Inside the Indian Laboratory Before the Laboratory What comes to mind when you hear the word laboratory ? Perhaps a scientist in a white coat. Rows of glass bottles. Test tubes and beakers. A fume hood. Electronic balances, spectrometers and computers. Now remove all of them. Remove electricity. Remove modern glassware. Remove the thermometer. Remove even the periodic table. What remains? A furnace glowing with fire. A crucible buried among hot coals. A mortar in which minerals are being ground. A vessel connected to another vessel so that vapours can be collected. A substance is heated until it disappears from one place and deposits somewhere else. Could this also be called a laboratory? The history of Indian material practices suggests that we should at least consider the possibility. Premodern Indian traditions associated with metallurgy, medicine, Rasaśāstra, mineral processing, dyes and other technologies developed specialised apparatus and carefully described operations for tran...
Rajeev Singh is Professor at the Department of Chemistry at Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College (ARSD), University of Delhi. He is an inorganic chemist with research specialization in Material Chemistry and Organometallics. He did his Ph. D. from the University of Delhi and was a TWAS postdoctoral fellow. His other area of academic interests are into revival, communication, and awareness of knowledge of ancient Indian sciences, IKS specially Chemistry and the contributions of Indian scientists.