Dr Ravi Prakash Arya

Lost Scientific Literature of Bharat Dr Ravi Prakash Arya

Bharat, the cradle of the world civilisations on the earth, is the place of origin of Vedas and through them the place of origin of all other sciences of the world. It is proved by the fact that from Vedic period till the time of Mahabharata war, science and technology were at its pinnacle. The seers of this land discovered all the laws underlying cosmic and physical creation and thereby developed a vast study material (literature) covering both the aspects of science, i.e. spiritual (metaphysical) and material (Astrophysical & physical) sciences. Who affords to forget those dark events of the human history and civilisation, when libraries at Nalanda, Vikramshila and Ujjain were set ablaze? Alexandrian library in the west too met the same fate at the hands of the enemies of civilisation. Had all the literature been preserved today intact, there would have been a different world in terms of history and sciences. Here we present a list of such scientific titles with or without their authors as are referred to in various Sanskrit texts and commentaries. Some of this literature has been located and documented, rest of the books have not been traced. With the help of this list scholars and readers working on ancient Indian sciences or interested in the scientific literature of the Bharat will be able to have an estimate of the numbers and types of the books written dealing with the various aspects of science and technology prevalent from ancient period till 18th century AD. They will also be obliged to trace more and more literature of this kind.