CHRONOLOGY IN ANCIENT INDIA

                                                                      (TIMELINE)

Chronology

To place Vedic science in context it is necessary to have a proper understanding of the

chronology of the Vedic literature. There are astronomical references in the Vedas which

recall events in the third or the fourth millennium B.C.E. 

and earlier. The recent discovery

(e.g. Feuerstein 1995) that Sarasvati, the preeminent river of the Rigvedic times, went dry

around 1900 B.C.E. due to tectonic upheavels implies that the Rigveda is to be dated prior

to this epoch, perhaps prior to 2000 B.C.E. since the literature that immediately followed

the Rigveda does not speak of any geological catastrophe. But we cannot be very precise

about our estimates. There exist traditional accounts in the Puranas that assign greater

antiquity to the Rigveda: for example, the Kaliyuga tradition speaks of 3100 B.C.E. and

the Var¹ahamihira tradition mentions 2400 B.C.E. According to Henri-Paul Francfort (1992)

of the Indo-French team that surveyed this area, the Sarasvati river had ceased to be a

perennial river by the third millennium B.C.E.; this supports those who argue for the older

dates. But in the absence of conclusive evidence, it is prudent to take the most conservative

of these dates, namely 2000 B.C.E. as the latest period to be associated with the Rigveda.

The textbook accounts of the past century or so were based on the now disproven sup-

position that the Rigveda is to be dated to about 1500-1000 B.C.E. and, therefore, the

question of the dates assigned to the Brahmanas, Sutras and other literature remains open.

The detailed chronology of the literature that followed Rigveda has not yet been worked

out. A chronology of this literature was attempted based solely on the internal astronomical

evidence in the important book \Ancient Indian Chronology" by the historian of science

P.C. Sengupta in 1947. Although Sengupta's dates have the virtue of inner consistency, they

have neither been examined carefully by other scholars nor checked against archaeological

evidence.

This means that we can only speak in the most generalities regarding the chronology of

the texts: assign Rigveda to the third millennium B.C.E. and earlier and the Brahmanas to

the second millennium. This also implies that the archaeological ¯nds of the Indus-Sarasvati

period, which are coeval with Rigveda literature, can be used to cross-check textual evidence.

No comprehensive studies of ancient Indian science exist. The textbook accounts like the

one to be found in Basham's \The Wonder that was India" are hopelessly out of date. But

there are some excellent surveys of selected material. The task of putting it all together into

a comprehensive whole will be a major task for historians of science.

This essay presents an assortment of topics from ancient Indian science. We begin with

an outline of the models used in the Vedic cognitive science; these models parallel those

used in ancient Indian physics. We also review mathematics, astronomy, grammar, logic and

medicine.

                                            Vedic cognitive science

The Rigveda speaks of cosmic order. It is assumed that there exist equivalences of various

kinds between the outer and the inner worlds. It is these connections that make it possible

for our minds to comprehend the universe. It is noteworthy that the analytical methods are

used both in the examination of the outer world as well as the inner world. This allowed

the Vedic rishis to place in sharp focus paradoxical aspects of analytical knowledge. Such

paradoxes have become only too familiar to the contemporary scientist in all branches of

inquiry (Kak 1986).

In the Vedic view, the complementary nature of the mind and the outer world, is of

fundamental signi¯cance. Knowledge is classi¯ed in two ways: the lower or dual; and the

higher or uni¯ed. What this means is that knowledge is super¯cially dual and paradoxical

but at a deeper level it has a unity. The Vedic view claims that the material and the conscious

are aspects of the same transcendental reality.

The idea of complementarity was at the basis of the systematization of Indian philosophic

traditions as well, so that complementary approaches were paired together. We have the

groups of: logic (nyaya) and physics (vaisheshika), cosmology (sankhya) and psychology

(yoga), and language (mimamsa) and reality (vedanta). Although these philosophical schools

were formalized in the post-Vedic age, we ¯nd an echo of these ideas in the Vedic texts.

In the Rigveda there is reference to the yoking of the horses to the chariot of Indra,

Ashvins, or Agni; and we are told elsewhere that these gods represent the essential mind.

The same metaphor of the chariot for a person is encountered in Katha Upanishad and

the Bhagavad Gita; this chariot is pulled in di®erent directions by the horses, representing

senses, which are yoked to it. The mind is the driver who holds the reins to these horses; but

next to the mind sits the true observer, the self, who represents a universal unity. Without

this self no coherent behaviour is possible.

The Five Levels

In the Taittiriya Upanishad, the individual is represented in terms of ¯ve di®erent sheaths

or levels that enclose the individual's self. These levels, shown in an ascending order, are:

² The physical body (annamaya kosha)

² Energy sheath (pranamaya kosha)

² Mental sheath (manomaya kosha)

² Intellect sheath (vijnanamaya kosha)

² Emotion sheath (anandamaya kosha )

These sheaths are de¯ned at increasingly ¯ner levels. At the highest level, above the

emotion sheath, is the self. It is signi¯cant that emotion is placed higher than the intellect.

This is a recognition of the fact that eventually meaning is communicated by associations

which are in°uenced by the emotional state.

The energy that underlies physical and mental processes is called prana. One may look

at an individual in three di®erent levels. At the lowest level is the physical body, at the next

higher level is the energy systems at work, and at the next higher level are the thoughts.

Since the three levels are interrelated, the energy situation may be changed by inputs either

at the physical level or at the mental level. When the energy state is agitated and restless,

it is characterized by rajas; when it is dull and lethargic, it is characterized by tamas; the

state of equilibrium and balance is termed sattva.

The key notion is that each higher level represents characteristics that are emergent

on the ground of the previous level. In this theory mind is an emergent entity, but this

emergence requires the presence of the self.

The Structure of the Mind

The Sankhya system takes the mind as consisting of ¯ve components: manas, ahankara,

chitta, buddhi, and atman. Again these categories parallel those of Figure 1.

Manas is the lower mind which collects sense impressions. Its perceptions shift from

moment to moment. This sensory-motor mind obtains its inputs from the senses of hearing,

touch, sight, taste, and smell. Each of these senses may be taken to be governed by a separate

agent.

Ahankara is the sense of I-ness that associates some perceptions to a subjective and

personal experience.

Once sensory impressions have been related to I-ness by ahankara, their evaluation and

resulting decisions are arrived at by buddhi, the intellect. Manas, ahankara, and buddhi are

collectively called the internal instruments of the mind.

Next we come to chitta, which is the memory bank of the mind. These memories con-

stitute the foundation on which the rest of the mind operates. But chitta is not merely

a passive instrument. The organization of the new impressions throws up instinctual or

primitive urges which creates di®erent emotional states.

This mental complex surrounds the innermost aspect of consciousness which is called

atman, the self, brahman, or jiva. Atman is considered to be beyond a ¯nite enumeration of

categories.

All this amounts to a brilliant analysis of the individual. The traditions of yoga and

tantra have been based on such analysis. No wonder, this model has continued to inspire

people around the world to this day.