Ancient Indian Scientific Thought and Modern Theories: An Overview

The experiences and knowledge from our past are recorded in manuscripts which have been handed down to us over several thousand years. The Government of India, through the Department of Culture, took note of the importance of this vast tangible heritage and, in order to preserve and conserve as well as to make access to this wealth easy, established the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). In order to disseminate the knowledge content of manuscripts, the Mission has taken up several programmes such as lectures, seminars and workshops. The Mission has published the proceedings of the above-said programmes under the following series: “Samraksika” (on conservation), “Tattvabodha” (comprising lectures based on manuscripts delivered by eminent scholars), “Samiksika” (research-oriented papers presented in the seminars), “Krtibodha” (transcribed and edited texts prepared at advanced level manuscriptology workshops conducted by NMM) and “Prakasika” (publication of rare, unpublished manuscripts). Ancient Indian Scientific Thought and Modern Theories makes one revisit the development of Indian science and technology in varied fields since the Vedic period, and suggests that we have a living tradition which is vivid and dynamic, inheriting at the same time claiming freedom from the past. It is the proceedings of a three-day seminar held during 25-27 March 2017 in Kolkata, organized by the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, Kolkata, and sponsored by NMM. This volume bears testimony to the fact that Indian sages, philosophers and scholars had a grip on all the topics that the modern-day scientists deal with, including complicated surgery and quantum mechanics. Our Vedas, Upanisads and other literary works were the storehouse of scientific wisdom, though the prevailing socio-religious conditions impeded its widespread dissemination. This volume is expected to invoke keen interest among all who wants to know about a scientific past that Indians inherit, be a scientist or a layman.