Science and reason(History of science in India is not speculation, but real)

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 Science and reason(History of science in India is not speculation, but real

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• Indian Science Congress 2019 : The I.S.C. is a premier forum for scientists to present research, and in recent years, has been used by some to launch various evidence-free claims of various varieties! All relate to ancient India.
• Evidence-free claims : These range from existence of stem cell technology to test-tube babies, and from fleet of aircraft in India to those in Sri Lanka. Naturally, criticism followed, and protest marches were taken out.
• Why such things appear? There can be two reasons.

1. Wilful attempt to curry political favour with the present dispensation, and
2. Actual belief in these theories, and desire to propagate them.

• Colonial anxiety : Indians have always been troubled with colonisation. The colonisers presented Indians as an unscientific people, and naturally, many resisted it. An example : Irrigation engineer Jwala Prasad in 1930s, claiming cutting of Gangotri by Bhagirath by disinfecting rocks and land.
• A study of the past : Indians have seriously studied the past, and found rationality, objectivity, and many aspects of modern science.

1. Chemist P.C. Ray (president, I.S.C. 1920) wrote "History of Hindu Chemistry”
2. Philosopher Brajendranath Seal wrote "The Positive Sciences of Ancient Hindus"  (1915)

• Both had carefully studied ancient texts before publishing their analysis. Ray studied 14th c. texts like "Rasa prakasha-sudhakara“ based on experimentation. Seal made it clear that ancient observations may have come from intuition through meditation coupled with observations (and not experimentation, like today).
• We are not inferior : Indians do not need to feel so, in 2019, and make unfounded claims to prove we were great. Science is never constrained in a national boundary. Historically, science has travelled worldwide, across regions.
• Western science : It has drawn upon sciences from all over the ancient world. If Indians today can get rid of the habit to label science as "eastern" or "western", then we can look towards the future.
• Explore if you want : We must study the past, but with a careful eye of enquiry, not in order to make dangerously rash claims. We will need to use the insights of archaeologists, epigraphists, Sanskritists, Persianists, and metallurgists. We need an open mind and lot of scepticism.
• History of science : Indian universities have neglected it generally, and must take to it, but as a serious subject and not speculation. The I.S.C. will do well to maintain its gravitas, and not allow useless speculation that harms the cause of science.
• Summary : Making rash claims based on speculation about ancient Indian sciences damages its cause rather than attracting new adherents, and we must take to it with a healthy scepticism and spirit of enquiry.

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