Introduction to Ancient Indian Technology

By Prof. D.P. Mishra | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 568 | Exam registration: 8

ABOUT THE COURSE:
This course is designed for undergraduate students, interested in learning about the ancient Indian Technology which is the hallmark of glorious Indian civilization, only living civilization of the world that exists till today. The main emphasis is placed on nature centric aspects of ancient Indian technologies that can be adopted in modern time. As this is an introductory course, care has been taken to present the materials in a gradual manner to instill confidence in the minds of the students. Attempts have been made to keep the deliberation as simple as possible with intriguing questions so that students can take exploratory route to learn more about it in future. Adequate emphasis is given in this course for exposing the students to ancient science and technologies which can be adopted for modern technological development. The tenets of various technologies which are essential for human living are discussed in details to encourage the students to develop a feel for ancient Indian and technologies.

PREREQUISITE : Open to All

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Aerospace Engineering
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	14 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	27 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

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Course layout

Week 1:

Lecture 01: Introduction to Ancient Indian Civilization

Lecture 02: Ancient Indian Civilization’s Gift to the World

Lecture 03: Why do we need to look at Ancient Indian Science and Technology?

Lecture 04: Glimpses of Ancient Indian Science and Technology

Lecture 05: Brief Review of Ancient Indian Scriptures

Week 2:

Lecture 06: Basic Principles of carrying out science and technology

Lecture 07: Arrays of Physics, chemistry and Indoor games

Lecture 08: Marvels of Ancient Indian Technology

Lecture 09: Introduction to Indian Agriculture

Week 3:

Lecture 10: Problems arising due to modern agricultural practices

Lecture 11 – Pesticides and soil degradation

Lecture 12 – Agriculture – A Primary Productive Activity

Lecture 13 – An Agricultural Tools – A Plough

Lecture 14 – Soil and seeds

Week 4:

Lecture 15 – Sowing Methods

Lecture 16 - Indigenous cattle and manuring

Lecture 17 - Availability of Water and Freshwater

Lecture 18 - Ancient Indian Wells

Week 5:

Lecture 19 - Temple Water tanks and Dams

Lecture 20 - Tank Irrigation system and Rainwater Harvesting

Lecture 21 - Waterbodies – Lakes and Canals

Week 6:

Lecture 22 – Sluices and Embankments

Lecture 23 - Ancient Indian Textile Technology

Lecture 24 - Handlooms and Charkha

Lecture 25 - Different types of Handlooms

Week 7:

Lecture 26 - Ancient Rural Indian Housing

Lecture 27 - Thatched Roof House

Lecture 28 - Rural Walls and Roof materials

Week 8:

Lecture 29 - Indus Valley and Harappan Civilization

Lecture 30 - First and Second of Indian Civilization

Lecture 31 - Town topologies and Brick and Tile making process

Week 9:

Lecture 32 - Cooling and Ventilation System in Building

Lecture 33 - Temple Architecture in ancient India (Part 1)

Lecture 34 - Temple Architecture in ancient India (Part 2)

Week 10:

Lecture 35 – World of Materials

Lecture 36 – Metals - Gold Silver Lead

Lecture 37 – History of Copper

Lecture 38 – Iron during Vedic period

Week 11:

Lecture 39 – Iron smelting process in ancient India

Lecture 40 – Iron and Steel crafts in ancient India

Lecture 41 – Extraction and smelting of Zinc in Ancient India

Lecture 42 - Wootz Steel Technology

Week 12:

Lecture 43 – Metal Casting in Ancient India

Lecture 44 - Glass Technology in Ancient India

Lecture 45 - Environmental Consciousness in Ancient India

Lecture 46 - Environmental Policy in Ancient India

Instructor bio

Prof. D.P. Mishra

IIT Kanpur

Prof. Debi Prasad Mishra, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Design Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and an adjunct Professor in Centre for Indian Knowledge System, IIT, Guwahati is currently working as the Director of NITTTR Kolkata. Currently he is also working as the chairman, BoG, Govt. College of Engineering, Kalahandi. His areas of interests are Propulsion, Combustion, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Atomization. He had held Indian Oil Golden Jubilee Professional Chair in IIT Kanpur. He has been conferred with several awards and recognitions. He has authored 5 textbooks and 9 edited books in the field of combustion and propulsion. He has published more than 260 research papers in International/National Journals and conferences. He has also five patents to his credit. He has undertaken more than 32 research and consultancy projects from various agencies, research labs and industries. He has developed 6 online courses under Swayam Platform, a national initiative of Govt. of India. Besides this, he has designed and developed a unique MOOC course, “Introduction to Ancient Indian Technology” on Swayam platform of NPTEL. Over last 10 years, he has delivered several invited lectures on ancient Indian science & technology and culture & tradition to more than 1.5 lakh people across India to revive and re-establish ancient scientific and technological culture of India. He has also delivered several invited lectures on ancient Indian spiritual knowledge system by several organizations across India. He has written several articles to popularize science and technology among common people and delivered several lectures and discussion on TV and radio related to Ancient Science and Technology and other different topics. He has penchant for designing and developing eco-friendly sustainable products and technologies. He does dabble in Odiya literature and has two books in Odiya language to his credit. He is well known as a motivational speaker and is very popular among youth circles.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 27, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.

Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team