Modern Science in India

The Colonial
Phase
B K SARKARS’ EQUATION
• India in exact science (600 BC-AD
1300) = Europe in exact science (600
BC -AD 1300)
• Renaissance in India (1300-1600) =
Renaissance in Europe (1300-1600)
• India in exact science (1600-1750) =
Europe in Exact Science (1300-1600)
Modern Science in India
• Jesuit missionaries brought the fruits of the
Scientific Revolution to Asian countries in
late 16th and early 17th centuries.
• The sustained development of modern
science in Asia actually began with the
arrival of British scientists in India shortly
before 1800.
• Developments in India proceeded more
rapidly because of the sub-continent’s
closeness to the Britain.
‘Diffusionist’ BASALLA MODEL
Phase-1. Traditional society provides
source for European science
Phase-2. Colonial science
Phase-3. Completion of process of
transplantation with struggle to
achieve independent scientific
tradition
CONDITIONS FOR PHASE-3
• REMOVAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL
AND RELIGIOUS RESISTANCE
• SOCIAL APPROVAL
• GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
• ORGANIZED SCIENCE
EDUCATION
• TECHNOLOGICAL BASE
• PROFESSIONALISM (JOURNALS
ETC)
 David Arnold’s View
• This diffusionist model of colonial science 'undoubtedly
rings true' in some contexts of India, according to David
Arnold. Arnold characterizes the concept of 'colonial
science' as 'crudely' serving to 'underline the cultural,
commercial and political importance of the rise of the
three coastal metropolises - Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras.' He underscores the contributions of the
'artisans and intellectuals from older centres of
manufacturing and scholarship' that flocked to these
colonial centres. This is clearly exemplified by Mir
Mohsin of Arcot, arguably the first top grade Indian
'mathematical instrument maker', who came first to
Madras and then to Calcutta. - David Arnold, The New Cambridge
History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India, CUP,
Cambridge, UK 2000,p.7
 Deepak Kumar’s View
• Deepak Kumar rejects 'the single linear
scheme' that Bassalla applies to 'different
culture areas at different points of time.’
The conceptual definition of colonial science
given by Kumar: 'a dependent science
wherein the result-oriented research in
applied science heavily supersedes the
curiosity-oriented research in pure
science.’- Science and the Raj, OUP, New Delhi.
p. 3
 Sumit Sarkar’s View
• Sumit Sarkar seems to agree with Kumar in this
regard: 'The four main areas where systematic
state initiative was visible - maps and surveys,
botany, geology, and medicine - were all related
to British economic or politico-military interests.
The sciences with less immediate practical
application - notably mathematics, physics and
chemistry - tended to be ignored by the state.’
- Modern Times : India 1880s - 1950s, Permanent Black,
Ranikhet, 2015, p. 54