Why ‘national’ science has been obsessed with ancient history
Published on: Jan. 9, 2026, 7:52 a.m. | Source: The Indian Express
Today, when NCERT textbooks assert that Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya developed algebra independently and before Arab scholars, they repeat a logic that has haunted Indian scholarship for nearly two centuries. Such claims are framed as historical corrections. Yet, they obscure a complex reality: the compulsion to locate science in antiquity was itself a response to colonialism.
