A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c17.3

v1.c17.3

In ancient India the useful arts and sciences, as distinguished from mere handicrafts, were cultivated by the higher classes. In the White Yajur-Veda and in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, we meet with the names of various professions which throw light on the state of society of that period; unfortunately a knowledge of these perished with the institution of the caste system in its most rigid form.¹ Among the sixty-four “kalās” or arts and sciences which are enumerated in the old work of Vātsāyana² called Kāmasūtra occur the names of the following: