharya whose areas of expertise
varied from mathematics, surgery, medicine, to meteorology. He had acquired
astonishing knowledge of a whole range of technical subjects like hydrology,
meteorology, astrology, astronomy and seismology. His magnum opus – the Brihat
Samhita – throws light on all of these. The Arab scholar Alberuni translated into Arabic
his another composition: the Brihat Jataka. He also lavished praise on Varahamihira for
the richness in detail in the Brihat Samhita.
Varahamihira was a resident of Ujjayini. He respected learning wherever it was found
and was thoroughly familiar with astrological works of the Greeks and he refers to these
in his texts. His other compositions include Pancha Siddhantika, Vivahapatala,
Laghujataka, Yatra. They were possibly written in that order stated. He was born in
Avanti (roughly corresponding to modernday Malwa) to Adityadasa who was himself an
astronomer. It is mentioned in one of his own works that he was educated at Kapitthaka.
He was one of the nine jewels (Navaratnas) of the court of legendary king
Yashodharman Vikramaditya of Malwa who belonged to the Aulikara dynasty and held
sway over much of the Indian subcontinent between c. 530-540 CE as mentioned in the
Mandsaur pillar inscription.

Varahamihira was the first to state in his chief composition the Panchasiddhantika dated
c. 575 CE that the ayanamsa/ayanabhaga (precession of the equinoxes) lasted for 50.32
seconds. It is a book on mathematical astronomy. It delineates the five astronomical
canons prevalent around that time and provides useful information on older Indian texts
on the topic which are now lost. It presents a summary of five earlier astronomical texts,
namely:

1) Surya Siddhanta,

2) Romaka Siddhanta,

3) Paulisa Siddhanta,

4) Vasishtha Siddhanta, and

5) Paitamaha Siddhanta.

It is a significant work on Vedanga Jyotisha as well as Hellenistic astronomy that

includes Greek, Roman and Egyptian elements. Alberuni explicated the five astronomical
traditions on the basis of Varahmihira’s theory.
Varahamihira’s another influential contribution is the encyclopedic Brihat- Samhita that
encapsulates a vast array of topics of interest like astronomy and astrology; planetary
movements, eclipses and their effects; other natural phenomena; geography and botany;
clouds, rainfall and growth of crops; manufacture of perfume and cosmetics; domestic
relations and matrimony; architecture and iconography; gems and pearls; characteristics
of Khadga (sword), Angavidya (knowledge of the limbs); auspicious and inauspicious
characteristics of people and animals, good and bad omens and the science of precious
stones (gemmology).

It elucidates gemstone evaluation criterion expounded in the Garuda Purana and

provides information on the sacred Nine Pearls borrowed from the same treatise. It has
106 chapters binding nearly 4000 shlokas and is eulogized as the “great compilation”.
The chapters are geophysical in nature and primarily deal with meteorology that includes
appropriate planetary conjunctions, cloud formation, rainfall and its volume, signs of
immediate rain, hurricanes etc.

He was an astrologer as well. He wrote about all three chief aspects of Jyotisha
(astrology) like horoscopy. His Brihat Jataka is revered as among the five main
compositions on Hindu astrology. It is said that the two texts of the West – the Romaka
Siddhanta (“Doctrine of the Romans”) and the Paulisa Siddhanta (“Doctrine of Paul”) –
influenced his mind and intellect.

However, this view is debatable and contestable because we have much evidence to show
that it was the indigenous Vedic thought that first motivated and impacted deductions of
the astrologers of Western origin that subsequently returned to Indian land after being
reformulated.

Temple Architecture

The Gupta period (300-600 CE) saw the beginnings of systematic construction on the
basis of structural principles in temple architecture. The basic elements are a square
sanctum (garbhagrha) for the image, a small pillared portico (mukhamandapa), and
sometimes a covered circumambulatory passage (pradakshinapatha) around the sanctum.
There was a tendency during this period in stone construction to use stones larger than
what the size of the building warranted. This was because the relationship between the
strength and stability of construction and the economy of materials was yet to be
understood. The stone was usually prepared at the site of the quarry. Fragments of
carvings found at some quarries suggest that the sculpturing of the stones was also
usually done at the quarry site, although sometimes this was done after the stone had been
set in its place on the temple itself. All of this entailed accurate measurements.

Models to scale were perhaps sometimes employed. From about the fifth century CE
brick-built religious structures, both Buddhist and Brahmanical, gradually became
common in the alluvial plains. These included Buddhist caitya halls, monasteries, and
stupas as well as Brahmanical temples. Bricks were easy to procure in the plains, whereas
stone was not always readily available. And bricks also afforded the advantage of
convenient handling and flexibility in construction technique because of their small size.
One difficulty encountered in the use of bricks was the bridging of spaces as in the case
of doorways, windows, and other openings. The craftsmen attempted to overcome this
problem by using exceptionally large bricks, some early examples being more than 50
cm. long.

But even this was not always sufficient to surmount the difficulty, and so lintels of wood
were resorted to. Stone lintels were subsequently found to be preferable to wooden ones.
At one period brick structures with stone dressings became a rather common type of
construction. The post-Gupta period witnessed brisk building activity with experiments in
various temple forms. Interesting results of such experimentations are seen at the
principal centres at Aihole, Badami, Mahakuteswar, Pattadakal, and Alampur.

The south Indian temples of the vimana type with a pyramidal sikhara made their earliest
appearance at Badami in the simple form of the temple known as Maleguti-Sivalaya
(garlandmaker‘s temple). Later variants and developed forms of vimana with karna-kutas
(miniature square shrine at the corner of the roof), and nasikas (arched opening above the
superstructure wall), projecting from the façade became common. Equally interesting are
the Hoysala (twelfth-thirteenth century) temples at Halebid and Belur, famous for their
intricately carved sculptured decorations, a kind of which is also seen in some of the
Vijayanagara (fourteenth century) temples noted for large-sized mandapas. Though
essentially linear in elevation, the north Indian Sikharas have some variations. While at
Bhubaneswar itself the typical Odishan form is represented by the Muktesvara temples
(tenth century), the Rajarani temple (eleventh century) shows an interesting experiment
with miniature sikharas clustered around the jangha (bottom portion of the spire) as in
the temples of western and central India including those at Khajuraho. The Lingaraja
temple (eleventh century) shows the culmination and grandeur of this type of temple, but
the Surya temple (thirteenth century) at Konarak (Puri district) in its original form with
bold and lively sculptural decorations must have been a magnificent work. At Khajuraho,
again, a beginning was made with a plain sikhara without any embellishment of the
miniature spires (uru-srngas) which became the characteristics of the later examples. The
temple components were ardha-mandapa (entrance porch), mandapa (hall), antarala
(vestibule), and garbhagrha (sanctum), the entire structure being placed on a high
platform and the walls decorated with beautiful carvings. The result of these experiments
was the emergence of two broad temple architectural styles, one predominating in the
north called nagara and the other common in the south called dravida or vimana.

The main structural component during the post-Gupta period continued to be stone. One
wonders how the big slabs of stone used in the temple structures were transported and set
up in position to make the temples. From reliefs carved on temples and from a manuscript
describing the building operations of the temple at Konark one gets an idea of the
methods employed in transporting large stones to the construction site and hoisting them
into place. They were transported on barges along rivers and streams or pulled by
elephants over wooden rollers. They were lifted into place by means of rope pulleys on
scaffolding. Ramps of timber or sand were built on which to haul up exceptionally large
stone slabs.

Rock-Cut Architecture

The rock-cut temples, both cut in and out of the rock, mostly followed the contemporary
architectural styles. The Kailasa temple at Ellora (800 CE) stands unparalleled as a
monument to the artistry and craftsmanship of Indian rock-cut architecture. The temple of
Kailasa was executed by cutting away more than fifty million tonnes of rock from the
sloping hill by means of hammer and chisel, a process which took some 100 years. The
first step was to cut three trenches at right angles into the hill, thereby isolating a massive
block of stone over 60 m. long, 30 m. wide, and 30 m. high. Next, this block was carved
from the top downwards and hollowed out into the form of the temple with its intricate
carvings.

In order to highlight the shape of the temple against the grey stone of the mountain
surrounding it, the entire edifice was coated with a white gesso, imparting to it a brilliant
sheen. The Jainas too carved out retreats in the hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri near
Bhubaneswar in the first century BCE and shrines later at Ellora, Badami, and elsewhere.

METALLURGY

Ancient Indians excelled in metallurgical sciences. A type of iron manufactured in the

ancient period in India was the one that was used to manufacture the famous Iron Pillar at
Delhi. It is a 1600 year old pillar with a height of 7.67 m and weighs six tons. It was
initially erected by Chandra as a standard of Vishnu at Vishnupadagiri, according to a
six- line Sanskrit inscription on its surface.

Vishnupadagiri has been identified with modern Udayagiri near Sanchi in Madhya
Pradesh, and Chandra with the Gupta emperor, Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375- 414
CE). In 1233, the pillar was brought to its current location in the New Delhi’s Qutub
complex. It is rust resistant due to the addition of phosphorus. This element together with
the oxygen from air contributes to the formation of a protective veneer on the surface
which forms again if damaged by scratching. The pillar is still a wonder and millions
come to see it. There are a few more such pillars in India, for instance at Dhar (Madhya
Pradesh) and Kodachadri hill (coastal Karnataka). Besides, the same technology was used
to manufacture huge iron beams used in some temples of Odisha, such as Jagannath of
Puri (12th century). The iron beams at Konarak’s famous Sun temple are of even larger
dimensions. Chemical analysis of one of the beams confirmed that it was wrought iron of
a phosphoric nature.