Our ancient civilization goes back to more than 5000 years; starting with the Indus Valley Civilisation around 2500 B.C.
The subcontinent has been a place for major historical and philosophical development. The vision of science and technology was integral to the ancient tradition.
The Indus people knew the use of the wheel and the plough, smelted and forged metal and were capable of designing protection measures against fire and flood. They also possessed high technical skill in construction.
They not only used standardized burnt bricks for their buildings, but planned their cities with symmetrically arranged streets and an elaborate drainage system that speaks of their sophisticated awareness of sanitation and hygiene.
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Later on, the Vedic Age marked a new era of intellectual inquiry and technological endeavor. Ancient mathematical works such as the Sulva- Sutars utilized geometry for designing and constructing altars. Mathematics was an important field of knowledge and the ancient India made contributions to it.
Our ancestors are credited with the introduction of the concept of zero and the decimal system which spread to other cultures. Indians also invented the Arabic numbers, called Hindsa by the Arab and the knowledge of which reached the west through the Arabs.
Mathematicians like Aryabhata and Bhaskara I, Brahmagupta, Mahbira and Srihari used and developed most of the mathematical formulae that we know today. Aryabhata I gave the approximate value of 3.1416, which is being used to this day.
Bhaskar-II is well known for his work in Algebra and his Siddhantasiromani. Astronomy, essential for religious as well as practical purposes, was another field of inquiry, which achieved remarkable heights in the ancient times. Aryabhata also propounded that the earth rotates about its own axis and calculated the period of earth’s rotation with fair accuracy.
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Many later scientific works owe their origins to panchasiddhamta of which the Suryasidhata greatly influenced astronomical research. Medicine was yet another field for original research and the ancient India’s made notable contribution to it. The Atharvaveda is the original repository of India’s medical knowledge.
Ancient Indian also made study on symptoms and causes of diseases and their curative means were also researched by them. They also made use of herbs, flowers and minerals to evolve medical cures. Susruta and Charka Samhitas, the two great classicist of Aryuveda give a clear picture of the medical and surgical practices in use more than 2000 years in India.
Susrutasamhita of Susruta describes the methods of operating cataract, stone disease and several other ailments. Susruta is also regarded as the founder of the Dhanvatri school of medicine. The CharkaSamhita of Charak (2nd century AD) is like an encyclopedia of Indian medicines with details of disease and herbs and plants for their treatment.
Apasthama in the 2nd century B.C. produced a practical geometry of the constructions of altars for sacrifices and Aryabhata formulated the rule of Apasthama for finding the area of a triangle, which led to the origin of trigonometry.
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He also calculated the position of the planets according to trigonometry and discovered the real cause of linear and solar eclipses the circumference of the earth based on speculation. Varamihira stated that the moon rotates around the earth and the moon rotes around the sun.
Thus, the ancient civilization in India had developed to such as extent that many philosophic and scientific concepts, which the west was not even remotely aware of had reached a peak here.