These papers, based on translation and interpretation of various historical documents and texts in Sanskrit, some of which were also published, claim ancient Indians followed scientific principles for building houses and aircraft construction, and developed 20 types of sharp instruments and 101 types of blunt instruments required for surgery made of iron, many of which resemble modern surgical instruments.
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"So far, Sanskrit is essentially considered a language of religion and philosophy but the fact is that it also talks about science including physics, chemistry, geography, geometry etc. There is a lot of scientific information available in these texts and historical documents that we want to explore," says Gauri Mahulikar, associate professor and head of department of Sanskrit at Mumbai University.
Mahulikar is the coordinator for the symposia 'Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit' during the Indian Science Congress, hosted by Mumbai University from January 3rd to 7th. The session is scheduled to be inaugurated by Union minister of state Prakash Javadekar.
The symposia and the papers could be of significance as it comes at a time when the BJP-led government is keen to make Sanskrit a compulsory language in school curriculum of Kendriya Vidyalayas.
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The papers reveal ancient Indians performed complicated medical procedures such as cranial, ophthalmic and even plastic surgeries. They even extracted dead fetuses from wombs and even removed live fetuses from dead mothers, one of the papers by Dr Ashwin Sawant, an ayurvedic physician, claims.
"Susrut Sahita is the first text of surgery, created not later than 1500 BC in India. References of advanced surgeries are also found in Rigveda considered as first text of universe, created not later than 6000 B.C," an extract from Dr Sawant's paper says. According to the paper, Indian method of human dissection seems better, since it could make visible, minute structures lying just beneath the skin, which is not possible, even in modern methods of dissection.
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Similarly, from the many historical documents found it is evident that scientist-sages Agastya and Bharadwaja had developed the lore of aircraft construction. A paper, to be presented by retired principal of pilot training centre Anand Bodas and Ameya Jadhav, lecturer at Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College claims aviation technology in ancient India is not just a myth.
Another paper reveals the scientific principles that were followed in ancient India in building structures.
According to Mahulikar, among ancient Sanskrit texts, there is a separate book for every science. While some of these texts are printed, many of these texts have already been translated into English and Hindi.
http://ift.tt/1xCihXE Surgery,Vedic Astrology,102nd Indian Science Congress
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