History of Science in Early South Asia

Christèle Barois (CESAH)

Embryogenesis narratives and the history of ancient Indian medicine

As part of my study of embryogenesis in Epic and Purāṇic literature, I have established a specialized corpus of embryonic development narratives, spanning the period from the first centuries of the Common Era to the first centuries of the second millennium. Generally quite short (at most sixty verses), these embryogenesis narratives represent a specific type of narrative that shares a similar structure and invariably appears in the context of teaching Sāṃkhya philosophy.

Embryology as expounded by classical Indian medicine (āyurveda) constitutes the conceptual framework of reference, since these narratives describe the development of the embryo in accordance with the processes and temporality taught in the “Book of the Body” (śārīrasthāna) of the ancient medical compendia, and share some of their technical terminology with classical Indian medicine (Suneson 1991).

Bibliographical references: 

Barois, C. (2022).    ‘Cette âme tombée dans un corps étranger’. Notes introductives au Bhāgavatapurāṇa III 31. In: Embryon, personne et parenté, Mathieu, Séverine, Enric Porqueres i Gené (eds). Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 54, 39-62.

Suneson, C. (1991). Remarks on some interrelated terms in the ancient Indian embryology. Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Südasiens / Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies, 35, 109–121.

Sonia Wigh (University of Cambridge)

The Lone Pregnant Body: Illustrating Feminine Forms in Manṣūr’s Anatomy

The Tašrīḥ-i Manṣūrī [Manṣūr’s Anatomy] is the first known medical text in the Persianate world containing full-body anatomical images. It was composed in 1386 CE by Manṣūr bin Muḥammad bin Ilyās Shīrāzī of Shiraz (Iran). A standard copy of Manṣūr’s Anatomy contained six illustrations of a skeleton, nerves, muscles, veins and arteries, digestive tract and other vital organs, and a female form with gravid uterus. This paper tracks the visual evolution of the female form in various manuscript copies of the Tašrīḥ, culminating in its lithographic print in Delhi in the 1840’s. By highlighting key moments of transformations, I demonstrate that while there were limited changes in the five illustrations of human (male) anatomy, there was a stark difference in the way the female form was perceived in the manuscript version, from schematic drawings to full-figured female bodies with geographical, nationalistic markings in eighteenth-century India and Qajari Iran.

Initially, the six full-length anatomical drawings in the Tašrīḥ-i Manṣūrī consist of schematic outline of the human body in a squatting position, with their hand on their knees. Some even argue that the sixth image (purportedly added by Ibn Ilyās himself) was actually a gravid uterus superimposed on the pre-existing illustration of the arterial networks. Over the course of two centuries, from feminine markers like hair, the sixth image assumed a more naturalistic, aesthetic human female bodily form. Although one cannot assume a transposition of identical knowledge-making practices across time and space, this paper attempts to follow the evolution in visual language of one image and map onto changing consumption patterns caused by socio-cultural and economic transformations over a course of two centuries in India and Iran.

Satyanad Kichenassamy Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, LMR (CNRS, UMR9008) and
GREI (EPHE-PSL and Sorbonne-Université),

Mathematical reasoning as an outgrowth of Vedic ritual.

The earliest text that formulates the theorem on the square of the diagonal of an oblong as a universal statement is Baudhāyana’s Śulvasūtra. This theorem is embedded in a discourse without diagrams [7], that indicates the first extant rigorous derivation of it [4]. The invention of mathematical activity and based on inferences on word-representations reflects closely the relations between language, thought and action in Vedic ritual [6]. Later Indian mathematical inventions were still based on this view, combined with the relatively late introduction of writing. This accounts for the invention of two new forms of representation [5], namely the positional system with zero, and literal algebra. While these developments are best understood against the backdrop of modern Indology, especially at EPHE in Paris [1–3, 6], we will show here on a few texts that do not require familiarity with Indology, how the view that mathematical activity is a process of
inferences on word representations, to be performed by free individuals, was part and parcel of a reflexive analysis of the successes and failures of Vedic ritual.

[1] Filliozat, Pierre-Sylvain, 1990. « Yukti: le quatrième pramāṇa des médecins (Carakasaṃhitā, Sūtrasthāna, XI, 23) ». Journal of the European Āyurvedic Society, 1 (1990), 33-46.
[2] Houben, Jan E.M., 1991. The Pravargya Brāhmaṇa of the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
[3] Houben, Jan E.M., 2000. “The ritual pragmatics of a Vedic hymn: The 'riddle hymn' (Ṛgveda 1.164) and the Pravargya-ritual.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 120 (4) (2000), 499-536.
[4] Kichenassamy, Satyanad, 2023a. « Hétérométrie, cohérence et discours apodictique : la dérivation du théorème du carré de la diagonale chez Baudhāyana », Journal Asiatique, 311 (2), (2023), 267-303
[5] Kichenassamy, Satyanad, 2023b. “New perspectives on the development of the Indian positional system in the light of Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil sources,” Gaṇita Bhāratī, 45 (1) (2023), 1-21.
[6] Kichenassamy, Satyanad, 2025a. « Philologie et épistémologie mathématique en Inde ancienne», Annuaire de l'École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, 156 (2025), 408-414.
[7] Kichenassamy, Satyanad, 2025b. “Geometry without figures: Mathematics as apodictic discourse in Indian texts,” in Vedic Education and Ancient Indian Astronomy, Parvathy K. P. & Satyabhama N. (eds.), Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 2025, pp. 105-135.

Kenneth Zysk (University of Copenhagen)

Palmistry or the system of the bodily lines (Rekhāśāstra) and its spread westward

This paper is divided into two parts: Part one explores palmistry, known as Rekhāśāstra in India, as a system of divination within the broader tradition of Indian marks or physiognomy known as Sāmudrikaśāstra. It highlights two main Indian traditions: an oral Romani tradition and a written Śāstric tradition and focuses primarily on the latter's historical development and visual representations. Part two compares Indian palmistry with its Western counterpart, tracing the transmission of Indian chiromancy into Europe via Arabic and Hebrew translations, and noting the shared evolution of palmistry as both artistic expression and a tool for prognostication. The paper aims to illuminate the ancient origins and interconnected history of palmistry across diverse cultures, emphasizing the hand’s persistent focus of human fascination as an important means of personal identification.

Divya Kumar-Dumas (University of Maryland)

Metal, Matter, and Meaning: Toward a Textual and Scientific History of the Sumhuram Yakṣī

A bronze female figurine excavated from Sumhuram (modern Oman) and now held at the Smithsonian (NMAA S2013.2.378) has long been recognized as an Indian yakṣī, brought to South Arabia via Indian Ocean trade in the early centuries CE. In previous work, I examined its iconography and fragmentary condition as evidence of image mobility and reuse. This working paper marks a new phase of inquiry: pairing planned scientific analysis and experimental archaeology with early textual references to metalwork.

From the Caraka Saṃhitā’s description of casting techniques to the Agni Purāṇa’s ritual guidelines for disposing worn icons, to Vasubandhu’s Buddhist meditations on molten metal as a seething mass of sentience, I ask how Sanskrit textual ontologies of matter might inform—and be informed by—the scientific study of composition and form. At stake is a more integrated understanding of portable bronze images, moving beyond trade and iconography, toward a cross-disciplinary history of science, perception, and the sacred. 

I invite CHSTM participants to help frame this evolving methodology, especially through suggestions of sources on smelting, melting, making, breaking, or discarding metal objects in the first millennium.

Jan Gerris (University of Ghent)

Tandulaveyāliya - An ancient Jain philosophical reflection on life

The Tandulaveyāliya is a relatively short philosophical treatise in the format of a dialogue on life in general between a master and his disciple, using the disappointments and sufferings of life as rational and emotional arguments to convince the pupil to take religious vows and lead a life dedicated to the right religion. With an uncertain dating between the fifth and seventh centuries CE, and an unknown authorship, it is a relatively short work. In a mix of prose and verse it is structured as a private question and answer session between Mahāvīra and Indrabhūti Gautama, his first gaṇadhara or chief disciple. In his discourse, Mahāvīra offers a disconcerting portrayal of the human body and critiques the superficiality of material life—characterized by eating, drinking, and reproduction. The text describes processes such as fertilization, early embryonic development, pregnancy, human anatomy, and various physiological functions. In one remarkable passage an attempt is made to calculate the precise amount of rice grains (taṇḍula) and other dietary elements consumed by a man who lives for a hundred years. This calculation gives the work its name, Tandulaveyāliya (Reflection on Rice Grains).

In this presentation,  some of the underlying Jain philosophical and religious insights, which constitute its educative value will be discussed and ancient Indian insights in early human embryology will be contrasted with those in the age of MEM (modern established medicine).

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