Lack of Vedic Sciences

[Guest guest]

QUESTION:If you had to put your finger on why Indian mathematics did

not become the engine of engineering and then the economy that their

european counterparts became, what would be the reason?

 

ANSWER:In order for any academic field of endeavor to flourish at an

advanced level, there must be peace and relative prosperity in the

land and such endeavors must be supported by the state. A good example

is the Indian Institute of Science and its successor institutes the

IIT's which are churning out good work at a steady rate today. It is

AlBiruni who remarked that Ghazni's marauding raids had left all of

northwest India in ruin and bereft of the presence of savants in the

sciences and mathematics. He specifically makes mention of the fact

that many have fled to states beyond the reach of his master. It is no

coincidence that Ujjain which was a center of scientific activity

during pre-Islamic times ceased to be a center after the medieval era.

In 1304 CE Alla ud din in one of his many jihads completely destroyed

Ujjain, the center of Indian scholarship. North India never recovered

from this as from the earlier destruction of Nalanda by Bakhtyar

Khalji in 1198 CE, which destroyed Buddhist scholarship.

 

The center of gravity of Indian scholarship slowly shifted southwards

until the 18th century when the British delivered the coup de grace of

English based education, which inflicted the double whammy of lack of

continuity as well as cutting of the vast majority of Indians from

access to any educational institution.

 

But the spirit of Indian Mathematics could not be extinguished. It

came back with a roar in the person of Ramanujam, the greatest number

theorist in all of human history.

 

Kaushal

[Guest guest]

Vrin,

 

You are turning into quite a writer, very nice.

 

Dharmapad

 

 

vediculture, "Vrin Parker <vrinparker>"

<vrinparker> wrote:

> QUESTION:If you had to put your finger on why Indian mathematics did

> not become the engine of engineering and then the economy that their

> european counterparts became, what would be the reason?

>

> ANSWER:In order for any academic field of endeavor to flourish at an

> advanced level, there must be peace and relative prosperity in the

> land and such endeavors must be supported by the state. A good

example

> is the Indian Institute of Science and its successor institutes the

> IIT's which are churning out good work at a steady rate today. It is

> AlBiruni who remarked that Ghazni's marauding raids had left all of

> northwest India in ruin and bereft of the presence of savants in the

> sciences and mathematics. He specifically makes mention of the fact

> that many have fled to states beyond the reach of his master. It is

no

> coincidence that Ujjain which was a center of scientific activity

> during pre-Islamic times ceased to be a center after the medieval

era.

> In 1304 CE Alla ud din in one of his many jihads completely

destroyed

> Ujjain, the center of Indian scholarship. North India never

recovered

> from this as from the earlier destruction of Nalanda by Bakhtyar

> Khalji in 1198 CE, which destroyed Buddhist scholarship.

>

> The center of gravity of Indian scholarship slowly shifted

southwards

> until the 18th century when the British delivered the coup de grace

of

> English based education, which inflicted the double whammy of lack

of

> continuity as well as cutting of the vast majority of Indians from

> access to any educational institution.

>

> But the spirit of Indian Mathematics could not be extinguished. It

> came back with a roar in the person of Ramanujam, the greatest

number

> theorist in all of human history.

>

> Kaushal