A Concise History of Science in India c12.2

c12.2

ANCIENT Indians, like their contemporaries in the West, had collected considerable information about the living world, although their efforts in this field have generally passed unnoticed in books on the history of biology by such modern authors as Nordenskiold, Locy, Bodenheimer and several others. One of such modern historians of biology remarks: ‘The civilized peoples of Eastern Asia, the Hindus and Chinese, have likewise contributed very little of importance to the development of the science of biology. Hindu Science, indeed, especially in the sphere of mathematics, reached a high standard...’a We believe that remarks and opinions of this kind, due probably to the lack of knowledge of Sanskrit and other classical languages of India on the part of Western historians of biology, now require revision. We have abundant evidence, albeit scattered in archaeological and literary records, of the interest and curiosity of ancient Indians in the living world around them leading to a large mass of facts and ideas comparing favourably with similar efforts made contemporaneously by peoples of other culture areas of the world.