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Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c23: Conclusion

Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c23

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English

Conclusion

c23.1

In conclusion, a few general remarks may be made with regard to the cultivation of exact sciences among the Hindus:

c23.2

1\. Like the Greeks, as Whewell admits, the Hindus also "felt the importunate curiosity with regard to the definite application of the idea of cause and effect to visible phenomena," "drew a strong line between a fabulous legend and a reason rendered," and "attempted to ascend to a natural cause by classing together phenomena of the same kind." (This scientific attitude of mind Whewell does not find in any non-Greek except the Hindu! He forgets altogether the claims of the Chinese.)

c23.3

2\. Epoch by epoch, Hindu scientific investigation was not more mixed up with metaphysics and superstitious hocus-pocus than the European. It enlisted in its service the devotion of hosts of "specialists" in succession. Their sole object was the discovery of the positive truths of the universe or the laws of nature, according to the lights of those days.

c23.4

3\. There thus grew up in India a vast amount of specialized scientific literature, each branch with its own technical terminology. The positive sciences of the Hindus were not mere auxiliaries or handmaids to the "architectonic" science of *neeti* or *artha* (i.e., politics, economics, and sociology.) The sciences (*shastras*) on plant and animal life, veterinary topics, metals and gems, chemistry, surgery, embryology, anatomy, symptomology of diseases, arithmetic, algebra, astronomy, architecture, music (acoustics), etc., had independent status. Besides, like Pliny's "Natural History," there have been scientific encyclopædias in Sanskrit, e.g., the "Brihat Samhita" (sixth century A.D.).

c23.5

4. Scientific investigation was not confined to any particular province of India or to any race or class of the Hindu population. It was a cooperative undertaking, a process of cumulative effort in intellectual advance. Thus, among the heroes of Hindu medicine,⁵⁵ Charaka (*c* 600 B.C.) belongs to the Punjab in the N.W., Sushruta (*c* 100 A.D.) is claimed by the Punjab as well as Benares in the Middle West, Vagbhata (*c* 700) belongs to Sindh (Western India), Vrinda (900) to the Deccan (Middle South), Chakrapani (1050) to Bengal (Eastern India), Sharamgadhara (1350) to Rajputana (Further West), Visnudeva (1350) to Vijayanagara (Extreme South), and Narahari (seventeenth century) is claimed by Kashmir (Extreme North) but belongs most probably to Maharastra (Western Coasts).

c23.6

5. No one hypothesis or theory dominated Hindu thought in any age, or monopolized the researches of all investigators in successive epochs. The intellectual universe of the Hindus was “pluralistic.” There were different schools criticising, correcting, and modifying one another’s inquiries.

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The schools of abstract philosophy grew ultimately to sixteen in the time of Madhavacharya (1350), “though as a southerner,” says Haraprasad Sastri “he omits the two Shaiva schools of Kashmir and puts the school of Buddhist philosophy into one.” There were 15 different schools of grammar in the sixth century B.C., 10 different schools of politics and economics in the fourth century B.C., various schools of dramaturgy and dancing in the second century B.C., and also various schools of *Kama* or sexology about the same time.

c23.8

The diversity of scientific doctrines in India may be illustrated by the differences of views regarding the nature of life. The Charvakas (materialists and sensationalists) held “that life (as well as consciousness) is a result of peculiar combinations of dead mater (or the four elements) in organic forms, even as the intoxicating property of spirituous liquors results from the fermentation of intoxicating rice and molasses.” According to a second school (the Samkhya), life is neither a bio-mechanical force nor any mere mechanical motion resulting therefrom. It “is in reality a reflex activity, a resultant of the various *concurrent* activities of the sensori-motor, the emotional and the apperceptive reactions of the organism.” A third school (the Vedantist) rejects both these doctrines. According to this, “sensations do not explain life. Life must be regarded as a separate principle . . . prior to the senses."⁵⁹

c23.9

Another illustration may be given from Hindu physics. This relates to the various hypotheses of Sound phenomena. One school held that the physical basis of audible sound is a specific quality of air, and that air-particles flow in currents in all directions. A second school, e.g., that of Shabara Swami held that it is not air-currents but air-waves, series of conjunctions and disjunctions of the air-particles or molecules, that constitute the sound physical. A third school held that the sound-wave has its substrate not in air but in ether. Further, Prashastapada held the hypothesis of transverse waves and was opposed by Udyotakara who held that of longitudinal waves.

c23.10

6. The story of scientific investigation among the Hindus is thus, like that among other nations, the story of a growth and development in critical inquiry, sceptical attitude, and rationalism. Historically and statistically speaking, superstition has not had a deeper and more extensive hold on the Oriental intellect than on the Occidental.

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