- 2 days ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01India is an awe-inspiring country with a rich and mysterious past that's full of surprises.
00:09While we British were still in the Stone Age, the Indians had developed one of the most advanced civilizations in
00:16the ancient world.
00:17Over thousands of years, they've come up with some amazing ideas.
00:22With the help of designer Marty Jobson, here at my base in Britain, I'll be recreating some of their remarkable
00:29inventions.
00:33Let me show you how they worked.
00:34I'll find out how the first plastic surgery was performed back around 400 BC,
00:40and try out one of the world's most terrifying weapons, the rocket.
00:45And Jamie Darling, roving reporter, is off to where it all happened.
00:50What a way to travel! This country is full of it!
00:54He'll be travelling the length and breadth of India to investigate the origins and history of its inventive past.
01:04MUSIC PLAYS
01:29The culture of India has always been closely linked to religion.
01:33Several world faiths began here, such as Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
01:39And over the millennia, they have all left their imprint on Indian thought.
01:49Buddhism began back in the 6th century BC.
01:54Religious practices and beliefs often led to particular discoveries or inventions,
02:00and Buddhism resulted in a rather intriguing idea.
02:09MUSIC PLAYS
02:11Devout Buddhists needed to meditate and to observe their religious rituals at particular times of the day.
02:19But they had no reliable way of telling the time.
02:24How do you tell the time?
02:26Well, you can always stick a stick in the ground and look at the shadow,
02:28or in other words, have a sundial like this one, and it says eight o'clock.
02:32Nine o'clock.
02:34Hang on a sec, I think my sundial's a bit fast.
02:37In fact, it's just the director of photography pushing a light around.
02:40The point is that sundials are brilliant on bright sunny days,
02:44but completely useless when it's cloudy like this.
02:46And, in fact, they're not much use at night, either.
02:49So, what those Indians decided to do was to try and make a different sort of clock.
02:54A water clock.
02:56And Jamie's gone to see if he can find one of the few remaining working models.
03:01Is this the right carriage?
03:12The reason why I'm up at five o'clock in the morning and I'm on a train to Jalawa,
03:17is because one of the last water clocks still in use is apparently to be found there.
03:22The only problem is, no outsider has seen it since 1994.
03:26So, I've learned a new phrase, which is, where is the Gataka Yatra?
03:31Or, where is the water clock?
03:43I've made it to Jalawa, but now we have come six miles south to a place that is known as
03:49the city of temples or the city of bells.
03:51And I suspect that the Indian water clock may be in a temple.
03:55But just where?
04:00That way.
04:05I'm after an Indian water clock.
04:09Gataka Yatra.
04:12The water clock seemed remarkably difficult to find.
04:15Perhaps it had sprung a leak.
04:18Eventually, one man sounded as if he might be able to help.
04:22Just go for it, go for it.
04:25You know where the Gataka Yatra is?
04:27Yeah, I know. Well...
04:28You do? Yeah, I do.
04:29Would you take me to it?
04:30Yeah, why not?
04:35Yeah.
04:36The bowl is down in the water.
04:39He took me to the local Jain temple.
04:42Like the Buddhists, Jains had used water clocks for hundreds of years to keep time for their religious rituals.
04:49And this is the temple?
04:50This is the temple.
04:52Right? We're gonna die?
04:55Okay.
04:56And I have trousers on. Is there anything else I need to do?
04:58So my journey was nearing its end.
05:00Was I about to come face to face with one of the last remaining water clocks?
05:05You can see the blocks here.
05:07Fantastic.
05:09It's perfect.
05:10This is exactly what I was after. Thank you very much.
05:14Simpler than I imagined, the clock seemed to consist of a copper cup in a large bowl.
05:19And every time the cup sank, a gong was sounded.
05:27I've got my own water clock. It's a Gatihayantra. A brilliantly designed piece of engineering by Marty. Look, it's a
05:33coconut shell, half coconut shell, with a hole in the bottom.
05:36Isn't that fantastic? Thank you, Marty. I'm really impressed.
05:38And the way this works is I put it in a tank of water like that, and the water comes
05:43in the bottom and it solely fills up.
05:45And the critical thing is when it gets to the bottom, when it sinks and hits the bottom. And that's
05:50a fixed time, probably something like half an hour.
05:55And now it's about to go. Get your gong ready, Marty. Water's trickling over the back. It's sinking. Go!
06:02And move a bead along. And the moment it hit the bottom, they rang the gong, moved along one bead
06:07and started the whole process again.
06:09All the way round the clock. Well, actually, this was the clock.
06:17Now, there's a rather sad story about a princess called Lilavati in the 12th century.
06:22The astrologer said she would never marry.
06:25But her dad worked out there was one propitious moment when she could marry, and he built her a special
06:30water clock,
06:31so that at the moment it hit the bottom of the tank, she could get married.
06:36Understandably, she was a bit nervous about all this, and she went and peered into the tank,
06:40and a pearl from her dress dropped into the coconut shell and blocked up the hole,
06:46and it never got to the bottom, and she was never able to marry.
06:55Centuries after the water clock, the Indian enthusiasm for measuring the passing of time
07:00led to one of the most extraordinary monuments ever constructed, which includes several sundials.
07:14This is the huge Janta Manta Observatory at Jaipur.
07:17It was built by the Maharaja Suai Jai Singh II in the 18th century.
07:24He wanted to improve the accuracy of the Indian calendar.
07:29To do this, he needed to be able to measure the sun's location as precisely as possible,
07:35so he built this impressive observatory, and it has a number of different instruments.
07:46Labu Sumrat Yantra, small sundial.
07:54Rama Yantra, which measures distance above the horizon.
07:59Rashi Valiye Yantra, which measures positions in the zodiac, is the only one in the world.
08:05And which one's mine?
08:16Perhaps most impressive of all is the big sundial, the Sumrat Yantra, which is one of the largest in the
08:22world,
08:22and when the sun shines, which is quite a lot around here, it's surprisingly accurate.
08:27Professor Kim Plofker is one of its great admirers.
08:30Kim, this is the Sumrat Yantra.
08:33That's right.
08:33And how does it work?
08:35It's basically a big equatorial sundial.
08:38A sundial of that sort is essentially a sort of skeleton model of the Earth.
08:43There's its backbone, the Earth's axis, and this is the big rib, the Earth's equator.
08:50We can measure time with this because, of course, what we think of as passage of time during the day
08:56is just the turning of the equator.
08:58So here, the edge casts a shadow.
09:01The sun ray is essentially projecting onto this model what the time is.
09:06The size of it, is that what gives it its accuracy?
09:09Absolutely.
09:11For a sundial, it's amazingly precise.
09:13You can measure time down to the nearest minute.
09:20The engineering skills shown in the building of this observatory was part of a long tradition in India.
09:25All over the country, there are examples of their architectural ambition and ability.
09:31In fact, these skills were first shown by an extraordinary civilization thousands of years ago.
09:42And I'm on my way to visit one of their ancient ruined cities in the northwest of India, built when
09:48the landscape looked very different.
09:54We're about 20 miles from the city of Dola Vira, and as you can see, this whole area is covered
10:01in salt flats.
10:02And this is because, back 4,500 years ago, this was an ocean, and Dola Vira itself was an island.
10:18Dola Vira is one of the cities belonging to a remarkable civilization.
10:23It was built more than 4,000 years ago by the Harapan people.
10:32Nothing was known of these people until 1922, when the Harapan city of Mahinjadaro was discovered.
10:45Excavations revealed it was laid out on a grid system, showing a level of planning unrivalled in the ancient world.
10:58Remarkable artefacts came to light, like this ingenious toy.
11:06There was a set of weights, together with a pair of scales.
11:14It's proof that the Harapans were already trading.
11:21These seals have mysterious ancient inscriptions,
11:24but to this day the language of the Harapans has defeated all efforts to decipher it.
11:40Since the 1920s, more Harapan cities have come to light.
11:46It seems that from north to south, their territory spanned over 1,600 kilometres.
11:53The city of Dola Vira is the most recent discovery.
11:58And that's where Jamie has gone to meet Harapan expert Professor Khaldeep Ban.
12:04Nice to meet you. Welcome to Dola Vira.
12:06Thank you very much.
12:07Tell me, how old is the city?
12:10The city is around about 4,500 years ago.
12:17How many people would have lived in this city?
12:19It is difficult to guess how many people lived in this city at one point of time,
12:23but at least 18 to 20,000 people must have lived in this city.
12:30The Harapan people lived in a city remarkably advanced for its time.
12:36The centre was enclosed by thick square walls.
12:39Inside was a citadel, a wealthy residential area, public spaces and even a sports stadium.
12:54Beyond the city walls, the poorer community would have lived.
12:57The whole complex was huge, covering more than one square kilometre.
13:04Professor Ban led me through what would have been one of the main streets of the city into the residential
13:09area.
13:09This is the main corridor of the middle town and what you'll see.
13:14So we are entering a Harapan house and now here you can see the bathroom and there is a drain
13:22below.
13:24One of the biggest surprises is that the architects of Dola Vira designed the world's earliest proper sewage system.
13:32Houses had a well, drains, bathroom and a lavatory and waste was discharged through earthenware pipes.
13:44The dirty water collected from the bathroom must have been collected here.
13:48So this is a 4,500 year old sewage bathwater collection pot shard.
13:56These remarkable drains and sewers illustrate more powerfully than anything the Harapan's extraordinary skills in planning and engineering.
14:07They would not be surpassed until the Romans 2,000 years later.
14:16I was so impressed, I decided to commission my very own Harapan lavatory.
14:24It's really good. You can see brick built, wooden seat, a drain going out through the wall into the main
14:30sewer outside.
14:32I'm very fond of ancient lavatories and these are undoubtedly the most elegant and every house had one.
14:38Quite extraordinary. Let me show you how they worked.
14:40The stuff went out down this little drain here, down a chute into the sewers outside and the sewers ran
14:47all along the main streets.
14:48And they were a metre and a half below ground level and two metres deep, brick built sewers.
14:54And every now and then they had cesspits and all along the drains and over the cesspits they had manhole
15:00covers like this one.
15:05The Harapans were among the most technically advanced of all ancient civilisations.
15:09They had a particular skill in casting beautiful metal statues.
15:18This bronze sculpture of a dancing girl is about 4,000 years old.
15:26It's superbly finished and there are no signs of any joins.
15:32How do they manage to produce an object as delicate as this?
15:40Jamie is heading south in search of an answer.
15:50This is going to take me to Swami Malay.
15:54And I think it will take about a day.
15:55What a way to travel this country. It's full of it.
16:05Swami Malay in southern India is steeped in Hindu tradition.
16:10It is also home to one of the last workshops in India where they produce sculptures by an ancient technique
16:16called Lost Wax.
16:27Lost Wax is a method for casting metal which involves making a model from wax,
16:33covering it in clay to make a mould and then heating the mould so the wax melts or is lost.
16:42The final stage is to pour molten metal into the clay mould.
16:48When broken open, a replica of the original wax model is revealed.
16:53Most of the work done here produces sculptures of Hindu gods.
17:00Each one is made according to strict measurements laid down in ancient texts.
17:05Hindus believe, unless these instructions are precisely followed,
17:09the spirits of the gods will not enter these bronze models.
17:16An eye piercing ceremony is performed on each sculpture using a nail.
17:22It's at this point that Hindus believe the god starts to inhabit his image.
17:39So this Lost Wax process is how the ancient Harapans made their sculptures.
17:43And for the last 4000 years, Indians have been using the same technique to create religious statues of their many
17:51gods.
18:02But the craftsmen of Swami Malay don't just make religious statues.
18:07And I thought this would be the perfect moment to commission a wax bust as a present for someone back
18:12home.
18:17Could you possibly make a figure from these photographs?
18:45I think you should have a little bit more of a double chin just there.
18:49Yes, ma'am.
18:50Yes, ma'am.
18:51Yes, ma'am.
18:51Yes, ma'am.
18:51Yes, ma'am.
18:52Yes, ma'am.
18:55Yes, ma'am.
18:56Yes, ma'am.
18:57Yes, ma'am.
18:57Yes, ma'am.
19:03My present from Jamie in India has arrived.
19:06It's completely encased in a giant clay mould.
19:14So, I've set a challenge to a couple of metal experts
19:17to create a bronze sculpture using the ancient Indian lost wax technique.
19:23Andrew Baldwin and Dana Goodburn-Brown have never before attempted anything on such a large scale.
19:30So, this is a real experiment.
19:33Yeah.
19:34It might be awkward to kind of wiggle it out.
19:42Put it in the hole and then pour the sand around it.
19:44As soon as it's not gone to earth and wet, the water will go straight through it.
19:51First, they must empty out the clay mould by melting the wax model inside.
19:57With a model this size, it takes nearly a day to melt all the wax.
20:01We don't want to jostle it.
20:02Wouldn't it be better to hand carry it?
20:04I don't think we will.
20:05No?
20:05It's too heavy?
20:06Yeah, well, it's heavy when we put it in then.
20:08Next, the empty mould must be filled with molten bronze,
20:12using the technique the Indians have always used.
20:16It's a slow process.
20:19Dana and Andrew will have to wait for several hours
20:21for the furnace to get the bronze up to the right temperature.
20:25If it isn't hot enough, the metal won't be runny enough to pour.
20:46At last, we hope, the bronze is ready.
20:53Fantastic.
20:56Wonderful.
21:01Well, it seemed to go well into the mould, didn't it?
21:03Yeah, it was pouring quite...
21:04It poured beautifully.
21:05It was really good and hot.
21:07You were leaning back a bit, you know.
21:09It's very hot.
21:10How long is that going to cool down?
21:11Several hours.
21:12It's a lot of metal.
21:13So we've got time for a long cold drink.
21:15Yeah, we do.
21:15Come on, long cold drink.
21:33Hey, you're making some real progress.
21:37Fantastic.
21:43Bronze and Hanson.
21:47This ancient technique is still used today
21:49to engineer a huge range of precision parts,
21:53from surgical tools to aircraft components.
22:09And perhaps the most extraordinary idea to come out of ancient India
22:13was more ethereal.
22:15It changed the way we count, and it revolutionised modern mathematics.
22:22And it came about because they answered a question that no one had managed to do before,
22:27which is, what number do you get if you take away three from three?
22:33The answer's obvious, surely.
22:36The funny thing is that the number zero actually had to be invented.
22:41It may have come out of the sort of mystical idea of nothingness.
22:46And one of the first records we have of this curious symbol
22:50happened up in a temple in the very north of India.
23:02I'm travelling to the remote town of Gwalior,
23:06where I'm hoping to find one of the first inscriptions of the symbol zero,
23:11evidence of just how advanced Indian mathematics was.
23:22But first of all, I have to meet my local guide, Vijay.
23:28Would you be Vijay?
23:30Yes, sir. Nice meeting you.
23:31Very nice to meet you. Do you know where the Vishnu temple is?
23:33Yes.
23:34With the inscription?
23:35Yes, we'll go there.
23:36Fantastic, fantastic.
23:37A man like yourself, who knows where things are, is absolutely perfect.
23:42Oh, is this, this is the temple?
23:44This is the Chathaduva's temple.
23:45Uh-huh.
23:45This is one of the oldest temple in Gwalior Fort.
23:48Uh-huh.
23:48This was built in 9th century by the Khanna's king, Mahir Bhuj.
24:01It's very dark inside and difficult to see the inscription.
24:05But this stone rubbing shows the engraving in all its remarkable detail.
24:10If you look carefully here, you can see one of the first records of zero ever recorded.
24:19The text describes the dimensions of a local garden where flowers were grown for the temple.
24:26It's extraordinary to think that this was carved by an Indian man back in the 9th century,
24:33revealing a mathematical understanding way beyond the level we'd achieved in the dark ages in Europe.
24:42So, they had this symbol for zero.
24:44But what did it mean?
24:46Well, with me is Marcus de Soto, who's a professor of mathematics.
24:49Marcus, why were they making all this much ado about nothing?
24:53Well, I think it was very important that the Indians actually realised that talking about nothing was something that they
24:59wanted to do.
25:00I mean, it's an abstract concept, which was quite difficult for people.
25:03For example, the Europeans actually hated the idea of zero.
25:06They really realised how powerful it was.
25:10The strength of Indian mathematics didn't just lie on their use of zero.
25:15They were also responsible for developing our modern numbering system,
25:19inventing the symbols for one to nine.
25:22Passed on to Arab traders, these rather unfairly became known as Arabic numerals.
25:28This new system was far more effective than the cumbersome Roman numerals that the Europeans had been lumbered with.
25:41Now, I'd like to find out how difficult it is to do sums with Roman numerals.
25:46So, we have a professor of mathematics and we have Lizzie Smith.
25:50Behind you, we've got two sums laid out on the ground.
25:55One in Roman numerals and one in ordinary numbers.
25:58Lizzie, are you good at Roman numerals?
25:59No.
26:00No.
26:00Shall we give them to him, then?
26:01Yes.
26:02You can have the Roman numerals, Marcus.
26:04OK.
26:05Right?
26:05This is a race, right?
26:07You've got to each do your own sum.
26:08No looking, you're not allowed to look at his, you might pick up some tips.
26:11And you can do them on the ground or on your pads.
26:13And when you finish, jump up and say you finish.
26:15OK?
26:15Are you ready?
26:17One, two, three, go!
26:22We've given them both the same sum.
26:2426 times 11.
26:29I've got 200s, two Cs.
26:33OK.
26:34I've done my tens.
26:35And now I just need to add...
26:38Exeons.
26:39And I'll add six.
26:41Marcus's efforts show that Roman numerals are really not geared to easy manipulation.
26:48So this is...
26:51Two, three, four, five...
26:5450.
26:56No.
26:57Finished.
26:58Well done.
27:01OK.
27:03Finished.
27:05Finished.
27:05What have you got?
27:06Oh.
27:06Well, I made a mistake then.
27:08Ah!
27:09No, what have I got?
27:10Well, I've got 266.
27:11Oh, well.
27:12Slight error has crept in.
27:13Yes, yes.
27:14You're 20...
27:1520 out.
27:16It just shows that it's incredibly difficult to do this with Roman numerals.
27:21I'm very glad I don't have to do it, frankly.
27:23Me too.
27:24So I declare Lizzie the winner.
27:26Come on in.
27:27Congratulations.
27:27Well done.
27:29Well done.
27:29Excellent.
27:30Yeah, congratulations.
27:31Fair cop.
27:31So, Marcus, why is it so much easier to do our sums with the numbers we use today?
27:37Well, I think you saw from the problem I had is the numbers get bigger and bigger.
27:41I need new symbols with Roman numerals.
27:43I needed L's and M's and C's and things like this.
27:46And with the Indian system, with this zero, you only need the symbols from zero to nine,
27:52which makes calculations so much simpler.
27:54And were there long-term advantages too?
27:56Absolutely.
27:56They were able to do, for example, calculations in astronomy much quicker, navigation, merchants
28:03were able to make calculations very quickly.
28:05So it really revolutionised science and industry.
28:07And I suppose we wouldn't have the computer today, for example, without the concept of
28:11a zero.
28:11I mean, the zeros and ones, something being there, something not.
28:14So this new number system that the Indians developed for us and came to Europe really
28:20changed the face of science.
28:22The Indian numbering system didn't reach Europe until the 13th century.
28:28Initially, resistance was fierce.
28:31The Roman Catholic Church proclaimed the new Indian numerals to be the work of the devil.
28:37Mathematicians who used them were branded heretics and could be burnt at the stake.
28:43Several centuries went by before this new numbering concept became widely accepted.
28:52The ancient Indians came up with some of the best ideas around.
28:56But they also came up with one of the worst.
28:58There was a chap called Brahma Gupta in the 7th century AD, who was a mathematician and
29:03astronomer.
29:04And he was captured by the Buddhist philosophy that time is eternal and goes round and round
29:10and things get reborn and reappear.
29:12And he wondered, maybe there should be a machine that would do that, a machine that would go
29:17on and on forever.
29:19And he designed a perpetual motion machine.
29:22We don't know whether he built it or not, but we've built a version of it.
29:25He said there should be mercury in each of the hollow spokes.
29:28And we put blue water in because it's a bit easier.
29:31And the idea is that on this side, you see, this one will push harder downwards than that
29:37one because the mercury is at the outside end.
29:40And so obviously when I let go, it'll go spinning round in that direction.
29:44There you are.
29:45Oh.
29:45Well, if I give it a push anyway, it's bound to go forever.
29:49You see?
29:52No, no problem at all.
29:54Just, maybe we haven't got it quite balanced.
29:57Yeah.
29:58Yeah, it's going.
29:59I've got perpetual motion.
30:01No.
30:02It's not going to work.
30:05Despite this early failure, the search for perpetual motion has proved an irresistible
30:10challenge to inventors, and I've asked Marty to build me a brand new machine.
30:17Now, Marty, I'll drop this one up for you.
30:20Well, it's rather...
30:20Don't get too close.
30:21Right.
30:22It's a bit splashy.
30:23In here is a large bin full of water.
30:26Right.
30:26That blue thing there is a pump, and it's being driven by this huge, vast waterwheel here.
30:32OK.
30:33And I'm pumping water up and over into the cups here, and that's driving the waterwheel round.
30:37Right.
30:38So the water's driving the waterwheel...
30:40That's right.
30:41...and the waterwheel's driving the pump, and the pump's pumping the water.
30:43So when you let go, it'll...
30:45Right.
30:45OK.
30:46So give it a push and let go.
30:49Ah!
30:50Ha!
30:50Is all I can say to you, Marty.
30:52It needs a bit of work.
30:52Ha!
30:53This one will work.
30:54This one will work.
30:55And you'll see that there are all these spokes on the wheel which can go either that way
30:59or this way.
31:01And they've got great weights on the outside, but because these are sticking out, they will
31:05push down harder and turn the wheel round.
31:06I think it'll go that way.
31:08Oh, Marty, come on.
31:09You watch.
31:09I'm going to pull the stick out.
31:10You pull it out.
31:12And this way.
31:13That way.
31:14You see?
31:14I was right.
31:15It's...
31:16It just needs a little push.
31:23It does not work.
31:24No perpetual motion machine can work.
31:27Let me explain why.
31:28You can convert energy from one form to another.
31:31So if you have wind, you can convert it with a windmill to rotational energy and you can
31:37turn that to grinding corn or making electricity, whatever you like.
31:40But you can't make energy out of nothing.
31:44And that's why these perpetual motion machines will never work.
31:48They can't work because they break the laws of thermodynamics.
31:51Which say you can't create energy and you always lose something in friction.
31:56But we might not know this if it hadn't been for Brahmagupta and his dreams of perpetual motion.
32:06The British knew little about Indian culture and achievements until they began to trade with the country in the 17th
32:14century.
32:16Gradually, they learnt the value of many Indian traditional skills and were keen to borrow them and exploit them back
32:23home.
32:24One of the first industries to attract the attention of the British was cotton.
32:34In ancient times, the Indians were famous for their fine cotton, which they exported all over the world.
32:41India was one of the first countries to cultivate Gossipian Arboretum, otherwise known as cotton.
32:48Its cotton was so fine that the ancient Greeks and Romans often mistook it for silk.
33:00The traditional techniques of hand-spinning and weaving still flourish in rural areas, like here in Kanchipuram in southern India.
33:18The equipment is often basic and improvised, but the skills have been handed down for hundreds of years.
33:30This loom is being operated by expert weaver Palani.
33:34He controls it by an agile combination of hand movements together with a set of foot pedals.
33:40The shuttle weaves through the upright threads, gradually creating a piece of woven material.
33:54It's weavers like Palani and his ancestors who perfected the art of weaving using tried and tested techniques, which made
34:01India famous for its cotton cloth.
34:05As well as working out how to produce the cloth, the Indians also developed original dyeing techniques to produce vibrant
34:12colours.
34:13They used a wide variety of ingredients, pomegranate rinds to make green, other plant extracts to create vivid blues and
34:21reds.
34:26The end result was beautiful and elaborately patterned fabrics.
34:36It was mastery like this which led to India becoming the world leader in cotton production, its material exported all
34:43over the globe.
34:48But by the 18th century, the British had learned the techniques themselves and started to weave cotton cloth on a
34:55huge mechanised scale.
34:57As a result, Britain became the biggest cotton manufacturer in the world.
35:03But inevitably, this had a damaging effect on the cotton industry back in India.
35:14The Indians had also developed expertise in another manufacturing process, the making of huge metal objects.
35:21Again, they were way ahead of the British.
35:24Some of the extraordinary work created by their master craftsmen can still be seen today.
35:41This is Kutubat Minar, the site of one of India's oldest mosques.
35:45But it is also the place where you will find one of India's greatest technological wonders.
35:57The pillar was originally part of a Hindu temple that was uprooted by invading Muslim forces in the 11th century
36:03and installed here at the Kutub Minar.
36:06They, like the British 700 years after them, were fascinated by this very strange pillar of iron.
36:26This inscription has been here since the 4th century, and in 1700 years it is still perfectly clear, which shows
36:32just how durable this material is.
36:38Two things about this pillar fascinated British scientists.
36:41How the Indians came to cast such a large piece of iron so early on.
36:46And secondly, why in 1700 years it had never rusted.
36:53Scientists brought back some slivers of metal from the surface and they found, first, that there's some slag mixed in
36:59with the iron.
37:00Second, that the surface is protected, first by a layer of iron oxide and then by a whole lot of
37:05dust.
37:06And I expect that the dry climate out there helps to prevent it from going rusty.
37:13But the Indians' talent for ironworking had developed centuries before this pillar was cast.
37:23From the 3rd century AD, Indian metalworkers came up with an amazing new material called wutz.
37:30Wutz is a sort of steel, and like all steels, it's iron with a little bit of carbon in it.
37:35But wutz is amazingly flexible and still amazingly strong.
37:42So it was ideal for objects like knives and swords, and it could be polished to give a distinctive patterned
37:49finish.
37:50But how the Indians had made it was a mystery.
37:53The British didn't manage to make equivalent steel until the 18th century.
38:01So what was the Indian secret?
38:05We've challenged archaeologist Dr Ann Feuerbach to see if she can make some woods using the ancient Indian technique.
38:14So, two days ago she built a furnace, packed it with charcoal, set it burning, and used a fan to
38:21blast air through it to get it up to temperature.
38:24Next, Ann fashions small clay crucibles in which to make the woods.
38:33And we have our crucible.
38:36And what we're putting in it is a piece of wrought iron.
38:42The wrought iron has no carbon in it, so in order to make steel you need iron and carbon.
38:46So we're using pieces of dried wood to add carbon to the iron.
38:53And the idea is that the carbon will diffuse from the pieces of wood, and it's heated up, into the
39:01piece of iron, and the end product will be steel.
39:06The whole thing was left for 36 hours, while the carbon from the wood chips combined with the iron.
39:17So, had Ann succeeded in creating this ancient metal?
39:21You can see the surface is, and this is not.
39:23So in there is woods.
39:25We hope so.
39:26So what temperature was it getting to down there, do you reckon?
39:30Probably between 1350 and 1400.
39:33Shall we see what's in there?
39:34Ooh.
39:35So what's that bit?
39:35Iron that has been melted, it looks like.
39:38So this sort of, sort of melted bit at this end, I mean this, presumably this sort of chunk at
39:43the top is what you put in.
39:44Yep, that was the wrought iron.
39:45And that, so is that steel there?
39:47Yep, looks like it's made.
39:48So that's wood steel, we've made wood steel.
39:50Yep, we made some.
39:52It may not look very appealing yet, but let's see what a blacksmith can do with a lump of woods.
39:59To turn it into something useful, he needs to heat it up to red heat and then beat it into
40:06shape.
40:14Then he lets it cool down and grinds it into a knife.
40:26Hmm, not bad.
40:30But not quite as impressive as these beautiful swords made by skilled metal workers in India.
40:37When their patterned surfaces catch the light, you can see why Woods was the envy of the Western world.
40:55So what's that?
40:57Science in India was never far from the country's religious roots.
41:00And this was especially important in the field of medicine.
41:05The Indians developed an advanced system of health care called Ayurveda,
41:10which aimed to unite the spiritual and the physical to produce health and long life.
41:24One of the most important elements of Ayurveda is yoga.
41:30In the 60s, yoga seemed to be the preserve of the hippies.
41:34Then the yuppies claimed it, but it was born here about 4,000 years ago.
41:38I think with 4,000 years of practice I might be able to do some of these positions.
41:42But until then...
41:46Good.
41:48Good.
41:50Just close your eyes.
41:51Very good.
41:52Yoga is first mentioned in a collection of Indian scriptures,
41:58which date back 4,500 years.
42:02Yoga postures work by stretching and toning muscles and ligaments.
42:07This keeps the spine and joints flexible and helps improve circulation.
42:12And yoga has been shown to help a huge range of medical conditions,
42:16from arthritis to asthma.
42:25This position is very good for diabetes, yeah.
42:28But I don't have diabetes.
42:33Oh!
42:35Whoa!
42:38For it, look up and see.
42:41Now what you do?
42:42No.
42:44That's very difficult.
42:50Another fundamental part of Ayurveda is the extensive use of herbal medicines.
42:56They include liquor rice, used for heartburn,
42:59cocoa butter, for keeping your weight down,
43:01and ginger, as a remedy for sickness and stomach ache.
43:06And several of these treatments are now used in Western medicine.
43:11I think I should...
43:12Dr. Mabel Mendonga has offered to give me one of the more unusual Ayurveda treatments.
43:18I'm slightly nervous, as it's going to involve oil being poured directly into my eyes.
43:25Ayurveda believes that the mind, the body, the indriyas, which are the senses and the soul,
43:30they form an equilibrium in the body.
43:32Everybody has their own different equilibrium?
43:35Yes, everyone does.
43:37As long as the equilibrium of the person is in harmony with the external environment,
43:42the person is in a state of health.
43:44When this goes haywire, either by faulty diet or lifestyle, the person tends to fall ill.
43:52Jamie, they're on the procedure now.
43:55Your eyes are being immersed in ghee.
43:59Ghee is a form of oil.
44:02It's made from clarified butter.
44:04It feels very strange.
44:06How do you feel? Any irritation?
44:07It stings a bit, I must say.
44:11You sort of get them about half open and then they just want to close again.
44:14It feels as if your orbs have filled up with goo.
44:19Which I think they have.
44:23And now that the ghee is actually trapped in against my eyeballs, what will it be doing?
44:30It will be taken up, absorbed, so to say.
44:33Your eyesight will be clearer.
44:36Well, the ghee may have improved my eyesight, but it was a painful process
44:39and I don't think I'll be in a hurry to make another appointment.
44:47Perhaps most impressive of all was the Indians' knowledge of surgery.
44:53They were centuries ahead of anyone else.
44:56And the greatest pioneer of all was a surgeon called Sharuta,
45:01who lived two and a half thousand years ago.
45:03He wrote an extraordinary book describing in detail a huge range of surgical procedures.
45:12And he also developed a fearsome selection of instruments.
45:17Surgeon Manu Sud knows how they were used.
45:20The way Sushida would have had it.
45:22Here's an instrument that was used for couching cataracts.
45:26Eye surgery?
45:27That's correct.
45:27And they were able to make an incision in the eye and either push the cataract out of the way
45:32of the pupil
45:33or extract it by making the patient cough or sneeze when the eye had been opened.
45:37And the cataract would pop out?
45:39Well, that was the theory of it.
45:40Wow. And what did they in the end specialise in, the Indians?
45:44There was a whole series of things, but the most famous procedure that Indian surgeons are known for
45:48is the Indian forehead rhinoplasty, which is used for reconstructing a nose that has been cut off.
45:54In India, especially in olden days, if you were captured in war as a prisoner or if you were convicted
46:02of adultery,
46:03it was not uncommon to have your nose cut off.
46:05So you were to reconstruct the nose. So how did they do it?
46:08What they would have done in India was to use a leaf, such as this, to create a pattern to
46:13know how much skin is required for your nose.
46:16I've got a big one, yes.
46:18I didn't want to say that.
46:20Right. So they would use a leaf to judge how much skin you needed and then transpose that onto the
46:27forehead.
46:27But I'll do it with something else we used to plan things with.
46:30And then we put it on your nose to see exactly how much we need to plan the reconstruction.
46:35So this is presumably all died out long ago?
46:37Not at all. This is exactly how we do it today.
46:40This has been going for two and a half thousand years?
46:41Yes.
46:42That is amazing.
46:43They were very far ahead of us in their understanding of anatomy.
46:48So that's roughly what I would need to make up your nose.
46:52So basically you're making a map of my nose on my forehead?
46:55That's correct. And if I just take that away for a second.
46:58Okay.
47:02So that's the sort of skin that I would use.
47:04And I would leave this anchored to the eyebrow.
47:09Right.
47:09And turn it down like so, so that I could make up a nose with the skin that we've taken
47:14from the forehead.
47:15So, okay, you cut round that skin on the forehead, fold it over without taking it off, and fold that
47:20round and it remains my nose.
47:21So, okay.
47:32In the West, the techniques of plastic surgery really developed during the Second World War, when they were used extensively
47:39to help pilots.
47:41Many had been badly burnt when trapped on their burning aircraft.
47:47The surgeons rebuilt many faces using the principles first worked out by Sherruta around 400 BC.
48:00In India, as in many countries across the world, there was one disease that really struck fear into the population.
48:07Smallpox.
48:09It was a really horrible disease.
48:12Millions died from it.
48:13Even those who survived were left with disfiguring pockmarks all over their bodies.
48:21So everyone was desperate to find an effective way of tackling this awful disease.
48:32The best preventative treatment was developed in Gloucestershire, hundreds of years later, by a country doctor called Edward Jenner.
48:41He used to ride around the country, and he found that milkmaids never seemed to catch smallpox.
48:47Now, Cathy, have you had smallpox?
48:50No.
48:51And no pockmarks on your face.
48:53He realised that milkmaids are always very pretty.
48:55Indeed, that's the song, you know.
48:56What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
48:58My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
49:00That was all about the milkmaids.
49:01He realised there was something about milking cows that prevented them from catching smallpox.
49:06It turns out that cows can catch cowpox, the milkmaids can catch cowpox from the cows, and the cowpox gets
49:12in the way of smallpox.
49:13And he invented vaccination, and that eventually wiped smallpox off the face of the earth.
49:18But he wasn't the first, because in ancient India, they'd had a preventative treatment for smallpox hundreds of years earlier.
49:27In India, they saw smallpox as a visit from the goddess Sitala.
49:32She was the goddess of smallpox and disease, generally.
49:35And when she came, she made you hot, and made all these horrible pockmarks appear, and she sometimes killed you.
49:41And they wanted to try and prevent that.
49:43And so they developed a primitive form of inoculation that I'm going to demonstrate on Marty.
49:50Now, Marty, you haven't had smallpox, have you?
49:52No, no.
49:53Well, I want to prevent any visits from the goddess Sitala, OK?
49:56So what they used to use was an instrument like this.
49:59In fact, this is a replica.
50:00And they would make four little scratches on the back of somebody's arm.
50:04And then they would take the pus from the...
50:08It's unpleasant.
50:08It's quite unpleasant, yes.
50:09From the sores of a smallpox victim.
50:13Sadly, they wouldn't let me use real pus, so this is the best gloop that makeup could provide.
50:20And we'll put that on your wound like that.
50:24And I don't want this...
50:25You're not allowed to take this off, right?
50:26It stays on day and night.
50:27And in a day or two, you're going to feel really quite ill.
50:30Oh, right.
50:31But we can sort that out, OK?
50:33OK.
50:34And it's, first of all, there's a bit of a diet.
50:36So, do you like milk?
50:38Yes.
50:39Well, you can't have any milk.
50:40And how about fish?
50:41Yeah, yeah.
50:42No, you can't have any fish either.
50:43But there is one thing you can have.
50:45According to the ancient texts,
50:48four pots of cold water, morning and night.
50:51But it wasn't a drink.
50:52It was to reduce the fever.
50:58That should keep you really nice and cool,
51:01and it should prevent any more visits from the goddess Sitala.
51:04Now, although this treatment may have seemed pretty wicked,
51:08it was actually amazingly successful.
51:10Because before it came along,
51:12out of every hundred people who called smallpox,
51:15more than 30 would die.
51:16But after they brought in inoculation,
51:19only two out of a hundred would die.
51:21They must have saved millions of lives.
51:24And there you are, Marty.
51:25I think possibly you may survive till the morning,
51:26although you are a bit damp.
51:27Oh, we need another pot.
51:28Yes.
51:29Could we have some more water, please, nurse?
51:30More water.
51:31Cold.
51:32Make it cold.
51:44The Indians also had a fascination with games.
51:48They invented lots of them,
51:51including one of the world's most successful, chess,
51:54which didn't arrive in Britain until the Middle Ages.
51:58It's generally thought that chess developed from a complex game
52:02of military strategy, which I thought I ought to try out.
52:05And this is Chaturanga.
52:08And Steve Nichols, you're an expert, aren't you?
52:09Well, I've been playing it for 20 years or so.
52:11It looks like chess.
52:13We've got a board that's eight by eight with some,
52:15well, some funny squares on it.
52:17Right.
52:17And we've got pieces that look a bit like chess pieces,
52:20but, Steve, there seem to be four sets of pieces.
52:22The word Chaturanga originally meant four parts,
52:26meaning the four divisions of the Indian army.
52:33So, we need four players for this game.
52:36Marty, you're free.
52:37You come and play.
52:38And Dana, you come and play there.
52:41The players at opposite corners play together as teams,
52:44and a long die is thrown to start the game.
52:48Chuck it in the middle of the board and see what you get.
52:51Not bad. Four.
52:52I'm afraid that's the elephant or the rook.
52:54There's no legal move.
52:55Oh, you miss out.
52:57I'm going to start the offensive, Adam.
53:00Check.
53:05So, a rather disappointing start for Dana and me.
53:09Chaturanga is a complicated game,
53:11although it does have the feel of chess.
53:14Several of the pieces are the same,
53:16the king, the rook and the pawns,
53:18and they even have identical moves.
53:21But, unlike conventional chess,
53:23there are two enemy kings to checkmate.
53:32That was about the worst move.
53:34Oh!
53:36It was playable.
53:38Having four players adds a whole new dimension.
53:40But, sadly, half an hour into the game,
53:43Dana and I were headed for disaster.
53:47Right.
53:48Now, I think this is killer.
53:52No.
53:53That is checkmate.
53:54Lucky.
53:55Marty, you were lucky.
53:57Dana, I apologise.
53:58I'll let you down.
54:00Oh, next time.
54:01We'll get them next time.
54:03Anyway, the Indians weren't interested only
54:05in the theoretical side of warfare.
54:07They were also pretty good at disposing of real enemies.
54:18The Indian army are legendary for their bravery and resilience.
54:22So much so, in fact, that during the First World War,
54:25Indian Sikh soldiers won more Victoria Crosses percentage-wise
54:28than any other foreign troops.
54:32In the 18th century, it was the British colonial forces
54:36that came up against the ruthless efficiency of the Indian military.
54:40At the Battle of Gunther in 1780,
54:43the British faced India's first freedom fighter,
54:46the Tipu Sultan.
54:50Tipu Sultan was a great military innovator.
54:53His artillery consisted of cannon, poisoned arrows,
54:57and he also had a secret weapon.
54:59The rocket.
55:01As the British charged onto the battlefield,
55:04they were confronted with a barrage of missiles.
55:07Rockets landed in front and behind the British lines,
55:10completely disorientating the soldiers.
55:12They had never seen anything like it,
55:15and the normally unflinching British troops broke down and ran.
55:24The Chinese had used rockets in warfare for ages,
55:27but Tipu Sultan took the art to new heights.
55:31Now, this is Matthew Buck from the Royal Artillery Museum,
55:33and you brought along some rockets to show us.
55:36Well, what we have here are what are thought to be
55:38the last two surviving Indian rockets anywhere in the world.
55:41These are original?
55:41Absolutely.
55:42200 years old?
55:43That's right.
55:43Now, presumably it was just packed with gunpowder
55:44and you lit it and stood back?
55:46Slightly more to it than that.
55:47It's thought that most of them had iron tips at the end,
55:49and so what you have effectively is a rocket-powered spear.
55:52And tell me about this one.
55:54Well, the immediate thing to notice about this
55:56is the whacking great big sword blade on the end of it.
55:58Absolutely.
55:58These things didn't generally explode.
56:00What they were meant to do was to frighten the enemy cavalry.
56:02And presumably they didn't fire one at a time?
56:05No.
56:05If anything, they would have been fired in enormous numbers.
56:08Tipu had 5,000 rocket men in his rocket brigade.
56:11OK, well, we've got our own rocket brigade.
56:13Rocket brigade, advance!
56:16It's quite neat.
56:18You can change the angle, I can see.
56:19So if you wanted to fire them high up,
56:21you'd lift it up to there and prop it like that.
56:23Ooh!
56:24And if you want it lower down,
56:25you'd have a lower trajectory like that.
56:27Well, you've got a nice, tidy batch of enemy over there.
56:30You think we can pick them off?
56:31I think it's worth a try.
56:32Let's get them lit.
56:33I think we'd better go back to a safe distance.
56:36So, a battery of six.
56:56Wow!
56:58Amazing!
56:59They all took off, turned left a bit, and went all over the place.
57:02If I were an enemy horse, I'd be over the next hill.
57:07In 1799, a whole lot of those Indian rockets were brought back
57:10and taken to William Congreve at Woolwich Arsenal.
57:13He examined them, made his own,
57:15and he eventually had a chance to try them out in 1806.
57:19The French fleet was nestled in the harbour at Boulogne.
57:22He fired off 200 rockets in half an hour.
57:26But, unfortunately, they all got caught by the wind, like ours did.
57:28They all turned left, and he didn't hit a single French ship.
57:32But they set fire to the town, burnt most of it to the ground,
57:35and he claimed a great victory.
57:41But it wasn't just the rockets.
57:43Think of what else the Indians achieved.
57:46One of the world's most advanced ancient civilisations.
57:51Cotton fabric in all its exotic colours.
57:55The amazing wood steel, and they gave us chess.
58:00Most important of all, they invented the zero,
58:04which revolutionised mathematics and all the science that was to follow.
58:18To receive a free Open University leaflet, which accompanies this series,
58:22and details of Open University programmes, telephone 0870 900 0352,
58:28or go to bbc.co.uk slash history.
58:33Next time, we're off to Mesopotamia, modern-day Syria and Iraq.
58:38From the wheel to writing, armies to agriculture, beer to bread,
58:42the people who lived here were the greatest innovators of the ancient world.
58:55A 5000-year-old corpse.
58:57He's the diamond in terms of recent human history.
59:00A 21st-century murder investigation.
59:02The Iceman was shot in the back.
59:04We've got blood from four different individuals.
59:07If somebody murdered him, why didn't they take his copper axe?
59:10The oldest who done it in history.
59:11The Iceman murder.
59:13Tuesday at 9 on BBC One.