History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s6.64

v1.c24.s6.64

According to D. Sharma, the Persian wheel was known before the beginning of the Christian era. R. Nath holds that it was used as early as the age of the Imperial Guptas. Metrodorus, a Hellenised Persian, who came to India in the fourth century, found that water wheels were regarded in India as a new invention (Needham, IV(2), p, 369). In the absence of specific details we cannot identify the device referred to by Metrodorus. The combined testimony of the Pañcatantra, Gāthāsaptaśatī, Mṛcchakaṭikā, Samantapāsādikā and the Mandasore inscription would imply that the device had been in use before the times of Hāla and Viṣṇuśarman. The reference in Cullavagga suggests a date several centuries before the Christian era.