History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c8: Introduction

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c8

Language: English

Introduction

c8.1

Chemistry in ancient India, as in all other countries, had its origin in the development of practical arts to meet the demand for the necessities of life, as also in the speculation about the nature and composition of matter. The two great human instincts, self-preservation and an urge for knowledge, are thus responsible for its birth and growth, as for many other human achievements.

c8.2

The earliest evidence of chemical knowledge possessed by the ancient Indians in the prehistoric age has been brought to light by the findings of archæological excavations in Baluchistan, Sind and the Punjab. These reveal the existence of a pre-Aryan civilization, particularly at Mohenjo-daro in Sind and at Harappa in the Punjab, closely linked with, and akin to, the Sumerian Culture of Mesopotamia and the Nile-Valley civilization of Egypt. According to the opinions of experts and competent authorities the Harappan Culture flourished during 2500—1800 B.C. round about the flood plains of the river Indus and its five tributaries. Hence, it is frequently referred to as the Indus Valley Civilization of the early Bronze Age. The ruins of this ancient civilization that have been unearthed at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa furnish much information about the chemical knowledge acquired by the Indus Valley people, particularly with reference to the practical arts like pottery, brick-making and the extraction and working of metals. Excavations at different localities in Baluchistan and at some parts of Sind provide evidences for still more ancient settlements with their characteristic cultures dating as far back as the fourth millenium B.C. The findings testify to the facts that the people in the remote ages were acquainted with the art of making painted potteries, as well as with the preparation and working of metallic copper.

c8.3

After the decline of the Harappan Civilization there followed a dark age in India, or almost an extinction of civilization, so to say, till after the advent of the Aryans near about 1500 B C. The Aryans, to begin with, were pastoral people, but they gradually built up a civilization characterized by a remarkable progress in the pursuit of science, literature, arts, philosophy and religion. Since the beginning of this civilization the evolution of chemistry may be said to have proceeded in a more or less uninterrupted course inspite of numerous political and social changes in the country till it suffered a gradual but mysterious decline towards the end of the middle ages, just at a time when science was emerging with an extraordinary vitality on the continent of Europe. In his history of *Hindu Chemistry* P. C. Ray has shown that there are four successive stages in which chemistry may be said to have developed in ancient and mediæval India since the Vedic Age. These are distinguished as the Ayurvedic Period, the Transitional Period, the Tantric Period and the Iatro-chemical Period. They are not, however, mutually exclusive, but merge into one another

c8.4

Considering the pursuit of chemistry by the prehistoric Indians before the Aryan conquest to constitute a separate period of its own, we propose to divide the present volume into five sections in chronological order.

c8.5

A short account of the cultural background in each period has been given which will facilitate a proper understanding of the development of chemical knowledge of the time.

c8.6

"The Prehistoric Period may be said to have extended from about 4000 B C. to 1500 B C ; the Ayurvedic Period from the Vedic Age or pre-Buddhistic era to *circa* 800 A.D., the Transitional Period from 800 A D. to *circa* 1100 A.D.; the Tantric Period from 800 A.D. to *circa* 1300 A.D. ; and the Iatro-chemical Period from 1300 A D to *circa* 1550 A.D. To these we have added another section giving an account of the chemistry in practical arts, as pursued in India, till the break-up of the Mogul Empire or her annexation by the British (*circa* 1800 A.D.).