Of all the sciences chemistry attracted the interest of Indians from the ancient times. P. C. Ray elaborately documented the attainments of the ancient Indians in this respect in his monumental work-History of Hindu Chemistry in two volumes.
The methods of studying chemical sciences have experienced a sea-change after the industrial revolution in Europe. We, in India, have a taste of it during the colonial period. It has, therefore, been logical on the part of Dr. Aparajita Basu to start from this period. The study of chemistry in all its variety, started from this period. Here also, P. C. Ray was the leader. During his teaching assignment in Presidency College and later in the newly established department of Chemistry of the University of Calcutta, he trained a band of young and brilliant students of chemistry, who were capable of imbibing the spirit of research into unknown areas and at the same time equipping themselves with capability and foresight to move forward.
The story of this journey has been narrated by Dr. Aparajita Basu in great detail, telling us how the race for supremacy was run by the young chemists who journeyed far and wide throughout India.
The forerunners under the leadership of P. C. Ray, not only did teaching of chemistry but also discovered new areas of research and created opportunities for industrialising chemical knowledge, thus travelling into the realm of chemical technology.
Dr. Basu has been able to keep a tag on the developments in chemistry throughout the world, and make considerable efforts to make them available to our chemists. In this way, was the success of our chemical studies known to other parts of the world and thereby enriching the world's store of chemical knowledge.
During her history of colonial period of about two hundred years, India overcame many of her medieval conservatisms and ushered in a new era with the development of Western education and science. History of colonial India is an important discipline studied by many scholars and they elucidated different aspects of that time, such as politics, economy, freedom struggle, education, culture, society and also science. While some authors unearthed the nature of colonial science of the nineteenth century, none of them have tried to explain the Indian science, particularly of the first half of twentieth century. Science not only developed and flourished in this period in India but it laid a strong foundation over which each and every branch of science of post-independent India developed rapidly. Unfortunately, the scientific works of the last phase of colonial India are mainly arrested in technical journals and review-like writings, making them difficult to reach the educated people at large. Few workers of history of Indian science made any effort to present the history of colonial science of India, particularly in the light of politics, economy and societal variations. While this is the picture for the whole of science, one can understand, what it is for the individual disciplines, such as chemical science. Chemistry is a sophisticated physical science of mod-ern world that began to prosper in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. So the question of cultivating chemical science in the early part of colonial history does not arise. Indian chemistry showed its first presence in the middle of the nineteenth century. This book records the study of its impact in details the developmental history, the infrastructure for research, the socio-political and economic background of chemical research. In the first chapter the subject is introduced by narrating the state of chemistry in ancient and medieval India. The author has recalled the distinctive art which prevailed in the Indus valley civilization, particularly of its pottery and bronze-made articles. The flourishing Ayurveda further advanced the art in the way of selecting herbs, grinding, boiling, distilling the liquors and also by using sulphur, mercury, gold in the preparation of medicines. The famous Charaka Samhita contains multifaceted knowledge of chemical science of the then world. That the metallurgical art in ancient India was excellent, is acknowledged by scholars of today. As time passed a new variety of chemistry was developed in India-the tantric rasayan, the role of Nagarjuna in this respect was studied in this book. With the advent of Islam in the medieval period, the Unani medicine was disseminated, the art of making cannons, perfumes, Damascus steel, medicines based upon inorganic substances were developed. The history of chemistry was thus discussed till Europeans landed here with their new knowledge and ideas.
In the second chapter 'East Meets West', the author mainly narrates the interactions between the two civilizations-the Western and the Oriental. The Portuguese, Dutch, English, French people introduced their medicines, arsenals, gun-powder to the Indians and they them-selves also embraced the knowledge of the East whenever necessary. Meanwhile, the Western education filtered in, first at Madras, then at Calcutta. Finally English education was introduced in India. The Asiatic Society and other such institutes helped in the dissemination of Western science and ideas among the newly educated Indians.
The third chapter is named "The Era of Field Science'. The early British rulers had an intention to know all about India, its geography, people, culture, history and natural resources. So the 'Surveys' were established to enquire about the minerals, landscape, weather, rivers, flora and fauna of Indian origin. The field science had very little scope of chemistry, but on establishing the Medical College at Calcutta, some activities with chemistry found place. Analysis of rocks and minerals, water, forensic materials slowly began in the government-owned laboratories. The establishment of three universities in 1857 further consolidated the English education and the era of higher education began in India. The history of higher science education is narrated in this chapter.
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