A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c34.2

v2.c34.2

I propose in this paper to give a synoptic view of the mechanical, physical and chemical theories of the ancient Hindus. A chronological survey, even if the materials for it were available, would be here of little account. The origins of Hindu natural philosophy in the speculations of the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads, or in the mythology of the Purāṇas, however interesting from the standpoint of ‘cultur-geschichte,’ do not come within the scope of the present exposition, which relates to the results of systematic thought as directed to the phenomena and processes of Nature. I have therefore confined myself to an account of natural philosophy as expounded in the principal systems of Hindu thought. The Sāṅkhya-Pātañjala system accounts for the Universe on principles of cosmic evolution, the Vaiseshika-Nyāya lays down the methodology of science, and elaborates the concepts of mechanics, physics and chemistry. The Vedānta, the Pūrva-Mīmāmsā, and in a less degree, the Bauddha, the Jaina, and the Chárváka systems, make incidental contributions on points of special interest, but their main value in this regard is critical and negative. The principal authorities followed in this account,—the Vyāsa Bhāshya on Patañjali’s sútras, the Samhitá of Charaka the Bháshya of Prasastapáda, the Vártika of Udyotakara, and the Vrihat Samhitá of Varáhamihira,—all centre round the Hindu Renaissance, the beginnings of the anti-Buddhist reaction, in the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian era. Whenever I have made use of later authors, e.g. Kumárila, Saṅkara, Sridhara, Váchaspati, Udayana, Bháskara, Jayanta, Varavara, Raghunátha, Vijñánabhikshu &c., I have taken care to see (except where the opposite is expressly mentioned) that no idea is surreptitiously introduced which is not explicitly contained in the earlier authors.