Glimpses of India Engineering and Technology: Ancient and Medieval Period

Language: English
Pages: 403 ( Throughout B/W Illustrations)

About the Book
Glimpses of Indian Engineering and Technology (Ancient and Medieval period) is a collection of essays on Engineering and Technology from Ancient to Medieval period.
It is a common misconception that Indians were not advanced in engineering and technology. They may not even know how to find out the value of it, the i.e. ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. From the study of different Sulbasutras (Katyayana, Apastamba, Manava, and Boudhayana), the value of it assumed at that time (BC 700 to BC 200) could be found out.
The existing Indian temples and `prasadas' are a thing of beauty and pride. Their studies, particularly of architecture and engineering aspects are noted in this book. There are mainly three styles of temple roofs: Nagara, Dravida and Orissan. Diparnava, Ksirarnava and Prasada Mandana deal with Nagara style of temples. Kasyapa-Silpa, Mayamata, Manasara describe Dravida style. Silpa Prakash and Bhuvan Pradipa deal with Orissan style of temples.
The chapters on Town Planning (Nagar Rachana Sastra), Irrigation Engineering, Water supply, Road Development, Ship Building give detailed information about the growth and development in each area starting from Post-Vedic period to Chandragupta Maurya's period.
Rajatarangini is a treatise written by the great poet Kalhana from the Kashmir valley. This treatise is written during the period AD 1089-1101. It could be understood from the facts and discussions as mentioned in this treatise that a great advance was made by Indians (Kashmiris) in House Construction and Town Planning.
The last four chapters give information on metals viz. Gold, Copper & its Alloys, Silver, and Iron. Rasaratna Samuccaya and Kautiliya Arthasastra give detailed information on the