Prakash CHITRE, Our Intellectual Heritage. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass Publishing House, 2024.
Until very recently, few recognised the significance, or even the very existence, of the huge, rich treasure of ancient Indian knowledge. External invasions, natural disasters, and later colonial rule triggered the incredible loss and criminal neglect of these ancient knowledge systems, as thousands of valuable original manuscripts including those written on tal patra-s (leaves) were burnt and libraries, temples, homes, and other structures were demolished. Many colonial writers and several Western scholars discredited India’s intellectual originality and ingenuity, and contributed to a distorted Western understanding of India’s extraordinary treasure of knowledge. However, vast evidence still exists of the colossal knowledge base in ancient India. Some knowledge was preserved through oral tradition; some texts were copied by foreign scholars and taken to their countries; some original manuscripts were brought to China, Arabia, and Europe; and some manuscripts are found in India. As a result, many invaluable ancient Indian manuscripts are still found, even today, in libraries in France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and other European countries, apart from some in libraries in India, which form the basis for valuable research by scholars of the modern period interested in the ancient Indian wealth of knowledge. These research writings form the basis of the present book under review. Prakash Chitre’s main contribution lies in collating large quantities of evidence from numerous sources and presenting it coherently. The volume provides irrefutable proof that dispels all doubts on the originality and the extent of the contributions of the ancient Indian intellectuals.
Chitre adopts a novel way of falsifying every misconceived theory, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation of who was actually responsible for which original contribution, as many theories and principles were unjustifiably credited to Western scholars. Chitre extensively quotes long passages from the writings of various eminent scholars from as many as forty five different fields of scholarship – Indian and Western, who acknowledged and highlighted the originality, the depth and accuracy of the contributions of the ancient Indian intellectuals – the ṛishis, the saints, mathematicians, scientists, technologists, physicists, surgeons, philosophers, political scientists, historians, linguists, literary writers, and other scholars on every specific aspect.
The book’s extensive content is organised into seven major chapters, each with several major sections. The book opens by debunking the theory of Aryan invasion/migration in Chapter 1. To refute the theory, Chitre quotes time-honoured archaeologists, geneticists, geophysicists, and Indic civilisation scholars, and asserts that all the talk about Aryan migration or invasion is a myth. Chapter 2 describes a few significant archaeological findings from ancient India. Some of these findings refer to archaeological sites dating back 9,500 years; in fact, some sites were found to date to the period 13,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE, as established by scientific tests such as carbon tests and radiocarbon dating. The descriptions of sites across various regions and states of India clearly demonstrate that a well-developed civilisation existed several millennia ago throughout India. Each description by eminent scientist-scholars authenticates the validity of these findings.
Chapter 3 discusses some of the major marvels of ancient Indian engineering and architecture, including temples, sculptures, bridges, carvings, and the underlying scientific principles that underpin them. Focusing on a few areas of knowledge such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, aeronautics, metallurgy, medicine and surgery, veterinary medicine, astrology, economics, political science, geography, linguistics, etymology, and grammar, Chapters 4 and 5 highlight the pioneering contributions of various ancient Indian intellectuals. Some of the accredited scientists and mathematicians of documented accounts of the ancient period include Baudhāyana (for his Baudhāyana Śulbasūtra a text that describes several concepts in mathematics, e.g., calculating the value of “pi” (
Well-planned settlements were built during the Indus Valley Civilisation, known initially as the Sarasvatī–Sindhu Civilisation, with scientifically developed drainage and sewerage systems, sophisticated hydraulic, irrigation, and water storage systems, and other facilities, beginning around 4500 BC. The history of science and technology is said to have started with the prehistoric human activity of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Actually, ancient India laid the foundations for many areas of knowledge, particularly mathematics, science, logic, medicine, psychology, spiritualism and ethics, in addition to fostering social and cultural studies, and studies in law, languages and linguistics. Many great authors, saints, and spiritual leaders produced monumental literary works of immense value. Chitre identified more than 70 brilliant minds of ancient India and highlighted their contributions to various areas of knowledge. They include both well-known and relatively less famous Vedic and Jain scholars. Each one of those intellectuals would deserve more than a Nobel Prize. Many of the contributions of the ancient scholars date several centuries before the Greek, Arabian, and Western discoveries, whether they refer to complex mathematical algorithms, theses on the origins of the universe, astronomy, principles of physics, aeronautics, medicine, surgery, metrology, metallurgy, civil engineering, astrology, theology, geography, linguistics, or any other area of knowledge. The Vedas are considered the most valuable gift to humanity. Vedas, Vedāṅga-s, Upaniṣad-s, Purāṇa-s, and Upapurāṇa-s authored by Indian rishis and saint-scholars were products of an open intellectual tradition, and the stanzas therein went through several revisions and redactions. They constitute the most vibrant and cherished literature, increasingly found to be enormously helpful in understanding even highly complex phenomena of the modern age. This literature offers solutions to several perplexing questions that many contemporary scholars are still struggling to explain. The breadth, depth, and accuracy of ancient Indian scholars’ knowledge are indeed stunning.
While discussing world-class universities nowadays, many often refer to Stanford and Oxford, forgetting that there were great universities in ancient India. Chapter 6 provides detailed descriptions of more than 25 universities in India, many of which were established long before modern universities in Europe. In fact, the first university in the world was established in India, Takshashila, in the 5th century BCE. Other distinguished ancient universities include Nalanda, Vikramshila, Vallabhi, Odantapuri, Ratnagiri, Pushpagiri, Nagarjuna Konda, and many other centres of learning in western, southern, and northern India, including those established in present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many of these ancient universities attracted large numbers of scholars from around the world. Extensive in size and comprehensive and multidisciplinary in scope, working in a vast range of disciplines, quite a few universities offered courses in as many as sixty to seventy disciplines. At the same time, the universities viewed knowledge as a whole, interconnected and mutually influencing, encompassing various fields of science and spirituality. Some universities were not only architectural masterpieces but also home to renowned teachers, erudite scholars and students, some of whom later became pioneers in the pursuit of knowledge and distinguished personalities in public life. Those universities were truly universal in the coverage of areas of study, in attracting scholars from many parts of the country and abroad, and in their overall approach.
As stated earlier, a large volume of ancient Indian literature was lost. Yet Chitre notes that thousands of rare manuscripts still exist, some with umpteen copies, in many libraries and homes both in India and abroad, which may still form only a tip of the proverbial iceberg. The last chapter of the book provides a glimpse of some of these manuscripts that survived the onslaught, how they survived and how they were preserved for the benefit of posterity.
Prakash Chitre’s Our Intellectual Heritage is indeed an immensely valuable resource that refutes all questions and contentions about the contributions of ancient Indian scholars to scientific knowledge across a variety of aspects. It is pretty comprehensive in its coverage of several dimensions of India’s vibrant history of higher education, research, and cultural heritage. The colossal volume of 870 pages, including more than 100 pages of preliminary material, provides a wealth of information. With extensive quotations from numerous scholars’ writings, Chitre addresses almost every predicament about ancient Indian knowledge. This highly informative book is both interesting and valuable. It presents, based on several scholarly publications from India and the West, definitive statements on India’s rich legacy. However, the author’s style does not make the book look like a typical research study or a general read. Yet it becomes an indispensable volume for all those interested in India’s profoundly rich intellectual heritage.
