Development of Scientific Method in Ancient India

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SOUTH ASIAN HISTORY

 

"The scientific ethos also had it's impact on the arts and

literature. Painting and sculpture flourished even as there were

advances in social infrastructure. Universities were set up with

dormitories and meeting halls. In addition, according to the Chinese

traveller, Hieun Tsang, roads were built with well-marked signposts.

Shade trees were planted. Inns and hospitals dotted national highways

so as to facilitate travel and trade."

 

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Development of Philosophical Thought and Scientific Method in Ancient

India

 

Contrary to the popular perception that Indian civilization has been

largely concerned with the affairs of the spirit and "after-life",

India's historical record suggests that some of the greatest Indian

minds were much more concerned with developing philosophical

paradigms that were grounded in reality. The premise that Indian

philosophy is founded solely on mysticism and renunciation emanates

from a colonial and orientalist world view that seeks to obfuscate a

rich tradition of scientific thought and analysis in India.

 

Much of the evidence for how India's ancient logicians and scientists

developed their theories lies buried in polemical texts that are not

normally thought of as scientific texts. While some of the treatises

on mathematics, logic, grammar, and medicine have survived as such -

many philosophical texts enunciating a rational and scientific world

view can only be constructed from extended references found in

philosophical texts and commentaries by Buddhist and Jain monks or

Hindu scholars (usually Brahmins).

 

Although these documents are usually considered to lie within the

domain of religious studies, it should be pointed out that many of

these are in the form of extended polemics that are quite unlike the

holy books of Christianity or Islam. These texts attempt to debate

the value of the real-world versus the spiritual-world. They attempt

to counter the theories of the atheists and other skeptics. But in

their attempts to prove the primacy of a mystical soul or "Atman" -

they often go to great lengths in describing competing rationalist

and worldly philosophies rooted in a more realistic and more

scientific perception of the world. Their extensive commentaries

illustrate the popular methods of debate, of developing a hypothesis,

of extending and elaborating theory, of furnishing proofs and counter-

proofs.

 

It is also important to note that originally, the Buddhist world view

was an essentially atheistic world view. The ancient Jains were

agnostics, and within the broad stream of Hinduism - there were

several heterodox currents that asserted a predominantly atheistic

view. In that sense, these were not religions as we think of today

since the modern understanding of religion presumes faith or belief

in a super-natural entity.

 

That so many scholars from each of these philosophical schools felt

the imperative to prove their extra-worldly theories using

rationalist tools of deductive and inductive logic suggests that

faith in a super-natural being could not have been taken for granted.

This is borne out by the memoirs of Hieun Tsang (the Chinese

chronicler who traveled extensively in India during the 7th C. AD)

who describes the merchants of Benaras as being

mostly "unbelievers"! He also wrote of intense polemics and debates

amongst followers of different Buddhist sects.

 

Similiarly, there is other evidence that suggests that amongst the

intellectuals of ancient India, atheism and skepticism must have been

very powerful currents that required repeated and vigorous attempts

at persuasion and change. Nevertheless, over centuries, the

intellectual discords between the believers and non-believers became

more and more muted. The advocates of mystic idealism prevailed over

the skeptics, so that eventually, (at the popular level) each of

these philosophies functioned as traditional religions with their

pantheon of gods and goddesses enticing and lulling most into an

intellectual stupor. But at no point were the advocates of "pure

faith" ever powerful enough to completely extinguish the rationalist

current that had so imbued Indian philosophy.

 

Early Rationalist Schools

One of the most ancient of India's rationalist traditions is

the "Lokayata". Maligned and discredited by the evangelicals of

mystical Buddhism and Vedantic Hinduism, their world view was sharply

atheistic and scientific for their time. Unlike those who believed in

reincarnation or an after-life, and in the indestructibility of the

human soul - they refused to make artificial distinctions between

body and mind. They saw the human mind as part and parcel of the

human body - not as some separate entity that could have an

independent existence from the human body. They acknowledged nothing

but the material human body and the material universe around it. They

rejected sacrificial gifts and offerings for the after-life as was

common amongst followers of Brahmanical Hinduism during the time of

Medhatithi in A.D 900 (a commentator on the writings of Manu who

acknowledges that the Lokayatas were atheists or non-believers.)

 

For instance, they ridiculed the Brahmanical rituals of animal

sacrifice: "If a beast slain in the Jyotistoma rite itself goes to

heaven, Why then does not the sacrificer also offer his father?"

 

"If beings in heaven are gratified by our offerings made here, Then

why not give the food down below to those who stand on the housetop?"

 

"If offerings produce gratification to beings who are dead, why make

provisions for travellers when they start on a journey?"

 

"If he who departs from the body goes to another world, How is it

that he comes not back again, restless for love of his kindred?"

 

The Lokayatas dismissed the Vedic priests and their Vedic mantras as

nothing but a means of livelihood for those lacking in genuine

physical or mental abilities. Instead, they gave primacy to human

sense-perception, and through the application of the inferential

process - they developed their theories of how the world worked.

 

One of the most notable aspects of the Lokayata belief system was

their intuitive understanding of dialectics in nature. Many argued

the mind-body separation as follows: Since the body is made up of

things lacking consciousness - but the mind is a conscious entity -

mind and body must necessarily be different - and consciousness must

imply the existence of something else akin to the "soul". The

Lokayatas countered this by citing the example of fermentation - how

an intoxicating drink could be produced from something that was not

itself an intoxicant. In essence they had discovered the principle

that the whole was greater than the sum of it's parts. That physical

and chemical processes could lead to dramatic changes in the

properties of the substances combined. They were able to understand

how special transformations could produce new qualities that were not

evident in the constituent elements of the newly-created entity.

 

As keen observers of nature, they were probably amongst the first to

understand the nature of different plants and herbs and their utility

to human well-being. As such, it is likely that Indian medicine

gradually evolved from the early scientific knowledge and

understanding of the Lokayatas. Since the Lokayatas believed that

consciousness emerged from the living human body, and ended with it's

death - it is more than likely that the widely prevalent Indian

custom of cremating the dead also originated amongst them.

 

This is not to say that the Lokayatas' understanding of the world was

as elaborate and precise as that provided by today's science. By the

standards of the 20th century, some of their formulations could be

considered primitive and inadequate. That is only to be expected.

Knowledge of science has expanded considerably since their times. But

what is more important is that their world view was driven by a

rational and scientific approach.

 

For instance, some later philosophical schools countered the Lokayata

arguments concerning mind-body unity by bringing up the evidence of

memory. Nyaya-Vaisesika philosophers like Jayanta and Udayana pointed

out that the process of daily eating meant that the human body was

constantly changing. The process of ageing also pointed to how the

human body was ever-changing. Yet, an old person could remember in

detail an incident from childhood. In other words - they tried to

argue that memory was evidence of a human soul that existed beyond

the mere physical body. Yet, we know today that memory is but a

combination of proteins that can survive the length of human

existence. There is both continuity and change in nature. The

Lokayata world view howsoever sketchy and incomplete was not in

contradiction with modern science.

 

If some of their characterizations required later revisions or

refinement, or even corrections, it didn't take away from their

fundamentally scientific approach. Their inadequacies were a

consequence of incomplete knowledge and the understandable inability

to see all the complexities of nature that we are now able (through

advanced scientific instruments and centuries of accumulated

knowledge). Their errors did not, however, stem from stubborn faith

or deliberate rejection of reality and real-world phenomenon.

 

In practice, (according to some historians) India's ancient Tantric

followers may have also had a largely rational world view, which

sprang from a practical mindset and was impaired only by the limited

amount of scientific knowledge available to humanity at that time.

Critics of the tantrics dismissed them as sexually obsessed

hedonists. But they failed to acknowledge that the early tantrics had

an intuitive scientific streak and their understanding of sexual

reproduction is probably what may have also impelled them to develop

basic agricultural tools and other implements. In that sense, they

were India's early technologists.

 

The Age of Science and Reason

But even amongst those Indian philosophers who accepted the

separation of mind and body and argued for the existence of the soul,

there was considerable dedication to the scientific method and to

developing the principles of deductive and inductive logic. From

1000 B.C to the 4th C A.D (also described as India's rationalistic

period) treatises in astronomy, mathematics, logic, medicine and

linguistics were produced. The philosophers of the Sankhya school,

the Nyaya-Vaisesika schools and early Jain and Buddhist scholars made

substantial contributions to the growth of science and learning.

Advances in the applied sciences like metallurgy, textile production

and dyeing were also made.

 

In particular, the rational period produced some of the most

fascinating series of debates on what constitutes the "scientific

method": How does one separate our sensory perceptions from dreams

and hallucinations? When does an observation of reality become

accepted as fact, and as scientific truth? How should the principles

of inductive and deductive logic be developed and applied? How does

one evaluate a hypothesis for it's scientific merit? What is a valid

inference? What constitutes a scientific proof?

 

These and other questions were attacked with an unexpected

intellectual vigour. As keen observers of nature and the human body,

India's early scientist/philosophers studied human sensory organs,

analyzed dreams, memory and consciousness. The best of them

understood dialectics in nature - they understood change, both in

quantitative and qualitative terms - they even posited a proto-type

of the modern atomic theory. It was this rational foundation that led

to the flowering of Indian civilization.

 

This is borne out by the testaments of important Greek scientists and

philosophers of that period. Pythagoras - the Greek mathematician and

philosopher who lived in the 6th C B.C was familiar with the

Upanishads and learnt his basic geometry from the Sulva Sutras. (The

famous Pythagoras theorem is actually a restatement of a result

already known and recorded by earlier Indian mathematicians). Later,

Herodotus (father of Greek history) was to write that the Indians

were the greatest nation of the age. Megasthenes - who travelled

extensively through India in the 4th C. B.C also left extensive

accounts that paint India in highly favorable light (for that

period).

 

Intellectual contacts between ancient Greece and India were not

insignificant. Scientific exchanges between Greece and India were

mutually beneficial and helped in the development of the sciences in

both nations. By the 6th C. A.D, with the help of ancient Greek and

Indian texts, and through their own ingenuity, Indian astronomers

made significant discoveries about planetary motion. An Indian

astronomer - Aryabhata, was to become the first to describe the earth

as a sphere that rotated on it's own axis. He further postulated that

it was the earth that rotated around the sun and correctly described

how solar and lunar eclipses occurred.

 

Because astronomy required extremely complicated mathematical

equations, ancient Indians also made significant advances in

mathematics. Differential equations - the basis of modern calculus

were in all likelihood an Indian invention (something essential in

modeling planetary motions). Indian mathematicians were also the

first to invent the concept of abstract infinite numbers - numbers

that can only be represented through abstract mathematical

formulations such as infinite series - geometric or arithmetic. They

also seemed to be familiar with polynomial equations (again essential

in advanced astronomy) and were the inventors of the modern numeral

system (referred to as the Arabic numeral system in Europe).

 

The use of the decimal system and the concept of zero was essential

in facilitating large astronomical calculation and allowed such 7th C

mathematicians as Brahmagupta to estimate the earth's circumferance

at about 23,000 miles - (not too far off from the current

calculation). It also enabled Indian astronomers to provide fairly

accurate longitudes of important places in India.

 

The science of Ayurveda - (the ancient Indian system of healing)

blossomed in this period. Medical practitioners took up the

dissection of corpses, practised surgery, developed popular

nutritional guides, and wrote out codes for medical procedures and

patient care and diagnosis. Chemical processes associated with the

dying of textiles and extraction of metals were studied and

documented. The use of mordants (in dyeing) and catalysts (in metal-

extraction/purification) was discovered.

 

The scientific ethos also had it's impact on the arts and literature.

Painting and sculpture flourished even as there were advances in

social infrastructure. Universities were set up with dormitories and

meeting halls. In addition, according to the Chinese traveller, Hieun

Tsang, roads were built with well-marked signposts. Shade trees were

planted. Inns and hospitals dotted national highways so as to

facilitate travel and trade.

 

India's rational age was thus a period of tremendous intellectual

ferment and vitality. It was a period of scientific discovery and

technological innovation. Accompanied by challenges to caste

discrimination and rigidity and religious obscurantism - it was also

a period of great social upheaval that eventually led to society

becoming more democratic, allowing greater social interaction between

members of different castes and expanding opportunities for social

mobility amongst the population. Social ethics drew considerable

attention in this period. Rules of engagement during war were

constructed so as to eliminate non-military casualties and

destruction of pasture-land, crop-land or orchards. The notion of

chivalry in war was popularized - it meant not attacking fleeing or

injured soldiers. It also required warring armies to provide safe

passage to women, children, the elderly and other non-combatants.

 

The rational period thus saw progress on several fronts. Not only did

it create an enduring foundation for India's civilization to develop

and mature - it has also had it's impact on the growth of other

civilizations. In fact, India's rational period served as a vital

link in the long and varied chain of human progress. Although

colonial history has attempted to usurp this collective heritage of

the planet and make it exclusively euro-centric, it is important to

note that fundamental and important discoveries in science and

innovations in technology have come from many different parts of the

globe, albeit at different times and stages of world civilization.

India made significant contributions in this regard. If India is to

fully recover from the depredations of colonial rule, it is

imperative that we don't forget the achievements of this inspiring

epoch.

 

Note: References to Greece and India are used in a very broad way. In

the ancient world, the 'Greek' world included most Mediterranean

nations - including those of North Africa, Palestine, modern-day

Turkey, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. References to India apply to the

general expanse of the sub-continent.