info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Not Only Of Religion And Literature, Sanskrit Was Also The Language Of Science
1 view
Skip to first unread message
FBInCIAnNSATerroristSlayer
Oct 14, 2019, 5:17:26 AM10/14/19
to
Excerpts:
Why is Panini never mentioned in any computer science course? Why is not
a single discovery of Baudhayana, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta or Bhaskara
ever taught in a mathematics or engineering course? In any school or
college?
Seventy years after Independence, you can hardly blame British colonialism.
The ignorance is not merely about Indian science, it is about all
non-European science and technology, in general. Sumeria, Egypt, China,
Meso America (Olmecs-Mayans-Aztecs), Persia, all ancient civilisations
are totally ignored, and we get an entirely European perspective of all
science and technology.
========================================================================
https://swarajyamag.com/science/languages-of-science-we-are-ignorant-of-the-rich-sanskrit-vocabulary
Not Only Of Religion And Literature, Sanskrit Was Also The Language Of
Science
by R Gopu
- Oct 12, 2019, 6:34 pm
Sanskrit was not only the language of religion and literature, it was
also the language of science. Today, we are ignorant of its rich
vocabulary.
In 1999, I read the Tamil historical novel Sivakaamiyin Sabatham. Set in
the seventh century CE, the novel tells of the siege of Kanchipuram, the
capital of the Pallavas, by their rivals, the Chalukyas.
It is still one of the most popular books in Tamil Nadu, 70 years after
its first publication. At one point in the story, Aayanar — an artist
and sculptor — tells the Pallava king, Mahendra Varma, that his deepest
desire is to know the secret technology of Ajanta paintings, which have
lasted a thousand years without fading. The paintings of Ajanta are
still there, a 1,000 years after the Pallavas and Chalukyas have
disappeared.
In Kanchipuram, the Kailasanatha temple built by Mahendra Varma’s
great-grandson Rajasimha Pallava in the eighth century has paintings in
the Ajanta style, which have sustained damage but what remains hasn’t
faded. The contemporary Pandyas built a Jain cave temple at
Sittannavasal, which has equally remarkable paintings.
A Heritage Of Science And Technology
These struck a severely discordant note. How many advertisements do we
see on television for the latest paints that last 20 years? Enamel
paints manufactured in large chemical plants, based on the very latest
technology, brought to life by the most brilliant chemical engineers of
the last century.
Their great selling point is that they last ‘20 years’ — one-hundredth
of the 2,000 years that Ajanta paintings have lasted, in ‘primitive’
caves, sculpted by a hammer and chisel.
What other remarkable scientific and technological achievements of
ancient Indians was I missing?
By sheer coincidence, I happened to attend a series of lectures about
the ‘Oral Traditions of the Sanskrit language’, by Prof Swaminathan, a
retired IIT Delhi professor of mechanical engineering.
He explained the Siva Sutras (also called Maheshvara Sutras) and how
Panini used them to write extremely compact rules of grammar for
Sanskrit. The Siva Sutras and Panini’s sutras reminded me starkly of the
Backus-Naur notation, that every computer science or engineering student
learns in college. But, wait! What was Panini doing, composing Sanskrit
grammar in Backus-Naur notation?
Why is Panini never mentioned in any computer science course? Why is not
a single discovery of Baudhayana, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta or Bhaskara
ever taught in a mathematics or engineering course? In any school or
college?
Seventy years after Independence, you can hardly blame British colonialism.
The ignorance is not merely about Indian science, it is about all
non-European science and technology, in general. Sumeria, Egypt, China,
Meso America (Olmecs-Mayans-Aztecs), Persia, all ancient civilisations
are totally ignored, and we get an entirely European perspective of all
science and technology.
English is the language of science, we are told, though most of the
scientific vocabulary is in Greek or Latin. The very names of the
sciences — Physics, Biology, Zoology, Geology, Astronomy — come from Greek.
Chemistry is an exception, adapted from the Arabic word Al Chimia (or
Alchemy). The different fields of Mathematics — Geometry, Trigonometry,
and Arithmetic — have Greek origins. But Algebra comes from an Arabic
word; Calculus from a Latin word.
Newton wrote his most famous Physics book, Principa Mathematica de
Naturalis in Latin, not English. When Antoine Lavoisier coined new words
for the modern Chemistry he discovered, he did not use French; he chose
Greek and Latin. English words like soda and pot ash, were Latinised
into Sodium and Potassium.
A Mathematical Vocabulary
Did the Sumerians, Chinese, or ancient Indians use Latin or Greek? Or
even need them? Obviously not. It was when I started reading the
Aryabhateeyam in its original Sanskrit (with English translation
assisting), that I realised what a rich vocabulary we are ignorant of.
Do you recognise the following words: vishkambha, parinaaha, kakshya,
vishuvat, karna, jyaa?
How about these words : diameter, circumference, orbit, equator,
hypotenuse, sine?
Here’s the stunner: the first row of Sanskrit words have the exact same
meanings as the second row of English words!
समपरिणाहस्यार्ध विष्कम्भार्धहतमेव वृत्तफलम् ।
Sama pariNaahasya ardha vishkamba ardha hatameva vrtta phalam
Let me explain this Sanskrit statement, word by word:
Sama – equal
Parinaaha – diameter
Ardha – half
Vishkambha – circumference
Hatam – multiply
Eva – exactly
Vrtta – circle
Phalam – result
Literally, “Equal diameter-half circumference-half mutliply-exactly
circle’s-result”
Rephrased grammatically in English : “A circle’s area equals half the
diameter multiplied by half the circumference”.
This was stated in Sanskrit by none other than Aryabhatta. It is the
seventh sloka in his Aryabhateeyam.
Let me propose two quick quizzes: what did these people invent or discover?
Here comes the second quiz, with a different set of names. What did they
discover or invent?
1. Aryabhata
2. Varahamihira
3. Brahmagupta
4. Bhaskara
5. Sushruta
6. Madhava
7. Nilakanta Somayaji
You can search the internet to verify your answers. But did you get all
seven answers correctly in the first list? How did you fare with the
second list? Did you even recognise all the names? (Confession: I didn’t
know three of them 10 years ago).
If you guessed that Aryabhatta invented zero or discovered gravity or
the heliocentric theory, give yourself negative marks. He didn’t.
But the people on the second list had one thing in common. They all used
Sanskrit as the language of science. Why Sanskrit?
Sanskrit was not only the language of religion, and literature, it was
also the language of several sciences, law, justice, administration,
economics, rhetoric, logic, and several arts, namely music, dance,
painting, sculpture, architecture, etc.
It served the same function in India and countries to the east of India,
that Latin did, first in the Roman empire, then in Europe, until,
perhaps, the twentieth century; what Mandarin did in China from
Confucian times up to perhaps today; what Arabic did in the realms of
Islam. It was the link language of a cultural continent, across several
kingdoms over the span of several centuries, even millennia.
Consider these somewhat famous books.
1. Bharata’s Natya Shastra – Music, dance, theatre
2. Chanakya’s Artha Shastra – Political economics, administration
3. Panini’s Ashta Adhyaayi – Sanskrit grammar
4. Pingala’s Chanda Shastra – Prosody
5. Caraka Samhita – Medicine
6. Maya Matha – Architecture
7. Nyaya Sutra – Logic
8. Kama Sutra – Erotics, painting, arts
I have provided only one example in each field. In reality, each field
has several books, written by scholars from various regions or cities,
across several centuries. We never hear of them, because over time,
Sanskrit has become more alien in India than Greek or Latin.
When most Indians hear Sanskrit or hear of it, it is as the language of
the Vedas, or at best the language of beautiful poetry as given by
Kalidasa or Jayadeva. One popular understanding is that it is a dead
language, steeped in the superstition of religion.
The only people talking in public about anything Sanskrit are people
quoting philosophy; once in a blue moon, perhaps a musician or a dancer.
Or, a chorus chanting Sanskrit mantras as background music in a Star
Wars movie.
The libraries of Alexandria and Nalanda may have been destroyed by
iconoclastic invaders, but the library of all Sanskrit knowledge is
vandalized every day by our collective ignorance, and deliberate negligence.
That is ridiculous. We can change that.
R Gopu delivers lectures on astronomy, history, sculpture, Sanskrit, and
Tamil, and is part of the Tamil Heritage Trust. He blogs here.
Why is Panini never mentioned in any computer science course? Why is not
a single discovery of Baudhayana, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta or Bhaskara
ever taught in a mathematics or engineering course? In any school or
college?
Seventy years after Independence, you can hardly blame British colonialism.
The ignorance is not merely about Indian science, it is about all
non-European science and technology, in general. Sumeria, Egypt, China,
Meso America (Olmecs-Mayans-Aztecs), Persia, all ancient civilisations
are totally ignored, and we get an entirely European perspective of all
science and technology.
========================================================================
https://swarajyamag.com/science/languages-of-science-we-are-ignorant-of-the-rich-sanskrit-vocabulary
Not Only Of Religion And Literature, Sanskrit Was Also The Language Of
Science
by R Gopu
- Oct 12, 2019, 6:34 pm
Sanskrit was not only the language of religion and literature, it was
also the language of science. Today, we are ignorant of its rich
vocabulary.
In 1999, I read the Tamil historical novel Sivakaamiyin Sabatham. Set in
the seventh century CE, the novel tells of the siege of Kanchipuram, the
capital of the Pallavas, by their rivals, the Chalukyas.
It is still one of the most popular books in Tamil Nadu, 70 years after
its first publication. At one point in the story, Aayanar — an artist
and sculptor — tells the Pallava king, Mahendra Varma, that his deepest
desire is to know the secret technology of Ajanta paintings, which have
lasted a thousand years without fading. The paintings of Ajanta are
still there, a 1,000 years after the Pallavas and Chalukyas have
disappeared.
In Kanchipuram, the Kailasanatha temple built by Mahendra Varma’s
great-grandson Rajasimha Pallava in the eighth century has paintings in
the Ajanta style, which have sustained damage but what remains hasn’t
faded. The contemporary Pandyas built a Jain cave temple at
Sittannavasal, which has equally remarkable paintings.
A Heritage Of Science And Technology
These struck a severely discordant note. How many advertisements do we
see on television for the latest paints that last 20 years? Enamel
paints manufactured in large chemical plants, based on the very latest
technology, brought to life by the most brilliant chemical engineers of
the last century.
Their great selling point is that they last ‘20 years’ — one-hundredth
of the 2,000 years that Ajanta paintings have lasted, in ‘primitive’
caves, sculpted by a hammer and chisel.
What other remarkable scientific and technological achievements of
ancient Indians was I missing?
By sheer coincidence, I happened to attend a series of lectures about
the ‘Oral Traditions of the Sanskrit language’, by Prof Swaminathan, a
retired IIT Delhi professor of mechanical engineering.
He explained the Siva Sutras (also called Maheshvara Sutras) and how
Panini used them to write extremely compact rules of grammar for
Sanskrit. The Siva Sutras and Panini’s sutras reminded me starkly of the
Backus-Naur notation, that every computer science or engineering student
learns in college. But, wait! What was Panini doing, composing Sanskrit
grammar in Backus-Naur notation?
Why is Panini never mentioned in any computer science course? Why is not
a single discovery of Baudhayana, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta or Bhaskara
ever taught in a mathematics or engineering course? In any school or
college?
Seventy years after Independence, you can hardly blame British colonialism.
The ignorance is not merely about Indian science, it is about all
non-European science and technology, in general. Sumeria, Egypt, China,
Meso America (Olmecs-Mayans-Aztecs), Persia, all ancient civilisations
are totally ignored, and we get an entirely European perspective of all
science and technology.
English is the language of science, we are told, though most of the
scientific vocabulary is in Greek or Latin. The very names of the
sciences — Physics, Biology, Zoology, Geology, Astronomy — come from Greek.
Chemistry is an exception, adapted from the Arabic word Al Chimia (or
Alchemy). The different fields of Mathematics — Geometry, Trigonometry,
and Arithmetic — have Greek origins. But Algebra comes from an Arabic
word; Calculus from a Latin word.
Newton wrote his most famous Physics book, Principa Mathematica de
Naturalis in Latin, not English. When Antoine Lavoisier coined new words
for the modern Chemistry he discovered, he did not use French; he chose
Greek and Latin. English words like soda and pot ash, were Latinised
into Sodium and Potassium.
A Mathematical Vocabulary
Did the Sumerians, Chinese, or ancient Indians use Latin or Greek? Or
even need them? Obviously not. It was when I started reading the
Aryabhateeyam in its original Sanskrit (with English translation
assisting), that I realised what a rich vocabulary we are ignorant of.
Do you recognise the following words: vishkambha, parinaaha, kakshya,
vishuvat, karna, jyaa?
How about these words : diameter, circumference, orbit, equator,
hypotenuse, sine?
Here’s the stunner: the first row of Sanskrit words have the exact same
meanings as the second row of English words!
समपरिणाहस्यार्ध विष्कम्भार्धहतमेव वृत्तफलम् ।
Sama pariNaahasya ardha vishkamba ardha hatameva vrtta phalam
Let me explain this Sanskrit statement, word by word:
Sama – equal
Parinaaha – diameter
Ardha – half
Vishkambha – circumference
Hatam – multiply
Eva – exactly
Vrtta – circle
Phalam – result
Literally, “Equal diameter-half circumference-half mutliply-exactly
circle’s-result”
Rephrased grammatically in English : “A circle’s area equals half the
diameter multiplied by half the circumference”.
This was stated in Sanskrit by none other than Aryabhatta. It is the
seventh sloka in his Aryabhateeyam.
Let me propose two quick quizzes: what did these people invent or discover?
Here comes the second quiz, with a different set of names. What did they
discover or invent?
1. Aryabhata
2. Varahamihira
3. Brahmagupta
4. Bhaskara
5. Sushruta
6. Madhava
7. Nilakanta Somayaji
You can search the internet to verify your answers. But did you get all
seven answers correctly in the first list? How did you fare with the
second list? Did you even recognise all the names? (Confession: I didn’t
know three of them 10 years ago).
If you guessed that Aryabhatta invented zero or discovered gravity or
the heliocentric theory, give yourself negative marks. He didn’t.
But the people on the second list had one thing in common. They all used
Sanskrit as the language of science. Why Sanskrit?
Sanskrit was not only the language of religion, and literature, it was
also the language of several sciences, law, justice, administration,
economics, rhetoric, logic, and several arts, namely music, dance,
painting, sculpture, architecture, etc.
It served the same function in India and countries to the east of India,
that Latin did, first in the Roman empire, then in Europe, until,
perhaps, the twentieth century; what Mandarin did in China from
Confucian times up to perhaps today; what Arabic did in the realms of
Islam. It was the link language of a cultural continent, across several
kingdoms over the span of several centuries, even millennia.
Consider these somewhat famous books.
1. Bharata’s Natya Shastra – Music, dance, theatre
2. Chanakya’s Artha Shastra – Political economics, administration
3. Panini’s Ashta Adhyaayi – Sanskrit grammar
4. Pingala’s Chanda Shastra – Prosody
5. Caraka Samhita – Medicine
6. Maya Matha – Architecture
7. Nyaya Sutra – Logic
8. Kama Sutra – Erotics, painting, arts
I have provided only one example in each field. In reality, each field
has several books, written by scholars from various regions or cities,
across several centuries. We never hear of them, because over time,
Sanskrit has become more alien in India than Greek or Latin.
When most Indians hear Sanskrit or hear of it, it is as the language of
the Vedas, or at best the language of beautiful poetry as given by
Kalidasa or Jayadeva. One popular understanding is that it is a dead
language, steeped in the superstition of religion.
The only people talking in public about anything Sanskrit are people
quoting philosophy; once in a blue moon, perhaps a musician or a dancer.
Or, a chorus chanting Sanskrit mantras as background music in a Star
Wars movie.
The libraries of Alexandria and Nalanda may have been destroyed by
iconoclastic invaders, but the library of all Sanskrit knowledge is
vandalized every day by our collective ignorance, and deliberate negligence.
That is ridiculous. We can change that.
R Gopu delivers lectures on astronomy, history, sculpture, Sanskrit, and
Tamil, and is part of the Tamil Heritage Trust. He blogs here.
0 new messages