India was the most advance nation on globe during the Vedic Time and the land of great sage – scientist, who had contributed a lot in the field of science and medicine. Today, we all are in state of mind that every inventions were found in western world but thousands of year ago, during golden era of India, Indian Sage had such a knowledge, thought and invention that even today we cannot even imagine in modern era. Today modern day scientist present their technology as invention but it’s just the re-invention or innovation based on ancient’s information.
Acharya Kanad, Father of Atomic Theory
Acharya Kanad was an Indian scientist and philosopher and the founder of Vaisheshika school of Indian Philosophy which represented the ancient Indian physics, atom and nature of universe. He wrote a book on his research of atom and became famous as Father of Atomic Theory. It is said that Acharya Kanad was born in 600 B.C. in Dwarka, Gujarat. The original name of the Kanad was Kashyap. From the early childhood Saint Kanad was very interested to know the minute details and how all things work. Due to his sense of service people started calling him Kanad in which Kan means “smallest particle”.
The Acharya Kanad was the first person on this globe who talks about atoms and molecules. It was the Kanad who said that Atoms is an indivisible particle. The theory occurred in his mind when he was simply walking with the hands full of rice. When he was breaking the rice particles, he observed that the smallest particle was not dividing further and thus the idea of the matter which cannot be divided further came into existence. He called this as Parmanu (Atom). He also further states that when two Atom molecules are being combined, a binary molecule will be formed. By this theory he conceptualized that it are just the different combinations of Atoms which are forming different substances. Then he put forward the idea that atoms could be combined in various ways to produce chemical changes in presence of other factors such as heat. He also stated that Atoms are present in two states – state of motion and absolute rest.
After this Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus also gave the explanation of Atomic Theory but on the base of the Dalton’s Theory. Today also Kanad’s Theory is said to be one of the advanced Theory compare to the other Philosophers.
Law of Gravity by Bhaskaracharya II
Almost all of us don’t know that Bhaskaracharya was the first person to discover the Gravity. We usually heard and had been taught that the first law of motion was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton but actually the Law of Gravity was described by Bhaskaracharya in one of his book called Surya Siddhanta in 11th Century. The law came so many years before at that time when Newton was not born because Newton born in the mid-16th Century.
Bhaskaracharya was one of the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of 12th Century, born in Bijapur, Karnataka. In one of the Shlokas of the book he mentioned that the earth which is spherical in shape stand or is at the center due to dharanatmikam sakti which prevents the earth from falling (“madhye samantandasya bhugolo vyomni tisthati bibhranah paramam saktim brahmano dharanatmikam”).
The other shloka also mentioned that the each and every object which falls on the ground is due to earth’s force of attraction. This force allows the sun, earth, moon and constellations to stay in the orbit. Bhaskaracharya wrote all this in his book at the age of 36 in the year 1150 AD. There are so many inventions which were done my Indians but are never printed in history. He was one of the best astrologer who predicted the things of the earth and described the gravity as Guruvakarshan Shakti in his book.
After Bhaskaracharya many discovers discovered the gravity but today still the Newton’s Law holds the tight position as he shared some extra information regarding to Gravity.
Calculation about Earth by Bhaskaracharya I
Bhaskaracharya was the very well known Indian Mathematician and astronomer. Bhaskaracharya worked in the four sections which were arithmetic, algebra, mathematics of the planet and spheres respectively. Bhaskaracharya is particularly known in the discovery of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems and computations.
The two books of Siddhanta Shiromani (Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya) are devoted to Astronomy. Bhaskaracharya has given a very simple method to determine the circumference of the earth. According to his method, first find out the distance between the two places, which should be on the same longitude. Then find the correct Latitudes of those two given places and find the difference between the two Latitudes. By knowing the distance of the two Latitudes, the distance that corresponds to 360 degrees can be easily found, which the circumference of the earth is.
He also discovered by the calculation that when any of the planet is farthest or closest to the sun, the difference between a planet’s actual position according to the equation of the centre vanishes. By this he concluded that, at some intermediate position the differential of the equation of the centre is equal to zero. Bhaskaracharya also accurately calculated apparent orbitals periods of the Sun and orbital periods of Mercury, Venus and Mars. Unfortunately Indians hardly taken cognizance of such a great man. The concepts and methods developed by him are relevant even today.
Acharya Charak – Father of Medicine
Acharya Charak had contributed a lot in the field of the Medicine – Ayurveda of ancient India, thus well known as Father of Medicine. He is known as the compiler or editor of the medical treatise entitled Charaka Samhita. It is believed that Kashmir was the native place of Acharya Charaka. The Charak is one of the foundational treatises of classical Indian medicine and is regarded one among the Brihat-Trayee of Ayurveda.
The Acharya Charak was blindly believing in the Ayurveda and the nature’s flora which can cure all the human diseases. According to him, health and disease are not predetermined and life may be prolonged by human effort and attention to lifestyle. He was the first person to known the concept of digestion, metabolism and immunity. A body functions because of three principles or dosha continuously regulating in human system namely movement, transformation and lubrication & stability. This is being worked when the dhatus like blood, flesh and marrow act upon the food eaten. The body produces different amount of dosha in different human being so we are different from one another.
He also stated about the illness and the disorder, he described illness as it is the unbalanced amount of dosha in human body which leads to illness. His contribution towards the Anatomy of various organs and the human body helped other discovers to study more in it. He gave 360 as the total number of bones including the teeth in the human body. At that time he also stated that heart is the main controlling unit in the human body however he failed to explain how it works or functions but he knew that our body solely depends on the system of heart. In Charak Samhita he had described the medicinal qualities and functions of more than 100,000 herbal plants. He will be chased forever in the annals of history due to his large contribution on medicines and the Human body.
Vymaanika Shaastra by Sage Bharadwaj – First Airplane of Earth
In 1875, the Vymaanika Shaastra, a 4th Century BC text written by Sage Bharadwaj was discovered in a temple in India. It contains 3000 shlokas in 8 chapters which was physically delivered by the ancient Hindu Sage Bharadwaj. The book greatly deals with the operation of ancient vimanas and included information on steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightning and how to switch the drive of solar energy or some other form of energy.
One of the chapter will reveal the secrets of constructing aeroplanes that cannot be broken or cut, that is indestructible, that is fire resistant. It also deals with the secret of making planes motionless and invisible. It also describes how to defeat the enemy planes etc. as per the Sage Bharadwaj the vimanas were classifies as per the Yugas. During the period of Krita Yuga, Dharma was establishes firmly. The pushpak Vimana which was used by Ravan was an Aerial vehicle. He used this vehicle to kidnap Sita from jungle and took him to his Kingdom Srilanka. Ramayana was during the Treta Yug in which the Vimanas were highly discovered. During this period “Laghima” gave them the power to lighten their vehicle do they can travel freely in the air.
In present Kaliyuga both Mantra and Tantra Shakti are almost vanished from the earth and so the ability to control vehicle has also been gone. Today the artificial vehicles are built which is called as Kritaka Vimanas.
Rishi Kanva – The Science of Wind
Rishi Kanva was an ancient Hindu rishi of the treta Yuga, to whom some of the hymns of the Rig Veda are ascribed. The science behind wind was explained by great Sage Kanva in some of the section of Rigveda. Vedas described 48 different forms of winds produced due to lightning. In Rishadansh type, the wind takes away the bad quality which is the Gayatri Chhanda. The Gayatri Chhanda is associated with fire.
Rishi Kanva explains Rishadansh being used with Ghoswarpas in pieces in fire science through Gayatri Chhanda, which presents brave kingdom and fire in the sky. Kanva rishi’s science of lightening these winds are considered to be thriving with a substance called Gana and force which is Gayatri Chhanda. Mamuta by great Rishi Kanva explains it with Brahmin Varna, east direction, spring and summer season through Gayatri Chhanda in Vaman + Aryama Science. Rishi Kanva had ben looked after Shakuntala when she was abandoned by her mother and father. Bharat, the son of Shakuntala was brought up by him.
Sage Kapil Muni – Author of Sankhya Darshan – Detailed description on Meditation
Sankhya Darshan is defined as “Meditation or Dhyaan” that is the state of mind when remains without any subjectivity/objectivity – without any thought is called meditation. If there are any type of thoughts running in your mind, you cannot meditate silently. To be perfectly concentrate on meditation there should be one object or a person/God which makes one to think his existence, colors, eyes, clothes etc. So, the mind will be busy thinking of that. God being omnipresent cannot have an image so what if some idol is being represented as a God in one’s mind like earth, water, fire, air and so on.
When one can start seeing this universe as a God, one will be free from any sins. If he doesn’t accept this then they will be stepped towards sins as they will think no one is there to observe their crime. The one who has no faith in idols and believes that God is omnipresent will be in a wrong pathway and one who thinks that the God pervades the whole universe then he cannot even harbor evil thoughts in his mind. He will be aware that God witnesses every actions of the people whether it be good or a bad.
Sage Kapil Muni nicely wrote the term Meditation in his book and how one can adapts to it. He told that by thinking the sweet flavor of the sugar one cannot taste the sweetness or by imparting the bitter taste of the neem. The sensations of bitterness and sweetness are only produced when the substances are brought in contact with the tongue.
Patanjali – Father of Yoga
Patanjali was a great Indian Sage and Author of Sanskrit works. The best of his work is Yoga Sutras, a classical yoga text. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are 196 Indian Sutras on Yoga. It was the most translated ancient Indian text in the medieval era, which having been translated into around forty Indian languages and two non – Indian languages: Old Javanese and Arabic.
Yoga is one of the greatest gifts from east to the world. Yoga gives the mental relaxation along with the physical fitness which benefits the individual soul and the body. Patanjali didn’t discovered yoga as Yoga was there in various forms, what he did was he assimilated this all forms of Yoga into System which is called Yoga Sutras.
Sutra means a thread or today we can say it like formula. One can easily read the Sutras but you have to go in depth to know what it means. People are just implementing it. The yoga Sutras are an absolutely brilliant piece of work compare to any of the scriptures on this planet who talks about life and beyond the life. In his yoga Sutras, Patanjali explains the eight limbs of yoga, for becoming a self-realized person.
Patanjali never wanted that his book or the Sutras to read by each and every person on this planet. He wanted that we should put this into our practice for our everyday routine which can heal us mentally and physically.
Acharya Aryabhata – Motions of the Solar System
Acharya Aryabhata was the first mathematician astronomer from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His major work on Aryabhatiya was very successful. It is extensively referred in the Indian mathematical literature and has been survived to modern times.
Acharya Aryabhata correctly stated that the earth rotates about its axis daily. This was very nicely explained in his first chapter of the book Aryabhatiya named Gola Chapter. He also stated that the motion of the stars are being observed just because the earth is rotating. He was also succeeded in explaining the geocentric model of the Solar System. He explained that the sun and the moon are each carried by the epicycles which in turn revolve around the earth. The positions and periods of the planet was calculated relative to uniformly moving points. He stated that the Mercury and Venus move around the earth at the same speed as of the sun. He was also succeeded in explaining eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on earth. He also mentioned Units of Time or the Sidereal rotation that earth takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 second to complete one revolution and the sidereal year has 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 30 seconds which in turn adds an extra one day every after four years which is called a leap year.
Calendric calculation which was devised by him is still being used in India for Practical purposes for fixing the Hindu calendar. India’s first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata are both named in his honor.
Acharya Sushruta – Father of Surgery
Acharya Sushruta was a great Indian Physician and was known to be as the Father of Surgery or Father of Plastic Surgery. In Mahabharata, Sushruta was represented as son of Vishwamitra, which coincides with the present recension of Sushruta Samhita. The Sushruta Samhita is one of the most important survived ancient texts on medicine and it is considered a foundational text of Ayurveda. He was the world’s first surgeon who performed complicated surgeries 2600 years ago.
The Sushruta Samhita has 184 chapters containing descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparation based on animal sources. It describes thoroughly the surgical techniques of making incisions, extractions of foreign body or particles, how to probe, excisions, tooth extraction, how to remove prostate gland, dilation of Urethral stricture, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgery, how to do C-section (Caesarian for baby delivery), laparotomy, management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principle of fracture management. He also classified the eye diseases including cataract surgery.
He greatly paid attention to the structural organization of the human body – how it works? How it function? What if it stops functioning? Is there any alternative source of it? It is interesting to note that when surgery was not even heard and performed by the other parts of the world, here Sushruta was performing Rhinoplasty and many other challenging operations.
Varaha Mihira – Great Astronomer
Varaha Mihira was a Hindu astronomer and a polymath who lived in Ujjain. He is an author of Panchasiddhantika (Five Treatises), a compendium of Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Indian astronomy. Varaha was inspired by meeting Aryabhata and decided to take up astrology and astronomy as a lifetime pursuit. In a very short period he developed so much in this field that he came into the quick notice of Vikramaditya who made him one of the nine gems of the court.
Scholars are of the view that Varaha Mihira has constructed “Meru Stambh”, which is today known as Qutub Minar, 2200 years ago, for doing research on astronomy. His name was Mihira the title Varaha was given when he predicted the astrology of a king’s son during those time. He told to the king that his son will be killed by boar very soon. The king didn’t believed in his astrology and at a very small age (at 18) the son of the king was killed by boar when we went to jungle for hunting. This way the prediction of the Mihira came true so the people started calling him Varaha Mihira.
He summarized the whole five treatises namely, the Surya Siddhanta, Romaka Siddhanta, Paulisa Siddhanta, Vasishtha Siddhanta and Paitama Siddhanta. Panch Siddhanta holds a prominent place is the phase of astronomy. He also contributed in encyclopedic Brihat – Samhita which covers the subjects of all the human interest like rainfall, astrology, planetary movements, gems, pearls and rituals etc. He did also discovered the trigonometric formulas, improved the accuracy of sine tables and defined the property of zero and the calculation of binomial coefficients. He was also succeeded in the field of hydrology, ecology and geology too.
Baudhayana – Discovered Pythagoras Theorem
Baudhayana was a great Mathematician, who was also called a priest. He is the author of the Sulba Sutra which contained several important mathematical results. He was the first person on this planet who have discovered the several concepts in mathematics which was later rediscovered by the other scientist in the western world. The value of the pie was discovered by him. Today all know how to use the pie and where to use (calculating the area and the circumference of a circle). He also discovered Pythagoras Theorem in Sulba Sutra.
In Sulba Sutra he said that a rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal sides make together. He also stated that if a and b be the two sides and c be the hypotenuse, such that a is divisible by 4. He also provided how to find a circle whose area is the same as that of a square. The other theorems includes the diagonals of rectangle bisect with each other, diagonals of rhombus bisect at right angles, area of square formed by joining the mid points of a square is half of original.
The mathematics given in the Sulba Sutras is there to enable the accurate construction of altars needed for sacrifices. It is clear from the writing that Baudhayana must have been a skilled craftsman. He was a great Practitioner.
Acharya Nagarjuna – Master of Chemical Science
Nagarjuna was a great Indian metallurgist and alchemist. He was born in village Daihak near In Gujarat at the start of the 10th Century. Some of Chinese and Tibetan literature says that he was born in Vaideha Desh and then migrated to nearby Satavahana dynasty. He is considered the founder of the Madhyamika school of Mahayana Buddhism.
He did his research for around 12 years in the field of chemistry and metallurgy. Textual masterpieces like “Ras Ratnakar”, “Rashrudaya” and “Rasebdramangal” are his renowned contributions to the science of chemistry. He also discovered the alchemy of transmuting base metals into gold. His laboratory was on Shree Parvat in Andhra Pradesh. He did his experiments especially on mercury. He distinguished between the metals and the sub metals and also between solvents and soluble. He stated that Mercury could dissolve all metals. He also invented the processes of “Distillation” and “Calcinations”. He succeeded in discovering and learning the properties of Black Sulphite of antimony. Makardhwaj or Chandrodaya is a Mercury compound which can work as a magic power with patients who are close to death.
He was the first person in the planet to use a Mercury as medicine. He found five types of mercury: red and grey were good; yellow, white or multi colored had so much of bad qualities and this should use as a medicine after several treatments.
Alchemist or today what we called as Chemist was the Gifts for Nagarjuna. He made several discoveries which was the path to the other discovers to lead in this field.
Panini – Father of Linguistics
Panini was an ancient Sanskrit philologist, grammarian and a received scholar in ancient India. He is considered as First Descriptive Linguist and is known as the Father of Linguistics. He is well known for his text Astadhyayi, a Sutra on Sanskrit grammar. He analyzed the noun compounds which is still been followed in the theories of the Indian language. Panini’s comprehensive and scientific theory on grammar is conventionally taken to mark the start of Classical Sanskrit.
The Astadhyayi is the oldest linguistic and grammar text of any language and of Sanskrit surviving in its entity. His rules have a reputation for perfection – he described the Sanskrit morphology completely. Panini made use of technical metalanguage consisting of syntax, morphology and Lexicon. This metalanguage is organized according to a series of Meta – rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced.
The Astadhyayi consists of 3,959 sutras in eight chapters. This text attracted many of the ancient authors to upgrade their text in terms of Language.
Rishi Agastya – Father of the Electric Battery – The First Electric Battery
Maharishi Agastya was one of Saptrishi and was the elder brother of Vasishtha. The basic procedure or the method of generating electricity is based on the principles of Rishi Agastya. He stated various theories to generate clean energy thereby providing electricity with natural resources this same principle was applied in the modern battery which we use today.
For generating electricity Rishi Agastya used earthen pot, copper plate, copper sulphate, wet saw dust, zinc amalgam. He states in his text that when you place a cleaned copper plate in an earthen vessel then cover it by copper sulphate and then by moist sawdust. After that, put a mercury – amalgamated zinc sheet on the top of the sawdust to avoid polarization. The contact will generates the energy known by the twin name of Mitra – Varuna (Anode and Cathode). Water will be split by this current into Pranavayu – Oxygen and Udanavayu – Carbon Dioxide. When a cell was prepared according to Agastya Samhita it gives open circuit voltage as 1.138 volts and short circuit current as 23 mA.
He also discovered a way how to polish gold, copper and silver with a battery. The way he played with the currents and battery he was known to be as “BATTERY BORN”. Agastya’s achievement is one of the oldest achievement in India. He was one of the wisest Rishi that will be remember due to his huge contribution that developed the nation historically.
Sage Vishwamitra – Power of all Weapons
Sage Vishwamitra was a great Indian Sage who was not a Brahmana by birth, but a Kshatriya. He was the king of the kingdom Kaushika who became a Sage. When Vishwamitra was mediating, Lord Shiva granted him the knowledge of all celestial weapons. He also discovered the Gayatri Mantra, found in the Vedas.
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Vishwamitra is the preceptor of Rama and his brother Lakshmana. Vishwamitra gave them the knowledge of the Devastras or celestial weaponry (bala and atibala), trained them in advanced religion and guides them to kill powerful demons like Tataka, Maricha and Subahu. Along with Rama and Lakshmana, Vishwamitra went to Janakpuri, where the bow sacrifice was being held for the Swayamvar of Sita. It was the mighty bow of Shiva, which could not be even moved by even many strong warriors like Ravana and Banasura. Then Lord Sri Rama, with the blessings and permission of Vishwamitra, picked it up with ease and broke it into two pieces. Sita places the jaymala around his neck, signifying he was her choice of groom.
It was the intense devotion and brilliance of his intellect that Led Lord Shri Rama to become his disciple. In fact, it is believed that among the seven rishis who rule the constellation Saptrishi in Hindu astrological reckoning, one of the presiding Rishis is Vishwamitra.
