Indian Science in the Writings of Joseph Needham.
India] b v Subbarayappa
The author is a former president of the International Society for the History of Science and a professor at the Institute of World Cultures in Bangalore, India.
Joseph Needham was known for his universal and open-minded vision, especially in his possible exchanges with Chinese and foreign cultures. In the volumes of his magnum opus, Science and Civilization in China, the sinologist showed that he was well versed in the exchanges and mutual influences between Chinese and Indian sciences, and between Chinese and Arab sciences.
For example, he rightly pointed out that the Buddhists who traveled between India and China played the role of cultural transmitters, and in particular several Dharma seekers who traveled to India from China, such as the famous Fa Xian, Xuanzang, and Yijing, played a crucial role in the cultural exchange between China and India. In China from the 5th to the 7th century, there were some Indian classics such as the Brahmanical Astronomical Sutra, the Brahmin Algorithm, the Brahmin lunisolar calendar, the Brahmin prescription, and so on. Although little is known about the contents of these texts, their presence in China is indicative of the interest of Chinese scholars in Indian scientific knowledge.
Joseph Needham was wary of India's influence on Chinese science. "It's hard to come up with a comparison table at this point to show how much influence India has on China in science and technology," he said. This problem arises in almost every specialized area. Some basic concepts, such as the equatorial system of the Twenty-Eight Nights in astronomy and the theory of Yuan Qi in medicine, are likely to have arisen from the original concept of ancient Mesopotamia and then developed in completely different ways by the Indians, Chinese and Greeks. He also pointed out that ancient Persia was one of the relay stations for the spread of Babylonian ideas to China and India.
When discussing the stars and "".NashatraAt the origin of the ecliptic constellation in ancient Indian astronomy, he succinctly pointed out the difference between the situation in India and China and asserted: "No documentary evidence has been found for the emergence of 'Nashala' in India." ”
In order to further understand the exchange of astronomical ideas, Joseph Needham sought to understand in detail the differences between the Indian Nakshatra system and the location of the 28 Nakshatra in China. According to his research, only nine of China's 28 Nakshatra are the same as those in India's NashatraThe other eleven, though in the same constellation as the Indian one, did not have a single elongation star with it;As for the other eight elongations, which are not even in the same constellation as those in India, two of these eight are Vega and Altair. He also found that the distribution of stars in India's "Nassarra" system is somewhat more dispersed than that of China.
Joseph Needham's ideas about the exchange of certain mathematical concepts are also quite novel, although there are still some debates, such as his discussion of the generation of zeros in the decimal value system.
He thinks".Taoist mysticism of 'nothingThe notation for the invention of zero probably played no less role than the concept of 'emptiness' in Indian philosophy. In fact, it seems difficult to say that the earliest symbol of zero was found in an inscription dated at the border between Chinese and Indian cultures. ”
Joseph Needham's notability that mathematical ideas were spread from China to East and West Asia was notable, but he also gave credit to Indian mathematicians for the application of trigonometry, which had been absorbed by the Arabs and spread to Europe. As for the Pythagorean theorem and indefinite equations, which appear in the Chinese texts, Joseph Needham does not seem to have examined their development in India in detail.
Joseph Needham said: ".The ancient Chinese were people with a strong sense of the world, they loved life, and they were enthusiastic about the joys of life. Therefore, in the prayers on the bronzes of the early Zhou Dynasty, the words longevity and longevity are the most common, which is a natural thing. The same can be seen in the oracle bone inscriptions of the early Shang Dynasty.
In the pursuit of longevity, the idea of material immortality became a cherished goal. In this direction, the Chinese, like the Indians, are looking for herbs for immortality. The "elixir" or "immortal grass" in the Rig Veda is called soma and haoma in the ancient Persian scriptures. There are at least 120 hymns in the Rig Veda that mention soma, and the plant haoma is described in only five ancient Persian scriptures. In any case, the application of soma, an immortal grass, originated in India and Iran. Joseph Needham also took this into account and linked it to the golden elixir in the content of the longevity law and the origin of Chinese alchemy, implying that it may have been the soma and haoma of India and Iran that prompted the Chinese to search for elixir.
Joseph Needham also developed new insights into the Indian theory of atomism.
He rightly noted: "Descriptions of Indian atomism can be found both in the Vaiseska and Nyaya philosophies of Brahmanism and in the heretical Jainism and Ajivika schools." The origins of these atomic theories are perhaps as old as those of the Greeks. Arab atomism arose relatively late, most likely in the 9th and 10th centuries by al-ashari and al-Razi, but expert research shows that Arab atomism did not originate in Greece but was almost a copy of ancient Indian atomism. In any case, the atomic theory in India was a changing system of thought from the 5th century BC to the 12th century AD;It was not buried from the 2nd century AD until it was rediscovered in the 17th century, as was the case in Europe. Vaiseska and Nyaya philosophy and adherents of Jainism, Sautrantika Buddhism, took a long time to construct and perfect.
According to Joseph Needham, the formal logic and other achievements of Vaiseska and Nyaya were once transmitted to China in the first half of the 6th century, but it is well known that atomic theory did not take root in China.
Needham's expeditions to Indian science, especially astronomy and mathematics, were understandably largely dependent on the work of other scholars;For it is very difficult to go through the vast expanse of Indian Sanskrit sources, as he has done in his admirable study of Chinese sources. In any case, his magnum opus on Chinese science and civilization is essential to the study of the history of Indian science, and his extensive thinking and insight into several aspects of Indian science are also a source of inspiration for Indian historians.