IIT Kharagpur Launches New Course to Uncover Ancient Indian Technology

It seems like IIT Kharagpur is trying hard to connect the dots between modern sciences and ancient India’s science and technology by launching a new course on ‘History of Science and Technology in Ancient India’. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Kharagpur will offer the new course. The main objective of the course is to figure out the contributions of ancient Indian science and technology to the modern sciences.

Director of IIT Kharagpur, Mr. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti revealed that the study of the history of science and technology from the ancient to colonial perspective is a key component of the premier institutes’ Science & Heritage Initiative, also known as SANDHI. The new course will play a major role in research, documentation, preservation and dissemination of India’s rich heritage in science & technology, design, architecture, language, culture and its intricate connections with the rest of the world, he explained.

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At present, most IITs are pursuing research projects on ancient Indian science and technology. However, none of the premier institutes have come up with a course in this area so far. IIT Kharagpur is the first premier technical institutes in the country that has come up with this unique course.

The course will help the participants to have an overview of some of the significant landmarks in the development of science in India, specifically in the fields of medicine, chemistry, astronomy, physics and mathematics. The course is designed with an aim to give students a perspective on the scientific and technological aspect of India’s heritage.

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A professor at Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jenia Mukherjee pointed that the course does not romanticise Indian or oriental ideas. Instead, the course will focus on knowledge systems that have been ignored over the years, she explained.

IIT Kharagpur will offer History of Science and Technology in Ancient India course for both spring and autumn semesters as a regular three-credit elective course.

The syllabus of the course covers some of the following topics: -

• Indian Astronomy and its Transmission
• Mathematics in Vedic and Post-Vedic texts
• Traditions of Computation Techniques
• Kerala School of Mathematics
• Ayurveda
• Ayurgenomics
• Yoga Psychology

These are the major areas that will be covered under this course. IIT Kharagpur has identified faculty members and experts in the respective domains from various departments. These experts will teach the students.