India , known to be one of the oldest civilizations of the world is very rich and prosperous country in the past. It is referred to veda bhumi or karma bhumi. Where does its rich and varied heritage lie? Before knowing how the glory came to an end, let us know how is India at the peak of its glory. The term ‘India’ mentioned in this article includes the territory that was part of India before being partitioned as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh,and Nepal, Tibet, Burma and Afghanistan. All these regions shared similar cultural identity and referred to as one nation by other countries.
India is the house of about scores of world renowed universities along with several temple universities which attracted thousands of foreign students. These universities are places of higher education and centre of learning for the whole world. India is referred as Jagadguru in the past. The most famous amongst them are Nalanda University which is in present day Bihar, and Takshashila which now in Pakistan. Other famous universities include Vikramashila, Vallabhi, Sharadapeeth,Pushpgiri, Nagarjuna konda, Mithila, Pushpagiri etc. The oldest among the unversities is Takhsashila which dates back to 6th century BCE. Most of the campuses were residential campuses for which students from China, Greece ,Arabia ,Persia etc used to come to study. These are vast campuses with gaint structures and multi-storeyed libraries. In these universities 100 lectures on various subjects were delivered every day.
Ruins of Nalanda University (Source: https://nalandauniversity.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/nalanda_university.jpg)
One may wonder what are the subjects that are taught in these universities. Mathematics, Economics(Arthasastra), Astronomy , Ayurveda, Surgery, Nyaya sastra, Metallurgy and so on.
Arthasastra which literally means science of economics was written by Kautilya, who was a scholar at Taksashila University. The book deals with taxes to be levied on citizens , rules for spending state income on different fields. Contrary to the assumption that the book is related to only economics, many other subjects are dealt with. Arthasastra consists of civil and criminal law for judiciary, marriage laws, city planning , measures for environmental protection and war and military strategies. It also consists of organization structure for administration and principles of rajaneeti.
Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine originated from India flourished from ages till date. Susrutha considered a pioneer in this area composed Susrutha Samhitha , a treatise on Physiolology and Surgery 2000 years ago in the form of Sanskrit verses. The book elaborately deals with various surgical procedures (including cataract and rhinoplasty) , use of herbs for curing diseases.Cataract surgery, surgery on nose and plastic surgeries were performed at that time. Susrutha is credited as father of surgery. Susrutha offers an in-depth knowledge of bones , muscles , joints and different body parts. Susrutha samhitha underwent changes in later stages, another familiar version which is in use till now is Charaka Samhitha which is adapted by Charaka. These texts existed centuries before Hippocrates(A Greek physician who is considered as father of modern medicine) lived.
India has produced numerous mathematicians from vedic period to modern times and the contributions made by Indians to mathematics is priceless. Apart from concept of zero, Indians made significant contributions to number systems, decimal systems, trigonometry, geometry, arithmetic , algebra, calculus. Several texts on mathematics were written during different periods viz Sulbha sutras, Satapata brahmana, Surya siddanta, Aryabhatiyam etc. The principles of geometry were applied to construction of sacrificial altars, buildings and gaint architectural structures. Names were given to numbers as large as , which were mentioned in these texts. Mathematics used as a tool in astronomical calculations.
Astronomy is another field which our ancestors had achieved progress without any use of telescope. Ancient Indian astronomers believed in helio-centric theory . They calculated the relative motion of planets with respect to each other and derived equations for each planets. They know the phenomenon of eclipses and precisely calculated the occurance of solar and lunar eclipse. Thithi (rise of the moon) , sunrise and sunset and were calculated for the whole year. Twenty Seven stars are identified in the sky, one star appear close to the moon each day to complete 27 day cycle. The primary purpose of Jyothishya Sastra is the preserving of this knowledge, not about horoscopes.
The language in which all the ancient texts were written is Sanskrit. All the hindu scriptures(Ramayan and Mahabharat) , Vedas, The Bhagavadgita, Smritis were composed in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the common language which connects the length and breadth of this country. All the vernacular languages originated from Sanskrit. Sanskrit is said to be the mother of world languages. For example, the word mother comes from matru sabdh. Panchatantra, a collection of moral stories written by Vishnu Sharma around the period 200 BCE-300BCE is in Sanskrit. Literary works of ancient times were authored in Sanskrit and later got translated to local languages. Kamasutra written by vatsayana on sensuality is also in Sanskrit.
The glory of education in the universities continued for almost 1000-1500 years. There is discrepancy in the date or exact time period in our history. The texts were well recorded in the form of manuscripts on palm leaves. All the institutes have well equipped libraries. Sanskrit manuscripts were carried abroad.These ancients texts were translated into Chinese, Persian , Arabic etc, thereby knowledge systems went out of India and subsequently to Europe in later centuries. All the glory came to an end when Turkish invader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 along with his horsemen destroyed the universities one after the other. Teachers and students of the institutions were killed and libraries were deliberately burnt. The picture below explains everything. Since then the little knowledge left with the people was passed on to generations through oral transmission. If we have to rediscover India, we have to refer to the translated versions of ancient texts and references made by visitors like Megasthanes and Huan Tsang.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_bin_Bakhtiyar_Khalji#/media/File:The_end_of_Buddhist_Monks,_A.D._1193.jpg
India is the richest country in the world till 1800s. It contributed to almost 40% of the worlds GDP. India is technologically advanced compared to rest of the world at that time. Indians had the history of using metal from the Harrapan civilization times. Much earlier tin is added to copper to produce bronze. Many bronze articles were found during archaeological excavations. Indians were the first to smelt Zinc from its ore. Adding zinc to copper lead to the invention of brass and its wide spread usage. Archaeological excavations at Zawar , Rajasthan shows evidence of zinc plant as early as 5th century BCE. India was the exporter of metal works and textiles during that time. Foreign trade existed with contemporary nations of that time. Roman empire used to export cotton from India, gold coins were given in return. Gold and silver were widely used for ornamental and other purposes. India could attribute it riches to the artisan classes who produced all the commodities. The rulers(kings ) could dedicate the required amount of taxes to support education. It is the rest of the society that sponsored for education to flourish , otherwise education cannot survive on its own. Varna system in India is essentially division of labour.
Words will not suffice to describe the architectural wonders this country has produced. If we go down south, huge temples stand erect as symbols of our heritage even 1000 years after they were built. Chola dynasty and pandya dynasty built the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple at Tanjavur and Meenanaksi temple at Madhurai. Many temples in north India were destroyed during the Islamic invasions. One could imagine the quality and quantity of skilled sculptors to have created those many structures. Our ancestors made chisels as pens and wrote our history on stones. Very intricate shapes are carved on the hardest of rock. Aesthetic appeal is induced in the very minutest detail. Sun dial is at surya devalayam , konark is an engineering and architectural marvel. Stories from hindu scripture are carved on the pillars of the temples.
All of this is an ocean in a nutshell. The crux of the story is the knowledge went out of India, and later into European countries and was in popular use after the European names. Once Albert Einstein said “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”. But much of the work done by Indians left uncredited. For example , archaeological evidence shows that Pythagorean theorem was in use in India much before pythogoras lived. But the theorem is named after Pythagoras. Lets us hope advanced techniques of dating archaeological manuscripts found will take India to a much older period on civilizational chronology.
continued.....
(How decline of India continued during Islamic Invasions and The British Colonial rule will be continued in the Part II of this article)
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