India: Crash Course History of Science #4

Summary

This script explores the rich tapestry of ancient Indian natural philosophy, contrasting it with the Greek approach. It delves into the Vedas, the sacred texts foundational to Indian knowledge systems, and their influence on linguistics, mathematics, and astronomy. The Maurya and Gupta Empires' contributions to science, including hydraulic engineering and medical advancements in Ayurveda, are highlighted. The script also touches on the exchange of ideas between ancient civilizations and the enduring impact of Indian thought on global scientific and philosophical discourse.

Takeaways

• 📜 Ancient India had a rich intellectual tradition that predated the Greek philosophers, with a focus on complex metaphysical systems and state-sponsored religious knowledge.
• 🌏 Indian knowledge systems were intertwined with religious traditions, unlike the more secular natural philosophy that emerged in Greece.
• 🔠 The development of linguistics in India, particularly with Panini's advanced grammar rules, laid the foundation for other scientific disciplines.
• 🌌 Indian scriptures, like the Vedas, not only provided knowledge but also shaped societal structures, reflecting an orderly cosmos.
• 🐘 The Maurya Empire, under Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Ashoka, was a significant era for scientific advancements, including astronomy, hydraulic engineering, and forestry.
• 🌾 The Maurya Empire's control over water resources through irrigation systems was crucial for agricultural productivity and maintaining large populations.
• 🐘 Elephants played a strategic role in the Maurya Empire's military and administrative control, leading to the establishment of a forestry department.
• 📚 The Gupta Empire saw the rise of professional astronomer-mathematicians and the development of advanced astronomical and mathematical texts, or siddhantas.
• 🌐 Indian mathematicians made significant contributions to mathematics, including the development of a place-value system, decimal notation, and the concept of zero.
• 🩺 Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, was a rational and systematic approach to health and disease, with detailed anatomical knowledge and a focus on medical experience and judgment.

Q & A

What was the significance of the Vedas in ancient India?

The Vedas were the most important Hindu texts, which literally means 'knowledge.' They were written in Sanskrit and contained a wide range of topics including gods, rituals, math, and astronomy. They served as a basis for language, societal structure, and knowledge systems in ancient India.

How did the Maurya Empire contribute to the development of science and technology?

The Maurya Empire sponsored research in fields such as astronomy, hydraulic engineering, and forestry. They also developed government departments to oversee irrigation systems, which were crucial for agriculture and sustaining large populations.

What was the role of elephants in the Maurya Empire?

Elephants played a significant role in the Maurya Empire's military power. They were trained for warfare, and the Mauryas created a forestry department to manage the forests where elephants lived, making the killing of elephants punishable by death.

How did the study of language in ancient India lead to other scientific developments?

The tradition of memorizing the Vedas and understanding words led to the study of acoustics and musical tones. Panini, a great Sanskrit scholar, developed a comprehensive theory of grammar that influenced linguistics and was studied into the 20th century.

What was the relationship between science and religion in ancient India?

In ancient India, science and religion were not separate entities as they are often considered today. The Vedas, which contained scientific knowledge, were also religious texts. The study of the cosmos and natural phenomena was intertwined with religious beliefs and practices.

What were the siddhantas and how did they contribute to astronomy in ancient India?

The siddhantas were high-level astronomy textbooks that emerged during the Gupta Empire. They were written by professional astronomer-mathematicians and included advanced mathematical concepts and observations of celestial bodies.

Who were Aryabhata and Brahmagupta, and what were their contributions to astronomy?

Aryabhata and Brahmagupta were polymaths who made significant contributions to astronomy. Aryabhata introduced the concept of the Earth's rotation on its axis and used a place-value system and decimal notation. Brahmagupta calculated the Earth's circumference with precision and worked with negative and irrational numbers.

What is Ayurveda and how did it develop in ancient India?

Ayurveda, or 'life-knowledge,' is a system of medicine that began with oral traditions and developed into a standardized system by the sixth century BCE. It is a comprehensive approach to health and disease, with rational methods for diagnosis and treatment.

How did the Maurya Empire's control of water resources impact its society and economy?

The Maurya Empire's control of water resources through irrigation systems allowed for stable harvests and sustained large populations. This control was essential for the empire's economic prosperity and the well-being of its citizens.

What were the characteristics of ancient Indian natural philosophy as described in the script?

Ancient Indian natural philosophy was characterized by its deep roots in Vedic teachings, the integration of science and religion, and a focus on practical applications such as hydraulic engineering and medicine. It was also influenced by external cultures and developed a rich tradition of scientific thought.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Ancient India's Knowledge Systems

This paragraph introduces the rich intellectual history of ancient India, highlighting its complex metaphysical traditions and the significant urban centers that predated the Greek civilization. It contrasts Indian knowledge-making, which was deeply intertwined with religious traditions and state-sponsored, with the natural philosophy of the Greeks. The paragraph also sets the stage for exploring Indian contributions to philosophy, mathematics, and science, with a particular focus on the Vedas, the foundational texts of Hinduism. The Vedas, meaning 'knowledge,' were not only religious scriptures but also the basis for linguistic, mathematical, and astronomical studies. The paragraph emphasizes the interconnectedness of science and religion in ancient India and the influence of the Vedas on various aspects of society, including language, ethics, and the cosmos.

05:01

🐘 The Maurya Empire and Practical Sciences

The second paragraph delves into the Maurya Empire's administrative and scientific advancements, emphasizing its role as a 'hydraulic state' with extensive control over water resources, which was crucial for agriculture and population sustenance. It discusses the empire's development of government departments for managing irrigation systems, forestry, and land, which were essential for maintaining military power through the use of war elephants. The paragraph also touches on the empire's contributions to astronomy and mathematics, with mentions of notable scholars like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta, who made significant strides in understanding the Earth's rotation and calculating astronomical values. The narrative contrasts the applied sciences of the Maurya Empire with the more abstract theorizing of the Greek philosophers, highlighting the ongoing debate between practical and pure science.

10:02

🌿 Ayurveda and the Spread of Indian Knowledge

The final paragraph focuses on Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, which began as oral traditions and evolved into a comprehensive medical science by the sixth century BCE. It discusses the rational and systematic approach of Ayurveda to diseases and cures, with an emphasis on medical judgment based on extensive study and experience. The paragraph mentions the 'Charaka Samhita,' an influential medical textbook that detailed human anatomy and the training of physicians. It also notes the spread of Indian knowledge, including Ayurveda, to other parts of the world, such as Baghdad, highlighting the global influence of ancient Indian thought. The paragraph concludes by setting the stage for future discussions on the history of science in the Americas.

Keywords

💡Greek natural philosophers

Greek natural philosophers were early thinkers who sought to understand the natural world through observation and reason, rather than relying solely on mythological explanations. They laid the groundwork for what we now call science. In the context of the video, they are mentioned to contrast with Indian thinkers, highlighting the diverse origins of early scientific thought. The video notes that while the Greeks are well-known, they were not the only ones contributing to the early development of knowledge systems.

💡Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. They are considered the oldest sacred texts in Hinduism and contain hymns, prayers, and discourses on philosophy, metaphysics, and spiritual knowledge. The term 'Veda' literally translates to 'knowledge.' In the video, the Vedas are highlighted as the foundation of Indian knowledge systems, emphasizing the intertwining of science and religion in ancient India.

💡Sanskrit

Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language in which the Vedas and many other significant texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism were composed. It is known for its highly structured and precise grammar. The video mentions Sanskrit to illustrate the advanced linguistic knowledge in ancient India, with Panini's work on grammar being a significant contribution to the field, which is an early example of scientific inquiry into language.

💡Maurya Empire

The Maurya Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from 322 to 185 BCE, and was one of the largest empires of the classical world. It is noted for its centralized administration and significant advancements in fields like astronomy, hydraulic engineering, and forestry. The video discusses the Maurya Empire to demonstrate how state-sponsored research and practical applications of knowledge contributed to the development of early sciences.

💡Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is considered a traditional system of health and has been in use for thousands of years. The video references Ayurveda to show how ancient Indian natural philosophy included systematic and rational approaches to understanding life and health, which is a significant aspect of their scientific tradition.

💡Hydraulic state

A hydraulic state is a term used to describe an ancient state that had a centralized system of water management, which was essential for agriculture and thus for sustaining large populations. The video uses the example of the Maurya Empire to explain how control over water resources was crucial for the stability and prosperity of the state, and how this led to the development of scientific knowledge in areas like hydraulic engineering.

💡Astronomy

Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. In the context of the video, ancient Indian astronomers made significant contributions to the field, including the development of calendars, understanding of planetary motions, and mathematical calculations related to celestial bodies. The video highlights the importance of astronomy in both religious practices and the advancement of scientific knowledge.

💡Aryabhata

Aryabhata was an ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and developed a heliocentric model of the solar system. The video mentions Aryabhata to illustrate the advanced state of Indian astronomy and mathematics, particularly his revolutionary idea that the Earth rotates on its axis, which was a significant departure from earlier cosmological models.

💡Brahmagupta

Brahmagupta was a prominent Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy. The video discusses Brahmagupta in contrast to Aryabhata, noting their differing views on the rotation of the Earth. Brahmagupta's work is also highlighted for his precise calculations and his use of negative and irrational numbers.

💡Siddhantas

Siddhantas are ancient Indian astronomical treatises that contain detailed mathematical and astronomical calculations. The video refers to the siddhantas to demonstrate the systematic and scientific approach of ancient Indian scholars to understanding the cosmos. These texts were influential in the development of astronomy and mathematics in India.

💡Charaka Samhita

The Charaka Samhita is an ancient Indian medical text that is one of the foundational texts of Ayurveda. It provides a comprehensive system of medicine and is noted for its detailed anatomical descriptions and medical practices. The video mentions the Charaka Samhita to emphasize the sophistication and systematic approach of ancient Indian medical knowledge.

Highlights

Ancient Indian thinkers had a different approach to natural philosophy compared to the Greeks, with a focus on applications and religious traditions.

India had developed major urban centers and complex metaphysical traditions before the Greeks.

Indian scriptures described a cosmos of thousands of gods and demons in perpetual war, unlike Greek mythology.

The Vedas, the most important Hindu texts, embodied the concept of 'knowledge' and were passed down orally and in writing.

Science and religion were intertwined in both Greece and India, with knowledge systems in India being essentially Vedic.

Panini, a great Sanskrit scholar, developed an advanced theory of grammar with nearly four thousand rules.

The study of language in India led to the study of acoustics and musical tones, indicating the first science was linguistics.

The Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, sponsored research in astronomy, hydraulic engineering, and forestry.

Ashoka, Maurya's grandson, became a powerful ruler and spread Buddhism, influencing cultural practices like banning hunting.

The Maurya Empire's control of water for irrigation was crucial for sustaining large populations and was managed by government departments.

The importance of elephants in warfare led to the creation of a forestry department and strict regulations on their protection.

Indian mathematicians like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta made significant contributions to astronomy and mathematics.

Aryabhata's work included the concept of a place-value system, decimal notation, and the number zero, as well as the idea that the earth rotates on its axis.

Brahmagupta calculated the earth's circumference with precision and worked with negative and irrational numbers.

Ayurveda, the science of life, began as oral traditions and evolved into a standardized system of medicine by the sixth century BCE.

Ancient Indian natural philosophy was characterized by the influence of the Vedas and a focus on practical applications.

Indian ideas spread globally, with Ayurvedic physicians practicing in cities like eighth-century Baghdad.

Transcripts

You might have recognized the names of some of the Greek natural philosophers.

They were individuals with quirky theories, and we have records about them.

But they weren’t the only people making knowledge back in the day.

India had major urban centers, centralized administrative states, and complicated metaphysical

traditions long before the Greeks had anything big—

just goats, which are small.

And olive trees, which are bigger than goats but still small.

And a few gods and goddesses doing normal stuff like cheating on each other.

In Indian scriptures, thousands of gods and demons made perpetual war, destroying and

recreating reality itself!

Ancient Indian thinkers didn’t give rise to the same natural philosophy as

the Greeks.

India presents a convenient counterpoint to Greece because knowledge-making in india was

indeparable from a long religious tradition, sponsored by the state,

and focused on applications.

At the same time, both regions exchanged ideas with each other and the wider world.

Today we’ll dive into a couple of major aspects of Indian natural philosophy, underlying

philosophy–philosophy, and math.

Oh, and we’ll talk about everyone’s favorite large mammal—the elephant!

[Intro Music Plays]

Ancient India was home to several schools of thought, including what would become Hinduism,

its more austere rivals Buddhism and Jainism, and a super-fatalistic faith called Ajivika

that isn’t around anymore.

The most important Hindu texts were the Vedas.

The word “veda” literally means “knowledge.”

These sacred texts are passed along orally, even today.

But they had also been written down for centuries by the time Alexander the Great invaded western

India in 326 BCE.

Science and religion were entangled in both Greece and India.

True, the Greek natural philosophers began to break with a mythological tradition, or

at least repurposed it, proposing new ways of thinking about nature.

Even so, we can never neatly separate out science from religion: they mutually affect

one another.

In India, “knowledge” systems were essentially, well, vedic.

The Vedas were written in a sacred language, Sanskrit, which was standardized around the

time of the first Greek natural philosophers.

The greatest Sanskrit scholar, Panini, wrote a book on grammar listing almost four thousand rules!

These covered phonetics, meter, semantics, etymology—everything about the language

and how it should be used.

In fact, Panini’s theory of how words are formed was so advanced that it was directly

studied into the twentieth century!

So you can say that the first science in India was linguistics.

And this tradition of memorizing the Vedas and trying to understand words eventually

led to the study of acoustics and musical tones.

But is studying a language, which is a very human thing, the same kind of knowledge-making

as studying fire or gravity?

Yes, totally!

Linguists make hypotheses, take careful observations, and put together testable theories about how

languages change.

They might be frustrated by the seeming randomness of their subjects… but then again, so are

quantum physicists, and medical doctors!

Some parts of the Vedas concerned math and astronomy.

But mostly they concerned gods and rituals.

The Vedas taught that the cosmos is clearly ordered, as is human society.

What happens in the reality you perceive is the result of a complicated ethical algorithm

running in the background—so you have to sacrifice a lot of animals and stay in your

social position.

Thus the Vedas functioned not only as a basis for a whole language, but as a way of teaching

people how society should be: a mirror of an orderly cosmos.

And so we arrive at the present year: 321 BCE…

It’s not actually 321.

But it was, at one point.

At that time, in Greece, Aristotle had been dead for only one year.

Over in Babylon, in what is now Iraq, Aristotle’s former boss Alexander the Great had been dead

for two years.

But in eastern India, a young adventurer named Chandragupta Maurya was very

much alive: that year he became emperor of nearly the entire subcontinent.

Alexander had only recently invaded India, wisely choosing not to start beef with the

powerful kingdom of Magadha.

When Alexander died, India consisted of a lot of small kingdoms.

Maurya, inspired by the model of Alexander and coached by a brilliant older adviser,

led a coup in Magadha.

From there, Maurya conquered the weaker kingdoms one by one, forging them into a powerful state

called —wait for it, what name did he name it?

who knows!— it's the Maurya Empire.

The dynasty that Maurya founded lasted from 322 to 180 BCE.

It sponsored research into astronomy, hydraulic engineering, and forestry.

Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka became one of the most powerful and culturally

influential rulers of India, as well as a serious convert to Buddhism.

He outlawed hunting and other unnecessary acts of violence towards animals, opened public

hospitals, and spread Buddhism as far as Athens!

When the Buddhist monk Faxian visited India from Jin Dynasty China, starting

in 399 CE, he favorably compared the two empires: both were civilized societies where Buddhism

could flourish.

Increased travel between states brought increased trade in goods as well as ideas.

Under the Maurya Empire, more than half of the arable land in ancient India was irrigated,

producing two harvests a year.

That sustained a lot of people… and required a lot of planning.

Thus Indian states developed whole government departments to supervise the building and

maintenance of irrigation systems.

They controlled a vast system of canals and sluices, funded by taxes.

Breaching a dam was punishable… by death!

The centralized Maurya Empire—like the Egyptian, Sumerian, and Chinese ones—was a “hydraulic”

state: its control of water allowed harvests stability, keeping large populations alive.

To control nature, the people running these big states needed to know lots of things about

the lands, plants, animals and especially rivers they controlled.

And most especially about the people who owed them taxes.

First rule of history: nobody ever, ever liked paying taxes.

Another key to running a big state in India was the elephant.

Training hundreds of war elephants was important to continued military power.

So the Mauryas created a forestry department, because elephants lived in the forests, and

made the slaying of elephants punishable by, you guessed it, death.

Forestry management and regulating land and water would eventually develop into sciences

in their own right.

The Mauryas’ administrative or “useful” science, such as their pioneering work in

land management, was not the same as the abstract theorizing of the Greek natural philosophers.

The Greeks left behind their names, thanks to their writings and their cults—I mean—schools.

The work of those who maintained early hydraulic states tended to be anonymous.

A debate about the relative merits of applied versus pure science—knowledge of the immediately

useful versus the abstractly true—is still raging today.

Just compare a scientist applying for a grant to study, say, lichen versus an engineer working

on computer guidance for missiles…

But useful and abstract systems are not diametric opposites, and they were never fully separate.

India had been open to Persian and Chinese influences before Alexander.

The Chinese had already introduced alchemy—or systematic questioning about what is stuff—to

Indian thought.

But India definitely became more Greek-ish when a bunch of Greeks–some trained by Aristotle

himself—pranced in talking about elements and perfectly circular star-paths.

Astronomy was important to all of the ancient states.

This is because, alongside their war-making and tax-taking, states were also religious

institutes, which cared about astrological schedules.

Because, if you’re a god, you can fly around the heavens, you have houses in different

parts of the sky, and you want to be worshipped when you’re in the right house.

In India, as all over the ancient world, “religion” and “science” were not separate ideas

in the way we might think of them today.

Practicing astrology meant carefully observing stars and planets—and thus also practicing

astronomy.

People who knew a lot about the night sky made up a high-status professional class.

These stargazers were part-priest, part-astronomer, and part-mathematician.

As astronomers, they divided the solar year into months, crafting calendars to regulate

religious ceremonies.

They developed a calculation for adding a leap month when necessary to keep the religious

calendar in sync with the solar one.

And they investigated the moon’s cycles, as well as constellations.

As mathematicians, they came up with names for very large numbers—such as 10 to the

40th—related to the very long cosmic cycles in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

In fact, astronomy and related math really took off in ancient India.

Let’s take a closer look with ThoughtBubble:

During the Gupta Empire, which lasted from 319 to 605 CE, families of professional astronomer–mathematicians

passed down their teachings about the stars.

And they competed with each other: six regional schools of thought all fought for state patronage.

This period also saw the rise of the siddhantas or “the solutions,” meaning high-level

astronomy textbooks.

Two of the major siddhanta writers were Aryabhata and Brahmagupta.

They were both brilliant polymaths,

but unfortunately they disagreed about astronomy.

Which was really too bad, because these guys would have made a team of unbeatable geniuses.

Written around 500 CE, Aryabhata’s book of solutions includes a place-value system,

decimal notation, the familiar numbers that we call “Arabic” today, the number zero,

and the irrational number pi calculated to four places.

And Aryabhata famously posited that the earth rotates… daily… on its axis.

This idea was a major breakthrough in astronomy: Egyptian, Greek, and earlier Indian thinkers

argued that the sky rotates around the earth.

Aryabhata figured out that the apparent “movement” of the stars is actually caused by the rotation

of the earth itself.

But Brahmagupta thought that a rotating earth defied common sense: just look at the birds,

all not flying off into the heavens!

Meanwhile, in his own siddhanta, Brahmagupta calculated the circumference of the earth

with astonishing precision, and he worked with negative and irrational numbers.

Thanks Thought Bubble.

Indian mathematicians were working on many topics that writers in Greece were not.

But the most advanced branch of natural philosophy in ancient India was more founded in Vedic

teachings.

Ayurveda, literally life-knowledge, or the science of life, began with oral traditions

about sacrificial animals.

By the sixth century BCE, it was a standardized system of medicine and way of answering the

question what is life?

Ayurvedic approaches to diseases and cures were rational.

There were reasons for every choice.

Good physicians didn’t believe in strictly divine cures, but practiced medical judgment

based on years of study and then more years of experience.

The influential medical textbook Charaka Samhita, for example, calls for physicians to apprentice

with a master, then get royal permission to treat patients.

It also lists 300 bones, 500 muscles, 210 joints, and 70 vessels in the human body.

This was written some time before 200 CE.

And today’s med school students complain about organic chemistry!

Ayurveda, which is still around today, is so complex and important that we’re devoting

another episode to it, alongside ancient European medicine.

For now, just note that, Indian medicine and surgery was probably the most advanced of

any contemporary ancient civilization.

Rich in people and faiths, India was not a

single culture even under the highly successful Mauryas and Guptas.

But certain features of ancient Indian natural philosophy stand out.

The ancient Vedas—literally, the knowledges—influenced a wide variety of thinkers across a large

geographic region.

There were no sharp breaks with Vedic ways of knowing—although Buddhism, and influences

from China and Greece, added new layers of philosophy on top of the Vedic one.

And the Maurya and Gupta states were wealthy and well-administered, known for their skilled

artisans and able to control vast plains in order to feed teeming cities.

As ancient states exchanged goods and proto-scientific ideas, Indian ideas spread far and wide: we

have accounts of Ayurvedic physicians, or vaidyas, working in eighth-century

Baghdad, then one of the largest cities on earth and a center of knowledge production.

Next time—we’ll travel to The Americas to ask questions like, "When are we? What is time? And how to we measure it?"

Crash Course History of Science is filmed in the Dr. Cheryl C. Kinney studio in Missoula,

Montana and it’s made with the help of all this nice people and our animation team is

Thought Cafe.

Crash Course is a Complexly production.

If you wanna keep imagining the world complexly with us, you can check out some of our other

channels like Healthcare Triage, How to Adult, and Scishow Psych.

And, if you’d like to keep Crash Course free for everybody, forever, you can support

the series at Patreon; a crowdfunding platform that allows you to support the content you

love.

Thank you to all of our patrons for making Crash Course possible with their continued

support.