Abstract

With the development of science and technology in ancient India, the communication skills were also developed. Some of the ancient view of the physical world, including those on space and time, continued to wear metaphysical, sometimes even religio-philosophical garb on different intellectual lines. They even laid down the rules and regulations for communication, developing their own metaphors and idioms. A study done on the Indian concept of communication considers the ‘Natyashastra’of Bharat Muni as the treatise full of ideas on better communication. Communication has been referred here as ‘Sadharanikaran’- simplification, involving ‘Sahridayas’- People having common sumpathetic heart. It results in ‘Ras Utpathi’ and ‘Ras Aswadan’ feeling of aesthetic pleasure. This confirms that the ‘message’ has been conveyed properly from the ‘source’ to the ‘receiver’. ‘Charak Samhita’ also lays the rules for debates and discussions dividing it into ‘friendly’ and ‘hostile’ discussion. The assemblies were also classified into two different groups of wise and ingnorant people. Rules were laid to communicate with both groups. The oral tradition gave way to written texts on copper plates, on barks and on leaves and ultimately using paper by 12th and 13th century AD. From verses and hymns they turned to beautiful prose explaining Astronomy, Mathematics, Medical Science, Technology and Agriculture. They were passed on from one generation to the next, in a well-knit tradition. We need to cross the traditional wisdom with the modern knowledge of communication technologies.

Introduction

Our ancesters have excelled even in the communication skills, is amply evident from the old texts where not only complex philosophical ideas but also the mathematical equations and medical prescriptions were given through enchanting verses. The Sanskrit word ‘Sadharanikaran’ is more close to the concept of communication (J.S.Yadav). “The term ‘Sadharanikaran’ literally means simplification. Conceptually, it means achieving oneness or commonness through sharing and comes close to the Latin word ‘communis’ or its modern English version ‘communication’. Except that the ‘philosophy behind Sadharanikaran is somewhat different’.

He traced its usage to ‘Natyashastra’ which has been used for expounding communication philosophy of the ancient India. ‘Natyashastra’ was written by ‘Bharat Muni’ in about 2nd century B.C.

There are five tenets of the Indian concept of communication as per Yadav’s study. The first tenet is that the parties involved in communication should be ‘Sahridaya’ – that is having common sympathetic heart. The postulate is that the greater the identification, the greater is the success of communication. Here the stress is on ‘sharing’, making it a more subtle and effective instrument of persuation. So the second tenent of Sadharanikaran is ‘sharing’. The third tenent is ‘Rasa Utpathi’ along with ‘Rasa Aswadan’. ‘Rasa’ is feeling of aesthetic pleasure. The communication must be able to arouse permanent etc. Before he used these for his own consumption, he offered them to fire. The ‘Yajna’ and the kitchen technology would have developed side by side. Horse, cow, goat and sheep were the co-members of the family of the fire-age. Man learnt the use of the hide of the dead animals leading to the primitive art of tanning. The use of natural fibres from the plants and of the hair of sheep and goat led first to the art of weaving and then to that of spinning. In Vedic verses and the ‘Satpatha Brahmana’, we have references to some of the articles and mechanical devices in relation to these, as well as to sacrifices.

The Vedic texts are available in the form of four ‘Samhitas’, the ‘Rigveda’ with 1,028 hymns and 10,552 verses classified in ten ‘Mandals’ or eight ‘Astakas’ and ‘Adhyayas’. Each ‘Astaka’ contains eight Adhyayas. ‘Yajurveda’ or ‘Vajasaney Samhita’ has forty chapters and 1,975 verses. The ‘Samveda’ is divided into two books. ‘Purvacika’ has 585 verses and ‘Uttaracika’ has 1,290 verses. Total number of verses being 1,875. In the ‘Atharvaveda’ we have 20 chapters with 5,987 verses in all. There were 17 ‘Brahmanas’ out of which 3 are not available. Out of 10 ‘Kandas’ of ‘Satpath Brahmana’ the first five are associated with construction of the fire-altar.

Technology of bricks and science of geometry

The Sanskrita equivalent for brick is ‘Istaka’ or ‘Istika’, which was primarily constructed for the use in an altar. ‘Medhatithi’ was the maker of bricks. He also contributed to the science of numerals by giving the concept of powers of ten in enumeration. Here is the English translation of the verse related to bricks and numerals as given in Yajurveda (XVII, 2) -

“O Agni, may these bricks be mine, own milch, kine, Eka (one) and Dasa (ten); ten tens, a Sata (hundred); ten hundreds, a Sahasra (thousand); ten thousand, an Ayuta (a myriad); a ten Ayutas, a Niyuta (a hundred thousand); a ten Niyutas, a Prayuta (one million); ten Prayutas, an Arbuda (ten millions); ten Arbudas, a Nyarbuda (one hundred millions); ten Nyarbudas, a Samudra (one thousand millions); ten Samudras, a Madhya (a ten thousand millions); ten Madhyas, an Anta (a hundred thousand millions); ten Antas, a Parardha (a million million or a billion).

May these bricks be mine own milch-kine in yonder world and in this world.”

Later in ‘Sulba Sutras’, these bricks have been described in relation to the geometrical figures of square, round, oblong and diagonal.

The mechanical devices connected with the grinding, pounding, macerating with water, allowing to ferment, squeezing out its juice or extract, filtering through various types of strainers, collecting it in receptacles, preserving it in suitable containers under favourable conditions and similar other processes laid the foundation of the pharmaceutical practices in connection with medicinal herbs. The ‘Yajnasala’ was thus a primitive laboratory and the utensil described in this connection became the basis of a chemical laboratory in the alchemic and iatrochemical period.

First scientific symposium

The ‘Charak Samhita’ – the well known treatise on Ayrveda, appears to be a proceedings of first ever symposium on different subjects related to medical sciences (Ayurveda). The world’s first symposium held on the medicinal plants in relation to diseases was presided over by sage Bharadwaja, somewhere in Himalyas, 700 BC. The Charak Samhita contains the whole account of this symposium including the names of different participants. A number of fundamental questions regarding life and death were raised in this symposium.

Other symposia recorded in Charak Samhita are related to following subjects: The salutary and the unsalutary influences of ‘Vata’, The origin of man and disease, Taste and its enumeration, Growth of foetal limbs and use of the emetic nut and dose of the enema.

Charak Samhita also lays the rules for debates and discussions. It says, “Discussion with a person of the same branch of science is indeed what makes for the increase of knowledge and happiness. It contributes towards the clarity of understanding, increases dialectical skill, broadcasts reputation, dispels doubts regarding things heard by repeated hearing and confirms the ideas of those who have no doubts.....”

Shasthratha or scientific discussion

Such discussion with the men of the same branch of science was divided into two kinds (i) friendly discussion and (ii) the discussion of challenge or hostile discussion.

The friendly method of discussion

“The friendly discussion is enjoined with the person who is endowed with knowledge and experience. Who does not angered, who is easily persuaded, who is an adept in the art of persuasion, who has tolerance and pleasantness of speech……”

The Hostile Method of Discussion

“The person expecting a hostile discussion must investigate before hand the points of merit and demerit of the opponent, and the difference, in excellence between himself and the opponent. He must investigate well the nature of the assembly…..”

Here even the assemblies are of two kinds – the assembly of the wise and the assembly of the ignorant. It is further divided into 3 groups – (i) the assembly of favourably disposed persons, (ii) the assembly of impartial persons, and (iii) the assembly of unfavourably disposed persons.

Here is an advice which may be relevant even today — “If the assembly happens to be one of ignorant but well disposed person, one must speak in obscure, long-winded and complicated sentences. With great satisfaction of countenance, he must often indulge in redicule of the opponent and observing the reactions of the assembly, no scope should be given to the opponent for speech.”

There are other pieces of golden advice to defeat the opponents. The debates were further divided into two classes – ‘Jalpa’ — the constructive debate and ‘Vitanda’ — the destructive debate. “Thus for instance, when one says there is rebirth and the opponent says that there is not and each adduce reasons for his own proposition, the debate is ‘Jalpa’. The contrary of it is ‘Vitanda’, limited only to pointing out the defects in the opponent’s position.

Some of the most important statements found in the ‘Charak Samhita’ are very relevant to communication of science. Here are some statements as examples :

“Proof - first a proposition is to be made, than it has to be proved. For example, there is a proposition, like ‘Man is eternal’, Cause – as he is not made by any one. Example – even as space is not made and is eternal, even so is man. Deduction – hence he is eternal.

“As regards counterproof – it is one which establishes the contrary of the opponents proposition. For instance, there is a proposition that ‘Man is not eternal’. Cause – Man is sense object. Example – even as a pot is. Application –the pot being a sense object is not eternal and so is man. Deduction – hence he is not eternal.

“As regards cause – it is the means of acquiring knowledge. That is of four kinds - sense perception (direct experience), inference, tradition and analogy.

“The knowledge that is obtained by these means is ‘Truth’. As for instance, ‘fire is hot’, ‘water is fluid’, ‘earth is firm’ and ‘the sun illuminates’.”

This is how Direct Perception has been defined in ‘Charak Samhita’ :

“Direct perception is that which is percieved by the mind and the senses directly. Of them, happiness, sorrow, like and dislike etc. are perceived by the mind. Sound and other objects are percieved by the senses.”

All these rules regarding debates and discussions may be applied to communication of science and technology even in modern times.

Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India and an initiator of the idea of inculcating scientific temper in the society in modern times, had said, “Unfortunately this subject (of ancient science) is approached in two ways, neither of which seems to be as very desirable. One is to consider everything written in ancient times on scientific subjects as the last word. The other is to ignore all such matters and consider them as belonging to the age of ignorance, without any scientific value. I think that it would be of great benefit to the history of science, if we examine these manuscripts and books thoroughly and find out what had made by them. But it is essential this should be done objectively and with the spirit of science.”

Gautam Budha has always preached that one should bot believe on what the teacher said without experiencing it.

An objective analysis of the ‘Science an Technology in Ancient India’ was attempted by ‘Indian National Science Academy (INSA)’ which has published good studies in different sciences including a large volume titled, ‘A Concise History of Science in India’. They have gone through the original manuscripts wherever possible to find references to basic and applied sciences.

Actually more serious researches must be done on the methods, formats, idioms and channels used in ancient India for communication of complex ideas. One will always find that there was no dearth of scientific outlook and scientific temper.

The advent of paper in the 12th and 13th century AD, possibly from Central Asia, and also of the new linguistic influences, notably Arabic and Persian, resulted in a spate of manuscripts, artistic calligraphy an elegant presentation. This enabled meticulous preservation of knowledge and marked a transition from an oral to a viable written tradition on a large scale. There appeared a large number of texts with accurate terminology and the mode of precise and stylish presentation of scientific ideas was standardiased.

Methods of investigating theories and prepositions

One of the great scholars of Sanskrita and Ayurved, Vachaspati Misra has written a commentary on ‘Sankhya Karika’ titled ‘Sankhya Tatwa Kaumudi Tika’, It gives guide lines on how one should go about investigating the various theories and propositions before reaching on any conclusion. The research method proposed by him includes 5 stages. The first is called ‘Taram’ where one is required to study the whole issue under a bonafide ‘Guru’ – the teacher. Next is ‘Sutaram’ which specifies that the researcher must understand the terminology very clearly. In the third stage of ‘Tartaram’ requires collection of data and analysing them critically. The fourth step was named ‘Ramyak’. It means that the results of the analysis should be discussed in a seminar with other experts in the field or at least with the teacher. When all the doubts have been cleared and the questions have been answered then one can present his findings in the final form. This fifth step is named as ‘Sadmuditam’.

This was specially prescribed for the students of ‘Ayurveda’ which emerged as the medical science par excellence by about the 6th century B.C. The two great classics of ‘Ayurveda’, the ‘Susruta Samihita’ and ‘Charak Samihita’, present a vivid and cogent account of the medical knowledge and surgical practices which were in vogue about 2,500 years ago. The ‘Susruta Samihita’ has 184 chapters under its six categories dealing with fundamental postulates, pathology, embryology and anatomy. It describes more than 300 different operations and 121 (20 sharp and 101 accessaries) surgical instruments tongs, forceps. Scalpels, catheters, trocar, syringes, speculums, needles, saws, lances, hooks, scissors and probes. The ’susruta Samihita’ is regarded as the earliest document which gives a detailed account of rhino-plasty the plastic surgery of nose.

The ‘Charak Samihita’ consists of 150 chapters under its eight categories including the ‘materia medica’ with over 600 drug-compositions of plant and even of animal and mineral origins. Both these treatises of Ayurved are excellent examples of their science communication skills.

Conclusion

From the foregoing discussion it will appear that our ancestors had started communicating science and technology under the garb of religious texts, first orally in the form of hymns and verses and later they started writing on plates of copper, on the bark of the ‘Bhurja’ tree and on the leaves of palm. After that they used paper and also developed an excellent prose. From the Vedic times they were keen observers of the sky and were aware of the sun’s path, the motion of the moon, eclipses, solistics and developed lunisolar calendars with methods of intercalation. They tried to explain the maximum of phenomena with the minimum of postulates. There were leading mathematicians, like Aryabhata I (5th century AD), Bhaskar I, Brahmagupta (7th century), Mahavira (9th century), Aryabhata II, Sridhara and Sripati (10th – 11th century) and Bhaskaracharya-II (12th century). Many Indian mathemeticians were also astronomers. They wrote beautiful verses to explain various equations and concepts.

In agriculture they developed effective use of plough, cultivation of rice and other new grains. They went on improving the technology of agricultural implements and produced ploughs, sickles, spades, iron rods and bond pins of improved quality. The technology was passed on from one generation to next generation of village carpenters and blacksmiths, proving again their skills in passing on scientific and technological information to the lowest strata of the society.

It is a pity that now with the advent of modern era of science and technology we failed in proper communication of the scientific ideas and the common man thinks that science is something alien to this country. We must institute studies of ancient texts with a view to evaluate the science communication skills in different disciplines. Learning from the old traditions and combining them with the latest communication technologies will certainly improve the scientific literacy in India.

References

1. Yadav J S, Communication Theory from Eastern and Western Perspective, 1986, Academic Press, New York.

2. Wheelers R E W, The Indus Civilization, 1968, Cambridge University Press, U.K.

3. Saraswati Satya Prakash, Founders of Sciences in Ancient India (2 Vols.) 1986, Reseach Institute of Ancient Scientific Studies, New Delhi.

4. Randhawa M S, Agriculture in Ancient India (4 Vols), 1987, Publications and Information Division, ICAR, New Delhi.

5. Ray Chaudhary S P, Agriculture in Ancient India, 1959, Publications and Information Division, ICAR, New Delhi.

6. Bose, Sen and Subbarayappa, A Concise History of Science in India,1977, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.

7. Neigebaur R, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 1952, Princeton University Press, USA.

8. Ray P, (Ed.), History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, 1956, Calcutta.

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