Bharadvaja’s Amshubodhini

The text of Amshubodhinishastra not only reveals the deep scientific and technological knowledge well known to ancient Indians, but also provides a clue to as to how the ancient scientific rational knowledge has formed the basis of the other so-called intuitive (mystic) knowledge as expressed in the various schools of Indian metaphysics. We are really astonished at the extensive detailing and the extent to which this ancient knowledge system has ventured -- be it the naming of each Fraunhauffer line, making of the spectrophotometer for measurement of solar radiation or the preparation of a novel non-hygroscopic infra-red transparent material, a greenish yellow calcium glass that can be used in space laboratories --- it is all in there. The aphorisms of Bharadwaja describe the formation of universe on the similar lines as Hans Stephani and the authors of this work have taken pains to present these findings. It is not really exaggerating to say that Amshubodhini reaches out to the realms of modern physics, that is (i) the world of subatomic particles and (ii) astrophysics and cosmology for the description of the universe at large.