A Concise History of Science in India c15.5

c15.5

| Date | Scientific and Technological Developments | Remarks |
| | *Śulba-sūtras*: beginnings of geometry; anticipation of the Pythagorean theorem; development of the knowledge of the irrational numbers. | As aid to construction of sacrificial altars |
| | *Early ideas of the Vaiśeṣika*; *Sāṃkhya and the Mīmāṃsā*; of the Bauddha, Jaina and the Cārvāka; physical concepts: atomism, space, time, motion and sound. | As part of the respective religio-philosophical position |
| Fourth cent. B.C. to fourth cent. A.D. | The Āyurvedic treatises—the *Caraka* and the *Suśruta Saṃhitās*: the *tridoṣa* theory; physiology; anatomy; pathology; therapeutics; surgical practices. | Emphasis on herbal medicine; skill in rhinoplasty, laparotomy and lithotomy |
| | Development of the orthodox philosophical *sūtras*; the Jaina, the Bauddha schools; extension of the doctrine of five elements, space, time and sound. | Respective epistemological positions defined |
| | The *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya: mining, metal-working, agriculture and irrigation. | |
| | *Bhagavatī-sūtra*; *Tattvārthādhigama-sūtra* of Umāsvātī: atomism, classification of living and non-living. | |
| | Recasting of astronomical ideas; adoption of the zodiacal system; knowledge of the motion of planets. | Possibly some Babylonian and Greek influences |
| | Progress in mathematics; permutations and combinations—*meruprastāra* and the early binomial ideas. | Piṅgala's *Chandaḥ-sūtra* |
| | Increased and widespread use of iron; constructtion of the Sudarśana Lake | Use of bellows for extracting and forging iron |
| | Glass objects at a number of places. | Foreign influences, particularly Roman, at Taxila (Sirkap) and Arikamedu (Tamilnadu) |
| Fifth cent. A.D. | *Nyāyabhāṣya* of Vātsyāyana—atomic ideas further extended; views on vision and propagation of sound; impetus theory; classification of animals and plants. | |