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Unit Science and Technology: 32.0 Objectives
Unit Science and Technology: 32.0 Objectives
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Structure
32.0 Objectives
32.1 Introduction
32.2 Science
32.3 Agricultural Technology
32.4 Textile Technology
32.5 Military Technology
32.6 Shipbuilding
32.7 Metallurgy
32.8 Glass Technology
32.9 The Printing Press
32.10 Time-Reckoning Devices
32.11 Miscellaneoi~s
32.12 Let Us Sum Up
32.13 Key Words .
32.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
32.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit you will:
read about the main developments in the various sectors of science and technology during
the Mughal period, and leam the nature of response of the Indians to European science
and technology.
32.1 INTRODUCTION
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In course EHI-03(Block 6, Unit 22). you were offered glimpses of technology in India
during the Dehi Sultanate. The emphasis in the above course was on the introduction of
new crafts by the immigrant Muslims. In the present Unit, focus will be on the new articles
of technology and agricultural crops and fruits, etc. brought by the Europeans during the
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16th and 17th centuries. We will also give you a brief statement on the state of science
during this period.
32.2 SCIENCE
No breakthrough was made scientific studies concerning physics, astronomy, chemistry
medicine, geography and mathematics. The traditional knowledge continued to be taught,
discussed and re-written in the form of commentaries without adding anything worthwhile.
The Indian and the Greco-Arabic views on scientific issues held sway. A French traveller,
Careri, observes about the Muslim scholars in India:
"As for sciences they can make no progress in them for want of Books; for they
have none but some small manuscript works of Aristotle and Avicenue in
Arabick.''
But we should not deny the fact that there were some very learned and able scientists during
the period of our study. One of them was Mir Fathullah Sbirazi who joined Akbar's court at
Aga in 1583 (d. 1588). Abdul Fazl opines that "If the old books of wisdom had
disappeared, he could have laid a new foundation [of knowledge] and would not have
wished for what had gone". Akbar mourned his death in these words: "Had he fallen in the
hands of the Franks [Europeans], and they had &manman&d all my treasures in exchange for
h i , I should gladly have entered upon such profitable traffic and bought that precious jewel
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cheap." He is credited with having invented some mechanical devices (see Sections 32.5
and 32.1 1-vi) and also the introduction of a 'true' solar calendar (called Ilahi) at Akbar's
India from 16th to order in 1584. But he did not propound any new scientific theory or fonnula distinct from
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the traditional ones in India at that time.
One ramarkable development during this period was the introduction of some iiew crops,
plants and fruits. Many of these were brought by Europeans, especially the Portuguese. The
Muglial elite had started growing Central Asian fruits in India from the days of Babur.
Tobacco, pineapple, cashew-nuts and potato were the most important crops and fruits that
came from America. Tobacco led to huqqa-smoking (liubble-bubble). Besides, tomato,
guava and red chillies were also brought from outside. Maize is not listed in Abul Fazl's
Ain-i Akbari. It seems that this, too, was introduced by Europeans from Latin America.
Fmits of better quality were grown by seed propagation. It is doubtful whether the art of
W n g in horticulture was extensively practised during the Delhi Sultanate. P.K. Gode
thinks that grafting became prevalent in India only afw A.D. 1550. This sl@ was well
known in Persia and Central Asia. However, mangoes of the best quality were exclusively
produced in Goa through grafting by the Portuguese. Some European travellers to India paid
glowing tributes to the delicious mangoes of Goa called Alfonso, Our Lady, Joani Perreira,
etc. Alfonso is still a celebrated variety in India.
Among the Mughal Emperors, Shah Jahan alone takes the credit for getting two canals dug
(nahr faiz and Shah nahr).
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2) Discuss the new crops and fruits introduced in India during the 16th-17thcenturies.
The Europeans did not bring their own textile techniques to India, at any rate during the first
half of the seventeenth century. Actually, they did not possess any superior technology in
this area during this period, except pkrhaps to the English Company to send silk dyers,
throwsters and weavers to Qasimbazar in Bengal. Italian silk frlatms were introduced into
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India in the 1770s.
You have read in course EHI-03, Block 6, Unit 22.6 that stirrup, horseshoe and bwnpowder
were introduced into India by the Turks. Firearms were used spom&callyfor the fist time
during the second half of the 15th century in some regions of India like Gujarat, Malwa and
Deccan. But fire-arms ofi a regular basis developed through the agency of the Portuguese
tiom A.D. 1498 in Soutb India, and by Babur in the North in A.D. 1526. Babur used guns Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
and cannons in baules against the Rajputs and Afghans.
These guns were actually matchlocks. Europe knew of two more devices to f i e a gun:
wheel-lock (1520s) and flint-lock (1620s) in which matchcord was dispensed with. Abul
Pan Fazl claims the manufacture of handguns without matchcord in /&bar's arsenal, but he is
Flint I silent on the alternative mechanism. This could be a flint-lock because wheel-lock eyen in
Europe was employed for pistols. At any rate, these handguns (flint-locks) were produced
on a limited scale, most probably for Akbar's personal use only because we are told that
Indians in North India were scarcely familiar with this technique during the early decades of
the seventeenth century. In fact, Mughid-paintingsregularly depict matchlocks down to
Aurangzeb' s times.
FLINTLOCK
European pistols were availableat Burlna~npurfor sale as early as A.D. 1609. Sometimes
Europeans gave pistols in gifts to Indians. But the'lndhns did not learn the lirt of
wheel-lock. Cannons of various sizes were manufactured in India for the Indian rulers.
At another place, once again, Abul Fazl credits Akbar with the invention of a mechanism by
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU which seventeen guns were joined in such a manner as to be able to frre them sirn~llraneously
I 24 Medieval Swords with one matchcord.
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Science and Technology
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32.6 SHIPBUILDING
.I{ The entire vessel in medieval times everywhere was co~N.n~cted of wood. Various methods
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were employed to join the planks. One of these was rabbeting which was widely practised in
India. This was basically on the tongue-and-grooveprinciple: the 'tongue' of one plank was
titted into the 'groove' of another. The next step was to smear the planks wiih inhgenous
pitch or tar, and lime with the double purpose of stopping up any fissures and preserving the
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timber from sea worms. Fish-oil was also used for doubing the planks. The Indians did not
adopt tile European method of caulking -a technique for making joints or seams of the
planks tight or leakproof by forcing oakum (made of loose fibre or untwisted old ropes, etc.
'i mixed with melted pitch) between parts that did not fit tightly. The reason was caulking did
not have any technical superiority over the indigenous method for performing the same task.
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!I Moreover, caulking was more expensive than the Indian practice.
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Prior to the European advent, the planks of ships and boats were joined together by stitching
or sewing them with ropes made of coir, or sometimes with wooden nails. The Europeans
were using iron nails and clamps which made their vessels stronger and durable. The
i Iildialls lost no time in adopting the new technique. Around A.D. 1510, Varthema noticed
4 "an immense cjuantity of iron d s " in Indian ships at Calicut. Abul Fazl (A.D. 1593-94)
i informs us that for a ship of Akbar 468 mans (maund) of iron were used. Some Mughal
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: paintings establish the presence of iron nails, strips and clamps for constructing vessels.
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Similar positive response u, Enropean iron anchors is evidenced'during*theseventeenth
century. Earlier, arichors were made of big stones.
Iron Anchor
1. Discuss the mechanical devices used in guns during the 16-17th centuries.
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2. What are rabbeting and caulking? Why Indians showed no preference to adopt caulking
technique in shipbuilding.
Zinc metallurgy seems to have started in India somewhere aroJnd twelfth century A.D. Abul
Fazl mentions Jawar (modem Zawar) in Rajasthan where zinc was procurable.
Archaeological studies near Z ~ w a have
r revealed the presence of sealed clay retorts for zinc
distillation (which, condensedJcooled, yielded the metal).
Copper mines were located at Khetri in Rajasthan. Tin was not a natural product of a
country: it was imported from other Asian regions. Bronze was in use right from the days of
the Indus valley culture. Alloys like brass (coper and zinc or tin) were fabricated in India.
One must meillion here the production of the true "wootz" iroll in India from c. 400 B.C.,
especial1y in Andhra Pradesh. Probably "woolz' ' is a corruption of Lhe Telugu word
"ukku". It was exported to centres of swordmaking like Damascus in Syria (called
Damascen~swords).
With the arrival of Muslims, pharmaceutical phials, ,jars and vessels of glass cane to India
from the Islanic countries, but there is no evidence to show that Indians had started
fabricating these obiects in imitation.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, a variety of glass articles were brought to India by the
Europeans. All these were new for us: for example, looking-glasses (mirrors made of glass).
We know how to inake mirrors of metals (bronze and copper) but not of glass. Another
object was spectacles made of glass lenses. The Europeans gave these things to Indians as
gift and, sometimes, they also sold them (but the market was very limited). Thus, the
Indians started using European glass articles without manufacturing them during the period
under study.
Apart from these, we got from Europe drinking-glasses,magnifying or burning glasses and
prospective glasses (telescopes). Since the latier were made of glass lenses like the
spectacles, there was no question of their indigenous m.nufacture during the seventeenth
century.
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32.9 PRINTING PRESS
It is 'mazing that the Chinese knowledge of wooden-block printing did not evoke even a
ripple of response in India in spite of frequent communication between the two countries in
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the past. European movable metal types were brought to Goa around A,D. 1550 by the
Portuguese. Tlie latter started printing books on Christian.saints, Sermons, grammars and
voc;~bulariesin the Marathi and Koi~kanilanguages and dialects, but in Roman script rather
than in the Devanagari script. .
1 Emperor Jahangir is once reported to have expressed doubt about types belng cast in Persian
I or Arabic scripts during a discussion with tbe Jesuits, whereupon the latter promptly showed
\. \I h ~ ma copy of the Arabic version of the gospel, probably printed at Vatican in A.D. 1591.
This topic was not brought up again by Jahatng~r.
In A.D. 1670s, Bhimji Parak, the chief broker of the English Company at Surat, took a keen
interest in this technology. Aprinter was sent to India in A.D. 1674 atBhunji's request,
along with a press at the latter's expense. Bhimji intended to contrive types in "banian
characters after our English manner", but it could not be feasible since the English printer
did not know type-cutting and founding. No type cutter was sent from England to assist
Bhimji. Nevertheless, Bhimji persisted in this endeavour to realize his dream of a
printing-press with Devanagari fonts. He employed his own men, obviously Indians, to do
the job. The English factors at Surat testify (A.D. 1676177) that, "we have seen some paper
printed in the banian character by the persons employed by Bhimji which look very well and
legible and shows the work feaqible". But then, at that crucial moment, Bhimji lost heart
a ~ abandoned
~ d the project midway.
1. List the maill glass items which the Europeans brought to India in the 17th century.
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Sand Class
In India, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, clepsydras of the sinking-bowl
variety appear to have been the most commonly used device for measuring time, at any rate,
in urban centres. The Persian term for the bowl was tas, while tas gharial - denoted the
whole mechanism (bowl and gong). The Indian word ghurial is derived fidni the gong that
was struck with a mallet to announce the time indicated by the sinking-bowl. Water-clock is
mentioned during the Delhi Sultanate in Afifs Tarikh-i Feroze Shahi which related the
installation of a tus ghurial by Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq at Ferozabad during the second
half of the fourteenth century. Babur also describes the mechanism in the Baburnama.
Abul Fazl, too, takes note of the details.
Much before the Mughals, the Europeans had invented the two most essential feattlres of an
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ordinary mechanical cloclr the weight-drive and escapement. Europeans' clocks anti
watches were often given in gift to Indians, especially the elite groups (Jabangir was
pfe~enteda watch by Sir Thomas Roe, but the Emperor's memoirs does rlat illention this
fact). The Jesuit church at Agra had a public clock-face with a bell whose "sound was
heard in every part of the city". Notwithstanding the exposure of a substantial cross-section
of Indians to Europeian mechanical clocks and watches for a long time, there is no evidence .
to indicate its acceptance among any social group of Indian society for general use. These
were mere toys, and novelties for the Indians who received them "diplomatic" or ordinary
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gifts. Tho one important reason for non-acceptance wao the incompatibilify of the Indian
time-reckoning system with that of Europe at that time. In Eurvpc, the system of twelve
equal double-hours prevailed, while the Indian system ccinsisted of 4 quarters (pahr) in the
Further, each pahr was divided jnto gharis of 24 minutes each. Thus, the Indian system had Sd"'eandTdllw1low
60 "hours" (of 24 minutzs) to the full day, and the European consisted of 24 hours of 60
minutes each.
32.11 MISCELLANEOUS
i) True Arch, dome and lime-mortar were already introduced i n t ~
India by the Turks (See.
course EHI-03, Block 6, Unit 22.4). No significant development took p l a e in building
tech~~ology during the seventeenth century. However, we may take note of one practice,
that is, preparation of a sort of "blue print" of the building to be constructed. This was
cdled tarh (outline) in Persian which consisted of drawing on a thick sheet of paper by
employing "grid of squares" (graph sheet) for indicating proportions. We may also
inention that Indian buildings did not have window-panes and chimneys which
Europeans used back home.
ii) The Indians did not employ metallis (copper) boilers to refine saltpetre like the
Europeans; tlle former continued with earthen pots to do the job.
iii) Oxen-&awn carts were in common use, especially for transporting commercial goods.
Horse-drawn carriages were very rare: they were meant only lor passengers. Sir Thomas
Roe presented to Jahangir an English coach drawn by four horses. The Emperor enjoyed
a ride in it (he called it rath furangi). The sovereign, and some nobles got such coaches
built by Indian carpenters for their use. But this interest was short-lived; it did not catch
on during the seventeenth century.
iv) One chemical discovery was made in the early years of Jahangir's reign. It was the
rose-scent ('itr Jahangir). The Emperor records in his Memoirs (Tuzuk-i Jahangiri):
This 'itr is a discovery which was made during my reign through the efforts of the
raother of Nur Jahan Begum. When she was making rose-water, a scum (charbi) Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
i'ormed on the surface of the dishes into which the hot rose-water was poured firom the
India from 16th to jugs. She collected this scum little by little; when much rose-water was obtained a
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sensible portion of the scum was collected. There is no other scent of equal excel!ence
to it. In reward for that invention, I presen'ted a string of pearls to the inventress Salima
Sultan Begum... gave this oil (roghan) the name of 'itr Jdiangiri.
v) Another chemical discovery was the use of saltpetre for cooling water. Abul Fazl
comments that saltpetre, which in gunpowder produces the explosive heats, is used as a
means for cooling water. He also gives the details of how to do so.
vi) Emperor Akbar is reported to have invented an oxen-drawn cart which, when used for
travelling or for carrying loads, could grind con) also. For the latter purpose, however,
watermill was scarcely used in India under the Mughal rule. One Mughal painting (A.D.
1603) depicts an undershot watermill to illustrate a story set outside India proper. Even
windmill (asiya-i bad; pawan chakki) for grinding corn was very rare; one was erected at
Ahmedabad in the seventeenth century whose partial remains could be seen there.
Ordinarily, handmills made of two stones were used for this purppse. It was a very old .
practice.
- 2. Fill in the b l e s :
i) Itr Jahangiri was invented by
ii) Saltpetrewas used for
iii) Indian buildings did not have and in their houses.
iv) Indians used boilers to refine saltpetre.
No noteworthy contribution was made by the Indians in Science in this period. As for
technology, you must have noticed that some inventions were made and new methods
employed, especially in the military sector. In the chemical sector, too, rose-scent and the
use of saltpetre for water-cooling were entirely new discoveries.
The most important and interesting aspect of this Unit is the exposure of the Indians to
European Science and Technology. The Indian response in this rsspect was not uniform.
For example, while in shipbuilding we come across some positive responses it was not so
with regard to glass technology. Positive, negative and indifferent responses varied from
one technology to another due to diverse valid reasons. As for Science, the Indians do not
appear to have profited from the European experience.