From Vedic Age to 18th Century: ICHR approves First project to Map the Scientific Achievements of Ancient India

• ICHR has decided to map all the scientific achievements of ancient India that took place between the Vedic Age and 18th century
• Fund is being given to a Professor at Jain University, named R.N. Iyenger, to study Garga-Jyotisha
• Iyenger has previous experience of working with such delicate subjects and has published 20 papers based on similar subjects

The scientific prowess of ancient India has never been under the spotlight. However, since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, he has never lost an opportunity to highlight the historical achievements of ancient India. On several occasions, he chose to focus on the references to scientific achievements mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata as well.

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has chosen it as its first project. The project is primarily about mapping all the scientific achievements that took place in India from the Vedic Ages to the 18^th century. The apex body of funding which is responsible for donating funds for historical research has decided to donate 5 lakh rupees to a Professor of Jain University in Bangalore called R.N. Iyengar to study the Garga-Jyotisha.

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the grant has been sanctioned for two years, mentioned the Indian Express report. Garga-Jyotisha is a text which is composed of 8,000 verses and 16,000 lines. Iyengar opines that it has something to do with the mathematical formula propounded by Aryabhatta.

"Vriddha-Garga-Samhita is a collection of astronomical information, observational astronomy leading to mathematical calculations and natural sciences. It has observations of planets, periods of eclipses, description of 26 comets which can give us an idea of ancient chronology. It also has a chapter on rainfall measurements. Most probably this tradition originated around 500 BC and could have influenced the mathematical astronomy of Aryabhata and other scholars in ancient India," he said to the Indian Express.

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Previously, Iyengar was employed in the civil engineering department of IISC, Bangalore. He had studied about different natural phenomenon there and believed that they can be explained with reference to the ancient scientific achievements made by scholars like Aryabhata. He has 20 other research papers published on similar topics.

– prepared by Atreyee Sengupta, an intern at NewsGram. Twitter: Etrui14

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