In my research, I found that thinkers and scientists as diverse as Goethe, Emerson, Thoreau, Jung, Oppenheimer, Herder, and Schrodinger, to name a few, have acknowledged their debt to ancient Hindu achievements in science, technology, and philosophy…. Just imagine the modern world without the mathematical revolution of the ancient Hindus. The scientific revolution during the European Renaissance was a result of this mathematical revolution that has its origin in India.” These are some of rare insights Dr. Alok Kumar provides in this interview with Aseema.
Dr. Alok Kumar is a professor of physics at the State University of New York at Oswego. He completed his Ph.D. at Kanpur University. He has been the National President of the American Chapter of the Indian Physics Association during 1995-97 and President of Sigma Xi (Oswego Chapter) during 1995-96. His other areas of interest includes Atomic Physics, Chemical Physics, History of Science and Science Education. He has authored more than 60 scientific publications in atomic physics, chemical physics, history of science, and science education.
History of Sciences
i was raised in a Hindu family in Haridwar, a holy city known for Ganga River. I was told by my parents that the Hindu culture has a long and glorified intellectual tradition. I tried to learn the details of this tradition in my school, college and university education in India. My educational system simply failed me in knowing about my own roots, traditions, and culture. My science courses in India taught me about Democritus, Archimedes, and Newton, to name a few, and nothing about Kanada, Aryabhata, and Brahmgupta. Also, non-academic literature on this glorious Indian tradition in science and technology was also missing. After I migrated to America, I continued with my quest and, eventually, found the main reason of this absence. I discovered that science texts are mostly Eurocentric and it is not the true nature of science.In America, during my off hours from the job, I decided to collect the Greek, Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and European accounts dealing with the ancient Hindus. It was a slow and painstaking process since the digital records did not even existed at that time. When I compiled the scientific achievements of the Hindus from the accounts of Aristotle, Arrian, Megasthenes, Clement of Alexandria, and Apollonius of Tyana among the Greeks; Al-Biruni, Al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Labban, al-Fazari, al-Masudi, and Al-Uqlidisi among the Islamic scholars; Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, and I-tsing among the Chinese; Leonardo Fibbonacci, Pope Sylvester II, Roger Bacon, Voltaire and Copernicus from Europe, a much different picture emerged. With further research, I found that, in the modern era, thinkers and scientists as diverse as Goethe, Emerson, Thoreau, Jung, Oppenheimer, Herder, and Schrodinger, to name a few, have acknowledged their debt to ancient Hindu achievements in science, technology, and philosophy. I decided to compile a history of the Hindus based on all these accounts. The mosaic that emerged from this effort was in contrast to what is generally portrayed in the popular media and even in academics. This is the story behind my book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus: Unlocking Nature in the Pursuit of Salvation.
Aseema: While most Indian students are aware of the contribution of ancient Greeks to modern science, exact contributions of ancient Indian scientists is largely unknown. Can you please briefly tell the major contributions of ancient Indians to modern sciences?
Dr. Alok Kumar: Modern science and medicine would be unrecognizable, and far more primitive, without the immense contribution of the ancient Hindus. They invented everyday essentials such as our base-ten number system, with place-value notations, and zero as a numeral. The ancient Hindus also developed a sophisticated system of medicine with its mind-body approach known as Ayurveda; detailed anatomical and surgical knowledge of the human body, including cataract surgery and the so-called plastic surgery; metallurgical methods of extraction and purification of metals, including the so-called Damascus blade; knowledge of various constellations and planetary motions that was good enough to assign motion to the Earth; and the science of self-improvement popularly known as yoga. My book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, covers these topics in detail.
Just imagine the modern world without the mathematical revolution of the ancient Hindus. The scientific revolution during the European Renaissance was a result of this mathematical revolution that has its origin in India. For example, we write numbers using the Hindu numerals. The uniqueness of this system lies in the fact that the position of a numeral qualifies its magnitude. Tens, hundreds, or thousands are not represented by different signs; they are represented by using digits in different positions. Notice that the one is in the second place in 10 (ten), in the third place in 100 (hundred), and in the fourth place in 1,000 (thousand). Also, zero as a numeral with no magnitude and simply a location occupier was an enormous philosophical and scientific triumph. Calculations in the absence of Hindu place-value-notation, where we write eleven as one and one, are quite difficult to perform. This is the reason that the Greek, Roman, and other numeral systems were discarded even in their own lands. For example in the Roman system, eleven is written as ten and one (XI). It is quite difficult and slow process to perform mathematical operation in this Roman system. This is the reason that Copernicus discarded the Roman mathematical system and used the Hindu system in his book. He provided the rationale of this move; it was done to perform calculations at a much faster rate. The Hindu system is so advanced and, yet, so simple that children are taught to write eleven as one and one (11), written side-by-side, from their earliest period when they also learn their native alphabet.
In modern perspective, just imagine reading the values of various stocks in a newspaper. In a quick scan, you can recognize easily that 1089 is greater than 951. All you need to see is that the first number has four digits while the second number has only three. This is enough for a quick comparison. In contrast, in the Roman numerals, XC (90) is five times more in magnitude than XVIII (18). This is not easy to figure out in a quick glance. Also, mathematical operations of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction become much simpler in a place-value notation.Similar examples related to trigonometry, algebra, plastic surgery, body-mind system of Ayurveda, and metallurgical skills of the Hindus can also be cited, and are provided in my book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus.
Aseema: It is said that ancient Indians had detailed knowledge of metallurgical methods of extraction and purification of metals, including making of the Damascus blade. Our surgical sciences too were advanced. How can we resurrect the original methods and gain from it to make better products in the future?
Dr. Alok Kumar: Yes, the surgical tools of Susruta, the person who explained the so-called plastic surgery during the pre-Christian era, could dissect a hair longitudinally. Similarly, King Poros, after losing the battle with Alexander the Great, and receiving the gift of life from Alexander, was deeply in gratitude. Alexander not only bestowed life to him, Porus also received his kingdom back to him. Porus wanted to give precious gifts to Alexander to demonstrate his gratitude. Along with other items, Poros gave 6000 pounds of steel to Alexander. The best steel in Persia (Iran) was called foulade Hind, meaning steel of Hind. We can resurrect original methods, improve on these methods, and produce better products only by first documenting our history in India. This is the starting point and we have not done that as yet. My book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, is not the final answer on this issue. It simply provides a new beginning to these efforts.
Aseema: The history of science that is taught in India, does not consider ancient traditional sciences worthy of the modern syllabus. Rationalists ask for evidence for origin of our achievements. Do we have concrete evidence to prove the achievements of our ancient scientists? Is yes, are they acceptable to modern sciences?
Science of Ancient HindusDr. Alok Kumar: All modern syllabi in the history of science do consider ancient traditional sciences of the Greeks. It is only the non-Western contributions that are missing. Yes, we do have evidence from the non-Western scholars that is as good as we have for Pythagoras, Thales, Democritus, and Socrates, to name a few from the Greek tradition. The works of Aryabhata, Kanada, Varahmihir, Brahmgupta, Charaka, and Susruta are certainly par excellence. In my book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, I made special efforts to avoid the ridicule of many such rationalists and focused on the ancient and medieval accounts of the Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, Arabian, and European literature to get information about Hindu science and technology. As mentioned above, the mosaic that emerges from these foreign documents corroborates what my parents told me when I was a child. India did have a prime past. Since such studies of the ancient and medieval foreign literature that deal with ancient India are almost non-existent, modern science texts still do not recognize Indian contributions in a coherent way. My book provides a new beginning to the issue. I have not received any specific criticism of my assertions from other scholars. With time, I assume that the contents of my book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, will become a mainstream knowledge. My other book, A History of Science in World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge, is the next step in assimilating cultural contributions of various civilizations that are acceptable to modern science.
Aseema: Today both theoretical and practical sciences are on the path of achieving new breakthroughs. Yet, the ultimate aim of science remains unknown. Can ancient sciences, especially ancient Indian sciences, provide any clues as to where science is headed?
Dr. Alok Kumar: The connection between religion and science in Hindu literature is an interesting, and perhaps unexpected, variation from the Western model. The sciences of the ancient Hindus were an essential and integral part of their religion, as it was for the Mayans, Arabs, and Egyptians. The disciplines of astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, physics, yoga, and medicine were all practiced to meet the needs of religion, as well as to fulfill natural curiosity.
Narada, in Chandogya Upanishad, considers astronomy and mathematics relevant to achieve liberation (Moksa). Aryabhata, in his book Aryabhatiya, considers astronomy, mathematics, physics and other sciences crucial to know about the Supreme Being. Since science was a prescription to moksa, it became imperative for scientists to find true knowledge. Thus, science could grow independently and scientists could investigate whatever they deemed fit. This led al-Mas`udi (d. 957 A.D.), an Islamic historian during the tenth century, to write that science and technology were established without the aid of religious prophets in India. It was the logic, intuition, and experience of diligent observers (rishis) that contributed to the domain of science. Al-Mas`udi considered India as the land of “virtue and wisdom.”
Please read again his paper. 
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