History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent: Difference between revisions

{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

{{Science and technology in India}}

==Prehistory==

[[File:Hand-propelled wheel cart from Indus Valley Civilization.GIF|thumb|Hand-propelled wheel cart, Indus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BCE). Housed at the [[National Museum, New Delhi]].]]

Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley Civilization by around 4500 BCE.<ref name=R&U/> The size and prosperity of the Indus civilization grew as a result of this innovation, which eventually led to more planned settlements making use of [[drainage]] and [[sewerage]].<ref name=R&U>Rodda & Ubertini, 279</ref> Sophisticated irrigation and water storage systems were developed by the Indus Valley Civilization, including artificial [[reservoir]]s at [[Girnar]] dated to 3000 BCE, and an early [[canal]] irrigation system from c. 2600 BCE.<ref>Rodda & Ubertini, 161</ref> [[Cotton]] was cultivated in the region by the 5th–4th millennia BCE.<ref>Stein, 47</ref> [[Sugarcane]] was originally from tropical South and Southeast Asia.<ref name=Sharpe/> Different species likely originated in different locations with ''S. barberi'' originating in India, and ''S. edule'' and ''S. officinarum'' coming from [[New Guinea]].<ref name=Sharpe>Sharpe (1998)</ref>

Archeological evidence of an animal-drawn [[plough]] dates back to 2500 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilization.<ref name=lal>Lal (2001)</ref> The earliest available [[sword]]s of copper discovered from the Harappan sites date back to 2300 BCE.<ref name=allchin1/> Swords have been recovered in archaeological findings throughout the [[Ganges]]–[[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jamuna]] [[Doab]] region of India, consisting of [[bronze]] but more commonly copper.<ref name=allchin1>Allchin, 111–112</ref>

By the beginning of the [[Common Era]] glass was being used for ornaments and casing in the region.<ref name=Ghosh/> Contact with the [[Greco-Roman world]] added newer techniques, and local artisans learnt methods of glass molding, decorating and coloring by the early centuries of the Common Era.<ref name=Ghosh>Ghosh, 219</ref> The [[Satavahana]] period further reveals short cylinders of composite glass, including those displaying a lemon yellow matrix covered with green glass.<ref name=Ghosh2>"Ornaments, Gems etc." (Ch. 10) in Ghosh 1990.</ref> [[Wootz]] originated in the region before the beginning of the common era.<ref>Srinivasan & Ranganathan</ref> Wootz was exported and traded throughout Europe, China, the Arab world, and became particularly famous in the Middle East, where it became known as [[Damascus steel]]. Archaeological evidence suggests that manufacturing process for Wootz was also in existence in South India before the Christian era.<ref name=Srinivasan94>Srinivasan (1994)</ref><ref>Srinivasan & Griffiths</ref>

The [[Trigonometry|trigonometric]] functions of [[sine]] and [[versine]], from which it was trivial to derive the cosine, were used by the mathematician, [[Aryabhata]], in the late 5th century.<ref>O'Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E.F. (1996)</ref><ref>"Geometry, and its branch trigonometry, was the mathematics Indian astronomers used most frequently. In fact, the Indian astronomers in the third or fourth century, using a pre-Ptolemaic Greek table of chords, produced tables of sines and versines, from which it was trivial to derive cosines. This new system of trigonometry, produced in India, was transmitted to the Arabs in the late eighth century and by them, in an expanded form, to the Latin West and the Byzantine East in the twelfth century" – Pingree (2003).</ref> The [[calculus]] theorem now known as "[[Rolle's theorem]]" was stated by mathematician, [[Bhāskara II]], in the 12th century.<ref>Broadbent, 307–308</ref>

[[File:The Defeat of Baz Bahadur of Malwa by the Mughal Troops, 1561, Akbarnama.jpg|thumb|[[Akbarnama]]—written by August 12, 1602—depicts the defeat of [[Baz Bahadur]] of [[Malwa]] by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] troops, 1561. The Mughals extensively improved metal weapons and armor used by the armies of India.]]

European scholar Francesco Lorenzo Pullè reproduced a number of Indian maps in his magnum opus ''La Cartografia Antica dell India''.<ref name=Sircar2>Sircar 328</ref> Out of these maps, two have been reproduced using a manuscript of ''Lokaprakasa'', originally compiled by the polymath Ksemendra ([[Kashmir]], 11th century CE), as a source.<ref name=Sircar2/> The other manuscript, used as a source by Francesco I, is titled ''Samgraha'.<ref name=Sircar2/>

Gunpowder and gunpowder weapons were transmitted to India through the [[Mongol invasions of India]].<ref name="Kn">{{cite book|author=Iqtidar Alam Khan|title=Gunpowder And Firearms: Warfare In Medieval India|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-566526-0}}</ref>{{Quotation needed|date=August 2021}}<ref name="kn2" /> The Mongols were defeated by [[Alauddin Khalji]] of the [[Delhi Sultanate]], and some of the Mongol soldiers remained in northern India after their conversion to Islam.<ref name="kn2">{{cite book|author=Iqtidar Alam Khan|title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzZFUcDpDzsC&pg=PA103|date=25 April 2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5503-8|page=103}}</ref> It was written in the ''Tarikh-i Firishta'' (1606–1607) that the envoy of the Mongol ruler [[Hulagu Khan]] was presented with a [[pyrotechnics]] display upon his arrival in [[Delhi]] in 1258 CE.<ref name="khan 9 10">Khan, 9–10</ref> As a part of an embassy to India by [[Timur]]id leader Shah Rukh (1405–1447), 'Abd al-Razzaq mentioned naphtha-throwers mounted on elephants and a variety of pyrotechnics put on display.<ref name="GF2">Partington, 217</ref> Firearms known as ''top-o-tufak'' also existed in the [[Vijayanagara Empire]] by as early as 1366 CE.<ref name="khan 9 10" /> From then on the employment of [[gunpowder warfare]] in the region was prevalent, with events such as the siege of [[Belgaum]] in 1473 CE by the [[Sultan]] Muhammad Shah Bahmani.<ref name="khan 10">Khan, 10</ref>[[File:Jantar Mantar Delhi 27-05-2005.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|[[Yantra Mandir (Delhi)|Jantar Mantar, Delhi]]—consisting of 13 architectural astronomy instruments, built by [[Jai Singh II]] of Jaipur, from 1724 onwards.]]In ''A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder'', [[James Riddick Partington]] describes the gunpowder warfare of 16th and 17th century [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] India, and writes that "Indian war rockets were formidable weapons before such rockets were used in Europe. They had bamboo rods, a rocket-body lashed to the rod, and iron points. They were directed at the target and fired by lighting the fuse, but the trajectory was rather erratic... The use of mines and counter-mines with explosive charges of gunpowder is mentioned for the times of Akbar and Jahāngir."<ref name="partingtonquote">Partington, 226</ref>

The scholar Sadiq Isfahani of [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]] compiled an [[atlas]] of the parts of the world which he held to be 'suitable for human life'.<ref name=Schwartzberg1302>Schwartzberg, 1302</ref> The 32 sheet atlas—with maps oriented towards the south as was the case with Islamic works of the era—is part of a larger scholarly work compiled by Isfahani during 1647 CE.<ref name=Schwartzberg1302/> According to Joseph E. Schwartzberg (2008): 'The largest known Indian map, depicting the former [[Rajput]] capital at [[Kingdom of Amber|Amber]] in remarkable house-by-house detail, measures 661 × 645&nbsp;cm. (260 × 254 in., or approximately 22 × 21&nbsp;ft).'<ref name=Schwartzberg1303>Schwartzberg, 1303</ref>

** [[List of Indian engineering colleges before Independence]]

** [[List of Indian inventions and discoveries]]

** [[Timeline of historic inventions]]

** [[Timeline of Indian innovation]]

* Roy, Ranjan (1990), "Discovery of the Series Formula for <math> \pi </math> by Leibniz, Gregory, and Nilakantha", ''Mathematics Magazine'', Mathematical Association of America, '''63''' (5): 291–306.

* Sanchez & Canton (2006), ''Microcontroller Programming: The Microchip PIC'', CRC Press, {{ISBN|0-8493-7189-9}}.

* Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (2008), "Maps and Mapmaking in India", ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition)'' edited by [[Helaine Selin]], pp.&nbsp;1301–1303, Springer, {{ISBN|978-1-4020-4559-2}}.

* Seaman, Lewis Charles Bernard (1973), ''Victorian England: Aspects of English and Imperial History 1837–1901'', Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-04576-2}}.

* Anant Priolkar (1958) ''[https://archive.org/details/PrintingPressInIndia The printing press in India, its beginnings and early development; being a quarter-centenary commemoration study of the advent of printing in India] (in 1556).'' xix, 364 S., Bombay: Marathi Samshodhana Mandala, {{DOI|10.1017/S0041977X00151158}}

* [[Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya]] (1977) ''History of Science and Technology in Ancient India: The Beginnings'' with a foreword by Joseph Needham.

* Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture, Monograph series, Volume 3. Mathematics, Astronomy and Biology in Indian Tradition edited by D. P. Chattopadhyaya and Ravinder Kumar

* [[T. A. Sarasvati Amma]] (2007)[1979] ''Geometry of Ancient and Medieval India'', Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1344-1}}