Module 4
Astronomy in India
Introduction
Astronomy has had a profound effect on humans. It has fascinated artists, poets. On the other
hand, humans have been fascinated and terrified by the forces of nature that originate in the sky
and their apparently unpredictable behavior.
The Beginnings of Indian Astronomy
The first ‘astronomical’ objects, found in the Andamans, belong to some 12,000 years ago; they
are calendar sticks noting the increasing and decreasing of the moon by noting daily notches on a
wooden stick.
Patterns of rock art found in Kashmir, such as a double sun or concentric circles, have convinced
some scholars that they were depictions of a supernova and meteor showers respectively,
witnessed some 7,000 years ago.
Ring-stones found at Mohenjo-daro, the largest city of the Indus civilization (2600-1900 BCE),
which exhibit rows of small drilled holes, have been interpreted as calendrical devices keeping
track of the sunrise at different times of the year.
A few thousand years ago, the Rig-Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, spoke of a year of 360
days divided into twelve equal parts and used a five-year yuga (era), probably as a first attempt
to reconcile the lunar and solar years.
A few centuries later, the Yajur-Veda considered a lunar year of 354 days and a solar year of 365
days, and divided the year into six ṛtus or seasons of two months each. The Yajur-Veda also gave
the first list of 27 nakṣatras or lunar mansions, that is, constellations along the path of the moon
on the celestial sphere.
The Early Historical Period
The period extended from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE and was marked by
astronomical computations based on the risings and settings of planets, their revolutions, etc.
Jain astronomy also developed in this period, based on a peculiar model of two sets of 27
nakṣatras, two suns and two moons; it nevertheless resulted in precise calendrical calculations.
The Siddhāntic Era
There are many gaps in our knowledge after the above period and before the start of what has
been called the golden age of Indian mathematics and astronomy.Astronomy made great
progress. The movement of planets came to be emphasized and closely observed.
Jyotishvedanga texts established systematic categories in astronomy but the more basic problem
was handled by Aryabhatta (499 AD). His Aryabhattiya is a concise text containing 121 verses.
It contains separate sections on astronomical definitions, methods of determining the true
position of the planets, description of the movement of the sun and the moon and the calculation
of the eclipses.
Aryabhatta deviated from Vedic astronomy and gave it a scientific outlook which became a
guideline for later astronomers.
Varāhamihira extensively discussed the 7 revolutions of planets, eclipses, and the zodiac, often
with an astrological background. Bhāskara I (b. 600 CE), the earliest known exponent of
Āryabhaṭa I, provided a very useful elucidation of Āryabhaṭa’s astronomy, besides improved
calculation methods.
DEVELOPMENTS IN MEDIEVAL INDIA
In astronomy, a number of commentaries dealing with the already established astronomical
Science and Technology notions appeared. Ujjain, Varanasi, Mathura and Delhi were the main
observatories. Firoz Shah Tughaq established observation posts at Delhi.
MehendraSuri, a court astronomer of Firoz Shah developed an astronomical instrument called
Yantraja.Jaipur Maharaja, Sawai Jai Singh II set five astronomical observatories in Delhi, Ujjain,
Varanasi, Mathura and Jaipur.
Chemistry in India
It is now known that the older form of chemistry had made great strides in India. Ayurveda,
which used a variety of minerals, also played an important role in the development of
chemistry. The two main incentives for the development of chemistry were the age-old desires of
human beings: to live forever and to get rich.
1. Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 BC)
The Indus valley civilization was the earliest society, which had developed an urban system
depicted in terms of streets, public baths, temples and granaries etc. They also had the means of
mass production of pottery, houses of backed bricks and a script of their own. So we can say that
the story of early chemistry in India begins from here.
2. The Historic Period
According to Rig-Veda, tanning of leather and dyeing of cotton was practised during this period.
During the period c.1000-400 BC they made a particular kind of polished grey pottery known as
Painted Grey Ware.
After the Vedas, came the classical texts like Brahmanas, Upanishadas and Puranas, which also
give valuable information about the chemical activities of this period.
Kautilya's Arthasastra (KA) was a scientific landmark of this period. KA described the
production of salt from the sea and collection of shells, diamonds, pearls and
corals. CharakaSamhita and SusrutaSamhita were two celebrated Ayurvedic treatises on
medicine and surgery.
3. Chemical Arts and Crafts in Later Periods
Glass making, pottery, jewellery making, dyeing of clothes and tanning of leather etc. were the
major chemical arts and crafts in the early periods Following were the major chemical products
that contributed to the development of chemistry.
Ramayana, Brhatsamhita, Kautilya's Arthasatra and Sukranitisara mention the use of glass. There
was a traditional glass factory at Kopia in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh.Glass furnaces of late
medieval period were found at Mysore. The Mughal period (AD1526-1707) saw the flourishing
of the art of glass making in India.
Paper: From the Chinese traveller it appears that paper was known to India in the seventh century
ADThe main centers of paper making in medieval India were Sialkot, Zafarbad, Murshidabad,
Ahmedabad, Mysore etc.
Soap: For washing clothes ancient Indians used certain plants and their fruits like the soap nuts
of Ritha and Sikakai. Fruits like Sriphala and Sarsapa (Brassica compestris) were also used to
wash different kinds of clothes.
Dyeing: Plants and their products like madder, turmeric and sunflower were the principal dyeing
materials.
Ink: An inkpot was unearthed during the excavations at Taxila, which suggests that ink was
known and used in India from fourth century BC. The Ajanta caves displayed some inscriptions
that were written with coloured ink, made from chalk, red lead.
4. Modern Chemistry
A science college was established in Calcutta in 1814. The study of chemistry was first
introduced in the Presidency College of Calcutta in 1872, followed by post-graduate teaching in
chemistry in 1886. The Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences was established in 1876.
Early chemists like P.C.Ray and ChuniLal Bose were actively associated with it. P.C.Ray was
well aware and proud of the fact that Indians had made considerable progress in the field of
chemistry during the ancient and medieval period.
After Ray, Chandra BhusanBhaduri and JyotiBhusanBhaduri were the ones who conducted
significant researches in the field of inorganic chemistry. Thus a bunch of young scientists
started taking keen interest in modern scientific research activities.
Mathematics in India
The town planning of Harappa shows that the people possessed a good knowledge of
measurement and geometry. By third century AD mathematics developed as a separate stream of
study.
Indian mathematics is supposed to have originated from the Sulvasutras. Apastamba in second
century BC introduced practical geometry involving acute angle, obtuse angle and right angle.
This knowledge helped in the construction of fire altars where the kings offered sacrifices.
The three main contributions in the field of mathematics were the notation system, the decimal
system and the use of zero. The notations and the numerals were carried to the West by the
Arabs. These numerals replaced the Roman numerals.
Zero was discovered in India in the second century BC. Brahmagupta’sBrahmasputaSiddhanta is
the very first book that mentioned ‘zero’ as a number, hence, Brahmagupta is considered as the
man who found zero. He gave rules of using zero with other numbers. Aryabhatta discovered
algebra and also formulated the area of a triangle, which led to the origin of Trignometry.
Brahmagupta the great 7th century mathematician has given a description of negative numbers as
debts and positive numbers as fortunes, which shows that ancient Bharatiyas knew the utility of
mathematics for practical trade.
In the early medieval period the two outstanding works in mathematics were Ganitasara by
Sridhara and Lilavati by Bhaskara. Ganitasara deals with multiplication, division, numbers,
cubes, square roots, mensuration and so on.
Medicine in India
Diseases, cure and medicines were mentioned for the first time in the Atharva Veda. Fever,
cough, consumption, diarrhoea, dropsy, sores, leprosy and seizure are the diseases mentioned.
The diseases are said to be caused by the demons and spirits entering one’s body. The remedies
recommended were replete with magical charms and spells.
From 600 BC began the period of rational sciences. Takshila and Taranasi emerged as centres of
medicine and learning.The two important texts in this field are Charaksamhita by Charak and
Sushrutsamhita by Sushruta.The plants and herbs used for medicinal purposes have been
mentioned in Charaksamhita. Surgery came to be mentioned as a separate stream around fourth
century AD. Sushruta was a pioneer of this discipline. Both the Charaksamhita and the
Sushrutsamhita became the predecessors of the development of Indian medicine in the later
centuries.
Agriculture in India
Indus Valley civilization relied on the considerable technology achievements of the pre-
Harappan culture, including the plough. The farmers of the Indus Valley grew peas,
sesame and dates. Rice was also cultivated in the Indus Valley Civilization. The method
of agriculture which Indus civilization people practiced was rainfall harvesting. Due to
discovery it came into the light that Indus civilization people had a series of massive
reservoirs to meet the city’s needs during the dry season for the Indus valley economy
was mixed farming.
In Vedic Period Cultivation of a wide range of cereals, vegetables, and fruits was
common, and animal husbandry was the important means for their livelihood.There was
belief that those farmers who are near to nature they must be exceptionally close to God.
The agriculture in South India was equally bright in Ancient India. The south people
cultivated a wide range of crops such as rice, sugarcane, millets, black pepper, various
grains, coconuts, beans, cotton, etc. Water storage systems were designed during this
period.
Another noteworthy change in Indian Agriculture was its commercialization that spread
between 1850 and1947. Commercialization of agriculture implies production of crops for
sale rather than for family consumption. At every stage of the economic history of the
nation, a part of the agricultural output is produced for the market.
India’s agricultural growth in the twentieth century has some important developments in
the agricultural sector. On the eve of independence, India had to face the serious problem
of food shortage. Therefore, agricultural development was given top most priority to
attain self-sufficiency in food grains so as to feed the teeming millions.
The Green Revolution in India was the outcome of the systematic application of
improved agricultural technology for crop production. Introduction of hybrid and high
yielding varieties of seeds brought about the real technological breakthrough in the
agricultural arena.
Geography in India
The constant interaction between man and nature forced people to study geography.
Though the people were clear about their own physical geography, that of China and also
the Western countries, they were unaware of their position on the earth and the distances
with other countries. Indians also contributed to shipbuilding. In the ancient period,
voyages and navigation was not a familiar foray for the Indians. However, Lothal, a site
in Gujarat has the remains of a dockyard proving that trade flourished in those days by
sea. In the early medieval period with the development of the concept of tirtha and
tirthayatra, a vast mass of geographical information was accumulated. They were finally
compiled as parts of Puranas. In many cases separate sthalapurana was also compiled.
Harappan Technologies
Harappan Civilization was one of the oldest civilizations of ancient India, also known as
Indus Valley Civilization. It was the urban culture of the ancient Indian subcontinent
along with Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
Harappan cities have their urban planning, baked brick houses, detailed drainage
systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings.
Harappan civilization people also used new techniques in Handicrafts, Karelian products,
Seal carving, and metallurgy such as copper, bronze lead, and tin.
The cities of the Harappan civilization were very well planned and beautifully
constructed, with baked bricks used to construct houses and buildings in rows on both
sides of the road. Some houses were also built in the streets.
Architecture of well-planned urban centers based on fixed-layout patterns with
scientific roads; Drainage systems (with the use of corbelled technology), public
structures (such as granaries and great baths), were far ahead of time.
Archaeologists have discovered a huge, dry canal as a docking facility in the coastal city
of Lothal in western India (Gujarat state). An extensive canal network, which was also
used for irrigation.
The people of the Indus civilization had achieved great accuracy in measuring length,
mass, and time. They were among the first to develop a system of equal weights and
measures.
Conclusion
The Harappan Civilization also known as Indus Valley Civilization, was named after the
Indus River System which is called “SindhuGhatiSabhyata” in Hindi. Archaeological
remains at various sites of the Indus Valley Civilization help us to know about the
science and technological progress there, from which we come to know that they were
indeed very modern in science and technology.
Trade in Ancient India
During ancient times Hindus were the masters of the seaborne trade of Europe, Asia and Africa.
Till about the beginning of the 18th century almost every nation on earth obtained to a large
extent its supplies of fine cotton and silk fabric, spices, indigo, sugar, drugs, precious stones and
many curious works of art from India in exchange of gold and silver. This traditional prosperity
of India began to vanish only at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the west.
In industrial production ancient India was far ahead in comparison with other countries of those
times. According to Prof. Weber the skill of the Indians in the production of delicate woven
fabrics, in the mixing of colours, the working of metals and precious stones, the preparation of
essences and in all manner of technical art, has from early times enjoyed a world-wide
celebrity.
The Hindu mercantile community was very enterprising and known for their entrepreneurship,
trustworthiness.
Fairs were an important means for commercial activities and were held in every part of the
country. Huge number of people assembled at these fairs for the purpose of exchanging
merchandise as well as discussing religious and national topics.
The peace and prosperity that prevailed in the country gave a great driving force to inter-
provincial and inter-state trade.
Pre-Colonial economy of India
The British East India, Company got a legal Charter for trade from the British crown in 1600 and
shortly thereafter this,trading company started conquering India. The conquest’s began in 1757
with defeat of Nawab of Bengal by Robert Clive.
The East India Company ruled India for a century from the decisive Battle of Plassey . when
India fought a war of Independence. The British defeated the Indians in this war and in 1858
Queen Victoria assumed the responsibility of direct rule over India. The rule of East India
Company started.
Characteristics of Pre-colonial Economy are:
Agriculture: Agriculture operations were carried on in India by subsistence farmers, organized
in small village communities. Village was more or less self-sufficient economic unit and its
business contacts with the outside world were limited to payment of land revenue (generally in
kind) and the purchase of a few necessary things from the town nearby.
The farmer raised only those crops which he needed for his own use and shared the same with
the village artisan who supplied him’ with simple manufacture that he needed for his do Mastic
consumption.
Means of communication were of a primitive type. Therefore trade in agricultural produce, was
somewhat limited. The farmer usually raised enough produce to feed himself and the non-
agricultural members of the village community.
If his crop yielded more than the consumption needs, due to favorable climatic conditions, he
stored that surplus for use in the lean years. Storage °flood grains was a common practice among
the pre-colonial agriculturists and constituted, under these conditions, the only remedy against
famines.
This pattern of agriculture continued throughout the medieval times. However, towards the end
of the I V century the village communities began to break up, under pressure from new forces
which imparted dynamism to the Indian rural economy.
This happened mainly because of two factors.
1. The change in the property relations brought by the introduction of new forins of land
tenure.
2. The development of an active export trade in agricultural produce of India. The contact
with the West.through the establishment of the British rule was responsible for both these
developments.
Trade:
In spite of the fact that the Indian villages were largely self-sufficient units and the means of
communication were primitive. India enjoyed extensive trade both within the country and with
other countries of Asia and Europe. A balance of the imports and exports was maintained.The
items imported into India were pearls, wool, dates, dried fruits–and rosewater from the Persian
gulf, coffee, gold drugs and honey from Arabia, tea, sugar and silk from China, gold musk and
woolen cloth; metals like copper, iron and lead, paper from Europe.
The main items exported from India were cotton textiles. Besides cotton textiles which were
famous the world over, India also exported raw silk, indigo, opium, rice, wheat, sugar, pepper
and other spices, precious stones and drugs.
The major feature of Indian trade in pre-colonial times were
A favorable balance of Trade and
A foreign trade most suitable to the level of manufacturing in India.
A favorable balance of trade meant an excess of exports over imports i.e.India exported more
than it needed to import. Since the economy was on the whole self-sufficient in handicrafts and
agricultural products, India did not need foreign imports on a large scale and continued to enjoy
a healthy trade.
Secondly, India’s foreign trade suited its requirements very well. In other words, the commodity
pattern, so important to any country’s foreign trade, was in India’s favor. India exported the
items it specialized in; and imported the ones it needed:
One, major change that occurred in India’s foreign trade from the pre-colonial to colonial times
was in its commodity pattern. Although India continued to have an export surplus, the pattern of
foreign trade turned upside clown:
For instance, from the exporter of cotton textiles India was converted into an importer of cotton
textiles, thereby running India’s rich traditional handicrafts.
Handicraft Industries:
India was a land of extensive manufacturers. Indian artisans were famous for their skills the
world over. In fact the reason for India’s favorable foreign trade was its excellence- in
indigenous production. India indulged in a large scale manufacture of cotton and silk fabrics,
sugar, jute; dyestuff, mineral and metallic products like arms, metal wares and oil.
Towns like Decca and Murshidabad in Bengal Patna in Bihar Swat and Ahmadabad in Gujarat,
Japura, Varanasi, Lucknow and Agra in U.R, Multan and Lahore in the Punjab, Masulipatnam
and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Bangalore in Mysore and Coimbatore and Madurai in Madras
were flourishing centers of textile industry. Kashmir specialized in woolen manufacturers.
Maharashtra, Andhra and Bengal were prominent centers of shipbuilding industry. India’s ships
were bought by many, European companies for their use.
India towards the end of the 18th century was, undoubtedly one of the main centers of world
trade and industry. This status of India was completely destroyed under colonial times. Its
beginnings can be traced to the after-math . of the industrial Revolution in England.
The machine made cloth of England began to replace the indigenous manufactures. India’s
artisans were forced out of production. It was their pressure from the British goods which led to
the decline of the India’s traditional centers of economic activity listed above. The number of
weavers also declined.
Two aspects of the gradual expansion of British occupation of India deserve attention. The
experiences gained by the British in one region of India were either extended or modified in
other religions and this learning through practice made them quite powerful in dealing with the
problems of large colony like India.
The changes in British society demanded a different approach to satisfy the interests of emerging
social groups in Britain. The essence of British colonial policies in India was determined by the
dynamics of society which witnessed many changes in Britain.
The modem British society progressed through stages like mercantile capitalism to industrial
capitalism and from competitive industrial capitalism to monopoly industrial capitalism.
The interests of mercantile British capitalism lay in trade with India, the interest of industrial
capitalism were on the other hand, market oriented in which, the Indian colony was to provide
raw material and buy manufactured goods from Britain. Thus social and economic changes in
Britain directly influenced British colonial policies in India.
