How the Sciences Faded From India

How the Sciences Faded From India

• Maintenance of secrecy, foreign invasions, easy availability of the means of subsistence, lack of royal patronage, and the apathy of the Indian people due to general introverted tendencies–all these gradually stemmed the flow of scientific research in ancient India, and in time reduced it to an antique. Even then, we must certainly remember with pride that the scientific research of ancient India is indeed an essential chapter of Indian culture in the evolution of national pedigree
• during the colonization of India, a trend was set by the British in a systematic manner to discard all traditional systems of knowledge in India and to look at traditional practices with contempt. Unfortunately, this trend continued further after independence, and can still be detected even today. This resulted in the neglect of all the traditional knowledge systems, practices and indigenous science and technology systems of India.
• one of the bands of scholars whose primary interest was the converting of Hindus to the one “true faith” by any means necessary were those at the University of Oxford who started the Boden Professorship of Sanskrit.
• And the British system of education was a great means of making Indians forget their culture and all that they once were, and how India was once the wealthiest area in the world and a center for great learning
• Moreover, it was also a means to make the Indian people feel backwards and unworthy, and that only by accepting the Western values could they again become truly progressive and part of the civilized world.
• we can only guess at how much more advanced the world could have been, and how many more developments may have originated out of Vedic culture if it had been allowed to continue, uninterrupted by the invaders over the past 1000 years or so, whether they be the Muslims, Moghuls, the British, the Portuguese, or so on. They cared little for the culture and even preferred to destroy it, and had even less concern for the people.
• T. B. Macaulay