Emergence of Modern Science in Colonial India

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The Emergence of Modern Science in Colonial India [Thematic Issue, IJIIS, 53.4 (2018)] is based on the papers of a conference organized at INSA campus (Delhi) on 14-16 March, 2018. The three-day conference was sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) on behalf of the Indian National Commission for History of Science and the Science Engineering Board (SERB), and planned under the over-all guidance of Professor(s) Arnab Rai Choudhuri (IISc, Bangalore) and Deepak Kumar (JNU, Delhi). The papers are all revised and peer reviewed following norms of Indian Journal of History of Science (IJHS) and accommodated giving an account of the emergence and impact of European science in the Colonial India from its various perspectives.

Modern science emerged in Europe during the period 1450-1700 CE, and its upsurge was termed as 'Scientific Revolution" by well-known historians of science like Zilsel (1941-42), Hall (1954), Boas (1962), Kearny (1964), Bullough (1970), and others. As to the cause conducive to scientific spirit, majority opinion stressed on the rise of capitalism when its focus shifted to towns, to merchants and craftsmen along with the rise of great scholars. In other words, modern science was born when the two groups, members of the academies/universities and superior craftsmen came together under the sponsorships of capitalists or kings after about 1550 CE, thereby unifying the theoretical and experimental methods, which was not possible before. It was undoubtedly a unique event and European consciousness underwent a drastic change, the exact reason of course is not easy to explain. From this period however begins the ascendency of the West over the rest of the world.

The growth of knowledge depends mainly on two factors innovation and the dissemination of the knowledge generated from its source and perpetual interactions through schools/centers or epicenters, trades, movement of techniques/ people, contact of individuals and so on. How the knowledge of modern science percolated and infused Indian minds during these periods is the objectives of the seminar.

The 15-16 centuries Renaissance Europe still believed in the Hellenistic image of 'the Indies' (the lands east of Indus) as exotic and fabulously wealthy countries. The 'Indies' subsequently became 'East Indies' or accepted as "East India". The period was also an age of great explorers because of the conditions then prevailed in Europe which is evident from the pioneering voyages of Columbus (crossed the Atlantic to America in 1492), Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut in 1498, and the voyages of John Cabot (Venetian navigator & explorer, 1497), Ferdinand Magellan (Spanish exploration to East Indies, 1519-1522) and many others.