1917.] The Fourth Indian Science Congress. clxvii 



purely Indian lines ? I believe that the answer to these two questions is 

 to be found in the speculative character of the Greek mind'on the one hand 

 and the eminently practical character of "the Indian mind on the other. 

 To the Greek, mathematics was a field of mental exercise cultivated 

 mainly in order to satisfy the craving for the ideal that was a character- 

 istic feature of the Greek mind. Geometry was not pursued in the first 

 instance for any definite practical purpose, chiefly as a study of ideal 

 relations, a department of ideal truth. On the other hand the Indian 

 cultivation of algebra was stimulated by the necessities of his practical 

 life. Astronomy was essential for the exact performance of his religious 

 duties and for astronomical calculations algebra and trigonometry were 

 the necessary instruments. These instruments he furnished and kept in 

 readiness for the operations that were necessary, and this to a degree of 

 perfection elsewhere unknown at that ancient time ; but beyond this the 

 science had little further interest for him and its development stopped 

 short when the necessary purpose had been accomplished. What led the 

 Indian mathematician to busy himself with the solution of the indetermi- 

 nate equation ? The answer is that there was an astronomical, and 

 ultimately astrological, necessity for it in connection with certain inverse 

 problems that arose out of the calendar. 



Now many have been in the habit of regarding the Indian as so in- 

 tenselv speculative as to be in danger of missing the practical in life and 

 action. It would rather seem to be true that the bent of the Indian 

 mind is towards the practical and not towards the merely speculative. I 

 have sometimes wondered whether we may not discern even in the strict- 

 ly philosophic efforts of the thought of India something of the same prac- 

 tical purpose which runs through its mathematical achievements. Indian 

 philosophy was no mere speculative exercise, it was not pursued simply 

 to satisfy an intellectual craving ; it was something pursued with a view 

 to the practical ends of the religious life. No doubt it demanded an intel- 

 lectual effort of a high order and employed in its service intellects as great 

 as any which have grappled with the sreat problems of existence ; but 

 emancipation from a condition from which the soul strove to free itself 

 was the goal of all this high speculative endeavour. Perhaps we may 

 discern in this also the reason why India's speculative efforts in philo- 

 sophy, like her achievements in mathematics, came to a standstill and suc- 

 ceeding generations were content simply to attach themselves to one or 

 other of the leading schools, once they were satisfied that they had found 

 in it the practical satisfaction that their religious instincts seemed to 

 demand. I merely suggest this as a possible explanation of facts pecu- 

 liar to the history of the development of Indian thought and m opposition 

 to the generally accepted view that the Indian mind is so wedded to the 

 speculative that it is less fitted to devote itself to the tasks of severe 



From the rapid survev I have attempted it appears then that India 

 like the rest of the world was in the ancient time still far from the paths 

 of the modern scientific method. Even its later efforts were confined to 

 the reduction into an ordered system of the manifold phenomena which 

 pressed themselves on their attention; the external tramework, not the 

 inner connections of the phenomena, was that which occupied their 

 thinking. The dynamical foundations of their favourite science remained 

 beyond their ken and were not reached by them or ^ oto peopte 

 until the modern age represented by a Kepler and a Newton. I have 

 seen it stated that Bhaskaracharya had foreghmpses of the law of univer- 

 sal gravitation ; but this statement rests on a m ^PP?* en ^ 

 significance of that law. Let me simply quote the statements on which 

 this claim on his behalf has been made. 



Thev are mainlv these : -The earth stands firm by it own power 



m -fv/ * m • LlrT \* heat is in the sun, coldness in the moon, 



without support m space, as neat is "* UUD ;, "' 



so immobility is in the earth by nature. 



-The eSth possessing an attractive force draws towards itself any 



