Lesson – 5 : India’s Heritage of

Science and Technology

Q-1 : Describe the ancient Indian metallurgy.

Since ancient age, the people of India use metallurgy in their .

Ancient India made in the field of metallurgy.

A metallic idol of a discovered from Indus valley civilization is a

great achievement of India.

Statues of Lord Buddha was made during period were found from
Takshsila.

Many metal idols were made in south India during the .

The statue of preserved in the museum of Chennai is the master

piece of ancient metallurgy of India.

The statue of is also a great example of metallurgy preserved

in the same museum.

Moreover the statues of Gods, Goddesses, birds, animals and human and the
artistic betel nut cutter are considered to be the of India

metallurgy.

Q-2 : Describe the ancient Indian chemistry.

Chemistry is an .

Chemistry is for various minerals, plants, seeds for agriculture, making

and changing various metals and making medicines.

Buddhist from Nalanda University was the learned of

chemistry.

He had written named ‘Rasaratnakar’ and ‘Arogyamanjari’.

 He suggested the use of along with the use of herbal medicines.

He started using as the medicine.

has its own school of chemistry and furnace for the study of
chemistry.

Indian chemistry main Rasa, uprasa, ten types of poisons, different

salts and ash of minerals.

There are three of ancient Indian chemistry

1) The statue of Lord Buddha weighing 1 ton and height of 7.5 feet found from
Sultangunj in Bhagalpur district of Bihar.
2) 18 feet high statue of Lord Buddha found from Nalanda.

3) 24 feet high and 7 ton weight Iron Pillar built by Chandragupta II

inspite of the Iron Pillar has not been rusted out.

Q-3 : Describe the science of medicine and surgery.

India has achieved the in the field of medical science and surgery.

Maharshi Charak, Maharshi Sushrut and Maharshi Vagbhatta are the of

the medical science and surgery.

Maharshi Charak has written a book named ‘ ’ in which he has

described more than 2000 medicinal herbs.

Maharshi Sushrut has written a book name ‘ ’ in which he has

described the instruments of surgery. Some they are so sharp that they could
split the hair vertically.

Maharshi Vagbhatta has written a book name ‘ ’.

All the tree books are very even today for every doctor.
 had a vast collection of mineral, hearbal and animal
medicines

It also the method of making and using the medicines and also
classification of medicines.

The ancient doctors could stop the with the help of bowl

shaped bandage.

They could do the of abdomen, kidney, cataract, hernia, stone, piles,

bladder, etc.

They could even join the and extract the thing easily
pierced in to the body.

They could recognized the of diseases and dignose it.

They also gave after post recovery of diseases.

They have knowledge of and could join nose and ears.

They gave knowledge of surgery to the students by operating on

.

They could do the risky operations during .

They were expert .

also developed in ancient India.

like ‘Hasti Ayurved’ and Shalihotra’s ‘Ashwashashtra’ were written

on the topic of animal diseases.

The scholar of medical science wrote a book named ‘Ashtang Hriday’.

Q-4 : Describe ancient India’s progress in the field of Mathematics.

Many were made in India in the field of mathematics.

The of India to the world in the field of mathematics are discovery of zero,
decimal systems, algebra, theorem of Boddhayan, geometry and arithmetic.

discovered zero .
 The process of writing zero after figures was discovered by the sage named
.

The ancient Indian mathematicians have decided the names of the numbers
made up by placing after one.

Decimal system had been seen on the measuring and weighing instruments

found from the remains of .

It had been acknowledged by during ancient time.

has written books ‘Lilawati Ganit’ and ‘Bij Ganit’ in 1150 A.D. He
also discovered the signs of addition (+) and Subtraction (-).

introduced the types of equations.

discovered theorem of triangle policy.

had decided the measurement of sacrificial pits used for vedic

yagyas in the book named ‘Shulva Sutras’.

had mentioned the value of pie 22/7 or 3.14.he also declared that pie
is constant to show the ratio of circumference and diameter of circle.

Multiplication, addition, subtraction, square-root, cube-root, Ashtang method,

etc. were by Aryabhatta so he is known as ‘Father of Mathematics’.

Aaryabhatta had written the named ‘Aryabhattiyam’ and ‘Dash Gitika’.

Aryabhatta has described main principles of Astronomy in short in his book

named ‘ ’.

He found the of fundamentals of mathematics, i.e. Arithmetic and

Geometry.

Q-5 : Describe ancient India’s progress in the field of Astronomy and

Astrology.
Astronomy is the science.

related to astronomy had been written in India.

 An organized and deep study of Astrology was made by Indian
.

Planets and their movements, constellations and other celestial objects were
used for to develop Astrology and Astronomy.

were made on the base of planetary movements.

made a remarkable contribution in the field of Astronomy. So the

first Indian satellite was named ‘Aryabhatta’ on his name.

He declared that the earth rotates on its own axis and he proved that the basic
reason for lunar eclipse is the shadow of the earth, which was addressed as
‘ ’ by the scholars.

popularized the law of gravitation in his book named

‘Brahmsiddhant’.

was the great astrologer and astronomer.

He divided astrology into 1) Tantra 2) Hora and 3) Samhita.

He wrote the book named ‘ ’.

It gives regarding effects of planets on man’s future, his

characteristics, various classes of animals, the time of marriage, ponds, wells,
gardens and good omens for sowing.

Q-6 : Describe ancient India’s development in the Vastushastra.

Ancient India gave an contribution in the field of Vastushastra.

Vastushastra is an of Astrology.

Vastushastra of India is by many countries of

the world.

Brahma, Narad, Bruhaspati, Bhrugu, Vashishtha and Vishwakarma are

considered to be the of the Indian Vastushastra.
They developed the of construction for dwellings, temples, palaces,
aswashalas, forts, store house of ammunition and the town planning.

The description of vastushastra is mentioned in ‘ ’.

of Mewar revived this science in the 15th century after improving

the previous versions of vastushastra.

is considered to be the first architect of gods.

He divided the vastushastra into .

Various of vastshastra like selection of place, shapes, structure,

proper planning of things, temples, Brahmsthan, dining room, bedroom, etc. are
mentioned in this eight sections.

In ancient India vastushastra has the religious point of view but now a days it is
adopted as the by the foreigners.