India has always been known for its unique culture and heritage from ancient times. Having its roots tinted with the rich culture whether it’s the languages or the vast aspects of the way our ancestors have woven India with threads of etiquette, values and traditions. It is not debatable at all that as the years passed, as the generations unfolded our ethics tended to be forgotten by the new generation in the meantime. Not a single reason but many lead to a state which doesn't present our culture in its real essence today. The divine soul which tends to reside, even in a syllable in Sanskrit which is Om (or Aum, ओम). which has a scientific meaning in it. Through this article, I want to get the real India in the sight, which is covered behind some the dust we haven't forgotten our culture. The roots still have the soul behind the dust no matter how many years have passed. We can still revive our culture and it’s the sole responsibility of each one of us.

INTRODUCTION: INDIA AND THE ANCIENT SCIENCE

India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. The nation's capital city is New Delhi. Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years, and along these years have our rich culture which includes ancient Indian science.

Ancient Indian science

If we go through the Indian history from the prehistoric era, the building and collapsing of several empires and even after that till day we can find the origins of the ancient science that built up somewhere in India and resided in the people of India and somehow is fading away in our current generation. Mentioning about the quote “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” by ‘Albert Einstein’ is saying how much reputation Indian history holds and being talked about by the most genius and wise persons existed in history of earth, stating some astonishing words from ‘Werner Heisenberg’ a German theoretical physicist who got published for his theory of quantum mechanics in the year 1925 when he was just 2 years old and was also awarded with Nobel prize for physics for 1932 said "After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so astonishing suddenly made much more sense. "This is amazing about India that the philosophies and theories were praised by the legends all over the world and it’s an honor to be a part of this country”.

The ancient Indian science has many chapters which contains the evolution of the science and theories given to the world which led to further inventions, going through the first chapter the prehistoric era. Science and Mathematics were highly developed during the ancient period in India. Ancient Indians contributed immensely to the knowledge in Mathematics as well as various branches of science. We always shall remember Ramanujan. “Boudhayan’ was the first one ever to arrive at several concepts in Mathematics, which were later rediscovered by the Western world. The value of pi was first calculated by him. As you know, pi is useful in calculating the area and circumference of a circle. What is known as Pythagoras theorem today is already found in Boudhayan's Sulva Sutra. ‘Aryabhata’ was a fifth-century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and physicist. He was a pioneer in the field of mathematics. At the age of 23, he wrote Aryabhata, which is a summary of mathematics of his time. There are four sections in this scholarly work. Not only in Mathematics, but ancient Indians also contributed to the knowledge in science, too. scientific knowledge was in a highly advanced stage in ancient India. In keeping with the times, Medical Science was also highly developed. Ayurveda is the indigenous system of medicine that was developed in Ancient India and is adapted by people around the world.

‘Sushruta’ who would not know his name the person whose contribution to science was approbatory. He was a pioneer in the field of surgery. Also known as the “father of Indian surgery” He considered surgery as “the highest division of the healing arts and least liable to fallacy”. He studied human anatomy with the help of a dead body. In Sushruta Samhita, over 1100 diseases are mentioned including fevers of twenty-six kinds, jaundice of eight kinds and urinary complaints of twenty kinds. Over 760 plants are described. All parts, roots, bark, juice, resin, flowers etc. were used. Cinnamon, sesame, peppers, cardamom, ginger are household remedies even today. In Sushruta Samhita, the method of selecting and preserving a dead body for the purpose of its detailed study has also been described. The dead body of an old man or a person who died of a severe disease was generally not considered for studies. The body needed to be perfectly cleaned and then preserved in the bark of a tree. It was then kept in a cage and hidden carefully in a spot in the river. There the current of the river softened it. After seven days it was removed from the river. It was then cleaned with a brush made of grass roots, hair and bamboo. When this was done, every inner or outer part of the body could be seen clearly. Sushrut's’ greatest contribution was in the fields of Rhinoplasty (plastic surgery) and Ophthalmic surgery (removal of cataracts) which are so in trend nowadays. In those days, cutting the nose and/or ears was a common punishment. Restoration of these or limbs lost in wars was a great blessing. In Sushruta Samhita, there is a very accurate step-by-step description of these operations. Surprisingly, the steps followed by Sushruta are strikingly like those followed by modern surgeons while doing plastic surgery. Sushruta Samhita also gives a description of 101 instruments used in surgery. Some serious operations performed included taking the fetus out of the womb, repairing the damaged rectum, removing stones from the bladder, etc. Doesn't it sound interesting and wonderful?

‘Charak’ is considered the father of ancient Indian science of medicine. He was the Raj Vaidya (royal doctor) in the court of Kanishka. His Charak Samhita is a remarkable book on medicine. It has a description of many diseases and gives methods of identifying their causes as well as the method of their treatment. He was the first to talk about digestion, metabolism and immunity as important for health and so medical science. In Charak Samhita, more stress has been laid on removing the cause of disease rather than simply treating the illness. Charak also knew the fundamentals of Genetics. Don’t you find it fascinating those thousands of years back, medical science was at such an advance?

The science of Yoga was developed in ancient India as an allied science of Ayurveda for healing without medicine at the physical and mental levels. The term Yoga has been derived from the Sanskrit work ‘Yuj’. Its literal meaning is “to unite the inner self after detaching it from the outer subjects of senses”. Like all other sciences, it has its roots in the Vedas. It defines Chitta i.e., dissolving thoughts, emotions and desires of a person’s consciousness and achieving a state of equilibrium. It sets into motion the force that purifies and uplifts the consciousness to divine realization. Yoga is physical as well as mental. Physical yoga is called Hath yoga. Generally, it aims at removing diseases and restoring healthy conditions to the body. Raja yoga is mental yoga. Its goal is self-realization and liberation from bondage by achieving physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance. Yoga was passed on by word of mouth from one sage to another.

Ancient rituals of India and scientific reasons behind it

Some rituals, like Puja, and worshipping to any god according to the religion people have faith in remind them of God daily. Other rituals such as fasting, and meditation discipline our life for spiritual progress. Religious ceremonies or pilgrimages help us focus the mind on spiritual aspirations. Some ceremonies such as rites of passage bring family and community together. The discipline of regularly carrying out rituals encourages religious values and aspirations. In our multi-faith environment, this also brings the opportunity to learn about each other’s faith. Here’s a quote said by swami Vivekananda about rituals.

“Rituals are the kindergarten of religion. They are necessary for the world as it is now; only we shall have to give people newer and fresh rituals.” – Swami Vivekananda

Significance of Namaste: 

Namaste is a common form of greeting practiced in the Indian subcontinent. It is a gesture used to greet and before parting. We can see this gesture in many Indian classical dances, in everyday religious rituals and in yoga postures. Namaste is derived from the Sanskrit language. "Nama" means "bow", "as" means "I" and "te" means "you". This translates to "I bow to you". Namaskar similarly translates to “bow" and "doing" and describes the act of performing the greeting. Isn't this amazing and so full of wonders that how much thought has been given to the most basic things such as greeting? Namaste literally means 'the divine in me pays respect/ honors'/ bows/ adores the divine in you'. Moreover, according to the Spiritual Research Foundation, the lack of physical contact in Namaste substantially limits the negative entity of one person affecting the other person. If it is done in the right spiritual emotion of paying obeisance, it potentially eliminates the negative vibrations completely. Namaste is a gesture, a way of acknowledging and paying obeisance of one soul to another.

Scientific Reasons Behind the Sandalwood Tilak: 

The practice has existed since ancient times and is now a signature part of Hindu culture. Sandalwood, or ‘Chandan’ is a very common ingredient in tilak, and not just for what it represents for Hindus, but for its scientific properties as well., it has a cooling effect and pure aroma which can have massively beneficial effects on the brain. According to Chinese acupunctural sciences, the tilak is applied on the skin covering a convergence point of nerves. Here, the cooling properties come into their own by reducing headaches and calming the mind. Besides this, its fragrance promotes purity and peace in the mind, so devotees can worship tranquillity.

How we are losing our ancient soul of science?

There is no surprise to the fact that after the British colonization in India and after they ruled our country for approx. 89 years and had a massive impact on the culture and language. As it affects the way we use to greet our elders is just a nod or even greet with some English greetings in our day-to-day interactions. And no doubt that Gen-Z absolutely have no reminiscence of what ancient culture is and what are the morals except making reels in aesthetic Kurtis and Traditionals that too. Sometimes in an absurd way. Completely speaking Hindi or using Hindi to order in a 5-star hotel comes as a shame to some people even though we are living in a country whose mother tongue is Hindi itself. The morning Surya namaskar has been replaced with hitting gyms, earlier people used to clean their teeth with teeth cleaning a twig called datum, a twig of a babul or a neem tree, is replaced with toothpastes and several oral hygiene products. They are way better than these electronic toothbrushes nowadays, I'm sure they are just loosening your gums. We used to cook our food in sunflower and mustard oil, which is healthy as well as a good source of all the essential vitamins and nutrients, is considered unhealthy today. A question arises that even after many discoveries and theories by ancient Indians, why India didn’t progress in science over the course of years and if we compare it to other countries? Well, the answer to this is Necessity is the mother of Invention’ and since in the pre-colonial era, people were satisfied with their simple agro-based lifestyle, they did not feel the need for innovation and invention. Hence, lagged in scientific advancements. Some of the other reasons such as drawbacks in scientific education,

lack of research and innovation along with other factors such as British colonization, casteism, and Scientific ideas relating to science were declared blasphemous and disrespectful. All knowledge related to science was made more secret, secluded and concealed and every new thought and invention faced grave opposition. All these led to the downfall of Indian scientific advancements. Today, lifestyle has picked up the speed of the internet everybody is trying to reach somewhere in a hustle but still longing to get somewhere and reach to more success, more wealth, more precious destinies and adapt to a foreign lifestyle as we find it more convenient and everything serves to you by just clicking some buttons, here we are lacking our health to the newly adapted lifestyle as we’ve forgotten our Indian science that has kept India stand out from rest of the world and being stated with rich culture. And this India we see today needs to be revived again and reshaping India like what it used to be back simultaneously adapting to the new world.

Reviving the soul of ancient Indian science

The culture of a country is the soul and the sole motive of the existence and development of a country and its people on the adaptability basis as well as understanding and coping with the developing world. It is indeed important to keep the essence of our culture living within us, which includes our ancient science. The science and advancements done over the decades through the discoveries and contributions done by ancient scientists as well as ancients were the core of our further development as a nation on the upfront of knowledge and ethics as well that gave us the recognition from the wise from every corner of the earth. We can reapproach the scriptures and after running a thorough study on the discoveries can redesign the way theories can be adapted in today's world. In an article published by the Indian Express which stated in a press conference TMC MP (member of parliament) Jawhar Sircar said in the press conference that while all Indians must take pride in their past achievements, for centuries, knowledge was controlled by one caste and was not disseminated. “When you talk of universities and the brilliance of learning, for centuries after centuries, for two-and-a-half millennia, it was centered on one caste. Would you like to go back to one caste? It was not a knowledge that was widespread.” BJD MP Amar Patnaik said ethnographic studies need to be promoted. “While doing research and recapturing our history, our traditions, our knowledge traditions, our culture, we must also banish the pernicious practices and, for example, the most important, the caste system. We cannot recapture something which was responsible for division in the society, and which was used by the colonial powers to regain and destroy our culture.” improving sci-tech education and increasing focus on practical approach: The standard of science education needs to be improved. This could be done by reforming the syllabus and curriculum according to international standards of universities like Harvard and MIT. Also, students should be made to approach theories and concepts practically. On the intermediate level, concept building should be encouraged instead of rote learning. promoting research: Research and innovation should be promoted in colleges and universities. This can be done by providing research fellowships. A proper patent system should also be ensured so that scientists and researchers get due credit for their achievements and discoveries. indigenous production: India should produce its own defense equipment's, satellites and industrial machines using Indigenous technology and skills. This would not only help reduce budget deficits due to imports of these things from other countries but also help India rely on its own technical know-how and would make it technically independent.

The revival can be done when the nation decides to commit to the fact that it is necessary for us to include our ancient sciences in the advancements taking place today. The dependency on the foreign technologies not only relating to gadgets but in our behavior has led us to lag in development at a much faster pace, according to many researchers India could've been better in terms of economy, security, democratic rights, law and overall development in all aspects. 

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