This volume studies the concept and relevance of HISTEM (History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine) in shaping the histories of colonial and postcolonial South Asia. Tracing its evolution from the establishment of the East India Company through to the early decades after the Independence of India, it highlights the ways in which the discipline has changed over the years and examines the various influences that have shaped it. Drawing on extensive case studies, the book offers valuable insights into diverse themes such as the East–West encounter, appropriation of new knowledge, science in translation and communication, electricity and urbanization, the colonial context of engineering education, science of hydrology, oil and imperialism, epidemic and empire, vernacular medicine, gender and medicine, as well as environment and sustainable development in the colonial and postcolonial milieu. An indispensable text on South Asia’s experience of modernity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asian studies, modern Indian history, sociology, history of science, cultural studies, colonialism, as well as studies on Science, Technology, and Society (STS).

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has grown in recent years and has played an ever-increasing part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. Spanning the period from the establishment of East India Company rule through to Independence, David Arnold's wide-ranging and analytical survey demonstrates the importance of examining the role of science, technology and medicine in conjunction with the development of the British engagement in India and in the formation of Indian responses to western intervention. One of the first works to analyse the colonial era as a whole from the perspective of science, the book investigates the relationship between Indian and western science, the nature of science, technology and medicine under the Company, the creation of state-scientific services, 'imperial science' and the rise of an Indian scientific community, the impact of scientific and medical research and the dilemmas of nationalist science.

This book critically examines different aspects of scientific and technological development in Ancient India. It studies the special contribution of the history of science in our scientific understanding and its relationship with the philosophy and sociology of science. The volume: Discusses diverse and wide-ranging themes including Tibetan Buddhist tradition of neuro-biology; Sheds light on the unique developments within iron technology and urbanization in ancient Odisha; Studies the trajectory of proto-historic astronomy in India and the science of monsoon in early India; Evaluates the legacy of Aryabhata based on his major works related to astronomy and mathematics through a multidimensional perspective; Analyses the traditional knowledge of medicine in early India, the golden age of surgery with reference to the ancient Greek and Arabic systems of medicine, and the Buddhist influence on the science of medicine in Tibet. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of ancient history, Indian history, history of science, history of technology, science and technology studies, and South Asian studies.

The book delineates the role and place of the Western scientific discourse which occupied an important place in the colonization of India. During the colonial period, science became one of the foundations of Indian modernity and the nation-state. Gradually, the educated Indians sought to locate modern scientific ideas and principles within Indian culture and adopted those for the economic regeneration of the country. The discursive terrain of the history of science, especially in the context of a society with a very long and complex past, is bound to be replete with numerous debates on its nature and evolution, its changing contours, its complex civilizational journey, and finally, the enormous impact it has on our own life and time. The book offers a useful introduction to science, society, and government interface in the Indian context.

This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to exploring the history of modern science using national, transnational, and global frames of reference. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date nondisciplinary history of modern science currently available. Essays are grouped together in separate sections that represent larger regions: Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, and Latin America. Each of these regional groupings ends with a separate essay reflecting on the analysis in the preceding chapters. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the modern world, contributors analyze the history of science not only in local, national, and regional contexts but also with respect to the circulation of knowledge, tools, methods, people, and artifacts across national borders.