New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- This is a fascinating book on fourteen foundational texts in Sanskrit, India's ancient language with unique characteristics. This is a language that not only survived but flourished in the oral tradition and was initially written in multiple scripts-Brahmi, Kharosthi, Gupta, Sharada, Gaudi, Tirhuta, Grantha, Telugu and Kannada-across the length and breadth of Bharat. When Panini and Patanjali gave the basic rules of grammar-Ashtadhyayi and Mahabhashya-respectively, in the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, they provided the template for communication among scholars, priests, ministers and kings of the royal courts. However, Sanskrit as we know it today, in the standard Devanagari format, is a recent innovation. This came up in the late eighteenth century when William James established a printing press under the aegis of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta (as Kolkata was then called). When India became a Republic, it was one of fourteen languages listed in the Eighth Schedule. In November 2005, it received the status of a classical language. Now, it is also an associate official language in two North Himalayan states, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Let me start with a few general comments before we get to the review of these fourteen texts-all of which have a few things in common. They were all created in Sanskrit in different parts of India and have covered secrets about the earth and the sky, and the entire gamut of human activity-from mathematics to astronomy, medicine, statecraft and espionage, as well as the social, political and natural environment.
Rather than review the book on the basis of the chapters as they appear, I have taken the liberty of approaching them along the historical timeline. We begin with Arthashastra (Kautilya/Chanakya), a 4th-3rd century BCE Mauryan-era treatise on rulers and the ruled, as well as the dos and don'ts of a successful ruler. In many ways, it reminded me of James Scott's Seeing Like a State, for every entry in the six thousand-odd verses is a reflection on statecraft, fiscal policy, civil administration, economic regulation, trade networks and institutional state intelligence. It was rediscovered in 1909 by Rudrapatna Shamasastry (1868-1944) when he was working on some palm-leaf manuscripts at Mysore's Oriental Research Institute.
Then we have the 3rd century BCE Sushruta Samhita, a compendium on surgical procedures, detailing over 120 operative instruments, cataract couching, anatomical dissection and forehead/cheek skin-flap rhinoplasty. There is an interesting box item called 'The Original Indian Nose Job', which details the earliest recorded method of nose reconstruction! Caraka Samhita came a century later. With 9,295 verses-over 300,000 words-it covers almost everything that we need to know about our bodies, starting with the Tridosa theory on the energy states of the body: Vata (the air element), Kapha (the earth element) and Pitta (the fire element), and the need to find a balance among them.
Bharata Muni's Natyashastra was also written around this time. It is a comprehensive manual of classical performance arts, establishing the aesthetic theory of rasa, stage design, acoustics, microtones (srutis) and body movement (mudras). It is also called the fifth Veda (after Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva). A few centuries later, in 499 CE, we get Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya, a 121-verse text describing landmarks in the realms of mathematics and astronomy. It gives us an idea of the diurnal axial rotation of the Earth, scientific causes of eclipses, trigonometric sine tables, and the value of pi as 3.1416. All this came from Pataliputra, the ancient name of Patna. No wonder, then, that India's first satellite was named after him.
Embedded within Vishnu Purana, a text of the 5th-7th centuries CE, is Chitra Sutra by Visnudharmottara Purana. Set as a conversation between King Vajra and the sage Markandeya, this is an early Sanskrit text on painting and visual aesthetics, defining canonised body proportions, shading, perspective, plaster preparation and mineral pigments.
Between the 7th and 9th centuries CE, India's super architect, Muni Maya, penned 3,000 aphorisms in Mayamata-a treatise on architecture (vastu sastra) and civil engineering, outlining ground orientation via solar stylus (sanku), soil-bearing tests and modular temple grids. The Green Revolution manuals of 10th-century India were called Vrksayurveda and Krsi Prasara. In the former, Surpala devotes sections to plant pathology, tree care, grafting, seed priming and the formulation of the bio-fertiliser kunapa-jala. Krsi Prasara, on the other hand, covers rainfall forecasting, water harvesting, cattle health, manure management and seasonal rice cultivation.
King Somesvara III of the Chalukya dynasty was a patron of the liberal arts. It was during his regime that an imperial encyclopaedia, Manasollasa, 'that which makes the mind happy', was commissioned. This 100-chapter book has entries on almost every subject under the sun-from statecraft to secular arts, culinary sciences (paka kala), horticulture, cattle breeding, falconry, games and music.
The entry on mathematics is called Lilavati. It was written by Bhaskaracharya around 1150 CE. He was the head of the astronomical observatory in Ujjain and a top-notch astronomer. This was the compilation of a father's playful verse riddles to teach his young daughter Lilavati the nuances of arithmetic, combinations, geometry and indeterminate equations. Addressed to a younger audience, this treatise is actually a set of four books-Lilavati, on arithmetic and geometry; Bija Ganita, on algebra; and Graha Ganita and Gola Adhyaya, on astronomy. At a time when, across the world-including many parts of India-it was not at all common for girls to be educated, here was a father who insisted that his daughter become absolutely proficient in maths.
A hundred years later, we have Sangita Ratnakar, written during the reign of King Singhama of the Yadav dynasty, who ruled Deva Giri (now Daulatabad) in northern Maharashtra. It was composed by Saranga Deva, the grandson of Bhaskara, who fled Kashmir to escape the invaders in the thirteenth century CE (1210-1247). This book of seven chapters is a definitive musicological bridge between ancient forms and modern Hindustani/Carnatic systems, categorising 264 ragas and rhythmic talas.
We know of the popularity of wrestling from many of our ancient texts, including the Mahabharat. There are references to Krishna and Balarama defeating the evil King Kamsa, as well as to the duel between Bhima and Duryodhana, in which the former emerges as the decisive victor. All the techniques of this sport are captured in Malla Purana, a 13th-century CE Gujarati manual attributed to the Jyeshti Malla clan. It codifies wrestling styles (malla-yuddha), arena construction, physical training regimens, as well as the diets and daily routines that budding wrestlers had to follow.
And finally, we have the 3,871-verse Rasaratna-Samuccaya from the 14th century CE. Acharya Vaga Bhata's offering is a metallurgical compendium detailing chemical apparatus (yantras), crucibles, mercury purification (samskaras) and the pyrotechnic extraction of metallic zinc.
If all fourteen entries were to be taken together, it would be a whopping 9,500 pages. Therefore, the authors deserve our heartfelt thanks for putting this together in an easy-to-read, fun-fact-filled book with multiple quizzes and challenge rounds in less than 200 pages. It is, in the language of Arthashastra, true value for money!
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.