Book review: Deepak Kumar. 2023. Science and Society in Modern India

Science and Society in Modern India is a succinct exploration of the scientific knowledge traditions in Indian civilisation. The book asks a pertinent question: ‘How does one place scientific and technological developments in our civilisation growth?’ (p. 2). Through the book’s six chapters, Deepak Kumar traces the ‘proto science’ (p. 11) and technology of the ancient past, the advent of Islamic knowledge traditions in the medieval period and the establishment of modern scientific institutions during British colonial rule.

Chapter 1 contends that knowledge constituted the rudiments of science in the ancient past. The author argues, that unlike modern connotations of empirical science, knowledge in ancient India was a tool for the liberation of the soul and not necessarily a rational pursuit in itself. Even Islam framed knowledge through the theological lens of an other-worldly and this-worldly binary. However, ancient India distinguished itself in the medical system of Ayurveda, embodied in practitioners like Charaka and Sushutra. Similarly, astronomical knowledge reached its zenith in the medieval period. Knowledge in the Hindu tradition was imparted in institutions such as tols, chatuspatis and agraharas. Maktabs and madrasas were the locus of knowledge transmission in the Islamic tradition. There were no scientific societies in this period.

Chapter 2 investigates the impact of colonial rule wherein knowledge formations came to be centred on zoological, botanical and geological surveys. Surveyors were the forerunners of scientific exploration in this period; this enabled the conjugation of empire, science and the economic exploitation of natural resources. The pre-eminent survey institution in this period was the Geological Survey of India. Unlike the tols and madrasas through which knowledge was transmitted in the ancient and medieval periods, scientific curiosity during colonial rule resulted in the establishment of societies such as the Asiatic Society in 1784. However, the British were not keen to inculcate scientific and material progress in their subjects. The aim of the colonial education policy was geared towards the development of moral character, as espoused in the liberal education curricula designed by Macaulay. In spite of this, at the same time, colonial rule introduced major technological innovations such as the telegraph, the railways and electricity.

Chapter 3 deals with the subject of religion and science and how ‘cultural synthesis’ (p. 68) was worked out by social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Bal Jambhekar and Vivekananda. A notable pioneer in this regard was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. The social reformers sought to address the issue of how to explore scientific rationality in native terms. This period witnessed the rise of science societies, which were predominantly engaged in translation activities, especially in the case of the adoption of new ideas in areas where Indic knowledge tradition was strong.

Building on the earlier discussion of faith and reason, chapters 4 and 6 engage with the question of science and politics in the colonial and post-colonial periods, respectively. Chapter 4 conjoins swaraj (self-rule), swadeshi (self-reliance) and science by examining the role of science in the national movement. The colonial period saw the founding of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) in 1876, followed by the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 1909 and the professionalisation of Indian science through the creation of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) in 1914. The key issue the scientific community grappled with was that of the setting up of a nationalist scientific knowledge tradition, with a focus on industrialisation. The pioneers in this regard were the geologist P.N. Bose, the biophysicist J.C. Bose and the chemist P.C. Ray. Kumar also highlights the relationship between gender and science by reflecting on the contribution of several notable women scientists here.

In chapter 5, discourses of climate and empire inform the new sciences of colonial and tropical medicine. India was the field that enabled the identification of the aetiology of three key endemic diseases, namely cholera, malaria and plague. An Indian doctor, Upendranath Bramhachari, found the cure for kala-azar. Once again, Kumar engages with the question of gender and identifies the role played by women doctors—a neglected aspect of the history of medicine in India.

The post-colonial phase of scientific development replaced the colonial focus on ‘the moral and character development of the natives’ (p. 117). In chapter 6, the focus is on Nehruvian technological development and industrial research. Kumar points out that this shift in scientific research saw the decline of the role played by the university in the colonial period. In fact, key scientists such as C.V. Raman, J.C. Bose and S.N. Bose made their scientific breakthroughs in rudimentary university laboratories. This period saw the rise of ‘big science’ in India through the establishment of a ‘scientocracy’ (p. 132) in charge of industrial laboratories.

Science and Society in Modern India would be of relevance to scientists, historians of science and to anyone interested in a lucid account of the history of scientific knowledge in Indian civilisation. It is an account of selective syncretic synthesis that appropriated relevant knowledge traditions without necessarily being ‘xenophobic’ (p. 40) in character.