The most ancient scriptures in the world, the Vēda (derived from the Sanskrit root “vid” which means to know) are treasures of vast scientific knowledge. They contain several references on the weather cycle, rainfall phenomena, hydrologic cycle, environmental protection, ecological balance, and related subjects that indicate a high level of awareness possessed by the seers and people of that time. Hymns in the four Vedas, R̥gvēda (RV), Yajurvēda (YV), Sāmavēda (SV), and Atharvavēda (AV), reveal full cognizance of the undesirable effects of climate change; skew in the weather patterns, water pollution, distortion in ecological balance, and environmental degradation; and appropriately caution against them.
While describing and hailing the five gross basic elements of nature, water, fire (or energy), substratum (sky, space), air, and earth, of which all living and nonliving bodies are made up, the vast Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit literature presents in great details the theory of...
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Sharma, K.N. (2016). Environment in Ancient India. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10320
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