VEDIC HINDUS - ANCIENT SCIENCE

In the recently held Indian Science Congress there had been claims of the findings of some of the postulates and theories by Vedic scholars much earlier than the western scientists.  There had also been lots of debunking of the theories by some of the noted scientists like Einstein or Newton.  While the debunking of the theories of Einstein or Newton unless disproved call for a harsh condemnation, it cannot be wholly dismissed that the Vedic scholars prior to the common era in the country had superior knowledge of science and many of the later day findings.

In the Ramayana and in the Mahabharata there are enough mention about various 'astra' which were used by the fighting armies to annihilate the opposition.  Some may discount these as the products of fertile imagination of the authors like in the case of Marvel comics.  

India prior to the advent of the common era had some of the best scholars in many areas like astronomy, travel by air, hydrography, medicine.  Thanks to painstaking efforts of some of the earlier historians, we have the works of Sushrutha and some of the other scholars who did wonderful works in medicine and surgery.  Otherwise, our historians will dump the claims of ayurvedha as another myth like in the case of many other areas.

There was a book Vaimanik Shastra published in early 20th century.  As per the legend, the contents were revealed to one Pandit Subbaraya Shastry who was responsible for getting the book published.  Shivkar Babuji Talpade, a Maharshtra Vedic scholar who had read up this book, tried to re-create the vimana as per specification in the book and fly it on the beach of Mumbai.  It reportedly flew about a few hundred feet at a height of about 15 feet from the ground.  But as it is the wont with the British, there was no official recognition for this, as it did not involve a westerner.

Bakthiyar Khilji who was the ruler of India during the Khilji dynasty, was wholly responsible for the destruction of the famed Nalanda University and putting to fire the entire collection of books in the library thereat.  We don't know what were the books and on what subjects they were written.  We only know that they were all palm leaf manuscripts.  The Mughals and the Muslim sultans of Delhi killed many Vedic scholars who refused to leave the Sanathana Dharma to embrace the faith of the marauding armies.  This resulted in the knowledge that these scholars had acquired orally from their teachers died with them.  The killing of the scholars and the burning down the library at the university were two death blows to the superior knowledge that the scholars of ancient times had on many scientific issues.  Many surviving manuscripts were taken out of the country by the westerners.  There is a big library of Sanskrit works in one of the German Universities.

In the present day, the concept of any postulate is getting changed over a period of time, be it in medicine or other branches of science. A hundred years later some of the present day postulates may get debunked or overturned which does not make the present day postulates incorrect as of now.  The only saving grace may be the publishing of the papers and the 'proof' they had collected with their relentless work.  No one in their right mind would have accepted a theory of a walk in space or a self driving car fifty years ago.  Now with technology so advanced that man is walking on space and there are self driving cars.  Even in the present day, there are skeptics about the humans landing on the moon.  Some of them claim that it is like any Hollywood movie despite many proofs of humans having landed on the moon.  

The Vedic scholars of yore had immense knowledge of many areas but it is unfortunate that we do not have any proof of their knowledge or intelligence except what is written in the two epics which are being debunked as stories at par with Marvel comics.  The Indians, by and large, had come to acknowledge the greatness of the white skinned westerners and their rigorous scientific methods than the age old wisdom of the Vedic scholars.  If some one speaks about the greatness of the Vedic scholars, they are immediately trolled for want of 'proof'. It is a pity that the immense works of the Vedic scholars on many areas of science apart from medicine which is available to us today, not a single shred of the work is available to us to celebrate the ancient wisdom.  What we know is the use of these knowledge in the administration and warfare in the times of Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Helio-centric planetary orbits were known to ancient Indians who had calculated the distance between the sun and the earth.  They were also aware of the reasons for the eclipses and their knowledge of astronomy was so advanced that they were able to calculate the astronomical happenings like eclipses, solar flares, appearance of comets etc. well in advance.  The only knowledge that we still use is in terms of calculating the almanacs with and without the ayanamsa.  All the other knowledge that the ancient Indians had seemed to have been lost forever as the practitioners were either killed or their manuscripts were burnt down.