Description
There is much talk of the glories of ancient Hindu sciences in India today. Landmark discoveries in every field of science, from mathematics to medicine, are being credited to ancient scientists-sages of India. This book places such priority claims in a comparative global history of science. While fully acknowledging the substantial contributions of Indian geometers, mathematicians, physicians, artisans and craftsmen, it challenges their glorification for nationalistic purposes. It also questions the neo-Hindu scientization of yoga and Vedanta pioneered by Swami Vivekananda. Backed by the best available scholarship on history of science, this book offers a reading of history of Indian science without the hype that has come to surround it.
CONTENTS
Introduction
- Who Discovered the Pythagorean Theorem?
- Nothing That Is: Zero’s Fleeting Footsteps
- Genetics, Plastic Surgery and Other Wonders of Ancient Indian Medicine
- Yoga Scientized: How Swami Vivekananda rewrote Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtra
References and Index
On the cover: The Welcome Ayurvedic Anatomical Man, circa 1700
Meera Nanda
Meera Nanda is an independent scholar based in the United States. Her education has been in both science and philosophy, and her research interests include the history of science, Hindu nationalism and the subversion of scientific temper, postmodernism and right wing environmentalism, apart from the philosophy of science.
She has been a John Templeton Foundation Fellow in Religion and Science (2005-2007), and is currently in India as Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali. Her essays in various academic and popular journals have been widely read and discussed. She is the author of <a href=”http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/__Prophets_Facing_Backward_1564.html”>Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodernism, Science and Hindu Nationalism</a>; Postmodernism and Religious Fundamentalism: A Scientific Rebuttal to Hindu Science; The God Market.
