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SOUTH ASIAN HISTORY
Pages from the history of the Indian sub-continent
Technological discoveries and applications in India
The earliest evidence of technological progress in the Indian subcontinent is to be found in the remains of the Harappan civilization (4000-3000 BC). Archaeological remains point to the
existence of well-planned urban centres that boasted of private and public dwellings laid out in orderly fashion along with roads and drainage systems complementing them. The drainage
systems were particularly remarkable for the times since they were built underground and were constructed in a manner to allow for regular cleaning. Smaller drains from private homes
connected to the larger public drains.
Larger private dwellings were invariably multi-storied and all homes were constructed from standardized fired bricks and provided for separate cooking areas and toilets. Storage facilities for
grain and goods for trade were built as were public baths and other buildings intended for various public functions.
Urban centres were often planned near riverine or sea-ports. Accurate weights and measures were in use and ports such as Lothal were developed as export centres of early manufactured
products from smelted copper and bronze. Kilns for smelting copper ingots and casting tools were in existence as were metal tools such as curved or circular saws, pierced needles and most
significantly, bronze drills with twisted grooves. The drill enabled the production of items with unparalleled precision for the times and could be regarded as an ancient precursor of the
modern machine tool.
There is also evidence of planned irrigation systems and it appears that fire and flood control measures to protect farms and villages were also in place. Artisans made use of the wheel and
clay pottery was decorated in a variety of colors and designs. Cotton was grown and used to produce textiles.
Urban centres in the Harappan region traded with each other as well as with counterparts in Babylon, the Persian Gulf, Egypt and possibly the Mediteranean. The span of the Harappan
civilization was quite extensive, and included much of modern Sindh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Western UP.
But prior to it's disappearance, there is also evidence of considerable social decay and disintegration. Excavations from the later phases of the Harappan civilization suggest that population
pressures led to greater anarchy in building construction. Urban dwellings became smaller and settlements became more haphazard indicating a breakdown of social mores and structures
that promoted urban regulations and enforced construction codes.
Social Conditions and Technological Progress
It is quite possible that the decline in civil society extended to other areas such as agricultural planning and maintenance of irrigations systems making the civilization more vulnerable to
natural disasters such droughts, floods, fires or earthquakes - thus contributing to the eventual extinction of that vibrant civilization. This suggests that technological progress cannot be
divorced from social conditions that may either encourage the progress of technology or conversely cause civilizations that may be (in relative terms) quite advanced to stagnate and even
decline.
For instance, 3000 years after Harappa, we find anecdotal evidence of impressive urban settlements constructed during the Mauryan period. Greek travellers have left behind admiring
descriptions of Patliputra - the Mauryan capital. But social strife brought a precipitous end to the grand civilization. The growth of a parasitic, exploitative and socially oppressive elite led to
massive social upheavals. In the course of the civil wars, fires and looting destroyed virtually all of the wood-based dwellings including grand palaces and public buildings.
Thus, an entire tradition of wood-based urban construction - (which may have taken several centuries to develop) was destroyed. But it also led to a greater emphasis on the use of more
lasting construction materials. The very social conditions that destroyed technological progress in one direction gave birth to technological progress in another. Sculptural finds from the
Mauryan period indicate that Mauryan sculptors of that time had achieved a high degree of proficiency in working with stone. They must have had tools and implements that enabled them
to create smoothly modelled and highly polished representations of human and animal figures. Later civilizations in India employed these skills not only for the purposes of sculpting but for
creating entire monuments constructed from a variety of hard building materials. For instance, various methods for preparing cements were developed, and by the 7th century, cement of
highly durable quality came into use in the construction of important monuments that survive to this day.
The Impetus for Metallurgy
Monumental architecture required considerable advances in the technology of lifting, loading and transportation of construction materials, building construction ramps, scaffolding, and
related tools and implements. As in ancient Egypt or Babylon, appropriate techniques also had to be developed and implemented in India. But more importantly, stone-based construction
presupposes the existence of hard metal based tools and implements for cutting and shaping stone. The discovery of iron thus played an essential role in the development of monumental
architecture in India which may have in turn given a further impetus to the development of metallurgical skills.
As early as the 4th C. BC, Kautilya's Arthashastra had a section outlining the processes for metal extraction and alloying. Later Sanskrit texts talk about assessing metal purity and describe
techniques for achieving metal purity. Various alloying techniques were in use and some may have had their origin in the Harappan or Vedic periods. (For instance, there are references in the
Vedic literature that suggest that copper vessels were coated with tin so as to prevent milk from going sour.)
A combination of scholarly investigation and broad dissemination of practical techniques propelled the development of metallurgical skills. The fifth century Iron Pillar of Delhi is a
remarkable example of those skills. Standing over 23 feet high it consists of a single piece of iron and has weathered over 1500 monsoons without showing any signs of rust. The pillar is
made of wrought iron with an iron content of 99.72 % and appears to have been protected from rust by the application of a thin coating of manganese dioxide.
By the 12th century, construction engineers were using iron girders and beams on a scale unknown in any other part of the world. The most significant use of iron beams was in the temples
of Puri and Konarak. The Puri temple contains 239 iron beams and one of the beams in Konarak is 35 feet long. All are 99.64 percent iron and were produced in a similiar manner to the Delhi
iron pillar.
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iron pillar.
During the middle ages, India acquired a reputation for producing very high quality steel and was also able to extract zinc from it's ore by the 14th century. Bidari (an alloy of copper, lead and
tin developed in the Deccan) was also extensively used.
Unsurprisingly, developments in metallurgy also had their impact on artillery production. According to A. Rahman (Science in Medieval India), by the 16th century, the heaviest guns in the
world were being cast in India and a variety of weapons were being manufactured in the subcontinent. The Jaigarh cannon factory was one of India's best and before the crucial battle of
1857, the Jaipur Rajputs laid claim to owning Asia's largest cannon. Yet, none of the Rajput cannons were ever used to confront the British who succeeded in conquering the sub-continent
without ever having to fight against the country's best equipped armies, thus demonstrating that technological progress is not an end in itself.
Social Needs and Technological Applications
More often than not, social needs (as arising from geographic, climactic or living conditions) have been the primary impetus for technological progress in society. The long dry months that
most regions of India had to deal with led to numerous innovations in water-management techniques. Irrigation canals, wells of different types, storage tanks and a variety of water-
harvesting techniques were developed throughout the sub-continent. The Harappans were not alone in creating water-management solutions. Irrigation works of enormous size were
undertaken time and time again. The reservoirs at Girnar in Kathiawar (built in the 3rd C. BC) had an embankment over 100 ft thick at the base. The artificial lake at Bhojpur (near Bhopal)
commisioned by Raja Bhoj in the 11th C covered 250 sq. miles. In the South, also in the 11th C., an artificial lake fed by the Kaveri river had a 16-mile long embankment with stone sluices and
irrigation channels. Rajput kings built artificial lakes throughout the desert state of Rajasthan, but irrigation schemes were essential to agricultural prosperity even in Kashmir, Bengal and the
delta regions of the South.
The need for accurate prediction of the monsoons spurred developments in astronomy while the intense heat of the summer led to innovations in architecture. In Rajasthan and Gujarat step-
wells were built deep into the ground - sometimes descending as much as a hundred feet and large scale observatories were built in Benaras, Mathura and Ujjain to facilitate advances in the
astronomical sciences. Bengal became known for it's fine muslins that were light and airy to wear in the warm and humid climate of the state. Techniques for pickling and preserving fruits,
vegetables, fish and meats were developed throughout the country to prevent or delay spoilage. Manually operated cooling devices were also invented. The Arthashatra mentions the
variyantra (probably a revolving water spray for cooling the air). Technology thus arose in response to compelling material needs.
Scientific Rationalism and Technological Efficacy
But technological progress also requires a favorable social milieu. A foundation of scientific knowledge, rational thinking and practical experimentation can be essential to the process of
making technological discoveries (although the application of already known technologies can occur more easily). As mentioned in the essay: Development of Philosophical Thought and Scientific
Method in Ancient India numerous technological inventions occurred in parallel with developments in rational philosophy and advances in mathematics and natural sciences.
This is not to say that Indian society was entirely rational. In all ancient societies (and even modern ones), superstitions, religious beliefs, reliance on astrology, numerology or the advice of
'seers', palmists and fortune-tellers have impinged on the scientific process and consequently hindered the progress of technology. In the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Babylon and India -
we see numerous instances of scientifically accurate statements and practical truths mixed up with religious myths and popular superstitions. This was especially true in the science of
medicine. Genuine cures were listed with unscientific practices without clear distinction. But during the rational period in India the emphasis on the scientific method led to a much greater
level of veracity with respect to the efficacy of different medicines and medical procedures.
The more accurately the Indian medical practitioner was able to observe reality, understand bodily functions and test the efficacy of popular medical techniques, the more successful were
the prescribed cures. Dissection of corpses and careful monitoring of different diseases was an important component in the study and practice of medicine. With greater success in treatment
came greater confidence and allowed medical practitioners to conduct surgical procedures using a variety of surgical tools - albeit primitive in comparison to modern surgical equipment.
Procedures for inducing unconsciousness or numbing body parts that were to be operated on were required and developed. Tools for excision, incision, puncturing, probing, organ or part
extraction, fluid drainage, bloodletting, suturing and cauterization were developed. Various types of bandages and ointments were used as were basic procedures for ensuring cleanliness
and limiting contamination. The caesarian section was known, bone-setting reached a high degree of skill, and plastic surgery developed far beyond anything known elsewhere at the time.
Indian surgeons also became proficient at the repair of noses, ears and lips lost or injured in battle or by judicially mandated mutilation. By the 1st C. AD the foundations of this rather
evolved medical system were in place and by the 4th C. - much of this knowledge was standardized and available in the classical textbooks of Charaka and Susruta.
While all ancient societies cherished and admired the skills of the medical practitioner, it was the more determined adoption of the scientific approach that enabled Indian medicine to make a
quantum leap over the older medical systems of the time.
{Progress in medicine also led to developments in chemistry and chemical technologies. The manufacture of alkaline substances, medicinal powders, ointments and liquids was systematized, as were chemical processes relating to the manufacture of
glass. Advances in food processing (such as manufacture of sugar, condiments and edible oils) took place as did the manufacture of personal hygiene products and beauty aids (such as shampoos, deodorizers, perfumes and cosmetics).}
Cultural Mores and Technological Innovation
Cultural preferences also impelled technological innovations. During the rational period, considerable attention was paid to human psychological processes. The analysis of moods and
emotions led to elaborate theories on the role of color and design in inducing psychological well-being. Treatises on art and architecture emphasized the importance of color. As a result, the
use of color in decorating household artifacts, textiles, furniture, and public and private dwellings became widely prevalent and a matter of conscious choice.
Discoveries concerning the manufacture and application of natural and artificial dyes quickly followed. Block printing, tie and dye, and other textile-dyeing techniques were popularized. The
use of mordents in color-fast dyeing of textiles became known as did the knowledge of lacquers that could be applied to wood or leather. Paints that could be used on different building
materials were developed and elaborate techniques were employed to prevent fading and loss of color during the heavy monsoons. (It is remarkable that paintings in the Ajanta caves have survived almost
1500 years, but what is even more noteworthy is how the paint on some of the exterior sections of Ellora's temples has survived 1200 years. The richness of color in well-preserved Indian miniatures continues to amaze and astonish. It may be noted
that for many centuries, color-fast dyes made up an important component of India's exports, and export of these to ancient Rome has been documented in Roman records)
State Support of Technology
A notable aspect of technological progress in India was it's dependence on state support. Without the support of a technologically inclined nobility, without grants from the royal treasuries,
many of the technological developments that took place in the field of water-management, construction and metallurgy simply would not have taken place. Progress in astronomy also
benefited from active state support.
Raja Bhoja (1018-60 of Dhar -Malwa) who was himself a great engineer and was the architect of Bhojsagar - (one of the largest artificial irrigation lakes of medieval India) was a great patron of engineering
projects. Reputed to be a fine scholar, he was well educated in the sciences and the arts and was responsible for the commissioning of a university (Bhoj Shala) at Dhar and several
monumental temples in the Malwa region, including one at Bhojpur which has a cast iron Shiva-Linga of very impressive proportions. Viewing town planning as an important aspect of
government, he provided a detailed network of roads connecting villages and towns in his magnum opus, Somarangana Sutradhara.
In addition to a chapter on town planning, the Somarangana Sutradhara also included chapters on mechanical engineering, soil testing, orientation of buildings, the selection of building
material, architectural styles, and the vertical and horizontal components of buildings.
The Somarangana Sutradhara also describes machines and mechanical devices such as chiming chronometers (putrika-nadiprabodhana), and in his Yuktikalpataru, Raja Bhoja also
warned shipbuilders about using iron along the bottom of the vessels for this would render them vulnerable to magnetic rocks at sea.
However, state support for technological innovation was not always forthcoming and depended considerably on the attitude of individual rulers. By and large, arms manufacturing and the
production of luxury goods received the maximum support from the rulers. Mughal rulers like Akbar and Aurangzeb invested heavily in the production of artillery and other weapons as did
some of the Rajputs and the Deccan kings. Investments were also made in high quality manufactured goods that found favor in the courts such as fine textiles, carpets, lamps, glassware,
marble and stone quarrying, jewelry, decorated metalware etc. Specialized manufacturing towns were promoted almost throughout the country.
Limitations of pre-industrial manufacturing
However, one of the limitations of Indian manufacturing prior to the industrial revolution was that although Indian artisans could produce goods of exceptional quality, much of Indian
manufacturing (as was the case in much of the world) was highly labor intensive. Although Indian artisans used a variety of tools and implements in facilitating their manufactures, there was
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manufacturing (as was the case in much of the world) was highly labor intensive. Although Indian artisans used a variety of tools and implements in facilitating their manufactures, there was
insufficient investment in augmenting and expanding the range of available labor-saving tools.
Yet, more than in any other nation, manufacturing in medieval India involved considerable specialization of labor. India had a very large pool of relatively cheap skilled labor trained in a
variety of specialized tasks and manufacturing processes were optimized to take full advantage of these highly trained hands. Since most manufactured goods catered largely to the elite,
demand was relatively limited and the available labor pool was more than sufficient to meet those needs. Hence, complacency ruled the day. India's great manufacturing strengths thus
became a significant obstacle in transitioning towards the modern industrial era.
Nevertheless, in certain areas where demand growth was considerable, there were successful attempts at improving manufacturing techniques. The textile industry was one such industry
where steady improvements in manufacturing technology took place.
Indian textiles commanded a worldwide market and prior to colonization, India's manually operated textile machines were amongst the best in the world and the early textile machines
produced in newly industrialized Britain and Germany were modeled on the best of these machines.
The huge demand for Indian exports also gave a fillip to the ship-building and packaging industry and during the 18th century, the Wadias of Bombay were building ships as good as any in
the world.
India and the Industrial Revolution
Nevertheless, there were powerful forces at work that inhibited the growth of science and technology in India and prevented Indian manufacturing from entering the industrial era on it's own
terms.
Perhaps the most important of these factors was the relative prosperity that India enjoyed vis-a-vis the rest of the world. A mild climate meant that the peasantry and working class could
survive relatively cheaply. And the huge trade surplus the country enjoyed enabled the nobility and the middle classes to live lives of relative luxury and comfort. There was little incentive
to bring about revolutionary changes and the forces of parasitism and conservatism prevailed quite easily over more radical forces. Harry Verelst (Senior Officer of the East India Company)
described Bengal before Plassey quite succintly: "The farmer was easy, the artisan encouraged, the merchant enriched and the prince satisfied".
But in Europe, virtually all classes had an interest in bringing about revolutionary changes that could improve their lives. Long and harsh winters meant that even the peasantry and working
class needed more items of personal consumption just to survive, let alone live comfortably. The demand for cheap manufactured goods for mass consumption was initially far greater in
Europe than in the warmer parts of the globe. The short days in the long and harsh winters created a much more compelling need for breakthrough inventions like the light bulb or electric
heater or piped hot water and indoor toilets.
But need alone was an insufficient factor in securing technological breakthroughs. Europe also needed important social changes to create a climate where scientific study and technological
innovation could flourish. For centuries, the catholic church in Europe had preached the idealogy of worldly renunciation and taught it's followers to accept their earthly suffering in
exchange for a promise of redemption in the next world. Rational and scientific thinking was routinely condemned as sacriligious or heresy. It was then little wonder that Europe had slipped
into a period of intense stagnation and became inordinately dependant on imports from the more developed nations of Asia.
But it was precisely this backwardness and internal oppression that lead to mass radicalization and calls for revolution or reform. The protestant movements were the first in a series of
movements calling for greater democracy and radical improvements in social conditions for the masses. At the same time, the European intelligentsia was no longer willing to wait for
redemption after death but wanted to enjoy the good life right here on earth. Secular and rational challenges to Christian orthodoxy grew and science and philosophy were gradually liberated
from the strangulating influences of the church. The knowledge of the East was translated into the European languages and found it's way into university curriculums. Scientific research and
investigation began to thrive and technological innovations followed. All the social ingredients for the industrial revolution were beginning to fall into place.
But at first, Europe still lacked a vital ingredient for the industrial revolution to take off and succeed - and that was capital. For centuries, Europe had to fund it's negative trade balance (vis-a-
vis Asia) by exporting gold, silver and other precious metals. To make matters worse, exports from India (which made up an important share of European imports) were heavily marked up by
various intermediaries in the Middle East and later by the Venetians. By the 15th century, this burden was becoming almost impossible for the royal houses of Western Europe to bear. It was
in response to this crisis that voyages to discover a new route to India were funded, and eventually led to the creation of the East India Companies. {The pillage and plunder of the Americas (and later
Africa as well) played a significant role in financing these voyages.}
While this made imports from India more affordable, it did not eliminate the negative trade balance. European banks were initially in little position to fund the new inventions that were waiting
to find industrial sponsors. Colonization provided the answer. Europe thus embarked on a complextransition where within it's borders it followed a path of progress and radical reform, but
externally, it raped and pillaged without mercy.
This occurred at a time when the rest of the world was largely ill-equipped at dealing with such a wily and complexenemy. In much of the world, large sections of society were moving in the
opposite direction - and particularly so in the Islamic world. Madrasahs resisted numerous attempts at introducing anything resembling science and reason in the curriculum. This was also
true in India. In spite of repeated attempts by Akbar to introduce a secular curriculum in the nation's Madrasahs, the conservative clergy successfully resisted all attempts at change. Similiar
processes were at work in many of the Buddhist monasteries and the Hindu Gurukuls who had succumbed to the influence of orthodoxVedantism. In extreme versions of the Vedantic world-
view the real world was more an illusion, and hence all efforts at changing it or transforming it were deemed unimportant.
Even in schools that escaped Vedantic influences, and where science and logic remained a part of the curriculum, religious instruction often took precedence. In addition, Brahminical notions
of purity created a needless divide between the mental and physical creating obstacles to experimentation and transfer of theoretical knowledge to practical applications. The fixation on
astrology and other such superstitions also served to distract sections of the intelligentsia from more scientific pursuits.
So just as Europe was preparing itself to meet the challenges of the industrial revolution, significant sections of society in Africa and Asia were becoming more resistant to studying science.
This made the process of colonization much easier as those who resisted colonization were technologically outmatched and outwitted.
Once colonization had taken hold of a nations economy, educational options became further limited. Often, the few who were keen to pursue a career in the sciences could only do so under
the auspices of their colonial masters. But for the colonial powers, teaching science and technology to the colonized was not necessarily a benevolent act. The western educated individual
played an important role in the colonial process - either as a manager or engineer in a company that produced cheap raw materials (or industrial goods) for export from the colony to the
master nation, or as a representative of an import agency that imported expensive manufactured goods and machinery into the colony.
So great was this contradiction in some nations that science and technology almost came to be associated with treachery and religious obscurantism became synonymous with patriotism.
As a result the masses were often denied the opportunity to deal with an industrializing Europe on anything even remotely resembling equality.
Like other colonized nations, India was dragged into the industrial era on terms that were not of it's own choosing and many of the technological developments that have since taken place in
India have been geared more towards the export market than bringing about all-round improvements in the quality of life for the Indian masses.
For that reason, it cannot yet be said that India has fully entered the modern industrial era. Only when India is able to harness the power of technology and modern industry towards
improving the quality of life for the vast majority of it's people will that be the case. That will require not only major advances in the Indian education system but radical social changes that
have yet to take place in a systematic way. Above all, the forces of religious fundamentalism, religious obscurantism and social backwardness will have to be pushed back and defeated. That
is the real lesson of the Industrial Revolution that has yet to sink in completely in India.
References:
Science and Technology in India (National Geographic insert): Dept. of Science and Technology, GOI; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research;
Studies in the History of Science in India (Anthology edited by Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya)
A Cultural History of India (Edited: A.L. Basham)
History of Science and technology in India: Ed. G. Kuppuram and K. Kumudamani
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History of Science and technology in India: Ed. G. Kuppuram and K. Kumudamani
Relevant Ancient and Medieval Texts: Atharva Veda, Arthashastra, Silpashastra, Silparatna, Manasollasa, Kasyapasilpa,Visnudharmottara, Citrakalpadruma, Ansumadbhedagama, Svarna-Rupya-Siddhi-Sastra (Jinadatta Suri), Caraka
Samhita, Susruta Samhita, Hastyayurveda (Veterinary Medicinal Text), Brihatsamhita (Varahamira), Khargalakshanam (Varahamira), Rasaratnasamuchaya (Vagbhata), Ashtanga Sangraha (Vagbhat), Rasaratnakara (Nagarjuna), Upaskara
(Sankara Misra), Rasarnava, Rasa-raja-mrganka (Bhoja), Yuktikalpataru (Bhoja), Samarangana-sutradhara (Bhoja), Dhatu-ratna-mala (Devadatta) - all in Sanskrit. There are also texts in regional langauges such as the Siddha Vaidya in Tamil, as
well as texts with diagrams of manufacturing processes in Persian and Urdu.
Related articles:
To read more about developments in science and rational philosophy also see:
Development of Philosophical Thought and Scientific Method in Ancient India
Philosophical Development from Upanishadic Theism to Scientific Realism
History of the Physical Sciences in India
To read more on the history of manufacturing and trade (and related developments in technology) see:
Historic Aspects of Craft and Trade in India
History of Orissa: An introduction
For a specific overview of developments during the Islamic period see:
Islam and the sub-continent - appraising it's impact
To read more about the changing dynamics of Indo-European trade (16th-18th C.) and the East Indian companies, see:
From Trade to Colonization - Historic Dynamics of the East India Companies
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