DR Alok Kumar is a professor of

Physics at the State University of New

York at Oswego. He completed his
PhD at Kanpur University. He has
been the National President of the
American Chapter of the Indian
Physics Association during 1995-97
and President of Sigma Xi (Oswego
Chapter) during 1995-96. He has
authored more than 60 scientific
publications in Atomic Physics,
Chemical Physics, History of Science,
and Science Education including the
groundbreaking works Science of
Ancient Hindus and A History of
Science in World Cultures. His next
significant work is titled Ancient Hindu
Science: Its Transmission and Impact
on World Cultures will be available in
May 2018 in India.
He was awarded the President
Award for Creative and Scholarly
Activity or Research, SUNY Oswego.
In an interview to Organiser
Correspondent Prashanth
Vaidyaraj, Dr Alok Kumar provides
rare insights into sciences of ancient
Hindus and answers a wide range of
questions on modern and traditional
sciences, his work and research.
Excerpts:

While most Indian students

today are aware of the contribution
of ancient Greeks to modern
science, exact contributions of
ancient Indian scientists are
largely unknown. Can you please
briefly mention the major
contributions of ancient Indians to
modern sciences?
Modern science and medicine
would be unrecognisable, and far difficult and slow process to perform subtraction become much simpler in
more primitive, without the immense mathematical operation in this a place-value notation.
contribution of the ancient Hindus. Roman system. This is the reason Similar examples related to
They invented everyday essentials that Copernicus discarded the Trigonometry, Algebra, plastic surgery,
such as our base-ten number Roman mathematical system and body-mind system of Ayurveda, and
system, with place-value notations, used the Hindu system in his book. metallurgical skills of the Hindus can
and zero as a numeral. The ancient He provided the rationale of this also be cited, and are provided in my
Hindus also developed a move; it was done to perform book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus.
sophisticated system of medicine calculations at a much faster rate.
with its mind-body approach known The Hindu system is so advanced It is said that ancient Indians
as Ayurveda; detailed anatomical and and, yet, so simple that children are had detailed knowledge of
surgical knowledge of the human taught to write eleven as one and one metallurgical methods of
body, including cataract surgery and (11), written side-by-side, from their extraction and purification of
the so-called plastic surgery; earliest period when they also learn metals, including making of the
metallurgical methods of extraction their native alphabet. Damascus blade. Our surgical
and purification of metals, including In modern perspective, just sciences too were advanced. How
the so-called Damascus blade; imagine reading the values of various can we resurrect the original
knowledge of various constellations stocks in a newspaper. In a quick methods and gain from it to make
and planetary motions that was good scan, you can recognise easily that better products in the future?
enough to assign motion to the Earth; 1089 is greater than 951. All you Yes, the surgical tools of Sushruta,
and the science of self-improvement need to see is that the first number the person who explained the so-
popularly known as yoga. My book, has four digits while the second called plastic surgery during the
Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, number has only three. This is pre-Christian era, could dissect a hair
covers these topics in detail. enough for a quick comparison. In longitudinally. Similarly, King Poros,
Just imagine the modern world contrast, in the Roman numerals, XC after losing the battle with Alexander
without the mathematical revolution (90) is five times more in magnitude the Great, and receiving the gift of life
of the ancient Hindus. The scientific than XVIII (18). This is not easy to from Alexander, was deeply in
revolution during the European figure out in a quick glance. Also, gratitude. Alexander not only
Renaissance was a result of this mathematical operations of bestowed life to him, but Porus also
mathematical revolution that has its multiplication, division, addition and received his kingdom back. Porus
origin in India. For example, we write wanted to give precious gifts to
numbers using the Hindu numerals. Alexander to demonstrate his
The uniqueness of this system lies in gratitude. Along with other items,
the fact that the position of a numeral Porus gave 6000 pounds of steel to
qualifies its magnitude. Tens, Alexander. The best steel in Persia
hundreds, or thousands are not (Iran) was called foulade Hind,
represented by different signs; they meaning steel of Hind. We can
are represented by using digits in resurrect original methods, improve
different positions. Notice that the on these methods, and produce better
one is in the second place in 10 (ten), products only by first documenting our
in the third place in 100 (hundred), history in India. This is the starting
and in the fourth place in 1,000 point and we have not done that as
(thousand). Also, zero as a numeral yet. My book, Sciences of the Ancient
with no magnitude and simply a Hindus, is not the final answer on this
location occupier was an enormous issue. It simply provides a new
philosophical and scientific triumph. beginning to these efforts.
Calculations in the absence of Hindu
place-value-notation, where we write The history of science that is
eleven as one and one, are quite taught in India, does not consider
difficult to perform. This is the reason ancient traditional sciences
that the Greek, Roman, and other worthy of the modern syllabus.
numeral systems were discarded Rationalists ask for evidence for
even in their own lands. For example origin of our achievements. Do we
in the Roman system, eleven is have concrete evidence to prove
written as ten and one (XI). It is quite the achievements of our ancient
scientists? If yes, are they Since such studies of the ancient and The connection between religion
acceptable to modern sciences? medieval foreign literature that deal and science in Hindu literature is an
All modern syllabi in the history of with ancient India are almost non- interesting, and perhaps unexpected,
science do consider ancient traditional existent, modern science texts still do variation from the Western model.
sciences of the Greeks. It is only the not recognise Indian contributions in The sciences of the ancient Hindus
non-Western contributions that are a coherent way. My book provides a were an essential and integral part of
missing. Yes, we do have evidence new beginning to the issue. I have not their religion, as it was for the
from the non-Western scholars that is received any specific criticism of my Mayans, Arabs, and Egyptians. The
as good as we have for Pythagoras, assertions from other scholars. With disciplines of Astronomy,
Thales, Democritus, and Socrates, to time, I assume that the contents of my Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics,
name a few from the Greek tradition. book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, Yoga, and Medicine were all practiced
The works of Aryabhata, Kanada, will become a mainstream knowledge. to meet the needs of religion, as well
Varahmihir, Brahmgupta, Charaka, My other book, A History of Science in as to fulfill natural curiosity.
and Susruta are certainly par World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge, Narada, in Chandogya Upanishad,
excellence. In my book, Sciences of is the next step in assimilating cultural considers Astronomy and
the Ancient Hindus, I made special contributions of various civilisations Mathematics relevant to achieve
efforts to avoid the ridicule of many that are acceptable to modern liberation (Moksha). Aryabhata, in
such rationalists and focused on the science. his book Aryabhatiya, considers
ancient and medieval accounts of the Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics
Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, Arabian, Today both theoretical and and other sciences crucial to know
and European literature to get practical sciences are on the path about the Supreme Being. Since
information about Hindu science and of achieving new breakthroughs. science was a prescription to moksa,
technology. As mentioned above, the Yet, the ultimate aim of science it became imperative for scientists to
mosaic that emerges from these remains unknown. Can ancient find true knowledge. Thus, science
foreign documents corroborates what sciences, especially ancient Indian could grow independently and
my parents told me when I was a sciences, provide any clues as to scientists could investigate whatever
child. India did have a prime past. where science is headed? they deemed fit. This led Al-Mas`udi
(d. 957 AD), an Islamic historian Such knowledge is important in
during the tenth century, to write that dealing with the unknown future we
science and technology were deal with. Knowing what we were in
established without the aid of the past helps us to understand what
religious prophets in India. It was the we are in the present, and how we
logic, intuition, and experience of will be in the future. If you don’t know
diligent observers (rishis) that your history, then you are like a limb
contributed to the domain of science. that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.
Al-Mas`udi considered India as the Further, all countries celebrate their
land of “virtue and wisdom.” great heroes, including the great
scientific and mathematical minds of
Your previous book, ‘Sciences of the past and present. Greece had
the Ancient Hindus’, has a very Aristotle and Socrates, Italy had
bold description on Amazon. It Galileo and Leonardo Fibonacci,
says, “Modern science and England had Maxell and Newton,
medicine would be unrecognisable France had Laplace and Fourier, and
without the immense contribution India had Kanada and Aryabhata,
of the ancient Hindus.” You have showing that the greatest minds of
already listed our contributions the ancient Hindus could be a match
above but how do modern for the world’s best scientists and
scientists the world over view this mathematicians. Just imagine
claim? Who are the prominent erasing the name of Pythagoras,
scientists who concur with this and Aristotle, and Plato from the current
in which area? philosophy texts because it is an old
The knowledge I have shared in my past and, therefore, irrelevant! I am
book, Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, using this argument since some
is quite new to the mainstream rationalists in India use this against
academia. Therefore, it is premature the sciences of the ancient Hindus.
to summarise its impact. However, Will it be just and fair? The answer
scientists who have read the book are is a clear and emphatic “no”. This is
convinced of the validity of my exactly the case when we ignore our
assertions. I am receiving positive could be taken forward so that it own heroes in India unjustly.
input from my fellow historians of becomes a part of science Even in the West, just a thousand
science. In the past, several other education and also public years ago, India was considered as
scientists, including Robert knowledge. the leader in science and technology.
Oppenheimer (father of atom bomb), Unfortunately, this is the nature of The first popular history of science
Erwin Schrodinger (Noble Laureate in our pseudo-secular environment in book with a global view was written
Physics), and Brian Josephson (Noble India these days. We should not label in Spain during the eleventh-century
Laureate in Physics), who studied the studies of ancient sciences as Muslim Spain by Said al-Andalusi.
ancient Hindu literature, have shared “saffronisation.” Instead people in He ranked different civilisations
similar opinions. My book, Sciences of India should ask this question: Is it based on their excellence in science
the Ancient Hindus, does provide a true? If yes, we must include sciences and technology. In his ranking, India
large number of such corroborating of the ancient Hindus in academia to was defined as number one. It is this
statements from other noted scholars. train our future generations to know knowledge of Europe that got
about their heritage. It is done in the distorted during the colonial period of
‘Sciences of the Ancient Hindus’ Western education too; it is done in Europe unjustly and needs to be
is a subject that has been most cultures. India is an exception in revised.
neglected for long and is deemed this respect that we have not done In the context of teaching and
controversial in main stream this so far. learning, avoiding our own heroes is
academia and media here. Any The history of science is not the detrimental to the learning process.
attempt to introduce our ancient history of events; it is the history of Celebration and recognition of our
sciences in school syllabus is culture, intents, and a history of heroes in all disciplines serves as
opposed as it is deemed as human minds. It tells us how various glue for a stable society. For this
‘saffronisation’. In this scenario, cultures recognised issues that they reason, most societies document
please let us know how your work found crucial and resolved them. their own histories.