Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c23.4

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.).