SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The craftsmen of the period were experts in working metals, as is evident from the discovery of colossal copper statues of the Buddha and an iron pillar at Mehrauli near Delhi. The pillar represents the triumph of Gupta metallurgical skill, as in spite of exposure for centuries to sun and rain the column has not yet rusted. Mathematics and astronomy .saw great development. Numerals and the decimal system were in regular use. The Indian notational system was adopted by the Arabs who took it to the West. Called Arabic by the English, the system was called Hindsa by the Arabs themselves. The concept of zero had been developed. Aryabhatta calculated the value of 1t and the length of a solar year with a remarkable degree of accuracy. He also theorised upon the earth's rotation on its axis and the cause of eclipse being the earth's shadow on the moon. Varahamihira was an astronomer in the sixth century.
He stated that the moon rotated round the earth which rotates round the sun. The science of medicine also developed; Vagabhata was a renowned physician of the time.