التراث التقاني الهندي _ التراث الفلسفي الهندي .. الاسكندريه والسيمياء

Indian Technical Heritage _ Indian Philosophical Heritage .. Alexandria and Alchemy

Indian Technical Heritage

We know about early Indian technology in metallurgy (the science of extracting, refining and mixing metals) from artifacts found in tombs such as steel from 600-500 BC. Also from a wrought iron column near Delhi dating back 1500 years. Information about other chemical techniques comes only from medical writings: the Charaka around 100 AD, the Susruta around 200 AD, and the Vajbhata around 600 AD. These writings show that India had a rich stock of medicines (pharmacopeia) (poisonous plants, laxatives, diuretics); and of metallurgy (gold, silver, tin, iron, lead, copper, steel, bronze, brass); Other practical chemicals include alcohol, caustic soda, and chloride and sulphate of iron and copper. The Indians used alcohol as an anesthetic, stopped bleeding with hot oils and tar, removed tumors, cleaned abscesses, treated anal fistulas, sutured wounds, performed amputations and caesarean sections, and set fractures. Their fumigation of wounds was one of the first efforts to sterilize surgery. They were forbidden to use scalpels, so the study of anatomy was conducted on corpses that were submerged in water for several days so that their parts could be cut off by simply pulling them. This gave them a good idea of ​​the structure of bones and muscles, but their idea of ​​the (soft) organs was weak because they were susceptible to decomposition. In the Susruta, doctors were advised to treat skin lesions with caustic alkali, then wait long enough to say a hundred words, then neutralize the caustic alkali with acid (20). There is no doubt that this procedure causes severe pain (caustic alkaline wash, as caustic alkaline is used to clean bleeding, but it effectively disinfects the wound.

Caustic alkaline is also recommended for making incisions or cuts and for removing tumors, and it was preferred over cutting instruments, because they cauterized the wound during the operation (21).

Indian Philosophical Heritage

There is much in common between early Indian natural philosophies and their counterparts in China, Alexandria, and Greece. A thousand years before Christ, the Vedas (a collection of sacred Hindu writings) identified five elements: earth, water, air, ether, and light, and said: The life-giving atoms of these elements combine to make all things. Tantrism - an important philosophical-social-religious system somewhat similar to Taoism - probably began to develop quietly in the period from 100 - 300 AD, but it became influential around the year 400. The essence of Tantrism is the search for spiritual power and ultimate liberation from earthly ties. These practices include syllables and sentences Sacred (mantras), symbolic drawings, yoga (concentration technique), and secret rituals. Tantric religion provided India with one of the essential elements of alchemy, as important as the doctrine of transmutation, the lust for gold, and the availability of mercury: the mystical touch.